Meaning is central to SC (+ Solve 700-level e-GMAT SC question)

Question

To solve SC questions, students typically follow one of the two prevalent methods: 
  1. Meaning-based method 
2. Splits method

While these methods differ in the sequence of steps prescribed, they have one thing in common - “ meaning is central to both these methods ”.
 https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/GMAT-Sentence-Correction-1.png

In this article, I will demonstrate that if you want to attain that 90th percentile in SC, then regardless of the approach that you use, you need to understand the meaning of the sentence. 
And, after you read the article, I want you to ask this question to yourself –

This article is divided into the following sections:

1. Question 1 
 • Solved using meaning-based method 
• Solved using splits method 
• Take away – Meaning is central.

2. Question 2 
 • Solved using meaning-based method 
• Solved using splits method 
• Take away – Meaning is central.

3. Putting it all together

So, let’s get started!

Question 1 
 Question information  
 Source – OG Verbal Review 2020
Question # 292
Question attempts statistics in the e-GMAT platform
 # of attempts = 3856
% correct = 60% = categorized as medium difficulty question.
 popular incorrect choices: B – 12%, D – 19%  
Question statistics on GMAT Club
Hard – 52% accuracy – based on 4781 attempts

Question  
 Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and it has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of?the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle.
 
  A.  the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle
 B.  the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts in part of their life cycle
 C.  freshwater snails which become the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycles
 D.  freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during the parasite's life cycles
 E.  parasite's hosts, freshwater snails which become their hosts during their life cycles

Correct answer =  A

Meaning-based Approach  
   STEP 1 – UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE   
 https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Steps-to-GMAT-Sentence-Correction-1.png

The student reads the sentence slowly, while pausing at appropriate points, to understand all the aspects of its meaning as identified below:

• Schistosomiasis,
 • a disease caused by a parasitic worm,
 • is prevalent in hot, humid climates,  
• and it has become more widespread
 • as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of  the freshwater snails  
 •  that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle .

1. Aspect 1 – Sch. is a disease that is caused by a parasitic worm.
2. Aspect 2 – Sch. is present in certain types of climates.
3. Aspect 3 – Sch. has become more widespread by certain projects.
4. Aspect 4 – These projects have enlarged the habitat of specific freshwater snails (FWS).
5. Aspect 5 – These FWS are the hosts for the parasite.
6. Aspect 6 – These FWS are the hosts for a part of the parasite’s life cycle.

STEP 2 – IDENTIFY THE ERRORS IN THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE

Keeping in mind the meaning analysis, now the student evaluates the original sentence for any grammatical errors.  And obviously, she focuses her attention on the underlined portion.

For the sake of demonstration, I will go through each error one by one and show you how the student reasons things out:
 • SV – “that are” is the SV pair – logically ‘that’ refers to the FWS plural – both SV plural – so ok.
• Verbs – the sentence is set up in present tense – logically ok.
• Pronouns – ‘its’ refers to parasite – logically ok.
• Modifiers – ‘that’ refers to FWS – logically ok.
• Parallelism – no list

Notice carefully  – for evaluation of each grammar error, she refers to her understanding of the meaning of the sentence.  Notice the word “ logically ” in all the four applicable grammar error categories.

STEP 3 – ANALYZE ANSWER CHOICES

Now she takes the meaning analysis (and when applicable error analysis) with her to analyze each answer choice one by one.

At this point as well, she focuses her attention primarily on the underlined portion of the sentence.  So, from the meaning standpoint, aspects 1, 2, and 3 are all from the non-underlined portion.  So, she does not worry about them.
 •Aspect 4 – These projects have enlarged the habitat of specific freshwater snails (FWS).
•Aspect 5 – These FWS are the hosts for the parasite
•Aspect 6 – These FWS are the hosts for a part of the parasite’s life cycle. 
So, her checklist for each choice now contains the typical grammar error categories (SV, Verbs, Pronouns, Modifiers, Parallelism, Idioms) and these three aspects from the meaning analysis.

Let’s now see how the student analyzes each choice to find the correct answer.

Choice B  
the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts in part of their life cycle
 • Aspects 4 and 5 – ok
• Aspect 6 – distorted - ‘their’ refers to the plural ‘snails’.  Thus, per this choice, the life cycle of snails is being talked about instead of the life cycle of the parasite. 
 Thus, this choice is incorrect.

Choice C  
freshwater snails which become the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycles
 •Aspects 4, 5, 6 – all ok.
•Grammar issue – ‘life cycles’ implies that the parasite has more than one life cycle.  This is illogical.
 
 Thus, this choice is incorrect.

Choice D  
freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during the parasite's life cycles
 •Aspects 4 and 5 – ok
•Aspect 6 – distorted – the key part of aspect 6 has been removed – that the snails are hosts for a part of the parasite’s life cycle – “part” has been removed from this choice.
 
