GMAT Strategy Chat 4 - Sentence Correction workshop!

Question

GMAT Strategy Chat 4 - Sentence Correction workshop! 
 This Monday we are going to conduct a special workshop for all of you who are struggling/fledgling/acing Sentence Correction Section on the GMAT.

Agneda for Strategy Chat 4 - SC Workshop

Sentence Correction Workshop 
 Special Focus on Modifiers/SV Agreement/Tenses 
 Sentence Correction Strategies 
 Pacing and Timing Skills for the Test day 
 Resource sharing and collaboration

Details of the session

When : Monday, 12th Jan 2014, 8 AM PST
 Where :  GMAT Club Chat room

sanket1991 · Answer

Can we have 5 different types of Official Questions on SC which we can Discuss?
It will be much more helpful and concise.

Celestial09 · Answer

Hey Souvik101990!
See you there then.Also check your PM once.

MKS · Answer

This is Strategy Chat 4 Seems, I missed chat 1,2, and 3 :shock:

If yes, can those transcripts be shared on this thread ? Thanks

Celestial09 · Answer

As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.
(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing
(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes
(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes
(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing
(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes

as discussed by souvik101990
will post answers and explanations once we get good attempts

thanks

sanket1991 · Answer

As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing the bee to sustain a fatal injury.
(A) As the honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed, staying where it is inserted, this results in the act of stinging causing
(B) As the heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes
(C) The honeybee’s stinger, heavily barbed and staying where it is inserted, results in the fact that the act of stinging causes
(D) The heavily barbed stinger of the honeybee stays where it is inserted, and results in the act of stinging causing
(E) The honeybee’s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes

NOTE: A construction favourite in the GMAT that you will probably not find in books. Hope it is useful
the construction (preposition) + NOUN + VERBing is WRONG, unless the preposition refers directly to the NOUN. (that isn't usually the case, so, if you're in doubt, you should strike choices with this sort of construction.)

For instance: i've never heard of bees stinging dogs WRONG. this is not an issue of whether you've heard of bees themselves; it's an issue of whether you've heard of their stinging dogs....results in the act of stinging causing... WRONG. this doesn't result in the act of stinging itself; it results in what is caused by the act of stinging.
I have a picture of my cousin playing hockey. CORRECT. this time, the picture is actually of my cousin, so we're good.
Whats the question
therefore, (a) and (d) are wrong because of "...results in the act of stinging causing...". The pronoun "this" in (a) doesn't refer to any particular noun. this consideration also kills (a).
You can't say "the stinger results in...". "results in..." can only be used when it's LITERALLY TRUE. for instance, you could say that the attempt resulted in failure, since the attempt ITSELF ended in failure.
if you understand this literal meaning, then it goes without saying that you can't use this sort of construction for physical objects.
 TAKEAWAY: you can only say "X results in Y" when X is an ACTION. if X is an OBJECT, you can NEVER say that X "results" in anything. 
this kills choices (c) and (d), in which "stinger" is the subject of the verb "results".
choice (b) misuses the connector "as". the connector "as" connects two independent clauses BY ITSELF. if "as" is used to connect two independent clauses, it should NOT be used in conjunction with any other connector words.
In choice (b), "as" and "with" are used together. the use of either of these prohibits the use of the other, so this choice is wrong.
The MEANING of the sentence is that the bee's stinger stays where it's placed, and so the bee dies because it can't get away after the sting.

sanket1991 · Answer

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.
(A) less than they did
(B) less than it did
(C) less than they were
(D) lower than
(E) lower than they were

MKS · Answer

Another awesome initiative by GMATClub and Souvik

You guys rock ! Need to learn a lot from you ! And regarding your explanations, we really need to reread it 4-5 times to digest it

Thanks MKS

sanket1991 · Answer

Explanation for Q.2
 
 Although I don't think it is the relevant issue in this one, "employment costs" might be either countable or uncountable, depending on the context. You could count the various components (employment costs = hiring + training + salary + benefits + etc.). On the other hand, you could lump all of these costs into one amount, which would be uncountable.

Uncountable is probably the intended meaning here, as it says the costs "rose" not "increased in number."

Either "less" or "lower" could work with an uncountable quantity, so what do we really need to know about these words?

--"less" is a comparative that means "smaller in size, amount, degree, etc."
--"lower" is a comparative that is the opposite of higher.

I think the relevant amount is not the "employment costs" but the percent by which the costs rose. I think "less than" more clearly conveys the idea that employment costs rose 2.8% in the year ending in September, while employment costs rose <2.8% in the year ending in June.

If you wanted to use "lower than" correctly, you would need a noun in the second part of the comparison (e.g. "2.8% is lower than the percent for last quarter). Both (D) and (E) can be eliminated on this basis. (D) has no noun in the second part of the comparison. (E) has "they" = costs, which is the wrong noun, in the second part of the comparison.

The only difference between (A) and (C) is the verb. Consider parallelism with the other verbs that share the subject.
(A) Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in ..., slightly less than they (employment costs) did in ...
(C) Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in ..., slightly less than they (employment costs) were in ...
And hence ans. A

The active verb "rose" parallels the active "did." There's a name for this: proform. Basically, "did" replaces "rose" in much the same way that a pronoun might replace a noun. It is understood that "did" = "rose."
You've probably heard something like this in speech: "Did you say the sun rose already?" "Yes, it did." (same idea: it = the sun, did = rose). "Yes, it were" is an incorrect response.

aib4747 · Answer

Definitely a good initiative by the experts. We can try having a few more questions during the workshop.... Thanks...

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