Geophysically, Eurasia is Earth s largest landmass, and

Question

Geophysically, Eurasia is Earth’s largest landmass, and their peaks, the Himalayas, are the highest corresponding mountains on Earth.
(A) their peaks, the Himalayas, are the highest corresponding
(B) its peaks, the Himalayas, are correspondingly the highest
(C) its peaks, the Himalayas, are the highest corresponding
(D) its peaks, the Himalayas, correspond to the highest
(E) their peaks, the Himalayas, are correspondingly the highest

For a detailed discussion of Logical Predication, one of the most important topics on the GMAT Sentence Correction, see this post:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/logical-pr ... orrection/
That post also contains a complete solution to this particular question.

Experts, any further advice you would like to add about Logical Predication on GMAT SC?

Mike :-)

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear Shreks1190 , I'm happy to help. :-)

The participle " corresponding " can act as an adjective, as a noun modifier. When we add the "- ly " to any adjective or to a present participle, we get an adverb: therefore, " correspondingly " is an adverb, and as such, it can modify a verb or an adverb. Here, it modifies the adjective " highest ." Fundamentally, a " correspondence " is about a pattern of matching. It is about two things over here having a relationship, and two things over there having the same relationship. In the first part of the sentence, we said that " Eurasia is Earth’s largest landmass ." In other words, we established a particular relationship: among all of Earth's landmasses, Eurasia has the largest area. Among landmasses, Eurasia is the biggest. That's the relationship in the first part of the sentence. In the second part of the sentence, we want to say that something else has that same kind of relationship to the other members of its category. The Himalayas are the biggest in their category, biggest mountains on Earth. That's the same relationship, the relationship of being the biggest in one's category. We want to talk about this pattern of matching, and we need to modify the word that suggests the second appearance of this relationship. In other words, it needs to modify the adjective " highest ." If we want to modify an adjective, we need an adverb to do that. That's precisely why we added the adverb ending, "- ly ," and used the adverb " correspondingly ." Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

GyanOne · Answer

(A) and (E): The pronoun 'their' cannot be used to refer to Eurasia, as Eurasia is a singular noun. Reject.

Between (B), (C), and (D), we must choose one based on the meaning of 'correspond'. To correspond to something is to have a close similarity to it.

(B): This usage is correct. The adverb 'correspondingly' correctly correlates the size of Eurasia with the height of the Himalayas. The meaning therefore becomes - 'Just as Eurasia is the largest landmass, similarly the Himalayas are the highest peaks'. Note here that the size and the height are not being compared here. Instead the ranking of Eurasia as the largest landmass is being compared to the ranking of its peaks as the tallest. 
(C): 'are the highest corresponding mountains on Earth' - corresponding to what? The height of the mountains can correspond to the height of some other mountains, but not to the extent of the landmass. This option is therefore incorrect. 
(D): This option changes the meaning. If the Himalayas correspond to the highest mountains on Earth, the meaning is that the Himalayas closely resemble the highest peaks, but are not the highest peaks themselves. This is a different meaning from that expressed in the original sentence. This option is therefore wrong.

For these reasons, (B) is the best answer.

coolpintu · Answer

Eurasia IS...so we need to use ITS peak. A and E are eliminated. 
D changes the meaning when we say the himalayas correspond to the highest mountains on Earth.
C is very awkward.
B maintains proper //lism also by saying that 'Eurasia is Earth’s largest landmass and its peaks, the Himalayas, are correspondingly the highest mountains on Earth.

IMO B.

ankurgupta03 · Answer

Geophysically, Eurasia is Earth’s largest landmass, and their peaks, the Himalayas, are the highest corresponding mountains on Earth.

(A) their peaks, the Himalayas, are the highest corresponding
 Their cannot be used for Eurasia as it is a singular entity 
(B) its peaks, the Himalayas, are correspondingly the highest
 Correct parallelism 
(C) its peaks, the Himalayas, are the highest corresponding
 Highest corresponding mountains changes the meaning of the sentence 
(D) its peaks, the Himalayas, correspond to the highest
 Correspond to the highest is wrong as it is trying to compare with something 
(E) their peaks, the Himalayas, are correspondingly the highest
 Their cannot be used for Eurasia as it is a singular entity

dave785 · Answer

It's B, but this question plays more on the tester's knowledge of the meaning/use of "corresponding"