Thus, this choice is incorrect.

Choice E  
parasite's hosts, freshwater snails which become their hosts during their life cycles
•Aspect 6 – distorted - same issue as in Choice D.
 Thus, this choice is incorrect.

Hence choice A is the correct answer.

SUMMARY - MEANING-BASED METHOD   
 As you can see, the student begins with understanding the meaning of the sentence and then utilizes this analysis to find the correct answer.  Thus, meaning is central to the  meaning-based  method.

Now we will see how a student uses the  splits  method to solve this question.

Splits approach  
 https://e-gmat.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Splits-based-approach-to-GMAT-Sentence-Correction-1.png 
   STEP 1 – IDENTIFY THE SPLITS.

The student will review the answer choices and arrive at the following ‘splits’.
 •  the  freshwater snails / freshwater snails
•  its  / their
•  life cycle  / life cycles
•  part of  / during
•  that are  / which become

The answer choices have been color-coded based on the identified splits.
 A.  the  freshwater snails  that are  the parasite's hosts for  part  of  its  life  cycle 
B.  the  freshwater snails  that are  the parasite's hosts in  part  of  their  life  cycle 
C. freshwater snails  which become  the parasite's hosts for  part  of  its  life  cycles 
D. freshwater snails  which become  the hosts of the parasite  during  the  parasite's  life cycles 
E. parasite's hosts, freshwater snails  which become  their hosts during  their  life  cycles

STEP 2 – REJECT ANSWER CHOICES UTILIZING THE FIRST SPLIT.

Let’s say that the student selects the easiest split of all “its / their”.  Now from a purely grammatical perspective, any of the two pronouns will work.  But to determine which one is correct in this sentence,  the student will need to understand the context of the sentence.

Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and it has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of?the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle.

Now the student will read the original sentence and understand its context to determine what ‘its’ is intended to refer to.  
She applies her skill set to read and understand the sentence and determines that  logically , ‘its’ should refer to parasite.  Thus, ‘their’ is incorrect because by virtue of being plural, it refers to the snails and this reference is illogical in the context of this sentence.

Thus, the student will reject all the choices that use ‘their’. Thus, B and E are eliminated.

STEP 3 – UTILIZING THE SECOND SPLIT, REJECT THE NEXT SET OF ANSWER CHOICES.

Upon close examination of remaining choices and the splits identified, the student picks up the split “part of/during”.  Now she re-reads the sentence to determine which one of the two is correct.

As she reads the sentence again, this time focusing on – part - specifically, she realizes that the  author intended to say  that the snails are hosts for only a part of the life cycle.  Thus, as it stands, ‘during’ distorts the meaning.

So, Choice D is eliminated.

STEP 4 – BASED ON THE CHOICES LEFT, SELECT THE THIRD SPLIT AND ARRIVE AT THE CORRECT ANSWER.

Between A and C, now the next split is “life cycle/ life cycles”.  Now the student already knows that the parasite’s life cycle is being talked about.   Logically , a living being has only one life cycle.  Thus, “life cycles” is incorrect.

Hence choice C is eliminated.

Choice A is hence the correct answer.

SUMMARY – SPLITS METHOD

This is a 700-level question.

The answer choices in this question had 5 different pairs of splits and to arrive at the correct answer, the student had to utilize three splits (i.e. 3 iterations).

In each iteration, the student had to  leverage the intended meaning  to narrow down the answer choices (i.e. reject the incorrect ones).

This is because, apart from splits that are based purely on idioms such as “less than”, “between and” or that are simple subject-verb pairs, almost all other  splits require evaluation by understanding the meaning of the sentence.

Thus, even when using the “splits approach” meaning becomes central to solving most SC questions.

We will now take one more question to drive home this point.

Question 2  
  Question information  
 • Source – OG Advanced Book
• Question # 268
• Question statistics on GMAT Club
• Hard – 30% accuracy – based on 529 attempts

Question  
 An archaeological excavation at  what might have been a workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including 7 intact statues.  
 A. what might have been a workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including
B. what might have been a workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures and
C. the site of a possible workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures and
D. the site of a possible workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including
E. the site of a possible workshop where statues might have been reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including

Correct answer =  B

Meaning-based Approach

STEP 1 – UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE

• An archaeological excavation at  what might have been a workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including 7 intact statues.

The student reads the sentence slowly to understand all the aspects of its meaning as identified below:

• Aspect 1 – An archaeological excavation generated a large number of pieces of human figures.
• Aspect 2 – these pieces included seven intact statues
• Aspect 3 – This excavation spot may have been a workshop where statues were reproduced.

