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655-705 (Hard)|   Modifiers|      
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thangvietnam
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 06 Nov 2021, 21:48
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AjiteshArun
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so, in our problem, instead of connect 2 similar things, 330 usd and 7 usd. this is wrong. i am sorry to be frank. or I need help. pls, explain
It's (usually) good to be frank. :)

The problem here is that it's hard to see what you mean by the word "connect". If you are looking for the kind of "connect" that a conjunction provides, you won't find it with an instead of.

If you feel that a structure that includes a "noun + instead of + noun" is always wrong, then you'll have to add that structure to your "whitelist".
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yes, I worry.
instead of +noun/doing must work as an adverb because instead of is a preposition
if noun+instead of +noun is correct, instead of must also be a conjuctions. in the dictionary, there is no such category for instead of.

offiial answer is sometimes inferior though the best choice
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 10 Nov 2021, 22:00
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a one-day strike to protest a law that requires them to contribute $330 a year toward the cost of higher education, previously paying $7 per year.
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A. year toward the cost of higher education, previously paying $7 per year
previously cannot modify higher education , distorting the meaning therefore out

B. year toward the cost of higher education, for which was previously paid $7 per year
which was ian't making much sense therefore out

C. year, compared to the previously $7 per year, toward the cost of higher education
toward the cost of higher education in the end is akward therefore out

D. year toward the cost of higher education, instead of the $7 per year required previously
THe meaning is fine therefore let us hang on to it

E. year as opposed to the $7 per year required previously for the cost of higher education
Too wordy and akward therefore out

THerefore IMO D
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 13 Dec 2021, 09:07
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Hi experts,

Would you please help to explain why B is incorrect? I have read some comments claiming that WHO paid the $7 is missing. Is that information necessary?

Thank you.
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 13 Dec 2021, 09:43
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tinbq
Would you please help to explain why B is incorrect? I have read some comments claiming that WHO paid the $7 is missing. Is that information necessary?
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Oh yes @tinbq; GMAT takes this who issue very seriously :) .

Basically B is (what's called) passive voice: it's essentially saying:

$7 was previously paid for higher education.

As happens very frequently with passive voice constructs, the above construct is not depicting who previously paid $7 for higher education.

The intent of the original sentence is to depict that students previously paid $7 for higher education.

A better construct (though not perfect) for option B would be:

B1. year toward the cost of higher education, for which they previously paid $7 per year

Notice that B1 now clearly mentions that they (students) previously paid $7 for higher education.
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 16 Feb 2022, 05:41
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tylerk1986
I believe the answer is D.

Reasoning:
There are no grammatical flaws in sentences D or E that I notice. I even believe that sentence E sounds better because it goes along with the sentence. Students boycotting, leads you to believe that the new amount of money that students are forced to pay opposes the old amount.

However, putting "as opposed to" into the sentence changes the meaning of the original. The original only indicates that there are new amounts to be paid. It doesn't offer that the amounts are "opposing" each other
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Hi everyone, I have a question.
When dealing with SC questions, should we consider the meaning of the original sentence? Is it alright to choose an option with a different meaning from the original one?
Thank you! :)
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 17 Feb 2022, 06:59
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rachelphwu
tylerk1986
I believe the answer is D.

Reasoning:
There are no grammatical flaws in sentences D or E that I notice. I even believe that sentence E sounds better because it goes along with the sentence. Students boycotting, leads you to believe that the new amount of money that students are forced to pay opposes the old amount.

However, putting "as opposed to" into the sentence changes the meaning of the original. The original only indicates that there are new amounts to be paid. It doesn't offer that the amounts are "opposing" each other

Hi everyone, I have a question.
When dealing with SC questions, should we consider the meaning of the original sentence? Is it alright to choose an option with a different meaning from the original one?
Thank you! :)
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Hello rachelphwu,

We hope this finds you well.

Our advice would be to take the meaning of Option A as a baseline unless this meaning is completely illogical or incoherent.

Further, if Option A and all answer choices that preserve its meaning are grammatically incorrect, then pick whichever answer choice is grammatically correct, even if its meaning does not line up with Option A's.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 17 Feb 2022, 08:44
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says that the higher education was previously paying $7

B The phrase - for which was previously paid $7 per year - is too awkward to consider
In C - previously $7 per year - is grammatically wrong. Previously is an adverb and can not modify the noun of $7

D has no flaws as such and is the best answer.