Do you think this would be a GMAT question? It seems less idiomatic and more of a vocabulary thing.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Dave, Well, I guess I would say that Diction is one of the areas that GMAT SC tests. ( Diction = the correct meaning and use of individual words, including difficult words such as "corresponding.") In fact, there's a question in the OG13 that plays on this exact distinction ---- SC #14 ---- and, another question that plays on the adjective/adverb split of the same word is SC #75. So, yes, I would say, by the standards set in the OG, what's tested in this question is "fair game" for the GMAT. Mike :-)

IvyLeague56 · Answer

I chose (C) although now I can see that why it was wrong. It totally changes the meaning. (B) it is then

Bluelagoon · Answer

Eliminate A and E as the pronoun is referring to singular subject. Now if you read the question closely you will see that it's a parallelism question. Geographically X, Correspondingly Y . B wins.
For a moment , i went with D as C is clearly wrong.But after re-reading the sentence B is a winner.

radhikamittal · Answer

1. geophysically .........cunjuction (and )......corresopondingly (paralleelism)
2. eurasia....its (pronoun ) 
 A,E liminated
mon B,C,D 
 B satisfy prallelim.

mba1382 · Answer

The question is not about parallelism but about logical predication. The justifications that you used to eliminate other options and select B are not as expected. Hope it helps :-)

mejia401 · Answer

"corresponding" the adjective must modify a noun, so the comparison is faulty because mountains and landmass cannot be compared.

"correspondingly" the adverb can modify the adjective "highest" or any superlative construction in general because all nouns must be compared with adjectives. Thus, "correspondingly" is the winner. B.

Shreks1190 · Answer

Can someone explain the use of  correspondingly  here?

anu1706 · Answer

Hi Mike,
Can you please elaborate the distorted meaning in option C & D. I chose D, but still not able to understand the meaning change. Help!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear anu1706 , I'm happy to help. :-)

First of all, the correspondence in this problem is the following matching pattern: Among world landmasses, Eurasia is the biggest. Among world mountains, the Himalayas are the biggest . The "correspondence" is between those two facts. The Himalaya mountains themselves don't correspond to anything: they are simply mentioned as part of a larger matching pattern. Choice (C) makes the mistake of saying that the Himalaya mountains themselves correspond with something. ... the Himalayas are the highest corresponding mountains on Earth . Think about that phrases. First of all, it suggests some illogical comparison, the Himalayas corresponding to something else. Furthermore, it suggests that other mountains are also part of this illogical comparison, and of all the mountains that participate in this illogical comparison, the Himalayas are the highest. There are a host of errors in that phrasing. Choice (D) makes an even more serious mistake: .... the Himalayas correspond to the highest mountains on Earth . Fact #1 about any correspondence is that when we say " A corresponds to B ," it is understood that A and B are two different things. We can't match two different things if they are the same thing! This phrasing is suggesting that A = " the Himalaya mountains " is one thing, and B = " the highest mountains on Earth " are two different things, that one place in the world we have " the Himalaya mountains " and in some other place, we have " the highest mountains on Earth ." That's both FALSE and a huge change in meaning. The prompt correctly implies that the Himalayas ARE the highest mountains on Earth. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

thangvietname · Answer

hi, I hope you remember me

but this time , with new posting, I am new and I hope you understand me.

this question is good for practice. you will understand me if the inference is not gmat style one

aragonn · Answer

Official Explanation Magoosh: 
Split #1: pronoun mistake. Sure, a whole lot of people live on Eurasia, more than half of the human race, but the subject Eurasia is singular, and must take a singular pronoun. The pronoun "its" is correct, and the pronoun "their" is incorrect. (A) & (E) make this mistake.

Split #2: The heart of this problem is the word "corresponds"/ "corresponding"/ "correspondingly". This is one of the hardest splits on the GMAT. The Himalayas, the mountains themselves, don't correspond to anything. Rather, they are part of a larger comparison. Eurasia has the "biggest in the world" landmass, and in the same way, its mountains, the Himalayas, are the "biggest in the world" mountains. That phrase, "in the same way", is an adverbial phrase: if it were replaced by a single word, that word would have to be an adverb. That is precisely why we need the adverb "correspondingly".

Choice (B) is the best possible answer.

Sidharth8 · Answer

A and E- Wrong, SV agreement. Eurasia is singular.
D- wrong meaning the sentence is supposed to say that the Himalaya are the highest peaks.
C- also has the wrong meaning, it implies that the Himalayas are the highest peaks that correspond to something else.
 
B is correct because it says that Himalayas are the highest peaks, as Eurasia is he largest landmass.

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Geophysically, Eurasia is Earth s largest landmass, and

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Geophysically, Eurasia is Earth s largest landmass, and

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