Now as the student confirms her understanding of the sentence, she notices something peculiar in the logic of the sentence.  As written, the sentence implies that the 1532 pieces of human figures included the 7 intact statues. This is illogical because it does not make sense to say that pieces include intact statues.  Thus, this sentence has a logical error.

Now, based on the information in the sentence, the student  infers  the logical intended meaning.  The excavation was on the site where there may have been a workshop in which statues were reproduced. It is logical to say that in this workshop, fragments were taken to create intact statues or to reproduce these full statues.

With this understanding, the student understands that the sentence intended to communicate the following:

• Aspect 1 – An archaeological excavation generated a large number of pieces of human figures.
• Aspect 2 – In addition to the fragments discovered, the excavation also generated seven intact statues.
• Aspect 3 – This excavation spot may have been a workshop where statues were reproduced

STEP 2 – IDENTIFY THE ERRORS IN THE ORIGINAL SENTENCE

Keeping in mind the meaning analysis, now the student evaluates the original sentence for any grammatical errors.

In this sentence, she does not find any glaring grammatical errors.
 So, the only error in this sentence is the meaning error that the student identified as she verified her understanding of the meaning of the sentence.
 
   STEP 3 – ANALYZE ANSWER CHOICES

Now she takes the meaning analysis (and when applicable error analysis) with her to analyze each answer choice one by one.

So, her checklist for each choice now contains the typical grammar error categories (SV, Verbs, Pronouns, Modifiers, Parallelism, Idioms) and all the three aspects from the meaning analysis.

Let’s now see how the student analyzes each choice to find the correct answer.

Choice B  
what might have been a workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures and
 • The logic error has been corrected; i.e. all aspects have been expressed correctly
• No grammatical error has been introduced

Thus, this choice is correct.

Choice C  
the site of a possible workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures and
 • Aspects 1 and 2 are correct.
• But aspect 3 has been distorted.
• Per the logical intended meaning, the excavation was done at a site at which in the past there was probably this workshop where the statues were reproduced.
• Per this choice, the excavation was done at the site where this workshop was possible or feasible.
• And hence aspect 3 has been distorted in this choice. 
 Thus, this choice is incorrect.

Choice D  
the site of a possible workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including
 • Aspect 1 is ok
• Aspect 3 is distorted as in choice C
• Aspect 2 is distorted as in choice A 
 Thus, this choice is incorrect.

Choice E  
the site of a possible workshop where statues might have been reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including
 • Same errors as in choice D

Hence choice B is the correct answer.

SUMMARY - MEANING-BASED METHOD

As you can see, answering this question requires a razor-sharp focus on the meaning of the sentence.

In fact, not even a single choice in this question can be rejected based on a grammatical error. In addition, in this question, the student went a step ahead. She not only understood what the sentence communicated, but she also questioned if that meaning is logical.

In this case, the meaning was indeed illogical.

In this case, the meaning was indeed illogical.   And accordingly, the student inferred the logical meaning based on the information provided in the sentence and then took that meaning with her to evaluate the answer choices.

Now we will see how a student will use splits method to solve this question.

Splits approach

STEP 1 – FIND THE SIMILARITIES AND DISSIMILARITIES AMONG THE CHOICES

An archaeological excavation at  what might have been a workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including  7 intact statues.
 A.  what might have been a workshop  where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human  figures, including 
B.  what might have been a workshop  where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures and
C. the site of a possible workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures and
D. the site of a possible workshop where statues were reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human  figures, including 
E. the site of a possible workshop where statues might have been reproduced yielded 1,532 fragments of human figures, including

The student will review the answer choices and arrive at the following ‘splits’.

•  What might have been a workshop  / the site of a possible workshop
•  figures, including / figures and
• statues might have been reproduced / statues were reproduced

STEP 2 – SELECT THE FIRST SPLIT, FIND WHICH ONE IS CORRECT, AND REJECT THE CHOICES ACCORDINGLY.

• Let’s say the student selects the first split -  What might have been a workshop  / the site of a possible workshop.
• She will now  read the original sentence to determine what the author wants to communicate  and then determine the correct one.
• Based on the reasoning explained in the meaning-based solution, she will conclude that “what might have been a workshop” is correct.
• She will thus eliminate choices C, D, and E.

STEP 3 – BASED ON THE CHOICES LEFT AND THE DETERMINISTIC NATURE OF THE SPLIT, SELECT THE SECOND SPLIT.   
 • Next, the student will pick the split -  figures, including  / figures and
• And once again, she will refer to the  logical meaning intended  to be communicated by the original choice.
• Based on the reasoning explained in the meaning-based solution, she will conclude that “figures, including” is incorrect.
• She will thus eliminate choice A and select choice B as the correct answer.

SUMMARIZE SPLITS METHOD

Even though this example contained just 3 groups of splits, determining the correct split  required that the student understood the intended meaning .

