On the tournament roster are listed several tennis students, most all

Never use 'as good as' on the GMAT! Its what is commonly understood verbally but its wrong in written language.

'which' should not refer to people, 'whom' is much more well suited.

Therefore, the correct answer is E.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning of this sentence is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that nearly all of the tennis students play as well as their instructor does.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Pronouns

• An adjective can only modify a noun; it cannot modify another adjective or a verb; to modify an adjective or a verb, an adverb must be used.
• "which" cannot be used to refer to human beings; "who" and "whom" are the appropriate equivalents for referring to humans.

A: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "most all"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that nearly all of the tennis students play as well as their instructor does. Further, Option A incorrectly modifies the verb "play" with the adjective "good"; remember, an adjective can only modify a noun; it cannot modify another adjective or a verb; to modify an adjective or a verb, an adverb must be used. Additionally, Option A incorrectly uses "which" to refer to the noun "students"; remember, "which" cannot be used to refer to human beings; "who" and "whom" are the appropriate equivalents for referring to humans.

B: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "most all"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that nearly all of the tennis students play as well as their instructor does. Further, Option B incorrectly modifies the verb "play" with the adjective "good"; remember, an adjective can only modify a noun; it cannot modify another adjective or a verb; to modify an adjective or a verb, an adverb must be used.

C: Thi answer choice incorrectly uses "which" to refer to the noun "students"; remember, "which" cannot be used to refer to human beings; "who" and "whom" are the appropriate equivalents for referring to humans.

D: This answer choice incorrectly modifies the verb "play" with the adjective "good"; remember, an adjective can only modify a noun; it cannot modify another adjective or a verb; to modify an adjective or a verb, an adverb must be used.

E: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "almost all", conveying the intended meaning - that nearly all of the tennis students play as well as their instructor does. Further, Option E correctly refers to the noun "students" with the pronoun "whom". Additionally, Option E correctly modifies the verb "play" with the adverb "well".

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

anurag16, "as well" can be used similarly to "also," but that's not the meaning here.

"As X as" is an idiom meaning that two things are equal in terms of some modifier, either an adjective or an adverb. We can say that someone's cheeks are "as red as a rose" or that someone swims "as nimbly as a seal." In this case, we're using the modifier "well" to describe how people play. They play well. How well? As well as their instructor. We could just as easily have said "as skillfully as" or "with as much precision as" or something like that.

in answer choice E as well as can be ambiguous as it leads to 2 meanings:
students play as well(good) as their instructor.
students play and their instructor also play.

in my opinion answer should be D.

can anyone put a light on it.

The adverbial modifiers are correct as opposed to the adjectival ones.

Here in this sentence, "well" is correct as opposed to "good".

So D is wrong.

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A and B incorrect idiom

C. incorrect
Which for students is incorrect
Which is used for things not people

D incorrect good is an adjective
E .well is correctly used as adverb


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Hi Vishal, a handy rule to remember is:

Pronouns always take the object form, when used as part of a prepositional phrase.

Since of who/whom is a prepositional phrase, we should be using the object form whom.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Pronoun usage in Prepositional Phrases. Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

Yes, you're right! You should say, "I play football well," not "I play football good." Since "play" is a verb in this case, it should be modified by an adverb (i.e. "well"), not an adjective (i.e. "good").

In your example, "more" answers the question, "How closely?" That makes it an adverb, since adjectives can technically only modify nouns -- not verbs, adverbs, or other adjectives.

Luckily, the GMAT doesn't test our knowledge of grammar jargon. For the most part, you just need to be able to distinguish between nouns, verbs, and modifiers. If you enjoy the minutiae of grammar beyond those basics, that's great, but the GMAT will never ask you to match a word with the correct terminology.

I agree with your analysis. Just to play devil's advocate - doesn't it mean that - On the tournament roster are listed several tennis students, almost all of whom play as well as their instructor. Meaning that most of them play along with their instructor?

Original sentence :

On the tournament roster are listed several tennis students, most all of which play as good as their instructor


Intended meaning in own words : The tournament record has the names of many students who play as nicely as their instructor plays.
The sentence is primarily concerned with the students. Now imagine if it meant like this ::

The student's names are on the tournament roster, and they play. Also their instructor plays. Wouldn't it be an odd construction ?
If the sentence had to introduce the instructor too as the subject, it could have done it in a better way.
Something like - Several tennis students, who play with their instructor, have their names listed on tournament roster.
I have modified the sentence to introduce the "instructor" properly.

