Hello Everyone!
There seems to be a lot of great discussion on this question already, mostly around how to answer this type of question quickly. Let's take a fresh look at it, and figure out how to tackle such a difficult question in a timely manner!
To get started, here is the original question, with any major differences between each option highlighted in orange:
Gusty westerly winds will continue
to usher in a seasonably cool air mass into the region, as a broad area of high pressure will build and bring fair and dry weather for several days.
(A)
to usher in a seasonably cool air mass
into the region
, as a broad area of high pressure will build
and(B)
ushering in a seasonably cool air mass
into the region
and a broad area of high pressure will build
that(C)
to usher in a seasonably cool air mass
to the
region, a broad area of high pressure building
, and(D)
ushering a seasonably cool air mass
in the region
, with a broad area of high pressure building
and(E)
to usher a seasonably cool air mass
into the region
while a broad area of high pressure builds
, which willAfter a quick glance over each option, there are a few major differences we can address that will help narrow our options down quickly:
1. to usher / ushering
2. into / to / in
3. conjunctions & punctuation after "region"
4. each option's ending Let's look at #1 on this list first: to usher / ushering. This was a tough one for a lot of people, and for good reason!
As it turns out, you can use both of these in this sentence and they'll work. If you find yourself stuck on to usher / ushering for too long, it's a good sign that you need to move on to something else on the list. You can always come back to it later if you need to!
Instead of staying stuck on #1 for too long, let's jump into #2 on the list: into / to / in. One thing that jumped out to me right away is that some options say "ushering/to usher in....into the region," which is redundant! You can usher something
into a region, or usher
in something
to a region, but you cannot usher
in something
into a region! Let's see which options we can eliminate that are redundant:
(A)
to usher in a seasonably cool air mass
into the region, as a broad area of high pressure will build and
(B)
ushering in a seasonably cool air mass
into the region and a broad area of high pressure will build that
(C)
to usher in a seasonably cool air mass
to the region, a broad area of high pressure building, and
(D)
ushering a seasonably cool air mass
in the region, with a broad area of high pressure building and
(E)
to usher a seasonably cool air mass
into the region while a broad area of high pressure builds, which will
You can eliminate options A & B quickly because they are redundant.This leaves us with only 3 options left, so
let's focus on #3 and #4 on the list: conjunctions/punctuation after "region" & their endings. We need to make sure commas and conjunctions are being used correctly, and that the endings work with the rest of the sentence. Here's how each option breaks down:
(C) to usher in a seasonably cool air mass to the
region, a broad area of high pressure
building, andThis option is
INCORRECT because the comma after "region" creates an awkward comma splice. It also doesn't work to say that high pressure is "building, and bring fair and dry weather..." because it's not parallel. It should be "building and bringing" for it to be parallel! It also says that ALL of the actions happen at the same time, which isn't accurate. First, the cool air mass comes in and builds pressure, and THEN fair and dry weather happens over the next several days.
(D) ushering a seasonably cool air mass in the region
, with a broad area of high pressure
building andThis option is
INCORRECT because it uses the phrase "building and bring," which isn't parallel. We don't really have a problem using the comma before "with" in this case because it's being used to indicate that everything after it is non-essential information (which it is). The meaning of the sentence doesn't change if you take it out, so it's a non-essential phrase that merely adds colorful details. This sentence also suggests that ALL of the actions happen at the same time, instead of in a particular order.
(E) to usher a seasonably cool air mass into the region
while a broad area of high pressure builds
, which willThis option is
CORRECT because it's not redundant (to usher...into the region), "while" is being used correctly to show two actions occur at the same time, and the conjunction "which will" properly shows that the action "bring fair and dry weather for several days" happens after the cool air mass shows up. This sentence is clear, concise, and shows the proper order of events!
There you go - option E is the correct answer, and hopefully we got to it quickly enough for you to tackle more GMAT questions in the allotted time!
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Updated on: 27 Jun 2021, 15:09
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