sweetlyimproved wrote:
vshaunak@gmail.com wrote:
Inuits of the Bering Sea were
in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits of the North Pacific and northern Alaska.
(A) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than
(B) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than
(C) in isolation from contact with Europeans longer than were
(D) isolated from contact with Europeans longer than were
(E) in isolation and without contacts with Europeans longer than
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/images-from-the-past/Rather than tread farther out on this particular patch of thin ice, I would like to venture in another direction, toward a possible explanation for the persistence of Palaeoeskimo art and religion in Bering Sea Eskimo culture. What factors might have been important in preserving these traditions in this particular region? Two, geography and ecology, are worthy of special consideration. Even in the late 18th and 19th centuries, Bering Sea Eskimos were
isolated from contact with Europeans longer than were Aleuts or Eskimos of the North Pacific, Bering Strait, and north Alaska. This was why Nelson found the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta so rich in traditional culture. The reasons for this isolation have to do with the shallowness of the Bering Sea which made it difficult for European ships to approach the coast; the absence of stocks of commercially-exploitable whales and walrus; and the limited scale of a land-based European-Eskimo fur trade.
This has been disucussed on the forum many times. Please clarify my doubt about the comparison made in B and D.
Why is B incorrect?
Inuits of the Bering Sea were isolated from contact with Europeans longer than Aleuts or Inuits of the North Pacific and northern Alaska
(were isolated from contact with Europeans).When should be use verb as is used in 'D' and when we can omit the verb as is done in 'B'. Please give your insight.
The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 10th Edition, 2003Practice QuestionQuestion No.: SC 224
Page: 688
Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review, 2005Practice QuestionQuestion No.: SC 106
Page: 252
GMATNinja How could I have eliminated answer C without needing to memorize the idiom?
Thanks a lot! Just want to know if there would be other way around that answer since I'm a non-native speaker (I chose C between C and D)
Well, there's no avoiding the idiom here, but bear in mind: 1) it's exceedingly rare that a question comes down to knowing a particular idiom and 2) on the rare occasion when it does, you can sometimes reason your way to the correct construction, rather than memorizing it.
Here, it's perfectly logical for someone to be isolated
from something. For example,
Tim has been isolated from his kids since his wife discovered that the clown he hired for his daughter's birthday party had only been out on parole for two days.
Here "has been isolated from" conveys the idea of "kept away from." In other words, there's an action suggested. Whom is Tim being kept away/isolated from? His kids. Perfectly logical.
Now consider:
Tim has been in isolation from his kids...
Here, "isolation" is a noun, so Tim isn't actively being kept
from his kids the way he was in the first example. Put another way, "from his kids" seems like an illogical way to modify the noun "isolation," as opposed to the act of isolating. Is it possible to figure out what the sentence means? Sure. But it's not as clear or logical as the first example. So "isolated from" is better than "in isolation from."
The takeaway: don't bother memorizing a bunch of idioms! It's highly unlikely an idiom will ever be a crucial decision point, and on the off chance that it is, try to reason your way through the options as best you can. (For more on idioms, check out
this article.)
I hope that helps!
Very important to know the importance of reasoning through the options. Now that I'm practicing harder questions I'm noticing that meaning gets more important than grammar on those types of questions.
Cheers from Brazil (I sent you a message last week and am always following you!)