Therefore, regardless of the approach (meaning-based or splits based), understanding the meaning is central to solving GMAT Sentence Correction questions, especially if you want to score in the 90th percentile.

Thus, meaning is central to SC, even for the splits approach.

Putting it all together

To summarize, regardless of the method you use to solve Sentence Correction questions, in order to solve difficult questions in SC, you need to understand the meaning of the sentence.

You have to be 100% sure about what the sentence intends to communicate.  You need to know the role played by each and every segment of the sentence. Not only that, as we saw in question 2, you also need to verify if the sentence is logical.  And in the cases in which it is not logical, you need to infer the intended logical meaning.

GMAT is a test of your ability to solve difficult questions.  So, as you prepare for SC, ask yourself this one question –

egmat · Answer

Now solve this 700-Level questions from e-GMAT question repository!

* Tell us your answer. A, B, C, D, or E.
* Write down the aspects that you were able to understand from the original sentence. 
* Provide an explanation for why each incorrect choice is incorrect. 
* Official Answer and a detailed solution will be posted later.

Question  
 The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia is claimed by a few experts, but it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial is the more prevalent belief.

A. The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia is claimed by a few experts, but it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial is the more prevalent belief.

B. While with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, a few experts do claim that the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day, but the more prevalent belief is it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.

C. While a few experts claim that the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, their more prevalent belief is that it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.

D. The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia as claimed by a few experts, but its celebration on this date is to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial, the more prevalent belief.

E. That the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia is claimed by a few experts, but the more prevalent belief is it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.

egmat · Answer

Introduction 
In  our previous article , we learned that u nderstanding meaning of the sentence is central to accurately solving difficult SC questions .

And the key to comprehending the typical long and dense sentence on GMAT SC is  reading the sentence slowly by strategically pausing  at appropriate places so that one can understand the meaning conveyed by each entity of the sentence.
 
In this article, we will introduce the strategic pausing technique that we teach and follow at e-GMAT.

What is Strategic Pausing Technique? 
As the name suggests,   strategic pausing technique pertains to the process of reading the sentence by pausing at appropriate points, understanding the meaning as we are reading, and assimilating it as we read all the parts of the sentence, ensuring that we understand 100% of the meaning of the sentence.

Some of the pause points are as follows:
1. subject-verb pairs, 
2. common punctuation marks such as a comma, 
3. transition words such as  however , 
4. descriptive words such as  which .

Note that the list above is not exhaustive. We teach all the pause points for the strategic pausing technique in our   Master Comprehension course   – a core skill-building course.

We will now learn and apply this technique together.

What is the structure of this effort? 
We will do “  sentence of the day with strategic pausing - SDSP  ” for the next 5 days. Here is how it will go -

1. e-GMAT will post a sentence and the associated questions on that sentence. 
2. You will read and understand the sentence. You will then present your answers to all the questions asked and you will also write the sentence structure of the sentence in your response. 
3. e-GMAT will review your responses and give you feedback as necessary. Needless to say, you will receive kudos from us for the effort that you put in. 
4. e-GMAT will post the official answer and solution by the end of that day!

So, let’s begin with SDSP for today.

SDSP- Day 1

The Sentence for you to read and understand 
 A large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, following heavy rain and is expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
 
 Question 1 
What is expected to grow?
1. A large crack in the East African Rift Valley
2. The East African Rift Valley
3. The African plate
4. The heavy rainfall

Question 2 
What is the role of 'heavy rain' in the sentence?
1. After the heavy rain, the large crack in the valley happened.
2. The heavy rain possibly created the valley.
3. It possibly led to the splitting of the African plate.

Question 3 
What stretches over 1,800 miles?
1. A large crack in the East African Rift Valley
2. The East African Rift Valley
3. The Somali plate
4. The Nubian plate

Question 4 
What is the role of “from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south”?
1. It describes the span of the crack.
2. It describes the span of the East African Rift Valley.
3. It describes the span of the African plate.

Question 5 
Which of the following is true?
1. The East African Rift Valley is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
2. The large crack which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
3. The large crack, that has suddenly appeared following heavy rain, is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
4. The smaller Somali plate and the larger Nubian plate will grow in East African Rift Valley and split the African plate.

Question 6 
If the sentence above was the original sentence in an SC question, then which of the following could be the correct answer? Just so you know, there is no grammatical error in these choices. (pardon me if inadvertently some grammar error crept in while transcribing).

Pasting the original sentence for your convenience:
 A large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, following heavy rain and is expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
 
Briefly explain why each incorrect choice is incorrect. As we did in  this article , write down all the aspects that you could understand from the sentence and then write down which aspects have been distorted in each of the incorrect choices below.

1. Stretching over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, the East African Rift witnessed a sudden appearance of a large crack following heavy rain and is expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.

2. Following heavy rain, a large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, and is expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.

