OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
THE PROMPTQuote:
Chicago's Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, was the tallest office building in the world until losing that distinction to the completion of the Taipei 101 Tower in 2004.
THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) until losing that distinction to the completion of the Taipei 101 Tower
•
until is not used correctly and
I would bet that this usage of until is not well-known→ this kind of
until should be followed by a subject and a verb, not a gerund (verbING)
→ this
until is a
subordinating conjunction that is used to connect an event to a point in time.
→ Subordinating conjunctions are words or phrases such as
because or
as long as that create subordinate clauses, which depend for their meaning on the main clause and cannot stand alone as a sentence.
-- subordinating conjunctions tell us that a clause has important information to add to the main idea of the sentence.
-- They usually signal contrast (
whereas), a cause-and-effect relationship (
because), or a shift in time or place between the two clauses.
-- In other words, we need a dependent
clause, and all clauses contain at least a subject and a verb.
→
Until can also be a preposition that indicates continuance or
up to (the time that), this way:
We can hike in the words until sundown.-- as a preposition, of course,
until is followed by a noun or noun phrase. But that word is almost never a gerund (verbING), which conveys too much action.
→ Ask yourself whether the "until" information adds an important substantive or logical dimension to the sentence. If so,
until should be followed by a clause.
• I agree with you all who posted that the meaning seems a little strange; however, if
until had been followed by the words
it lost, the phrasing here would not be enough to eliminate the option immediately. (Once you had seen option D, you could eliminate this option.)
-- Every now and then, GMAC uses phrasing that sounds a bit strange even to seasoned, native ears, so if you have doubt, keep the option tentatively and move on quickly.
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
B) until it had lost that distinction upon the completion of the Taipei 101 Tower
• wrong verb tense.
→ We use past perfect to describe the
earlier of two events in the past, but
had lost must refer to an action that came
after a second action.
-- The Willis Tower could only have lost the distinction of being the world's tallest building
after having been the world's tallest building.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C) until that distinction was lost after the Taipei 101 Tower's being completed
• The words
Tower's being should be
Tower was—the word
being adds passivity and convoluted language.
-- Even
was lost would inflect the sentence with unnecessary passivity. The first part of the sentence leads with the subject "Willis Tower" followed by a verb, and if the second part were also to lead with that subject followed by a verb (as in (D)) the sentence would have a more active construction.
• In fact, the phrase
after the Taipei 101 Tower's being completed is awkward, wordy, and unnecessarily passive.
→ Now, do we eliminate
only on the basis of style?
→ I don't think so. We have a fairly good idea that this answer creates an awful sentence, but we can make style decisions after we read all the answer.
KEEP C, but look for a better answer
Quote:
D) until it lost that distinction when the Taipei 101 Tower was completed
• I see no errors
• after the word
until, option D provides both a subject (it) and a verb (lost)
• option D correctly uses simple past tense
→ Now compare Options C and D. No contest. Option D is better.
Eliminate C.
KEEP D
Quote:
E) until the loss of that distinction after the completion of the Taipei 101 Tower
•
until should be followed by a subject and a verb
• the first clause begins with a subject (Willis Tower), and this option is not an instance of a compound predicate (two verbs)
→ the second clause should begin with a pronoun that renames the subject (it) in order to maintain a parallel structure
ELIMINATE E
The best answer is D.
COMMENTSAs always, I am glad to "see" you all.
These answers range from very good to excellent. Nicely done. Kudos to all.