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daagh
Let’s take you have more than 500 flowers and you want to sell all of them. Then we say that you want to sell the more than 500 flowers.
In the second case, you have more than 600 or 700 flowers, but you want to sell only just more than 500 flowers, say 550 or so , retaining the others. In this case, we will say that you want to sell more than the 500 flowers.
In the given topic the in A before more stresses that he set free all his 500 and odd slaves, while D implies that he retained some. This is not the intended meaning. If he wanted emancipate slaves, why would ha have retained a few alone?


Please let me know the meaning of the below sentence. What does it convey?

''You want to sell more than 500 flowers''

I have eliminated article ''the'' altogether. What does it convey now?

Regards
Vighnesh
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daagh
Let’s take you have more than 500 flowers and you want to sell all of them. Then we say that you want to sell the more than 500 flowers.
In the second case, you have more than 600 or 700 flowers, but you want to sell only just more than 500 flowers, say 550 or so , retaining the others. In this case, we will say that you want to sell more than the 500 flowers.
In the given topic the in A before more stresses that he set free all his 500 and odd slaves, while D implies that he retained some. This is not the intended meaning. If he wanted emancipate slaves, why would ha have retained a few alone?


Please let me know the meaning of the below sentence. What does it convey?

''You want to sell more than 500 flowers''

I have eliminated article ''the'' altogether. What does it convey now?

Regards
Vighnesh

Hello VIGHNESHKAMATH,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the sentence ''You want to sell more than 500 flowers.'' simply conveys that "You" want to sell upwards of 500 flowers.

By contrast, ''You want to sell the more than 500 flowers.'' conveys that "You: want to sell a particular set of more than 500 flowers.

Further, ''You want to sell more than the 500 flowers.'' conveys that "You" want to sell a particular set of 500 flowers and more flowers in addition to that set.

The use of "the" is used to convey specificity; when a noun is referred to with the article "the" it means that the sentence refers to a specific instance of the noun.

For example - "Soldiers are heroes." conveys that all soldiers are heroes.

"The soldiers are heroes." conveys that some specific soldiers are heroes.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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In 1791 Robert Carter III, one of the wealthiest plantation owners in Virginia, stunned his family, friends, and neighbors by filing a deed of emancipation, setting free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered his property.

(A) setting free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered
(B) setting free more than the 500 slaves legally considered as
(C) and set free more than 500 slaves, who were legally considered as
(D) and set free more than the 500 slaves who were legally considered
(E) and he set free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered as


https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/29/us/slave-owner-s-1791-act-of-emancipation-endures.html

The setting was apt. The Northern Neck of Virginia, wedged between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, is the birthplace of a number of Americans identified with the concept of liberty. George Washington was born a few miles from here, as were James Madison and James Monroe.

But unlike Robert Carter 3d, the wealthy planter who was honored near here tonight, none of those familiar figures felt compelled to extend freedom to the dark-skinned people who were their slaves. 'Ahead of His Time'

"He was a man ahead of his time," said Nancy Carter Crump, a distant relative of Carter.

Two hundred years ago, Carter, one of the wealthiest men in Virginia who owned 60,000 acres on 18 plantations stunned his family, friends and neighbors by filing what was called a deed of emancipation, or manumission, setting free the more than 500 "negroes & mulatto slaves" who were his "absolute property."

I took 8 Seconds
Considered as is wrong idiom so B C & E out
and D dont have anything parallel so its A
moreover the last clause is part of emancipation so cant use and
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daagh
Let’s take you have more than 500 flowers and you want to sell all of them. Then we say that you want to sell the more than 500 flowers.
In the second case, you have more than 600 or 700 flowers, but you want to sell only just more than 500 flowers, say 550 or so , retaining the others. In this case, we will say that you want to sell more than the 500 flowers.
In the given topic the in A before more stresses that he set free all his 500 and odd slaves, while D implies that he retained some. This is not the intended meaning. If he wanted emancipate slaves, why would ha have retained a few alone?


In your example, instead of saying ''More than the 500 flowers'' if I say ''more than 500 flowers'', is there any difference in meaning?