E -as opposed to -is not the right idiom to describe comparison, unless the arms of the comparison are positioned opposite to the others physically? In a weird way, E may also give the feeling that the students were in fact opposed to the $7 per year.

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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 17 Feb 2022, 21:15
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rachelphwu
Hi everyone, I have a question.
When dealing with SC questions, should we consider the meaning of the original sentence? Is it alright to choose an option with a different meaning from the original one?
Thank you! :)
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Hi rachelphwu,

Option A is not special in any way. This means that the underlined portion of the sentence is just as likely to contain a meaning error as any other option.
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 18 Apr 2022, 06:21
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Hi AndrewN sir

I want ask about the usage of "instead of" in option D.

From what I understand "Instead of" must be strictly followed by Noun. Here, "instead of" is followed by Noun + noun modifier. Is such a use acceptable? Can we also use gerund after "instead of" ?

thanks.
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 18 Apr 2022, 07:00
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beeblebrox
Hi AndrewN sir

I want ask about the usage of "instead of" in option D.

From what I understand "Instead of" must be strictly followed by Noun. Here, "instead of" is followed by Noun + noun modifier. Is such a use acceptable? Can we also use gerund after "instead of" ?

thanks.
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Hello, beeblebrox. Yes, instead of can be followed by a noun or noun phrase, even if traditional grammar sources remove the infinitive (phrase) from that list. For example, in the sentence, Instead of cycling, he prefers to take the bus to work, it might be frowned upon to replace the gerund cycling with the infinitive cycle. For GMAT™ purposes, you can be 100 percent sure that a noun phrase, not just a one-word noun, may follow instead of if you see such usage in a correct answer, as we do in (D) above. Keep in mind, too, that rather than can be used in place of instead of in any pertinent comparison, but not the other way around. There are a number of official questions in which you see the two constructs tested. I will spoil just a few from different editions of the OG:

1) In metalwork one...

2) Judge Bonham denied...

3) Nuclear fusion is...

4) Rather than ignore...

5) Recently discovered fossil...

I would urge you not to look to create absolute rules regarding the usage of instead of. When you come across the construct in official SC questions, take note of what you find. The more you see a consistent usage, the greater your degree of confidence can be in that usage on the exam.

Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 02 Jun 2022, 12:10
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Hi MartyTargetTestPrep

I am so confused about this one ...

In option A paying is a participle so wont it modify subject of the preceding clause i.e. students ?
hence students are those who are paying ...
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 02 Jun 2022, 13:05
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pratishtha1210
Hi MartyTargetTestPrep

I am so confused about this one ...

In option A paying is a participle so wont it modify subject of the preceding clause i.e. students ?
hence students are those who are paying ...
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Hi pratishtha1210.

In this case, what "paying" in (A) modifies is not clear because the sentence version is such a mess.

It could modify "them to contribute ..." or, further back, "Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted ...."

In neither case is a logical meaning conveyed.
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 18 Jun 2022, 22:49
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beeblebrox
Hi AndrewN sir

I want ask about the usage of "instead of" in option D.

From what I understand "Instead of" must be strictly followed by Noun. Here, "instead of" is followed by Noun + noun modifier. Is such a use acceptable? Can we also use gerund after "instead of" ?

thanks.
Hello, beeblebrox. Yes, instead of can be followed by a noun or noun phrase, even if traditional grammar sources remove the infinitive (phrase) from that list. For example, in the sentence, Instead of cycling, he prefers to take the bus to work, it might be frowned upon to replace the gerund cycling with the infinitive cycle. For GMAT™ purposes, you can be 100 percent sure that a noun phrase, not just a one-word noun, may follow instead of if you see such usage in a correct answer, as we do in (D) above. Keep in mind, too, that rather than can be used in place of instead of in any pertinent comparison, but not the other way around. There are a number of official questions in which you see the two constructs tested. I will spoil just a few from different editions of the OG:

1) In metalwork one...

2) Judge Bonham denied...

3) Nuclear fusion is...

4) Rather than ignore...

5) Recently discovered fossil...

I would urge you not to look to create absolute rules regarding the usage of instead of. When you come across the construct in official SC questions, take note of what you find. The more you see a consistent usage, the greater your degree of confidence can be in that usage on the exam.

Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew
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Hello AndrewN ,

I have seen in official correct answers for the usage of instead in which shall be followed by noun as it is a preposition.
However , for the case in correct answer , ‘ instead of ‘ is followed by participle adverb .
Is this usage acceptable ?
I eliminated this choice on the basis of above .

