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09 Mar 2022, 01:00
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A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
45%
(medium)
Question Stats:
68% (02:01) correct
32%
(02:07)
wrong
based on 428
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Having established a base camp in McMurdo Sound and spent the winter of 1908 there, Ernest Shackleton headed south with three men, four ponies and supplies, but because of conditions in the Antarctic inland so brutal that all of the ponies died, his party ultimately failed to reach the South Pole, turning around at a then-record of a latitude of 88°23' South.
A) because of conditions in the Antarctic inland so brutal that all of the ponies died, his party ultimately failed to reach the South Pole, turning around
B) because of conditions in the Antarctic inland of such brutality so that all of the ponies died, his party failing ultimately to reach the South Pole, to turn around
C) because conditions in the Antarctic inland being as brutal as to kill all of the ponies, his party failing to reach ultimately the South Pole, turning around
D) because conditions in the Antarctic inland had been this brutal so that all of the ponies died, his party ultimately failed to reach the South Pole, turned around
E) because conditions in the Antarctic inland are so brutal as to kill all of the ponies, his party failing to reach ultimately the South Pole, turning around
09 Mar 2022, 01:05
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
I have inserted the word "but" in brackets at the beginning of each option to make the errors easier to see and the explanation easier to understand.
I am highlighting the fact that the word but appears immediately before the underlined portion.
Quote:
MAGOOSH OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Split #1: the part before the underline has a modifier, then a full independent clause with a subject ("Ernest Shackleton") and a verb ("headed"). Then there’s a "but" right before the underline. If we have an independent clause, then a "but," we need another independent clause.
In this second clause, his party would be the noun, and it needs a bona fide verb: failed is a good solid verb [that would be proper to use], but failing is only a participle, and cannot support a full independent clause. A full independent clause needs a verb.
Options (B) & (C) & (E) are wrong on this split.
Eliminate B, C, and E.
• Split #2: the comparison.
The structure—"so" [adjective] "that—is a favorite on the GMAT. This is one proper way to express this idea.
(A) has “so brutal that”—perfectly correct.
(B) has “of such brutality so that”—this is grammatically incorrect; if this were “of such brutality that”, that form would be grammatical, although somewhat wordy.
(C) has “being as brutal as to”—awkward and grammatically incorrect.
(D) has “this brutal so that”—in another context, this might be OK, but here, there’s no referent for the word "this," so it doesn’t fit in context.
(E) has “so brutal as to”—this is another perfectly correct structure.
Eliminate D.
These two splits are enough to narrow the answer down to (A).
(A) is the best answer.
09 Mar 2022, 06:25
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Should be A. ‘his party ultimately failed to reach the South Pole‘ is needed to make the sentence construction viable. And, between A and D, the use of past perfect, which is unnecessary, makes D incorrect.
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