3. Following heavy rain, expecting to grow, and splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate, a large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south.

4. Following heavy rain, a large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, stretching over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, and is expected to grow by splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.

XyLan · Answer

Such a thought-provoking initiative. Loved EVERY bit of it! :D

A large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, following heavy rain and is expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
Sentence Structure:
Subject - Verb - Modifier

A large crack

made

which( the East African Rift Valley )

stretches

following

Modifier: modifying 'a large crack' | Meaning: Post the heavy rain, the crack appeared.

is

splitting

Verb-ing modifier( splitting ): showing the result of the expected growth of the crack.

the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.

Let's jump to Q-analysis:

1. A large crack in the East African Rift Valley

2. The East African Rift Valley
3. The African plate
4. The heavy rainfall

1. After the heavy rain, the large crack in the valley happened.

2. The heavy rain possibly created the valley.
3. It possibly led to the splitting of the African plate.

1. A large crack in the East African Rift Valley

2. The East African Rift Valley

3. The Somali plate
4. The Nubian plate

1. It describes the span of the crack.

2. It describes the span of the East African Rift Valley.

3. It describes the span of the African plate.

1. The East African Rift Valley is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
2. The large crack which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.

3. The large crack, that has suddenly appeared following heavy rain, is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.

4. The smaller Somali plate and the larger Nubian plate will grow in East African Rift Valley and split the African plate.

1.

the East African Rift

is expected

Unlike the EA rift, a large crack is expected to grow ------> splitting the African plate
- Meaning issue. OUT!

2.

Following heavy rain, a large crack

Mellifluous. Option2 is the champ!

3.

expecting to grow

splitting

a large crack

Intended meaning: a large crack is expected to grow ------> splitting the African plate
The causal-relationship between expecting to grow AND splitting of the African plate is lost. Both the actions are added as generic verb-ing modifiers for the large crack.

- Meaning issue. OUT!

4.

a large crack

, stretching

by splitting

Option4 states that a large crack made a a sudden appearance, resulting in the stretch over 1800 ...

The stretch SHOULD ideally modify the East African Rift Valley, NOT a large crack. - Modifiier issue ----> Meaning issue.
Intended meaning: The crack is expected to grow, resulting in the split of the African plate.

mechanism

- Meaning issue. OUT!

3. Following heavy rain, expecting to grow , and splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate, a large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south. Intended meaning: a large crack is expected to grow ------> splitting the African plate The causal-relationship between expecting to grow AND splitting of the African plate is lost. Both the actions are added as generic verb-ing modifiers for the large crack. - Meaning issue. OUT! 4. Following heavy rain, a large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley , stretching over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, and is expected to grow by splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate. Option4 states that a large crack made a a sudden appearance, resulting in the stretch over 1800 ... The stretch SHOULD ideally modify the East African Rift Valley, NOT a large crack. - Modifiier issue ----> Meaning issue. Intended meaning: The crack is expected to grow, resulting in the split of the African plate. However, Option4 INCORRECTLY mentions the mechanism ( by splitting ) by which the crack is expected to grow. - Meaning issue. OUT!

harsh8686 · Answer

Not sure how to draw colon. But let me know if everything is correct.

Question 1

What is expected to grow?
1.  A large crack in the East African Rift Valley 
2. The East African Rift Valley
3. The African plate
4. The heavy rainfall

Question 2

What is the role of 'heavy rain' in the sentence?
1.  After the heavy rain, the large crack in the valley happened. 
2. The heavy rain possibly created the valley.
3. It possibly led to the splitting of the African plate.

Question 3

What stretches over 1,800 miles?
1. A large crack in the East African Rift Valley
2.  The East African Rift Valley 
3. The Somali plate
4. The Nubian plate

Question 4

What is the role of “from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south”?
1. It describes the span of the crack.
 2. It describes the span of the East African Rift Valley. 
3. It describes the span of the African plate.

Question 5

Which of the following is true?
1. The East African Rift Valley is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
2. The large crack which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
 3. The large crack, that has suddenly appeared following heavy rain, is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
 4. The smaller Somali plate and the larger Nubian plate will grow in East African Rift Valley and split the African plate.

Question 6

1. Stretching over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, the East African Rift witnessed a sudden appearance of a large crack following heavy rain and  is expected to grow , splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
 Crack is expected to grow not the EAR

2. Following heavy rain, a large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, and is expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
 Correct option

3. Following heavy rain,  expecting to grow , and splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate, a large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south.
 Not sure whether I am right but the crack isn't expecting to grow. People are expecting cracks to grow.

