As U.S. nuclear attack submarines prowl their familiar haunts deep wit

Question

As U.S. nuclear attack submarines prowl their familiar haunts deep within the oceans of the world these days,  they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built  and for which their crews were trained over the last forty years.

(A) they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built

(B) the missions they increasingly engage in are far different than the tasks they were built for

(C) they engage increasingly in missions that differ significantly from the tasks they were built for

(D) the missions they engage in are increasingly different than the tasks for which they were built

(E) they increasingly engage in missions far different than the tasks for which they were built

egmat · Accepted Answer

Hi All,

As U.S. nuclear attack submarines prowl their familiar haunts deep within the oceans of the world these days,  they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built  and for which their crews were trained over the last forty years.

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Meaning-icon-final.png

Although the meaning of this sentence can be easily understood, it is important to heed the placement of increasingly. “They increasingly are engaged in…” suggests that the frequency in engaging in missions far different from the original tasks of these submarines has gone up. So we need to keep this meaning intact in the original choice.

https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Grammar.png

• This sentence does not have any SV agreement error.
• All the verbs are used in correct tense.
• Pronoun “they” correctly refers to “US nuclear attack submarines”.
• Adverb “increasingly” correctly modifies the verb “engage”.
• The parallelism is also maintained in the sentence – “for which they were built” and “for which their crews were trained over the last forty years.
• The sentence uses the correct idiom “different from”. 
So this sentence is correct as is.

Let us now eliminate the wrong answer choices on solid grounds through the  POE .

Choice A:  they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built.  Correct  for reasons stated above.

Choice B:  the missions they increasingly engage in are far different than the tasks they were built for: Incorrect  because: 
• Firstly, there is a very slight meaning chance when we change the passive “they increasingly are engaged” to active “they increasingly engage”. When written in active, the sentence suggests that the doer is consciously engaging in some activity. However, when written in passive, the sentence does not suggest this conscious effort. It rather suggests that the doer is asked to do that activity. 
• Secondly, use of “different than” is not correct in this context. In GMAT, “different from” is preferred over “different than”. Also “different than” should be followed a clause and not only a noun.

Choice C:  they engage increasingly in missions that differ significantly from the tasks they were built for:  Incorrect  because:
• With the change in place of “increasingly”, it somehow now denotes not the frequency but the degree of engagement of these submarines into missions different from their original tasks.
• This choice has parallelism issue. “they were built for” is not parallel to “for which their crews were trained…”.

Choice D:  the missions they engage in are increasingly different than the tasks for which they were built:  Incorrect  because:
• Same active voice implication as in choices B and C.
• “increasingly” now modifies different, meaning that missions are now increasingly different rather than the submarines increasingly engaging in these missions.

Choice E:  they increasingly engage in missions far different than the tasks for which they were built:  Incorrect  because of implication of active voice and the idiom “different than”.

Hope this helps.
Thanks 
Shraddha

daagh · Answer

‘Far different than’  is not the right idiom. ‘ Far different from ’ is the right one. Let us drop B D and E; between A and C, C has a subtle problem of llism.

In C, - (significantly ‘from the tasks’ they were built for and ‘for which their crews’) – The underlined -“ from the tasks ” is not parallel to ‘the underlined f or the tasks’

A therefore is the choice

hellscream · Answer

As U.S. nuclear attack submarines prowl their familiar haunts deep within the oceans of the world these days, they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built and for which their crews were trained over the last forty years.

They = submarines => passive. Parallelism => for which... and for which.....

(A) they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built
Correct
(B) the missions they increasingly engage in are far different than the tasks they were built for
Not parallel
(C) they engage increasingly in missions that differ significantly from the tasks they were built for
Not parallel
(D) the missions they engage in are increasingly different than the tasks for which they were built
different from => idioms
(E) they increasingly engage in missions far different than the tasks for which they were built
different than =>idioms + active.

aalba005 · Answer

What is the Idiom in question? Parallelism and Passive is clear, do not clearly see idiom. Thanks!

BDSunDevil · Answer

also B and D have problem with misplaced modifier after comma. Nonetheless, i think use of  They  don't have a clear antecedent.

email2vm · Answer

"differ from" or "different from" is the correct idiom -- not "different than". 
B, D and E use above incorrect idiom

jlgdr · Answer

Two things: First 'different from' is correct idiom 'Different than' is wrong. Second, the missions they are engaged with is different to saying that they engage in missions. Of course submarines themselves CAN'T engage in missions.

