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sondenso
Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.


(A) they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent

(B) they made Conestoga wagons, which had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and floors curved upward on their ends so that they prevented

(C) Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and had a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(D) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented


Verbal Question of The Day: Day 106: Sentence Correction


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Dear moderators Bunuel,

This question needs an edit. The Question is liked to Verbal Reveiw OG 17 Qno 222 .But in VROG it reads as follows:

Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.

And below are the corresponding answer choices as mentioned in OG

(A) wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent

(B) wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie , and with a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(C)wagons,which had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie , and floors curved upward on their ends so that they prevented

(D)wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(E)wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented

Although, experts have discussed this question , there is a lot of learning from each OG question. Now there would be different learning from this question stem.
See all the answer choices of this question are different than posted.

Well if you see VR17 Q 222, it as as above. However should this be any other question from other oficial Guides then we need to change the link of VR-17 Q222.

Probus
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I understand D is the best option, but still have two questions.

First, when we say X has A and B, we don't use a common before B; yet the correct sentence essentially says that wagons had wheels ,(comma) and a floor.

Second, wagons is plural, but why it is followed by a singlar noun (a floor). Is wagons a collective noun here?
In terms of logic, it makes perfect sense that each wagon only has one floor, I just don't know how to interpret it in terms of grammar.

Thanks in advance if someone could help!

Excellent questions!

Typically, when we have two objects associated with the same verb, there's no reason to separate them with a comma. A simple example:

    "When my daughter had the flu, she had muscle soreness and a hacking cough."

There's comma between "muscle soreness" and a "hacking cough." But if I wanted to describe the muscle soreness, I could use commas, either to separate the modifier from the rest of the sentence or to separate elements within the modifier:

    "When my daughter had the flu, she had muscle soreness in her back, neck, and toes, and a cough."

The modifier in red makes the sentence a little harder to parse, so it makes sense to include a comma at the end of it to communicate to the reader that I've finished modifying "muscle soreness." Put another way, almost any "rule" that posits that you can't use a comma in a certain scenario can be violated by sticking in a modifier. Commas are slippery animals. But the good news is that commas are very rarely a deciding factor on the GMAT. More on that in this video.

As for the second question, the sentence is about Conestoga wagons, in general. When we're writing about a plural noun in general, it's perfectly fine to attribute a singular quality to that noun. If I write, "Dodge Vipers come equipped with a laser that makes small animals go blind," there's no confusion about whether the Dodge Vipers are all sharing one laser. It's clear that each car individually has this feature. (Note: this feature does not, and should not exist.)

But if I'm writing about a particular plural noun, the usage is a little different. For example, if I write, "The Goldstein brothers have a bike with a broken axle," I'm not suggesting that each brother has such a bike. Rather, there appears to be just one bike that the Goldstein brothers have to share. The difference is that now I'm referring to particular brothers, as opposed to the generic idea of brothers.

I hope that helps!
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Hi GMATNinja, I had the same question - 'plural wagons taking up one floor', because of which I eliminated D. Now it's clear after your explanation.

However, for E, i don't find any problem with "wagons had floors" and I thought the pronoun IT could refer back to 'Curving upward', which prevents the sliding. While answering this question, I somehow exceedingly thought that 'Curving upward' is some kind of a noun phrase. Let me know why IT can't refer to 'Curving upward'? and How to go about this kind of words/phrases(which i am not sure about) if i encounter in any other questions? And, a bit off the topic - i am making this kind of subtle mistakes in SC and CR, showing too much rigor while answering questions and ending up too much time in easy ones. How to tackle this problem?
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made 25 Oct 2018, 21:59
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psaikrishna90


However, for E, i don't find any problem with "wagons had floors" and I thought the pronoun IT could refer back to 'Curving upward', which prevents the sliding. While answering this question, I somehow exceedingly thought that 'Curving upward' is some kind of a noun phrase. Let me know why IT can't refer to 'Curving upward'?
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In theory, you're correct that an "-ing" word could be a noun (specifically a gerund, if you like grammar jargon). But in this case, think about the function of the phrase "curving upward" in (E): it's just describing the floors ("floors curving upward"), so it's a modifier. And since "curving upward" is modifying a plural noun ("floors"), there's no way that "it" could refer back to either phrase. (For more on -ing words, check out this post, though it might be too generic to be useful for you at this stage.)