4. Following heavy rain, a large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, stretching over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, and is expected to grow  by splitting  the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
 IMP:   Okay. Here I realized that I have made an error in the drawing. The last participle phrase is modifying the main noun. Unfortunately, I can't edit the diagram now as I have deleted my work.

harsh8686 · Answer

Dissecting the original statement
  Green  - noun
 Orange  - verb
 Pink  - modifier
 The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia 
 -  is claimed   by a few experts,  
but  it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial 
 -  is   the more prevalent   belief .

A.  The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia  is claimed by a few experts, but it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial is the more prevalent belief.
 The phrase should be converted into either a substantive clause or that clause in order to be used as the subject of the sentence. 
 
B.  While with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia,  a few experts do claim that the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day, but the more prevalent belief is it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.
 A subordinate clause should have full noun and verb.

C.  While  a few experts claim that the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, their more prevalent belief  is that it is  celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.
 a) we need better contrasting conjunction like but
b) "is that it is" OMG why don't we simply use "is"

D. The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia  as claimed by a few experts , but its celebration on this date is to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial, the more prevalent belief.
 What is claimed by a few experts? This choice has more or less the same issue as answer choice A has

E.  That the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia   is claimed  by a few experts, but the more prevalent  belief   is   it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial. 
 Correct answer

egmat · Answer

Hi  harsh8686 ,

That is a good attempt. But may I ask you to post the explanation in terms of meaning instead of grammar, especially for choices B and C. Try your hand at it! It will help if you wrote down all the "aspects" that you understood from the original sentence. And then evaluated the answer choices based on those aspects as well.

harsh8686 · Answer

Okay, let me try it.

B. While  with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia , a few experts do claim that the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day, but the more prevalent belief is it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.
 When I was reading the original statement, it looked more like a Critical Reasoning argument structure, in which the author first states a hypothesis and then immediately refutes it. Likewise, option 1 first states that A is claimed by a few experts and later refutes that claim (somewhat) by stating that B is a more prevalent belief. This CR argument structure is missing in option B. Secondly,   "with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia"   is incorrectly modifying experts.

C. While a few experts claim that the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia,  their  more prevalent belief is that it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.
 Again, the CR type structure is missing because both the clauses are talking about the same experts.

egmat · Answer

Wow, that is some sentence diagramming harsh8686 .

Just curious, what tool did you use to make this. Alright, I owe you the solution for this question, but let's see if we can garner some more responses on this one first.

egmat · Answer

Hello harsh8686 , Thank you for the analysis.

Well, your analysis is not very clear to me. However, I do get what you want to convey. Your analysis that the opening modifier modifies a few experts is correct. And that’s exactly is the logical flaw in this choice. Choice B says that a few experts claim something as they have an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia . But this certainly is not the intended meaning conveyed by the original sentence. So, this part of the sentence grossly distorts the intended meaning. Again, from the presentation of Choice C , I get it that you understood how usage of the plural their distorts the intended meaning. This pronoun refers to a few experts and hence convey that the same set of experts believe in the other point too. This meaning is certainly illogical. So, good job. You just need to analyze such errors solely per the context of the given sentence and relate the information to show how the distortion is happening. If you focus on this aspect, you shall be doing great. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha.

egmat · Answer

Hello Xylan , Thank you for the analysis.

Extremely well written and accurate analysis. Your sentence structure and the answers to the question are so detailed that this response can very well be floated as an official answer for this question. Kudos. Keep up the great job. Thanks.

egmat · Answer

Hello harsh , Thank you for the analysis.

Your analyses for all the questions are correct. Great job in solving this one. Hope this helps.

Thanks.

egmat · Answer

Hello Everyone,

Here comes the official solution for this e-GMAT sentence.

Solution

Answer Key - 1, 1, 2, 3, 2

Sentence Structure

Aspects from the sentence

1. A big crack appeared in this EAR valley.

2. This EAR valley spans 1,800 miles – it goes from a place in north to another specific place in the south.

3. This crack happened after heavy rain.

4. This crack is expected to grow.

5. As it grows, it will split the African plate into two parts that are not equal.

6. The smaller part is Somali plate and the larger plate is Nubian plate.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

snoep · Answer

A large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, following heavy rain and is expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.

Crack made a sudden appearance indicating crack already existed; What stretches, closest meaningful noun is Valley. Ok, Valley stretches over 1800 miles from A to B. Following is a modifier, what is it modifying, it should modify when did the crack appear. the placement of Following modifier modifies Valley. Crack is expected to grow, it can't be valley. As a result of growth of the crack, there will be split into equal parts....

Question 1

What is expected to grow?
1.  A large crack in the East African Rift Valley 
2. The East African Rift Valley
3. The African plate
4. The heavy rainfall

Question 2

What is the role of 'heavy rain' in the sentence?
1.  After the heavy rain, the large crack in the valley happened .
2. The heavy rain possibly created the valley.
3. It possibly led to the splitting of the African plate.

