Do IDIOMS still hold significance in Verbal- SC

Question

Hi All, I am new to gmatclub, so pls ignore in case of any error.

Well, I've heard, that Idioms do not hold much significance in GMAT exam, as they used to in the past.
Can anyone shed some light on it backed by sources?

HoneyLemon · Answer

Welcome to GMAT club ! You are correct .More than Idioms other error types are tested in GMAT these days .

Russ19 · Answer

Hi,

To some extent what you have heard is true. I have seen some recent official questions in which proper idiomatic expressions play a role to find the correct option, so you cannot simply ignor idioms. Focusing on structure, meaning and styles are more important.

Good luck!

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  bansalgaurav , and welcome to the GMAT Club community. I agree with others that idioms appear to play a less prominent role in SC questions than they used to. A look through some pre-2000 official questions reveals as much. I doubt, for instance, that you would see a question on the modern exam that resembled  this one , in which the sole decision point rests on how to conjugate the verb  to be , or  this question , in which the key decision point is  regard as  versus  regard to . Modern questions often test multiple splits, among which an idiom might pop up. For example, you should know how to use the idiomatic construct  not only X... but also Y  ( here  is a hard question that incorporates this idiom), as well as when to use  or  or  nor  in a sentence that involves negation. You should develop a habit of examining the full sentence for clues that may help you with meaning, parallelism, and so on. You do not have to know  everything  to do well on SC, but you should have a solid foundational knowledge of grammar, punctuation, and, yes, even (more common) idioms.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

EducationAisle · Answer

Indeed Gaurav; many years back, GMAT acknowledged that the usage of idioms presented an undue advantage to native English speakers. Hence, sentences that test you to  purely  idiomatic usage, will be discontinued.

Having said that, idioms do frequently offer an easy split among the answer choices. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  the most commonly tested idioms , their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

Do IDIOMS still hold significance in Verbal- SC

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