psaikrishna90
...and How to go about this kind of words/phrases(which i am not sure about) if i encounter in any other questions? And, a bit off the topic - i am making this kind of subtle mistakes in SC and CR, showing too much rigor while answering questions and ending up too much time in easy ones. How to tackle this problem?
Show more
Well, that's a pretty broad problem! Struggling with words/phrases in general could be an indication that your overall English skills need some work, and that's a pretty complicated topic that's way beyond the scope of this thread.

I'm not sure, but I think you're also suggesting that you might try to be TOO mechanical and grammatical in your analysis of SC questions, and that's a more fixable problem. Ultimately, grammar is just a piece of SC; it's important, but understanding the meaning of each answer choice is arguably more important. So maybe you're over-relying on grammar rules, and maybe you aren't thinking deeply enough about the meaning of sentences once you've exhausted the easy grammar-based eliminations?

If that's a possibility, maybe check out this article and this video?

I hope this helps!
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.


(A) they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent

(B) they made Conestoga wagons, which had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and floors curved upward on their ends so that they prevented

(C) Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and had a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(D) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented


Verbal Question of The Day: Day 106: Sentence Correction


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the wagons has A FLOOR. this is correct and in grammar books, this pattern is called distributive plural. the tigers have a big mounth. we do not need " mounthS" or 'floorS". this is not the point gmat will test us.

First, look for meaing error, and then when there are only 2 choices left, look for minor grammar error. we will apply this order to do this problem

choice A, B and C suffer meaing error, developed must refers to "wagons". they are gone.

choice D and E left. now, we look for minor grammatical error. pronoun "it" is a problem in choice E. so E is wrong.

this order look simple. but when our mind focus on meaning at first, our mind will not focus on minor grammatical error at last and this situation can confuse us. so, remember, when we are faced with 2 choices, change the focus from on meaning to on grammatical error.
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Probus
Dear moderators

This question needs an edit. The Question is liked to Verbal Reveiw OG 17 Qno 222
Probus
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Probus , thank you. It appears that GMAC rewrote the question.
That new version can be found HERE.
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D is a winner here. It's easy to eliminate other choices purely by the modifier placement and meaning.

I need experts guidance on the following concept.

Here it is said that, Conestoga wagons had high wheels and "a" floor. Shouldn't the subject be Conestoga wagon?
How to unambiguously Indicate that each wagon had a floor?? It is illogical to even consider that all the wagons had just one floor
What is the acceptable way to frame the sentence?

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How I went about it was -

A and B out because there is a modifier problem. Developed by PPG about 1750 , (subject) yada yada yada..
After the comma you need the subject of what was developed by PPG.

C solves this modifier issue we just talked about. However, if you read the sentence it feels like it is incomplete. This is because no action has taken place. It has to be of the form - Developed by PPG about 1750, C Wagons did something.....
Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and had a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.
Do you see what I meant. Lot of information but the sentence is missing a key verb which would tie everything together.

Finally we are down to the last two.
(D) ok here correct modifier usage (unlike A and B), there is a verb which ties everything nicely (unlike C). And also parallelism seems ok, correct usage of and, tenses ok. Looking good.

(E) Looks good as well, very similar to D. Wait let me check where it is different from D. Aha at the end it differs slightly. Lets zoom in
Quote:
and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented
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Ok, pronoun problem it seems. it prevented, singular pronoun but the subject is floors - plural. Well I'll keep D, it has no pronoun issues, definitely better than this one.

Ans: D
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I got this question right. But I have doubt.
They opening modifier starts "Developed.....Germans about 1750". Then it should be followed by the what it is modifying, which is the "Conestoga wagons". But if I ask myself the "who" developed the wagon, then the modifier should be followed by "they", and if I ask myself "what" was developed, then "wagons" should follow.