Thank You
Vighnesh
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daagh
Let’s take you have more than 500 flowers and you want to sell all of them. Then we say that you want to sell the more than 500 flowers.
In the second case, you have more than 600 or 700 flowers, but you want to sell only just more than 500 flowers, say 550 or so , retaining the others. In this case, we will say that you want to sell more than the 500 flowers.
In the given topic the in A before more stresses that he set free all his 500 and odd slaves, while D implies that he retained some. This is not the intended meaning. If he wanted emancipate slaves, why would ha have retained a few alone?


In your example, instead of saying ''More than the 500 flowers'' if I say ''more than 500 flowers'', is there any difference in meaning?

Thank You
Vighnesh
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I went with A because "considered as" is wrong most of the time in GMAT.
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I went with A because "considered as" is wrong most of the time in GMAT.

Hello ArpanKanjilal,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity here, "considered as" is always wrong on the GMAT; "considered" is always used without any type of helping words or phrases, such as "to be" or "as".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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daagh
Let’s take you have more than 500 flowers and you want to sell all of them. Then we say that you want to sell the more than 500 flowers.
In the second case, you have more than 600 or 700 flowers, but you want to sell only just more than 500 flowers, say 550 or so , retaining the others. In this case, we will say that you want to sell more than the 500 flowers.
In the given topic the in A before more stresses that he set free all his 500 and odd slaves, while D implies that he retained some. This is not the intended meaning. If he wanted emancipate slaves, why would ha have retained a few alone?


In your example, instead of saying ''More than the 500 flowers'' if I say ''more than 500 flowers'', is there any difference in meaning?

Thank You
Vighnesh

Hello VIGHNESHKAMATH,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, there is a slight difference in meaning between these two phrases:

''I want to sell more than the 500 flowers'.' - this sentence means I want to sell a specific set of 500 flowers and more flowers in addition to that set.

"I want to sell more than 500 flowers." - this sentence simply means I want to sell in excess of 500 flowers.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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My way to solve this is eliminate B,C,E as Considered dont take any preposition with it
and Between A and D I choose A due to parllelism
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Dear Experts, GMATNinja AndrewN mikemcgarry

I saw many people asked about A&B. Can anyone elaborate why (D) is wrong?

If (A) is correct : setting free ..... should modify "Robert Carter III stunned his family" right? the non-underlined part already have "by filling a deed of emancipation" Thus, "setting free the more than.." is another action and must be parallel with filling. Therefore, there should be "and".

In 1791 Robert Carter III, ....... , stunned his family, friends and neighbors by filling a deed of emancipation "and" setting free the more than 500 slaes who were legally considered


Then, why (A) is correct and (D) wrong?
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Tanchat
Dear Experts, GMATNinja AndrewN mikemcgarry

I saw many people asked about A&B. Can anyone elaborate why (D) is wrong?

If (A) is correct : setting free ..... should modify "Robert Carter III stunned his family" right? the non-underlined part already have "by filling a deed of emancipation" Thus, "setting free the more than.." is another action and must be parallel with filling. Therefore, there should be "and".

In 1791 Robert Carter III, ....... , stunned his family, friends and neighbors by filling a deed of emancipation "and" setting free the more than 500 slaes who were legally considered


Then, why (A) is correct and (D) wrong?

I would argue that 'setting free the more than 500 slaves' is actually modifying 'by filing a deed of emancipation.'

Comma,--ing modifiers usually describe 'subj-verb' clauses. However, they are technically an *adverb*, and adverbs can also describe *other modifiers.* So I think this is an example where the adverb 'setting free...' is describing the *other* adverb 'by filing a deed of emancipation.'

If you build parallel structure, it makes it unclear that the 'deed of emancipation' is HOW he freed the slaves. With that structure, those are TWO things he did that surprised his family. He surprised his family by FILING A DEED...and [by] SETTING HIS SLAVES FREE. But that's actually just one single action.

D is wrong for similar reasons. He did two things: stunned his family, and set free his slaves. But it isn't clear in the structure that what stunned his family WAS the fact that he freed his slaves.
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Tanchat
Dear Experts, GMATNinja AndrewN mikemcgarry

I saw many people asked about A&B. Can anyone elaborate why (D) is wrong?

If (A) is correct : setting free ..... should modify "Robert Carter III stunned his family" right? the non-underlined part already have "by filling a deed of emancipation" Thus, "setting free the more than.." is another action and must be parallel with filling. Therefore, there should be "and".