Thus correct answer can only be A

PS. Everybody wants to go to HBS, me, my best friend and my mama
You gotta play fa real son!! :-D

Cheers
J

Cheers J

ankurgupta03 · Answer

(A) they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built
 Correct 
(B) the missions they increasingly engage in are far different than the tasks they were built for
 Wrong. Parallelism from the non underlined portion requires for which construct 
(C) they engage increasingly in missions that differ significantly from the tasks they were built for
 Wrong. Parallelism from the non underlined portion requires for which construct 
(D) the missions they engage in are increasingly different than the tasks for which they were built
 Different from is correct. Than is wrong as no comparative word is used. 
(E) they increasingly engage in missions far different than the tasks for which they were built
 Different from is correct. Than is wrong as no comparative word is used.

rohitmanglik · Answer

In C, "they engage increasingly in missions". In this sentence, does "increasingly" is modifying engage or missions?

As per the explanation of egmat, increasingly should modify engage. Can't we compare it with the case of "only", where it modifies the clause/noun following it?

Where am I getting wrong?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Rohit, the easiest way to quickly solve this sentence, is on the basis of the following concepts:

i) Whenever there is a structure such as  and that.. ,  and which ,  and who.. ,  and for which.. , there  must  be a corresponding parallel structure on the  LHS  of  and . Notice there that  for which  is in the non-underlined portion, making the task further easy. So, there  has  to be a  for which  in the underlined portion.

ii) Clauses should  not  end in a  preposition . For example,  they increasingly engage in  is incorrect, since this clause ends in a preposition  for .

iii)  Different from  is the correct idiom.

Option B and C violate i),

Options B and D violate ii)

Option E violates iii)

EducationAisle · Answer

Well, on point #2, our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    has a section discussing in further detail, and providing examples from official sources. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id, I can mail the corresponding section.

rohitmanglik · Answer

Hi Ashish,

I got your explanation and able to solve this question. I am just wondering what is the difference between "they increasingly are engaged in missions" and "they engage increasingly in missions". Can you please explain it in detail. How does  increasingly  modify subject?

EducationAisle · Answer

increasingly  is an  adverb  (how do we know? Well, because of the good old  ly ) and so, will modify verbs/adjectives/adverbs.

In the answer choices here, the only option where the use of  increasingly  is  clearly incorrect  is option D, which uses  increasingly different . Here,  increasingly  is modifying  different , which is an obvious deviation from the original meaning, where  increasingly  is intended to modify  engagement .

Any difference between  increasingly engage  and  engage increasingly  is too subtle (if at all there is any) to make it as the basis to eliminate answer choices.

As I mentioned above, there are much more evident reasons why each of the incorrect answer choices can be eliminated.

p.s. I have mailed you the corresponding section from    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana   . Do let us know if it was helpful.

hharpreet · Answer

As U.S. nuclear attack submarines prowl their familiar haunts deep within the oceans of the world these days, they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built and for which their crews were trained over the last forty years.
(A) they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built Passive construction works in sentence as submarines do not engage by themselves. over all construction looks good 
(B) the missions they increasingly engage in are far different than the tasks they were built for missions modifies submarines INCORRECT 
(C) they engage increasingly in missions that differ significantly from the tasks they were built for submarines cannot engage by themselves 
(D) the missions they engage in are increasingly different than the tasks for which they were built
(E) they increasingly engage in missions far different than the tasks for which they were built

Shouryaawasthi · Answer

Hello,

I’m not clear on why we are using ‘they increasingly are engaged’ rather than ‘they increasingly engage’

How is there is a tense mismatch?

Posted from my mobile device

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  Shouryaawasthi ,

Both  are engaged  and  engage  are present tense.

monk123 · Answer

As U.S. nuclear attack submarines prowl their familiar haunts deep within the oceans of the world these days, they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built and for which their crews were trained over the last forty years.

POE:
Stop sign- underlined part after a comma, check for modifier error. Eliminate (B) & (D).
Eliminate (C) & (E)- change of meaning; submarines can not go on their own and directly engage in missions. 
 
(A) they increasingly are engaged in missions far different from the tasks for which they were built -  CORRECT

(B)  the missions  they increasingly engage in are far different than the tasks they were built for

(C)  they engage increasingly in missions  that differ significantly from the tasks they were built for

(D)  the missions  they engage in are increasingly different than the tasks for which they were built

(E)  they increasingly engage  in missions far different than the tasks for which they were built

brianmontanaweb · Answer

B and C can be eliminated because they do not maintain parallelism, we need to retain "for which  " seen after the conjunction.

D is passive and places "the missions" before submarines, they focus should be submarines.

E incorrectly uses "than" to compare "submarines engage in missions" and "were build/were trained".

A is the most correct and keeps the focus on "submarines", and maintains parallelism.

MonishBhawale · Answer

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As U.S. nuclear attack submarines prowl their familiar haunts deep wit

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As U.S. nuclear attack submarines prowl their familiar haunts deep wit

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