Thanks .

Posted from my mobile device
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 19 Jun 2022, 04:10
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ankitbagla
Hello AndrewN ,

I have seen in official correct answers for the usage of instead in which shall be followed by noun as it is a preposition.
However , for the case in correct answer , ‘ instead of ‘ is followed by participle adverb .
Is this usage acceptable ?
I eliminated this choice on the basis of above .

Thanks .
Show more
Hello, ankitbagla. I might understand better what you were driving at if you provided examples of these official correct answers. If you are wondering whether answer choice (D) could be rewritten above to place the modifier ahead of the noun that follows instead of, the answer is yes: instead of the previously required $7 per year would be fine. Notice that the modifier is contained within the noun phrase, though, with the marking the beginning of that phrase.

The bottom line is that we should not blindly adhere to rules, or to what we think are rules. And if an official question seems to flout such a rule in a correct answer, then there is probably more to that issue than meets the eye.

Thank you for following up.

- Andrew
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 19 Jun 2022, 06:28
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Hi,

In this SC question, your knowledge of understanding- 'Meaning + Modifiers + Wordiness' is tested.

Option A: wrong modifier- higher education
Option B: passive construction, meaning distorted
Option C: meaningless comparison- year & cost
Option E: wordy & distorts meaning
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 27 Jul 2022, 04:57
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In option C and E , 'toward the cost of higher education' and 'previously for the cost of the higher education' come in later parts of the comparison and thus it seems like they are modifying the later parts .

Can I reject the options on the basis of such errors in actual exam, or Should I look for other errors ?
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 27 Jul 2022, 08:54
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akt715
In option C and E , 'toward the cost of higher education' and 'previously for the cost of the higher education' come in later parts of the comparison and thus it seems like they are modifying the later parts .

Can I reject the options on the basis of such errors in actual exam, or Should I look for other errors ?
Show more

That's not a problem, because "toward the cost of higher education" applies to BOTH of the dollar figures. (It's weird that they're in dollars rather than euros. 🤷🏿‍♀️)
The correct answer could also have been written as, e.g.,
Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a one-day strike to protest a law that requires them to contribute $330 a year, instead of the $7 per year required previously, toward the cost of higher education.


"For the cost of higher education", in choice E, absurdly implies that these figures represent the entire cost of higher education! (This is an idiom that you almost certainly know: If somebody asks you "How much did you pay FOR that?", she/he is asking you for the whole price that you paid, not some fractional contribution to it.)


Choice C is trying to use an adverb ("previously") to modify a noun ("$7"). That's not allowed.
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 21 Aug 2022, 04:29
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Is the use of "instead of" correct ? I have seen in many gmat sc correction lessons that "instead of" appears only in wrong answers choices as gmat does not prefer it but "instead" is fine.
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 21 Aug 2022, 04:38
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Is the use of "instead of" correct ? I have seen in many gmat sc correction lessons that "instead of" appears only in wrong answers choices as gmat does not prefer it but "instead" is fine.
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Hello bhavyasetia,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, both "instead" and "instead of" are perfectly acceptable on GMAT, although "rather than" is the preferred usage.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Most of Portugal's 250,000 university students boycotted classes in a 26 Aug 2022, 00:05
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bhavyasetia
Is the use of "instead of" correct ?
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This is an official problem from GMAC, so, you know the answer to this.




Quote:
I have seen in many gmat sc correction lessons that "instead of" appears only in wrong answers choices as gmat does not prefer it but "instead" is fine.
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Well, now you've seen it in a correct answer. (:

Instead of and rather than actually have slightly different meanings.
In the construction X rather than Y, 'X' and 'Y' are just two options/choices/alternatives. This construction does not imply that one of the two is 'expected', 'typical', 'standard', 'normal', 'usual' etc.
The construction X instead of Y, on the other hand, implies that Y is the normal/usual/standard/expected/default choice, for which X is an unexpected/nonstandard substitute.

E.g.,
On her vacation, my sister has been showering with shower gel rather than bar soap. —> Sis was using bar soap at some other point (otherwise I wouldn't be randomly mentioning it), but right now she's using shower gel because that is just what's available at her hotel/airbnb/friend's house. Sis doesn't have a strong preference between the two.

I had to clear the jammed toilet with my hand instead of a plunger. —> I would DEFINITELY rather use a plunger, LOL. A plunger would certainly be the default/standard choice here, but, in an emergent situation with no plunger around, I might need to use my hand instead. Eww gross disgusting.
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