Can you clarify this doubt that what should really come after the opening modifier when it has both the does and what has been made by the does?
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lakshya14
I got this question right. But I have doubt.
They opening modifier starts "Developed.....Germans about 1750". Then it should be followed by the what it is modifying, which is the "Conestoga wagons". But if I ask myself the "who" developed the wagon, then the modifier should be followed by "they", and if I ask myself "what" was developed, then "wagons" should follow.

Can you clarify this doubt that what should really come after the opening modifier when it has both the does and what has been made by the does?
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The introductory modifier is:

Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750

So, we can't just ask the question who developed the wagon (in fact, wagon isn't even a part of the introductory modifier; we need to ask: who/what was developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans. Answer: wagons.
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(A) they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent
(1) “they” seems to be referring to the Germans, but this wouldn’t make sense. What was “Developed by…Germans…”? Logically, it would make sense that the Conestoga wagons made were developed (2) comma splice

(B) they made Conestoga wagons, which had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and floors curved upward on their ends so that they prevented
(1) “they” seems to be referring to the Germans, but this wouldn’t make sense. What was “Developed by…Germans…”? Logically, it would make sense that the Conestoga wagons made were developed; (2) false parallelism – “…and floors curving…” seems to parallel the previous list, but this is (presumably) not the logical, intended meaning. These wagons HAD (i) high wheels…AND (ii) floors

(C) Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and had a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent
(1) Not a complete sentence – there’s no action verb; (2) “…, and had a floor…” has a parallelism trigger “and” and it doesn’t have anything to pair it with in the beginning of the sentence

(D) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent
best option

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented
(1) false parallelism – “…and floors curving…” seems to parallel the previous list, but this is (presumably) not the logical, intended meaning. These wagons HAD (i) high wheels…AND (ii) floors; (2) pronoun error – what does “it” refer to? There’s no logical antecendent because everything is plural (i.e., wagonS, wheelS, floorS)
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.

(A) they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent Starting modifier incorrectly modifies "they" - it should modify "Conestoga wagons". Eliminate.

(B) they made Conestoga wagons, which had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and floors curved upward on their ends so that they prevented Same error as (A). Eliminate.

(C) Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and had a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent "Conestoga wagons, with X...and had Y" is not parallel. Either use "with X and Y" or "had X and Y". Eliminate.

(D) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent Correct answer. Modifier and parallelism errors are corrected and no new errors are introduced.

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented Ambiguous antecedent for "it". If we reason it to refer to "floors", then singular pronoun "it" is not appropriate. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.
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Hi all,

I always thought that you don't put a comma before 'and' when you're connecting two direct objects. The OE says that the comma helps to clarify that the second direct object 'a floor...' is an object of 'had'. Can someone explain to me when you need a comma to help clarify and when you don't?

Thanks!

When you have two distinct lists, you need to have a comma to distinguish first list from the 2nd.

For Example, Here One list of of Wheels and a Floor, and the 2nd list of the various surfaces on which the wheel can move.

If you see my above example, it itself has what I am saying " Two Lists Concept"

Hope that helps.

Hit Kudos if you get the answer.
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Thanks abhimahna, Can I just clarify that the clause after the second ,and is not an IC as the comma is just there to separate the 2 lists? Are there any other markers that tell us that it is definitely not an IC?
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abhimahna
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Hi all,

I always thought that you don't put a comma before 'and' when you're connecting two direct objects. The OE says that the comma helps to clarify that the second direct object 'a floor...' is an object of 'had'. Can someone explain to me when you need a comma to help clarify and when you don't?

Thanks!

When you have two distinct lists, you need to have a comma to distinguish first list from the 2nd.

For Example, Here One list of of Wheels and a Floor, and the 2nd list of the various surfaces on which the wheel can move.

If you see my above example, it itself has what I am saying " Two Lists Concept"

Hope that helps.

Hit Kudos if you get the answer.
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Can I say, ...match between India, England and Wales, and Australia?
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.


