Linking arrangements among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have in most other developed countries. (A) among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have (B) in the United States among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they did (C) between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as (D) in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have (E) between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did SC48420.01 OG2020 NEW QUESTION Diction; Verb Form The sentence presents a contrast between the United States and other countries with respect to the relationship (or lack thereof) between school and workplace. The sentence has two flaws. The first flaw is the use of among , which should be used to indicate only a relationship of more than two entities. Here, the use of among suggests a relationship among secondary schools. But the intended relationship is between two entities: secondary schools on the one hand and the workplace on the other. The preposition between is a better usage. The second flaw relates to the use of have . It would be appropriate as a proxy for a preceding occurrence of the past-perfect verb have evolved , rather than the simple-past verb from, evolved , used in the first part of the sentence. The simple-past verb form did is a better proxy for evolved . (A) The sentence is flawed in the ways explained. (B) The default reading of the phrase in the United States would treat it as a modifier of arrangements , but this reading is nonsensical in the context of the sentence as a whole; it makes no sense to say that linking arrangements in the United States have evolved in other countries. The parallelism that would help to highlight the intended comparison is lost. Also, the preposition among is not correct, for the reason explained above. (C) This can convey what is likely an unintended meaning : that the linking arrangements never evolved in the United States and never evolved in most other developed countries . (D) The default reading of the phrase in the United States would treat it as a modifier of arrangements , but this reading is nonsensical in the context of the sentence as a whole; it makes no sense to say that linking arrangements in the United States have evolved in other countries. The phrase would be better treated as an adverbial modifier of the verb evolved . The parallelism that would help to highlight the comparison is lost. (E) Correct . None of the flaws identified above, nor any other flaw, is present here.

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26 Jun 2019, 23:46

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generis

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Practice Question
Online test bank question number : SC48420.01

Linking arrangements among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have in most other developed countries.

(A) among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have
(B) in the United States among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they did
(C) between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as [not parallel]
(D) in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have
(E) between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did

• Split # 1: Linking arrangements must modify secondary schools and workplace
Linking arrangements refer to [what did not happen between] secondary schools and the workplace

Options B and D incorrectly place "in the United States" immediately after "linking arrangements."
Eliminate B and D

• Split #2 - between, not among

Although secondary schools and workplaces are numerous (more than two),
we still use between in this situation because:
1) the linkage is between two sets of institutions; and
2) the logic of the sentence suggests a bilateral (two-way) connection between two "places"
rather than a web of connections among many different kinds of places

Options A and B incorrectly use among rather than between.
Eliminate A. (B is already gone.)

• Split #3 - Parallelism

Comparison word: Xs never evolved AS ________

(1) The verb on the RHS of the comparison should be DID, not have
(2) there must be a subject and a verb on the right hand side of the comparison
because as should be followed by a clause and parallelism must be maintained

"Evolved" is a simple past tense verb.
The verb in the first part of the comparison determines the tense of the verb in the second part.
We use the verbs do, does, and did often to stand in for other verbs (so that we do not have to repeat the verb phrase)
Did can substitute for any verb in the first part of a comparison except
-- a TO BE verb; or
-- TO HAVE if have is an auxiliary (helping verb)
Did can "stand in" for the action verb "evolved."

Have is not a past tense verb;
Xs between Ys and Zs never evolved as Xs have is not parallel.
DID, correctly, is past tense, just as evolved is

Options D and A incorrectly use HAVE rather than DID.

Option C needs a subject and a verb after the as
-- as should be followed by a clause
-- "in most other developed countries" is just a prepositional phrase.
It has no subject or verb and is not a clause -- but we need a clause for AS.
-- Xs between Ys and Zs in the U.S. never evolved as [] in other countries is not parallel
Eliminate C (A and D are already gone

)

Answer E

Hello Generis,

In order to maintain parallelism, it is not necessary that the parallel elements be in same tense, right?

So how is "have" incorrect when compared to "did"?

Here's an example from Manhattan blog: My cousin joined the Air Force in 1989 and will be discharged in four years.

Other verbal experts, please feel free to pitch in!