Question 3

What stretches over 1,800 miles?
1. A large crack in the East African Rift Valley
2.  The East African Rift Valley 
3. The Somali plate
4. The Nubian plate

Question 4

What is the role of “from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south”?
1. It describes the span of the crack.
2.  It describes the span of the East African Rift Valley .
3. It describes the span of the African plate.

Question 5

Which of the following is true?
1. The East African Rift Valley is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
2. The large crack which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts.
 3. The large crack, that has suddenly appeared following heavy rain, is expected to grow and split Africa into two unequal parts .
4. The smaller Somali plate and the larger Nubian plate will grow in East African Rift Valley and split the African plate.

Question 6

A large crack made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, following heavy rain and is expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
Following heavy rain - Modifier issue, what is it modifying from the previous clause. And, modifier and verb is not parallel

1. Stretching over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, the East African Rift  witnessed  a sudden appearance of a large crack following heavy rain and  is expected  to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
Rift witnessed a sudden appearance ...and is expected to grow. Incorrect.

2.  Following  heavy rain, a large crack  made  a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south,  and is  expected to grow, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
Following heavy rains at the beginning of the sentence, clearly defines when crack appeared in the sequence of events.  Looks good.

3.  Following  heavy rain,  expecting  to grow, and  splitting  the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate, a large  crack  made a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, which stretches over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south.
In this option modifiers Following, Expecting and splitting are used as modifiers to describe Crack. Per original sentence, we need logical sequence of the events.

4.  Following  heavy rain, a large crack  made  a sudden appearance in the East African Rift Valley, stretching over 1,800 miles from the Gulf of Aden in the north to Zimbabwe in the south, and  is  expected to  grow by splitting  the African plate into two unequal parts: the smaller Somali plate and much larger Nubian plate.
this option suggests that Crack is expected to grow by splitting. So, splitting defines the growth? how did it grow, by splitting. Is that the correct meaning or is the meaning that splitting is the result of the growth? Latter make sense!

egmat · Answer

Hello snoep , Thank you for the analysis.

You have presented an almost correct analysis. I say almost because according to you, usage of the modifier following heavy rain is incorrect. This analysis is incorrect because the modifier following heavy rain acts as an action modifier for the action made a sudden appearance . This modifier makes no sense in modifying the rift , as you have already understood. The modifier skips the preceding noun modifier which extends … and logically associates with the action mentioned above. The sentence is correct as is. Also, the connector and connects the just the two verbs made and is expected . Hope this helps.

Thanks.

snoep · Answer

Hi egmat Thanks for noting and clarifying that

egmat · Answer

Hello Everyone,

Here comes the detailed solution of the exercise question.

Solution

The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia is claimed by a few experts, but it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial is the more prevalent belief.

Meaning Analysis

The sentence has not been written in a grammatically correct manner to communicate the meaning clearly. So, we need to infer the meaning from each part of the sentence.

The author presents two claims about celebrating Valentine’s day on February 14.

Claim 1 – claimed by a few experts: Church designated Feb 14 as Valentine’s day to convert a specific pagan celebration into Christian.

Claim 2 – the more prevalent belief: Feb 14 is celebrated as Valentine’s Day to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.

Error Analysis

Structure Errors leading to Meaning Error:

The subjects The church and it have two verbs each. However, the second verb cannot be the logical action for the subject.

Logically, the clause the church coined… is the subject for the verb is claimed, and the clause it is celebrated… is the subject for the verb is the more…

Because of these structural errors, the sentence fails to convey the intended meaning clearly.

Answer Choice Analysis

A. The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia is claimed by a few experts, but it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial is the more prevalent belief.

Errors as discussed in Error Analysis section.

B. While with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, a few experts do claim that the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day, but the more prevalent belief is it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.

Expression Error leading to Meaning Errors:

This choice illogically suggests that a few experts present their claim behind the celebration of Valentine’s Day on Feb 14 with the ulterior motive mentioned in the choice. Per this choice, these experts claim that church coined Feb 14 as Valentine’s day. This does not match claim 1 per the intended meaning.

C. While a few experts claim that the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia, their more prevalent belief is that it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.

Expression Error leading to Meaning Error:

This choice distorts the intended meaning. According to this choice, the same set of experts share the two stated claims.

D. The church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia as claimed by a few experts, but its celebration on this date is to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial, the more prevalent belief.

Modifier Errors leading to Meaning Errors:

This choice fails to make it clear whether as claimed by a few experts modifies the action of the church coining the date or the intent to “Christianize” the pagan celebration. The noun phrase the more prevalent belief fails to connect to any noun entity as a noun modifier.

E. That the church coined the date ‘February 14’ as Valentine’s day with an ulterior motive to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia is claimed by a few experts, but the more prevalent belief is it is celebrated on this date to honor the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.