(A) they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent

(B) they made Conestoga wagons, which had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and floors curved upward on their ends so that they prevented

(C) Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and had a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(D) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented
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The sentence started with developed by. So, "developed by" should be followed by they made Conestoga wagons rather they developed. A and B are out. Then the sentence intends to describe the features of they made Conestoga wagons. D describes the series of features parallelly. D is the answer .
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Hi AjiteshArun, GMATNinja, DmitryFarber MartyTargetTestPrep

Hope you all are doing great!!

I have a doubt regarding option (E). I understand that pronoun "it" is incorrect. I just wanted to understand whether the highlighted's
"curving" usage is correct in the sentence. I learned that with a verb-ing modifier like this, the subject needs to be the do-er to the action. As the floors are not curving anything, this modifier is wrong. Could you please confirm?

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made 15 Sep 2021, 12:20
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.

Test Points: Parallelism & The meaning of the scentence

(A) they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent ("they" cannot be used as pronoun, and "Developed by...” should modify Conestoga wagons according to the intended meaning）

(B) they made Conestoga wagons, which had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and floors curved upward on their ends so that they prevented (Same reason as A)

(C) Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and had a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent (”Conestoga wagons, with...“ is missing the main verb. "and had...“ is missing a subject)

(D) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented (brokern parallelism. "it” is an incorrect pronoun)
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made 16 Sep 2021, 12:03
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Deadpool3
Hi AjiteshArun, GMATNinja, DmitryFarber MartyTargetTestPrep

Hope you all are doing great!!

I have a doubt regarding option (E). I understand that pronoun "it" is incorrect. I just wanted to understand whether the highlighted's
"curving" usage is correct in the sentence. I learned that with a verb-ing modifier like this, the subject needs to be the do-er to the action. As the floors are not curving anything, this modifier is wrong. Could you please confirm?

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented
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Hi Deadpool3,

You're most likely thinking about adverbial present participles. Curving acts as an adjective here (floors curving upward ~ "floors that curve upward"), and therefore there's no need to worry about the subject of the clause. Keep in mind that "X curves" could mean either that X curves something ("X curves Y") or that X is curved (its shape).

A quick example from a dictionary entry: The road curves round to the left. Clearly, the road isn't curving anything.
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made 04 Nov 2022, 20:09
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Hi experts,

Question 1: I believe that it is a non-issue given that this is in the non-underlined portion of the sentence, but "about 1750" seemed strange to me? My ear wanted to change "about" to "in"".

Question 2: In school, there seemed be an unwritten rule that you cannot have two "ands" in a sentence. What is the GMAT's view on this? I am assuming that it is okay based on this question, but is there a rule that you cannot have let's say +3 ands in a sentence?

Thank you :)
Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Updated on: 10 Nov 2022, 04:56
Originally posted by PriyamRathor on 09 Nov 2022, 05:45.
Last edited by PriyamRathor on 10 Nov 2022, 04:56, edited 1 time in total.
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.


(A) they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent

(B) they made Conestoga wagons, which had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and floors curved upward on their ends so that they prevented

(C) Conestoga wagons, with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and had a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(D) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie, and a floor that was curved upward at both ends to prevent

(E) Conestoga wagons had high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and floors curving upward at their ends so that it prevented

This official question is similar but not identical to an official question that can be found HERE.



Verbal Question of The Day: Day 106: Sentence Correction


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Hello AjiteshArun egmat

In the original sentence they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.

Here usage of SO AS is correct ?

According to me , so as is used for negative comparisons. Hence ,here usage is wrong.

Thanks.
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Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made 09 Nov 2022, 05:53
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woohoo921
Hi experts,

Question 1: I believe that it is a non-issue given that this is in the non-underlined portion of the sentence, but "about 1750" seemed strange to me? My ear wanted to change "about" to "in"".

Question 2: In school, there seemed be an unwritten rule that you cannot have two "ands" in a sentence. What is the GMAT's view on this? I am assuming that it is okay based on this question, but is there a rule that you cannot have let's say +3 ands in a sentence?

Developed by Pennsylvania's Palatine Germans about 1750, they made Conestoga wagons with high wheels capable of crossing rutted roads, muddy flats, and the nonroads of the prairie and they had a floor curved upward on either end so as to prevent cargo from shifting on steep grades.
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egmat any thoughts? Thank you :)
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