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rocky03 We do want to keep tenses parallel unless there is a reason to switch. In the example from our book, it makes sense that someone joined the Air Force in the past and will be discharged in the future. However, in this SC question, we are comparing what has occurred in the US vs. what has occurred in other countries, so there's no reason to switch tenses.

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For clarity,
(D)Linking arrangements in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have

D actually says this:
Linking arrangements in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as Linking arrangements in the United States have in other countries

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EMPOWERgmatVerbal

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options to the correct one! To begin, let's do a quick scan over the options and highlight any major differences in orange:

Linking arrangements among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have in most other developed countries.

A. among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have
B. in the United States among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they did
C. between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as
D. in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have
E. between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did

After a quick glance over the options, a couple key differences jump out:

1. among vs. between (Idioms)
2. as they have / as they did / as (Parallelism)

Let's start with #1 on our list: among vs. between. There is a difference between using "among" versus "between" when combining things:

between = 2 items
among = 3+ items

Since we're only talking about 2 items (secondary schools & the workplace), we need to use "between" here:

A. among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have
B. in the United States among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they did
C. between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as
D. in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have
E. between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did

We can eliminate options A & B because they use "among" to combine 2 things, when "between" is the correct way to say that.

Now that we've narrowed it down a bit, let's tackle #2 on our list: parallelism. We need to make sure that the two items being compared are parallel in nature. Let's look at each option more carefully with the remainder of the original sentence to ensure they are parallel:

C. between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as in most other developed countries.
This is INCORRECT because it's creating a false comparison! This sentence is comparing the evolution in the United States to other countries, and NOT the evolution in other countries! This is not a parallel comparison, so let's rule this one out.

D. in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have in most other developed countries.
This is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, whenever we replace the action verb in a comparison, we typically use a form of the verb "to do" (do, did, does) and not "to have" (have, has, had). Second, the sentence is discussing past tense events, yet the verb "have" is present tense, which doesn't match!

E. between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did in most other developed countries.
This is CORRECT! It uses the past tense "did" to stay consistent with the rest of the sentence, and the phrase "they did" is a parallel replacement for "linking arrangement evolved." This sentence is comparing the evolution in the United States with the evolution in other countries, which is parallel.

There you have it - option E is the correct choice! If you can become familiar with common idioms that appear on the GMAT and understand how to handle comparisons, answering these types of questions on the GMAT should be a breeze!

Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Sometimes I see similar comparison where "they did" part can be omitted as the meaning is clear. In the following example, it is the "has".
Ex. A country has higher sugar consumption than B country (has).

OA says C is not right because if could cause confusion, and make the sentence sounds like "that the linking arrangements never evolved in the United States and never evolved in most other developed countries."

Can you please confirm is the "they did" can be omitted if the meaning is not a problem? Thanks a lot!

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FlyingWhale
I don't think we can validly read C as meaning the same thing as E. The "as" has to compare clauses or modifiers. Since there's no clause after "as," we'd need it to compare "in the US" with "in other countries." Then the most likely reading is that these arrangements did not evolve in the US in the same way that they evolved in other countries. That's a very different meaning, since it suggests that these arrangements did evolve in the US, just in a different way.

More important, though, is that there is no flaw in E. If we are comparing C and E, we can't cut E just because it adds a few words. If they mean the same thing, they may not be needed, but that wouldn't make E wrong all by itself. So in general, if you're down to 2 choices that seem to mean the same thing, but one has additional language to make that meaning clearer (such as a clarifying verb here, or a noun in place of a pronoun), choose that one!

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DmitryFarber

DmitryFarber

Thanks for the little trick.

Just to clarify, C is not wrong for faulty comparison or other grammar issues, but for meaning? If so, how do I know what should be the intended meaning of the original sentence without knowing the background information. The way you mentioned that C could be confusing could be the intended the meaning as well? How do I know it is not what the question intends for? I seems to fall into these kind of traps often. Would love to get some tips on it!

