At one time, the majestic American chestnut was so prevalent

Question

At one time, the majestic American chestnut was  so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could  jump from tree to tree without once touching the ground between New York State and Georgia.

(A) so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could
(B) so prevalent that a squirrel was said that it could
(C) so prevalent for a squirrel to be said to be able to
(D) prevalent enough that it was said a squirrel could
(E) prevalent enough for a squirrel to be said to be able to

doe007 · Accepted Answer

Explanation:

A) Correct. Sentence is precise and idiomatically correct.
B) " a squirrel was said " does not have any logical meaning -- a squirrel cannot be said something. " that ... that " construction is awkward.
C) " so ... for " is idiomatically incorrect. Correct idiom is " so ... that ". 
D) " prevalent enough " is redundant. " prevalent enough that " is structurally incorrect ... there is no reference for " that ". " enough that " is incorrect expression -- correct form is " enough ... to ".
E) " prevalent enough " is redundant. " enough for " is incorrect expression -- correct form is " enough ... to ". Sentence is wordy and awkwardly structured.

Correct answer is A.

Zarrolou · Answer

First thing to adress:  the idiom .

"  so ... that  " is the correct one: out C. "  prevalent enough  " is just unidiomatic and awkward, we can eliminate also D and E.

It's between A and B 
(A) so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could
(B) so prevalent that a   squirrel was said   that it could

"squirrel was said" is clearly wrong: How can a squirrel be said? A is clear, coincise: the winner.

Does this make sense, doe007?

Narenn · Answer

Correct Answer should be A

Accepted Usage is  so...........that

A) Idiomatic Usage, clear meaning.  so prevalent that it was said x could ......... 
B) Changes the intended meaning. squirrel itself didn't say anything.
C) unidiomatic usage  so........for . Repeats the mistake made in Choice B.
D) Unidiomatic usage  enough that 
E) incorrect and wordy structure

Narenn

Narenn · Answer

Dear Zarrolou,

I think we can form an idiomatic sentence** with  prevalent enough , although this sentence would not have the meaning same as that of original sentence.

At one time, the majestic American chestnut was prevalent enough for a squirrel to jump from tree to tree without once touching the ground between New York State and Georgia.

** Reference :- List of Idioms - Manhattan SC Guide 4th ed.

Pls correct me, if i am wrong somewhere.

Regards,

Narenn

doe007 · Answer

"Prevalent" means "most frequent" or "very common".
To me, "most frequent enough" or "very common enough" does not make sense.
The word "prevalent" is self-sufficient and the expression "prevalent enough" seems odd to me.

vietmoi999 · Answer

it is said that...
means
people said that...

there is no patterns

something/somebody is said that...

is my thinking correct? pls, confirm

doe007 · Answer

Answer explanation is posted right after the question. Link to the answer is: at-one-time-the-majestic-american-chestnut-was-so-prevalent-152712.html#p1224391

doe007 · Answer

Hi Zarrolou, what you wrote that makes sense perfectly. Thank you for your contribution.

I Apologize as I missed your question before.

doe007 · Answer

Narenn, Thank you for your contribution. Your explanation is very nice. Only one thing I would like say is that "a squirrel was said" means somebody said something to a squirrel -- it does not mean squirrel said something.

doe007 · Answer

In the expressions like " it is said that ...  ", " it is my pleasure ... ", " it has been .... ", "it" does not need to refer to something specifically. These constructions are idiomatic and we do not need to replace "it" by "people".

On the other hand, expression like "it is sufficient" is incorrect (or incomplete) as "it" need to have a reference here.

Normally the expression "it is said that" is used to refer to a very old saying or hearsay origin of which is untraceable.

I hope I could reply to your question. In case you intended to know something else, please let me know.

Skywalker18 · Answer

At one time, the majestic American chestnut was  so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could  jump from tree to tree without once touching the ground between New York State and Georgia.

(A) so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could - Correct
(B) so prevalent that a squirrel was said that it could - the clause "a squirrel was said that it could" does not make logical sense ; usage of said that is incorrect
(C) so prevalent for a squirrel to be said to be able to - awkward 
(D) prevalent enough that it was said a squirrel could - usage of prevalent enough is incorrect
(E) prevalent enough for a squirrel to be said to be able to - usage of prevalent enough is incorrect

Answer A

Nunuboy1994 · Answer

The correct idiomatic construction "So x that y"

A

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

At one time, the majestic American chestnut was  so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could  jump from tree to tree without once touching the ground between New York State and Georgia.

(A) so prevalent that it was said a squirrel could  Correct answer.

(B) so prevalent that a squirrel was said that it could  "a squirrel...it could" becomes redundant due to the usage of "it". Also, the "squirrel" was not said to be or do anything - "it was said that.." the squirrel could do something. Eliminate.

(C) so prevalent for a squirrel to be said to be able to  "so X for Y" is incorrect, the correct usage is "so X that Y". Eliminate.

(D) prevalent enough that it was said a squirrel could  "prevalent enough" is unidiomatic. Eliminate.

(E) prevalent enough for a squirrel to be said to be able to  Same error as in (D). Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

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At one time, the majestic American chestnut was so prevalent

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At one time, the majestic American chestnut was so prevalent

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