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Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are

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sayantanc2k

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11 Feb 2017, 13:05

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Takdir

confused between "as old as" & "older than". shoudnt "older than" change the meaning of the sentence ?

"2000 years" and "as old as" cannot be used together. The sentence could be:

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years old.

OR

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly as old as any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.

OR

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly as old as 2,000 years.

In option A, using both makes the sentence wrong.

Also note that it has not been mentioned in any official guideline that the correct answer must retain the meaning of the original sentence. If there is only one grammatically correct choice, it must be selected even when it deviates in meaning from the original.However if there are two grammatically correct sentences, select the one that agrees with the intended meaning of the original sentence.

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28 Feb 2018, 10:31

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Why do we consider supposedly as adverb because it ends with "-ly" ??
Can somebody please clarify?

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10 Apr 2018, 14:20

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PureReason

Why do we consider supposedly as adverb because it ends with "-ly" ??
Can somebody please clarify?

Hello PureReason,

I am not sure if your doubt still persists. Here is the explanation nonetheless.

You are correct in saying that the word supposedly is an adverb because it ends with "ly".

Hope this helps.

Thanks.
Shraddha

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10 Apr 2018, 14:54

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Let's begin with understanding the meaning of the sentence:

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.

The sentence says that carbon-14 dating shows something. Something = The megalithic monuments in Brittany are very old. They are some 2,000 years as old as any of their so called Mediterranean predecessors.

Now, it does not make sense to say that A is 2,000 years as old as B. On this basis, choices A, C, and E can be rejected.

Choice D can be rejected for the incorrect use of adverb supposedly to modify the noun predecessors.

Hence, Choice B is the correct answer.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.
Shraddha

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15 Jul 2018, 12:24

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egmat

Thanks.
Shraddha

egmat, mikemcgarry, GMATNinjaTwo, GMATNinja

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.

(A) as old as any of their supposed
(B) older than any of their supposed
(C) as old as their supposed
(D) older than any of their supposedly
(E) as old as their supposedly

I was between option B and D.
As Mediterranean is adjective, which is modifying noun predecessors so don't we need adverb=supposedly to modify Mediterranean predecessors.

Adverb Adjective Noun.

anud33p

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26 Jul 2018, 08:01

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GMATNinja

I got this one wrong. The worst part is I knew what was going on - that supposedly modifies Mediterranean and supposed modifies predecessors. The reason I picked "D" i because I thought it's almost established that it is close to 2000 years old. So, there is no reason to doubt that the monuments are predecessors. Whether they are Mediterranean are not, well, that might be in question.

The only explanation I can give myself is that my reasoning would probably differ from the original statement and that if the meaning in the original statement isn't wrong, I shouldn't be changing it. But I can't help thinking about why my logic was incorrect in that case. Could you please help?

Regards
Anudeep

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29 Jul 2018, 09:34

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anud33p

Very nice work, Gagoosh! I'll add my two cents, just in case it's helpful to somebody.

There's a pervasive myth that it's unacceptable to alter the meaning presented in choice A. This isn't true. The original sentence is one of five options, all on equal footing. If A is illogical or unclear, we want to change the meaning.

It might be helpful to think of "supposed" in this instance as meaning "incorrectly thought to be." Here's a silly example, "I thought that my friend Alan cut hair for a living, but after my haircut left me looking like an extra from The Walking Dead, I realized that this supposed professional was nothing but an incompetent amateur." "Supposed" basically means that I thought my friend was a professional, but, in fact, he was not.

Same thing in the SC above. The other artifacts were believed to be predecessors, but the dating of the megalithic monuments revealed that they were not.

I hope that helps!

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28 Jul 2019, 00:37

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Supposedly can modify mediterranean, which is an adjective here. So it just a matter of identifying whether the ancestor is supposedly mediterranean or the ancestor might not be the real ancestor. I don't see the stimulus is preferring either one of this over the other. Can someone please explain more throughly?

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28 Jul 2019, 23:23

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Meisme

The whole "Carbon-14 dating" and "2,000 years older" bit supports the supposed predecessors call (and not the supposedly Mediterranean call).

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the "predecessors" of the Brittany monuments are not actually the predecessors of the Brittany monuments, as the Brittany monuments are ~2, 000 years older than their supposed predecessors.

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The Official Guide for GMAT Review 10th Edition, 2003

Practice Question
Question No.: SC 5

Show Spoiler

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.

Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.

Which of the above two sentences is correct and why?

https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/04/archives/before-civilization-the-radiocarbon-revolution-and-prehistoric.html

JOURNAL ARTICLE
The Social Archaeology of Megalithic Monuments
Colin Renfrew
Scientific American
Vol. 249, No. 5 (November 1983), pp. 152-163
Published by: Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24969036
Page Count: 12

The development of carbon-14 dating caused the complete collapse of the diffusionist view. It was soon learned that the megalithic monuments in several areas of Europe were nearly 2,000 years older than any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors. Some of the earliest of them, in Brittany, could be dated back to 4500 B.C. There could no longer be any doubt that the monuments, the earliest stone structures still standing anywhere in the world, were of local European origin.

