Books in European libraries last longer than books in libraries in the

I love the enthusiasm, akshayk and Madhavi1990! The GMAT is a whole lot more fun if you can find ways to enjoy the questions.

I agree that "because" and "although" sound kind of awkward when they're right next to each other like this. But "sounding awkward" really isn't a crime. (I'd argue that TONS of correct answers on the GMAT sound horrible, but that's a separate rant for another day. )

Here's what's going on in this case: the "because" and "although" are serving totally different functions. If we remove the phrase beginning with "although", it would be fine, right?

Books in European libraries last longer than books in libraries in the United States because... libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that damage collections in the United States.

No problem: the phrase starting with "because" just explains why books last longer in European libraries.

So what's the "although" doing? Just modifying the phrase that follows it. If we strip out the beginning of the sentence, it's a little bit easier to see how it works:

...although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that damage collections in the United States.

So both the "because" and "although" phrases have nice, clear functions in the sentence. They just sound odd when they're right next to each other. But again: "sounding odd" isn't something you should ever worry about.

We also discussed this question in last week's Wednesday chat (July 5), so feel free to check out Vyshak 's transcript for more on this one.

I hope this helps!

"subject of" is wrong...correct idiom is "subject to"

Would appreciate if the question stem were underlined!

Anyway, the correct idiom is 'subject to' ... so B/D are out...
C - "humidity as" damage is awkward..
E - 'such as' is used to quote examples - here its used to compare...

So ans is A.

Books in European libraries last longer than books in libraries in the United States because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that damage collections in the United States.
A. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that
B. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as those that
C. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremities of temperature and humidity as
D. because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but still libraries there are not subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as
E. because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but libraries there are not subjected to the extremities of temperature and humidity such as those that


Except from the meaning change, is there any other grammatical error in option E? Is the usage of "such as" correct in option E. Experts please explain this.

Hi sungoal!

'Such as' is used to provide examples.

"Low humidity, such as that in the Mojave desert, can do...."

In the above fragment, the Mojave desert is provided as a single example of a category of things (all low humidity)

In the sentence as it's written, the temperature extremes that damage books aren't one example from a groups of extremes in temperature. Rather, the extremes that damage book are the ONLY extremes we are concerned with. Therefore, indicating that those extremes are one example from a category with the words 'such as' is illogical and incorrect.

Hi Eli,

I have a query here.

Is it correct to use because, although ?

This is fine. Connecting words can be placed in many places around the sentence. The only hard-and-fast rule about connectors is that N clauses must have N-1 connecting words. In this case, we have three clauses (Books....last, the climate is, libraries...are not), and two connecting words (Although, Because), so the numbers are correct.

A. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that Ok - Sentence is grammatically correct. I tested for an illogical modifier or fragment, but everything checked out.

B. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as those that "As those that" is not necessary. Furthermore, "those" takes the last noun "libraries", making an illogical comparison.

C. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremities of temperature and humidity as extremities is a different word from extreme. Even if it were a word, the extremities would make the sentence illogical -- were there multiple extremes? How can there be?

D. because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but still libraries there are not subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as "but still" is not idiomatic but redundant; "but still" also creates an unnecessary contrast (even on the wrong clause). "As" is interchangeable.

E. because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but libraries there are not subjected to the extremities of temperature and humidity such as those that "but" creates a contrast on the wrong clause. "such as those that" doesn't make any sense.

IMO A

Well this appeared on my mock tests.

Here are my inputs.

Structure:
Books in X last longer than books in Y because another idea is true.
Another idea= Although X, Y.



Books in European libraries last longer than books in libraries in the United States
because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected
to the extremes of temperature and humidity that damage collections in the United States.
A. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not
subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that
B. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not
subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as those that
Libraries are not subject of something, they should be subjected to
C. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not
subjected to the extremities of temperature and humidity as
As damage collections.... What was that?
D. because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but still libraries there are not
subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as
E. because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but libraries there are not subjected
to the extremities of temperature and humidity such as those that
Those=Libraries
that damage collections. Oh so libraries are damaging collections strange !

The biggest problem of E is that it says that the books in Europe last longer because the climate in Europe is humid; - precisely the opposite of what the prompt wants to say that the books last longer in Europe in spite of the humid climate there.
Therefore, E just has no chance

E is wrong here, even I had selected that. I don't understand how can because and although make sense together?

Hi Amrita, not sure if you read daagh Sir's reply above that explains why E cannot be correct. One really needs to develop an eye for meaning clarity, in GMAT.

because establishes causal connection, while although establishes contrast. So, they are not really redundant.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses meaning clarity, its application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

Books in European libraries last longer than books in libraries in the United States because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that damage collections in the United States.

I finally understand why it cannot be E - the sentence is fine till we see the end 'those that' (two pronouns) - so the sentence would read "books in ...last longer.......than books in .....US because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but libraries there are not subjected to the extremities of temperature and humidity such as those that" - last bit not fitting damage collections in the United States.
We are talking about " the extremes of temperature and humidity that[/u] damage collections" - so that last bit makes sense in A, while the others have weird sentences or E, which has two pronouns ('those that damage collections').

My initial reaction was to strike it due to 'because, although', which usually is not used to together - but here all other options distort meaning (that extremes damage collections)
Really cool question!
Even so, I do request some clarity on because, although usage here - I know its okay to use them far apart in the sentence, but here does it not make the sentence peculiar?
. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that

B. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as those that - same issue as E

C. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremities of temperature and humidity as- how can 'as' damage collections?

D. because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but still libraries there are not subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as - same as C

E. because the climate in Europe is fairly humid, but libraries there are not subjected to the extremities of temperature and humidity such as those that - same as B

Hello Experts,

Just wanted to clarify, in option A, "that" is referring to "extremes of temperature and humidity" - right?

Please clarify. Thanks

Hi pikolo2510, you are correct.

Hi,

Had a doubt:

Books in European libraries last longer than books in libraries in the United States because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that damage collections in the United States.

A. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subjected to the extremes of temperature and humidity that

B. because, although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as those that


What does the those refer to in the sentence B above?

"Those" is a plural pronoun, and whenever you see any plural pronoun, you'll want to look for plural nouns that it can refer back to. In this case, the closest option is "extremes of temperature and humidity."

So that gives us: "although the climate in Europe is fairly humid, libraries there are not subject of the extremes of temperature and humidity as the extremes of temperature and humidity that damage collections in the United States." So the pronoun seems just fine in this case.

For more on the use of "those" and "that" as pronouns, check out this article, or this YouTube video.

I hope this helps!