Correct: This indeed is the correct answer choice as it presents the intended meaning clearly.

P.S.: Absence of that before the clause it is… is not an error because when that is used as a connector, it can be kept understood.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

egmat · Answer

Hello Everyone,

Let's practice the process of reading and understanding a long sentence effective through the following question:

Contrary to the prior belief that the ancestors of modern humans began the bipedal locomotion because it freed their hands to use stone tools, which they had begun to make as the species evolved a brain of increased size and mental capacity, recent discoveries of the three-million-year-old fossilized remains of our hominid ancestor Australopithecus have yielded substantial anatomical evidence that upright walking appeared prior to the dramatic enlargement of the brain and the development of stone tools.

Q1. Please present the meaning of this sentence as you understand.

Q2. According to the old belief, why did the ancestors of modern humans started walking on two legs?

A. The size of their brains increased.
B. They had started making tools.
C. Their mental capacity increased.
D. Doing so kept their hands free so that they could use tools.
E. None of the above.

Q3. What is the stated contradiction in the sentence?

A. Per the old belief, brain development in the ancestors led to the bipedal locomotion. Per the new belief, the development of the tools took place before the bipedal movement.
B. The old belief does not provide enough anatomical evidence for bipedal locomotion, but the new findings do so.
C. Per the earlier belief, the ancestors of modern humans started walking on two legs to use tools from their hands. Per the new findings, they started using tools because they started using legs to walks.
D. Per the earlier belief, the ancestors of modern humans started walking upright so that their hands could be free to use tools. Per the new discoveries, they started walking on two feet before the brain enlargement and the development of the tools.
E. Pre the old belief, ancestors of modern humans started walking on two legs to use tools with their free hands. The new discoveries constitute the three-million-year-old fossilized remains of our hominid ancestor Australopithecus.

Q4. According to the statement, why the ancestors of modern humans started making stone tools?

A. Their brains became larger in size.
B. Their mental capacity increased.
C. They started walking upright.
D. Both A and B.
E. None of the above.

We will post the OA after we receive a few posts. Happy solving.

snoep · Answer

Contrary to the prior belief that the ancestors of modern humans began the bipedal locomotion because it freed their hands to use stone tools, which they had begun to make as the species evolved a brain of increased size and mental capacity, recent discoveries of the three-million-year-old fossilized remains of our hominid ancestor Australopithecus have yielded substantial anatomical evidence that upright walking appeared prior to the dramatic enlargement of the brain and the development of stone tools.

Q1. Please present the meaning of this sentence as you understand.
Something is being compared in the view of its prior belief and recent discoveries. What is compared? bipedal locomotion; that is when did humans start walking with two legs, freeing their hands.
Prior belief - is walking on two legs started as humans wanted to use their hands to make use of tool. And tools were made as the size of brain increased and mental capacity was evolved. the timeline is - Increased size of brain and Mental capacity -> Tools were made -> started walking on two legs, freeing hands to use tools
Recent discoveries suggests that enough evidence exists that upright walking i.e. waking on two legs(freeing hands) happened even before enlargement of size of brains. the new timeline is - started walking on two legs (freeing hands) -> enlargement of brain -> tools were made

Q2. According to the old belief, why did the ancestors of modern humans started walking on two legs?

A. The size of their brains increased.
B. They had started making tools
C. Their mental capacity increased.
 D. Doing so kept their hands free so that they could use tools. 
E. None of the above.

Q3. What is the stated contradiction in the sentence?

A. Per the old belief, brain development in the ancestors led to the bipedal locomotion. Per the new belief, the development of the tools took place before the bipedal movement.
B. The old belief does not provide enough anatomical evidence for bipedal locomotion, but the new findings do so.
C. Per the earlier belief, the ancestors of modern humans started walking on two legs to use tools from their hands. Per the new findings, they started using tools because they started using legs to walks. 
 D. Per the earlier belief, the ancestors of modern humans started walking upright so that their hands could be free to use tools. Per the new discoveries, they started walking on two feet before the brain enlargement and the development of the tools.  
E. Pre the old belief, ancestors of modern humans started walking on two legs to use tools with their free hands. The new discoveries constitute the three-million-year-old fossilized remains of our hominid ancestor Australopithecus.

Q4. According to the statement, why the ancestors of modern humans started making stone tools?

A. Their brains became larger in size.
B. Their mental capacity increased. 
C. They started walking upright.
 D. Both A and B. 
E. None of the above.

egmat · Answer

Hello shameekv1989 , This is in response to your PM on this question. Sincere apologies for the late revert. My response : Yes. My response : No, the clause following comma + but is an independent clause because "comma + FANBOYS" connects two independent clauses. My response : The connector comma + but has an independent clause on either side. My response : Well, this is what Choice E says. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

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