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FlyingWhale
Determining the author's intended meaning can certainly be difficult. Here are a few guidelines:

*The right answer should make sense and have a clear meaning. If an answer isn't clear, then it hasn't done a good job of conveying the intended meaning, whatever that meaning is.
*Many wrong answers convey meanings which are illogical even without any background: events happen out of order, inanimate objects have goals or desires, or modifiers apply to parts of the sentence that seem very strange. We're allowed to bring in some of our basic sense of how the world works!
*If you have two grammatically correct answers with different meanings, go with the one that matches the majority of answer choices.
*Answer choice A is not "the original" in the sense that we have to preserve its meaning. Its meaning can be wrong! However, if its meaning does make sense, that meaning will probably be used in the correct answer, even if A has a grammar error.
*Adding words for clarity won't make an answer wrong. However, the GMAT will sometimes throw us off by removing words we thought we needed for clarity in an answer that fixes a grammar problem. So while we don't want to cut an answer simply for being "too wordy," we have to be open to choosing answers that are missing a word or two if they are the only ones that get the grammar right!

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What is the antecedent of pronoun 'they' here?

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sausumit

What is the antecedent of pronoun 'they' here?

Hi sausumit,

The they refers to "linking arrangements between secondary schools and the workplace".

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DmitryFarber

janadipesh Ambiguity errors aren't as common as one might think. It's quite normal to have multiple plural nouns, as long as the intended meaning is clear. Here, "they" wouldn't refer to the US since that's in the preceding modifier, and also because it doesn't fit the overall meaning. Additionally, when the meaning really is ambiguous, the GMAT is more likely to fix the problem by providing a noun than by simply cutting the pronoun out. The meaning of C is less clear than the meaning of E! We can read C as daagh did, viewing "as in most other developed countries" as an adverbial modifier applying to the entire clause. However, that would typically mean we should have a comma before the modifier. Without the comma, I'd read it as part of a comparison--it never evolved HERE as it did THERE. In other words, it evolved in different ways. Either way, that's not the intended meaning. E makes much more sense.

Thanks for the explanation!!
Could you please explain why is D wrong...... one reason i can understand is that modifier is misplaced (in united states)
in the end D has .... they have (evolved)
Why is this wrong ...... it may be that in united states linking arrangements never evolved but in other countries they used to evolve and are still evolving.
So option D is wrong for misplaced modifier or for both the modifier and the tense error in the end???

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Gknight5603
We might be able to get away with "never evolved here . . . as they have there," depending on our intended meaning. We have to be careful about rigidly forcing actions into the same tense.

However, the modifier issue in D is a pretty big deal. Since it's the first modifier after the subject, it creates a few problems. First, the structure leads us to expect that these arrangements do exist. Otherwise, why lead with "in the US"? Second, when we later say "as they have," the antecedent has to include "in the US." We can't just skip over that modifier and still include "between schools and the workplace." So the sentence is saying that US arrangements never evolved as US arrangements have evolved in other countries. Huh?!?

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Dear GMATNinja,

I hope this post finds you well.

Can you please help me with this question? Having watched your Youtube video on Comparisons, I am quite confused with the difference between below questions.

1) https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-no-other- ... ml#p538352
In no other historical sighting did Halley's comet cause such a worldwide sensation as in its return of 1910-1911.
vs.
2) https://gmatclub.com/forum/linking-arra ... l#p2265246
Linking arrangements between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did in most other developed countries.

Warm regards

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Maldonado

Anyone???

Hi Maldonado,

But what is your question? If you're wondering why option C is incorrect, it is because that option leads to ambiguity.

X never evolved in A as in B could mean:
(a) X never evolved in A, but it evolved in B (less likely)
or
(b) X never evolved in A, and it never evolved in B (more likely)
or
(c) X never evolved in A the way it evolved in B (more liikely)

This post covers this point in greater detail.

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AjiteshArun

Maldonado

Anyone???

Thx for your reply.

My question is: I am confused with below questions' answers. In the first one we do not use "it did" (although it is implicitly mentioned). However, in the second one (this very question) we explicitly use "they did". WHY???

1) In no other historical sighting did Halley's comet cause such a worldwide sensation as did its return in 1910-1911.
(A) did its return in 1910-1911
(B) had its 1910-1911 return
(C) in its return of 1910-1911
(D) its return of 1910-1911 did
(E) its return in 1910-1911

2) Linking arrangements among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have in most other developed countries.
(A) among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have
(B) in the United States among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they did
(C) between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as
(D) in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have
(E) between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did

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19 Feb 2021, 11:47

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Maldonado

The use of the “did” in these options is a question of what exactly is being compared. Let’s first look at the “linking arrangements” correct answer:

Quote:

(E) Linking arrangements between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did in most other developed countries.