In 1791 Robert Carter III, ....... , stunned his family, friends and neighbors by filling a deed of emancipation "and" setting free the more than 500 slaes who were legally considered


Then, why (A) is correct and (D) wrong?
Hello, Tanchat. I agree with the response provided above. I will add that, in my view, the placement of the comparative more than leads to a completely different meaning. Ignore the other elements of answer choices (A) and (D) to focus on this point for a moment.

(A) the more than 500 slaves = there were more than 500 slaves
(D) more than the 500 slaves = something in addition to a group of 500 slaves

If I write, The boy traded more than the 500 baseball cards in his collection, I find myself wondering the following:

  • Did the boy previously own trading cards that pertained to other sports? (e.g., football, basketball, hockey)
  • Did the boy trade his binder of cards, or plastic sheets or cases to hold cards, or other trading-card-related items?
  • Did the boy trade video games or something else a boy might possess in addition to those baseball cards?

I cannot ignore such thoughts, since the placement of the comparative more than forces me to make such associations. Getting back to the original sentence, at best, (D) makes me wonder why the sentence does not specify what else Robert Carter III may have set free: horses? cattle? sheep? I am not making a joke about slavery in any way, but the frame leaves much to be desired in the way of clarity:

set/setting free more than the _____ who were legally considered his property

This one is a lost cause, and we can abandon (D) on this consideration alone.

Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew
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hello all, my question is that isn't the first part of the sentence an independent clause and must be followed by, in that case, an and? It seems that isn't the case, can somebody pls elaborate. Thx
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In 1791 Robert Carter III, one of the wealthiest plantation owners in Virginia, stunned his family, friends, and neighbors by filing a deed of emancipation, setting free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered his property.

(A) setting free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered
(B) setting free more than the 500 slaves legally considered as
Use of "the" doesn't make sense. We want to talk about a number, not a particular of group of 500 slaves.

(C) and set free more than 500 slaves, who were legally considered as
"Robert Carter III stunned"
"Robert Carter III set free"
The parallelism is fine

The usage of the comma makes the clause following 500 slaves non restrictive.

The use of "as" is not correct

(D) and set free more than the 500 slaves who were legally considered
"Robert Carter III stunned"
"Robert Carter III set free"
The parallelism is fine

Use of "the" doesn't make sense. We want to talk about a number, not a particular of group of 500 slaves.

(E) and he set free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered as
"Robert Carter III stunned"
"Robert Carter III he set free"
Parallelism is incorrect.

The use of "as" is not correct
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hello all, my question is that isn't the first part of the sentence an independent clause and must be followed by, in that case, an and? It seems that isn't the case, can somebody pls elaborate. Thx
Hi s3fushah,

Are you thinking about attaching a second independent clause to an existing independent clause? That's something we can do, but it's not something that we have to do. We can attach one or more modifiers to an independent clause, and that's what we see in the correct option.

1. ... Robert Carter III... stunned his family, friends, and neighbors by filing a deed of emancipation, setting free the...
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s3fushah
hello all, my question is that isn't the first part of the sentence an independent clause and must be followed by, in that case, an and? It seems that isn't the case, can somebody pls elaborate. Thx

In 1791 Robert Carter III, one of the wealthiest plantation owners in Virginia, stunned his family, friends, and neighbors by filing a deed of emancipation

You are correct in the sense that this part can stand as a sentence by itself. Does that REQUIRE the following part to begin with an AND - not necessarily.
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In 1791 Robert Carter III, one of the wealthiest plantation owners in Virginia, stunned his family, friends, and neighbors by filing a deed of emancipation, setting free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered his property.

(A) setting free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered
(B) setting free more than the 500 slaves legally considered as
(C) and set free more than 500 slaves, who were legally considered as
(D) and set free more than the 500 slaves who were legally considered
(E) and he set free the more than 500 slaves who were legally considered as


Hi Experts GMATNinja KarishmaB mgmat egmat

My take on this question why (D) though it is parallel is wrong and (A) is correct. I think the main reason is that one event is dependent on the other and not independent stand alone events. Please suggest if my take is correct..

I chose (D) being a big fan of parallelism.

Thanks.
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