Attachment:

Untitled.png

Official Explanation

Diction; Grammatical construction

The sentence suggests that, based on carbon-14 dating evidence, the megalithic monuments in Brittany are 2,000 years older than certain other monuments previously believed to predate them.

The construction 2,000 years as old as . . . fails to convey this age difference; the sentences using this construction are nonsensical and can be firmly eliminated as possibilities.

A. This choice uses the nonsensical construction 2,000 years as old as.
B. Correct. This choice uses the correct construction older than and correctly uses the adjective supposed to modify the noun predecessors.
C. This choice uses the nonsensical construction 2,000 years as old as.
D. This choice uses the correct construction older than. However, it incorrectly uses the adverb supposedly to modify the adjective Mediterranean rather than using supposed as an adjective modifying predecessors.
E. This choice uses the nonsensical construction 2,000 years as old as. Furthermore, it incorrectly uses the adverb supposedly to modify the adjective Mediterranean rather than using supposed as an adjective modifying predecessors.

The correct answer is B.

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Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.
1.Difference between as old as/ older than.
As old as is used to denote the comparison in multiplication factor.
Eg. A is as old as B.
A is 5 times as old as B.
A is as old as 2000 years.

Older than is used to denote a difference/comparison in a fixed number and not like (five times or something).
Here we are given to highlight the 2000 years difference.
Eg. A is 2000 years older than B. RIGHT
A is 2000 years as old as B WRONG.
What do you mean?
A age = B age?
2000 years = B age?
We want to show A’ age = 2000 + B’s age.
For this you need to show the difference which is correctly represented by older than.

2.Supposed Vs Supposedly
Now what do we want to stress in the sentence whether they are Mediterranean or predecessors.
Here, we need to take into consideration the meaning of the sentence.
We are stressing on the predecessors part.
There is no ambiguity whether they are Mediterranean or not.
So to modify noun predecessors, we need Adjective – Supposed and Not Supposedly.

I hope the difference is clear. Feel free to PM in case it isn’t. ?

(A) as old as any of their supposed
As old as wrong

(B) older than any of their supposed
Best of All.

(C) as old as their supposed
As old as wrong

(D) older than any of their supposedly
Supposedly is wrong.

(E) as old as their supposedly
As old as wrong
Supposedly is wrong.

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08 Jul 2020, 22:27

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For anyone who is not sure what is going on with 'supposed' and 'supposedly'

Refer Manhattan SC --> Chapter 4: Modifiers

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20 Jul 2020, 08:12

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Carbon-14 dating reveals that the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years as old as any of their supposed Mediterranean predecessors.

(A) as old as any of their supposed

(B) older than any of their supposed

(C) as old as their supposed

(D) older than any of their supposedly

(E) as old as their supposedly

I got this wrong while doing test. So, i am posting my learnings here. Hope this is right.

The splits are between two entities:-
1)as old as v/s older than
2)supposed v/s supposedly

As per manhattan SC guide in the first split, we normally use as old as when we have to show multiplication.
For ex - The man is five times as old as his grandson.
Meaning - The man's age = 5 * grandson.

We normally use times and as.... as together.

We can also use times without as or than to indicate direct multiplication:-
For ex - The concert was attended by 300 people, twice the previous attendance.

We use more than or less than, when we want to signify multiplication or addition.
For ex - I am ten years older than you.
meaning = my age = your age + 10

In this case, we wont be multiplying the age of supposedly older mountains with 2000 to indicate younger mountains so addition has to come here. So, older than is correct.

Now, for second split, supposed vs supposedly
- Supposed - adjective modifying mountains
- Supposedly - adverb modifying mediterranean

No, for errors such as these, I have seen that meaning gives you the answer.

Here, the mediterranean mountains are predecessors of younger mountains but younger mountains are 2000 years older than mediterranean mountains. This cast a doubt over the predecessor part of the mediterranean mountains. Also, we have no reasons to doubt mediterranean so, supposed is right.

B is the answer.

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to understand the relation between supposed and supposedly better refer to Manhattan sentence guide, Modifier chapter the example containing- " supposed Irish ancestor"

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18 Mar 2021, 09:48

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How can I express; A = 25 years old and B = 25 years old

Posted from my mobile device

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18 Mar 2021, 19:24

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Tanchat

How can I express; A = 25 years old and B = 25 years old

Posted from my mobile device

Both, A and B, are 25 years old.

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Will A/C make sense if we add comma before as?

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pan1pan2

Will A/C make sense if we add comma before as?

Hello pan1pan2,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, no; the use of a comma before "as" will not rectify the errors in Options A and C.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

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pan1pan2

Will A/C make sense if we add comma before as?

Thanks for your response

I would like to ask for further explanation.

With comma before "as", the sentence sure has different meaning from the rest of choices. It suggests that both megalithic monuments and their predecessors have the same age (2000 years). I cannot see what is wrong with that meaning.

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pan1pan2

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pan1pan2

Will A/C make sense if we add comma before as?

Thanks for your response

Hello pan1pan2,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, introducing a comma before the "as" would actually lead to an incoherent meaning; if we introduce a comma before the "as", the term "old" will be split off into a modifying phrase, and we would be left with "the megalithic monuments in Brittany are nearly 2,000 years", which illogically suggests that the monuments are a period of time equal to 2,000 years.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team