Here we are comparing what the linking arrangements in the United States DID/DIDN’T DO to what the linking arrangements in most other developed countries DID. In this case, the linking arrangements in the United States never evolved, while the linking arrangements in other developed countries DID evolve.

In other words, we are comparing two different ACTIONS, so we need the verb.

Let’s look at the correct answer for the “In no other historical sighting” question.

Quote:

(E) In no other historical sighting did Halley's comet cause such a worldwide sensation as in its return of 1910-1911.

Here we are not comparing an action, but times IN which sightings of Halley’s comet occurred. In this sentence, Halley’s comet is doing the action (causing) in all sightings. But we are comparing specifically what it caused IN its return of 1910-1911 to what it caused IN all other historical sightings.

I hope that helps!

P.S. It's tempting to eliminate answer choices because they look like something that was wrong in another question. But every question is unique, and what works in one might not work in another.

Unfortunately, there isn't a set of black-and-white rules governing this sort of thing

. Also, for what it's worth, that "Halley's comet" question is really tough!

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Updated on: 17 Sep 2021, 00:46

Originally posted by thereisaFire on 01 Jun 2021, 04:47.
Last edited by thereisaFire on 17 Sep 2021, 00:46, edited 1 time in total.

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Hi Experts AjiteshArun VeritasKarishma,

I need some help in understanding these choices better.

Choice D: in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have

The comparison is between evolution of linking arrangements in "the US" and "other developing countries". I marked this choice because I thought the verb have is correct here as we can say "have + verb already present in the sentence" i.e. "have + evolved"

Choice E: between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did

I eliminated this choice as I thought that "did" is followed by "root verb after it" i.e. "did + evolve" (but "evolve" is not present in the sentence)

Am I missing something?

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Bunuel

Linking arrangements among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have in most other developed countries.

(A) among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they have
(B) in the United States among secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they did
(C) between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as
(D) in the United States between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved as they have
(E) between secondary schools and the workplace never evolved in the United States as they did

SC48420.01
OG2020 NEW QUESTION

The sentence tests the following:
- Use of 'among' and 'between'
- Comparison

- The sentence is comparing linking arrangements in the United States to those done in other countries. Therefore, it is appropriate to place the noun 'United States' as close as possible to the comparison cue 'as they did'. Eliminate (B) and (D).

- Thumb rule: when comparing exactly two entities, use 'between'. For two or more entities, use 'among'. Eliminate (A).

- By using the word 'as', the sentence compares the evolution of schools and workplaces to other countries, which is illogical. Eliminate (C).

The answer is choice (E).

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17 Sep 2021, 00:24

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DmitryFarber

Can you please explain, in which cases would the verbs Have & Did can replace a previously stated verb?
I understand that did (did / do / does) can any replace previously stated verb, but I am a bit confused with have / had.

AjiteshArun

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GMAT Focus 1: 715 Q83 V90 DI83 Verified score

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17 Sep 2021, 10:59

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thereisaFire

I eliminated this choice as I thought that "did" is followed by "root verb after it" i.e. "did + evolve" (but "evolve" is not present in the sentence)

Hi thereisaFire,

This did is not a shorter way of saying did evolve. In this sentence, did = evolved.

For example:
1. He worked harder than his colleagues did.

This should be interpreted as (1a), not (1b).
1a. He worked harder than his colleagues worked.
1b. He worked harder than his colleagues did work.

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20 Sep 2021, 23:19

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thereisaFire

thereisaFire

Linking arrangements ... never evolved in the United States as they have (evolved) in most other developed countries.
vs
Linking arrangements ... never evolved in the United States as they did (evolve) in most other developed countries.

The evolution of linking arrangements is complete. Both the sentences say that they did not evolve in US. They do not say that they have not yet evolved in US the way they have evolved in other countries. It is not a recent occurrence of evolution in other countries. So we should not use "have evolved". We should say

Linking arrangements ... never evolved in the United States as they did in most other developed countries.

"did" here stands for "evolved" - an action that is complete

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