Having often been thought of as still a city of working-class neighbor

Hi,

thats a good point to notice.

i agree with you...

there are some particular usage of ALTHOUGH which i have encountered.

-ALTHOUGH is a subordinate conjunction and is always followed by a clause.(as per OG)==>ALTHOUGH X,Y(HERE X and Y ARE CLAUSES)

-ALTHOUGH always connects two clauses with a comma.(as per RON)

-never use a conjunction and ALTHOUGH together to connect two clauses
ex: ALTHOUGH X,and Y ==>THIS IS WRONG.((HERE X and Y ARE CLAUSES)

- ALTHOUGH is generally followed by definite thing.....so probability words such as MAY BE,COULD BE,POSSIBLY...all these are wrong IN ALTHOUGH CLAUSE(means clause X)(as per RON)

NOW in this question OPTION E is the best choice because all other options have other major errors...
good thing is that this is not an official question and hope not to see such question in GMAT.

hope it helps

IF you read the sentence you will see that sentence intends to show CONTRAST that THOUGHT OF AS OCCUPIED BY WORKING CLASS....CHICAGO IS OCCUPIED BY POOR PEOPLE.
SO to show the contrast we need contrasting words such as: ALTHOUGH/EVEN THOUGH/BUT ..etc

(A) Having often been thought of as still a city of working-class neightborhoods, Chicago is increasingly populated by poor people.
WRONG.
-no contrasting word present.
-incorrect placement of STILL

(B) It is still often thought of as a city of working-class neighborhoods, and Chicago is increasingly populated by poor people.
WRONG.
-NO CONTRASTING WORD
-USE OF AND..makes it two IC hence the intended meaning is lost.

(C) In sprite of still often being though of as a city of working-class neighborhoods, the people who polulate Chicago are increasingly poor.
WRONG.
-BEING makes it unnecessary wordy.
-In sprite of still often being though of as a city of working-class neighborhoods==>this whole thing is modifying THE PEOPLE ..which is wrong it should modify CHICAGO.

(D) It is still often though of as a city of working-class neighborhoods, but the people who populate Chicago are increasingly poor.
WRONG.
-NON PARALLEL STRUCTURE ...First clause subject : IT(CHICAGO)....Second clause subject: the people....seems we are comparing CHICAGO with PEOPLE.
HENCE intended meaning is not very clear.

(E) Although still often though of as a city of working-class neighborhoods, Chicago is increasingly populated by poor people.
CORRECT.

HOPE IT HELPS

Many working class people live in Chicago but a lot of poor people live there.

A contrast is needed to balance both parts of the sentence.
"Although" fits suitably.

E) Although still often thought of as a city of working-class neighborhoods, Chicago is increasingly populated by poor people.

(E) wins

(C) is non-idiomatic
Correct usage for in spite of is :-
in spite of x, y

D) It is still often thought of as a city of working-class neighborhoods, but the people who populate Chicago are increasingly poor.

still often has the different meaning than intended by the author,which actually makes the sentence unfit in meaning and logic because it goes into the past tense.

E is the only one that makes sense and isn't awkward here.


For D-

There are two different clauses connected by "But".
1. "It" in the first statement doesnt have an antecedent it can refer to in the first statement. You can replace "It" with just anything.
2. Ideally the first sentence plays the role of a modifier and should modify Chicago. If you ask yourself- What is thought as the city of working class -the answer would be chicago. hence this modifier should be placed next to Chicago - Like E does.

D) It is still often thought of as a city of working-class neighborhoods, but the people who populate Chicago are increasingly poor.


E) Although still often thought of as a city of working-class neighborhoods, Chicago is increasingly populated by poor people.

Hope this helps!

"farukqmul"
you need to know the rules regarding modifier, clause indicators, and concise version writing style. readin a volume of materials do not bring or will certain your expected score. so i am suggesting you to read every explanation of each sentence for og 13th or verbal test paper over online or by forming a group or panel.
i think it will help you much.



you may purchase a book on sc named mgmat sc from nilkhet or send me your email to get that softcopy.

- Correct.

I think most of us approach SC questions in a mechanical way & such approach should be avoided.

Hi Navy,

The crux(meaning) of the sentence is that it introduces a contrast.

Only options C, D & E present contradictions.

In option C, the first part of the sentence talks of the city of Chicago(..thought of as a city...) whereas the second part after the comma talks of the people who populate-hence it is wrong because we are erroneously comparing city to the population.

In option D, the same error as above is repeated-wrong comparison between city and population.

Hence, we are left with only E as the correct answer.



Regards

Argha

blueseas thanks for reply
one more thing i read it somewhere ,"Although" require a subject in its clause.otherwise its use is wrong?

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

E

(A) uses the complicated passive construction having often been thought of for no good reason; there's no sequence of past events. The point of the sentence is that people now still think something that's no longer entirely correct. (B) leaves unclear what it refers to, and also fails to convey the contrast between the truth and what people think. (C) seems to say that the people are thought of as a city of working-class neighborhoods. In (D), it appears to refer to the people. (E) uses the correct sequence of tenses-(simple) past and present and it also uses the phrase although still often thought of to set up the contrast.
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