Also the word "good" in original sentence tells us that the quality of students' game is considered.

I also marked it D first. But apart from the grammar part as highlighted in earlier posts, the meaning also plays a role here

daagh , VeritasPrepKarishma - please correct me if I am wrong in my reasoning here.



in answer choice E as well as can be ambiguous as it leads to 2 meanings:
students play as well(good) as their instructor.
students play and their instructor also play.

in my opinion answer should be D.

can anyone put a light on it.

"Good" is an adjective, and "well" is an adverb. Therefore the adjective ("good") cannot refer to a verb ("play").

He plays good... wrong
He plays well.... right

Use of adjective "good" to refer to the verb "play" makes the option D wrong.




I agree with your analysis. Just to play devil's advocate - doesn't it mean that - On the tournament roster are listed several tennis students, almost all of whom play as well as their instructor. Meaning that most of them play along with their instructor?

On the tournament roster are listed several tennis students, most all of which play as good as their instructor

Issue: Idiom

Analysis:
1) The correct form to use adverb "well" to modify verb "play". "Good" is incorrect as it is adjective. This eliminates (A), (B) and (D)
2) Between "which" and "whom", "whom" is the correct pronoun to refer to people.

A. most all of which play as good
B. most all of whom play as good
C. almost all of which play as well
D. almost all of whom play as good
E. almost all of whom play as well

Answer: E.

chesstitans , thanks for the clarification.

I think you mean that

"most of the students" =
"almost all of the students"

That is correct. The second phrase is a little stronger than the first, but not enough to matter.

Suppose Answer E were:
most of whom play as well

That would be the right answer. So you are correct. "Almost all of" and "most of" convey similar meaning (nearly all except a few). Both are proper here.

But we cannot pair most with all.
Wrong: most all of whom

And nearly always, we must pair almost with all
Wrong: almost of whom

*One note of caution: your phrase "almost students" is not the same as "almost all" and "most of." I think "almost students" is shorthand or a typo.

The phrase is correct in very few contexts; when, e.g., toddlers are about to start school. We would say, "Not long ago, the toddlers were learning to walk. Now they are almost students!"

"Almost students" does not mean "nearly all." If you see "almost students" without words in between, it is probably wrong.

thangvietnam , no, most all of is not correct.

Please look upthread at Skywalker18 's post, HERE.
What part of that explanation does not seem clear to you?

We are trying to describe a quantity of or a number of tennis students.
All of the tennis instructors play [tennis] well.

Do all of the tennis students play as well all of the tennis instructors?

Answer:
Nearly all = almost all of the tennis students play as well as all of the tennis coaches do.

When we want to say that the quantity of one group
is just a little smaller than the other group,

we use "almost all"

We do not use most all
The phrase is nonsensical.

Correct: Almost all of the apples were delicious.
100 apples. 98 were delicious

Wrong: Most all of the apples were delicious.
What the heck is "most all"?
MOST apples were delicious [and] ALL apples were delicious?
-- MOST: 100 apples. 80 were delicious
-- ALL: 100 apples. 100 were delicious

HERE, HERE, and HERE are three very short posts that explain why almost can modify all but most cannot modify all.

If the word ALL is present, do not put the word MOST before all.

We can say
almost all of them
almost all of whom
nearly all of them
nearly all of whom
not quite all of them
not quite all of whom

In the U.S., in informal speech, people sometimes say "most all of whom" rather than "almost all of whom." Those people shortened [i]almost to most.

That usage is not accepted on the GMAT or in formal writing, and it makes no sense.

"Most all" is incorrect usage.

We can say "most of whom" or "almost all of whom" depending on what we want to imply - 'most' or 'almost all'.

Most means 'more than 50%' and 'almost all' might be something like 97-98%.

Think of what you will put in the blanks in the sentences below:

_______ (They/Them) will come to the party.

All of _____ (they/them) will come to the party.

Why?
In the second sentence, 'of' is a preposition and 'of them' a prepositional phrase. So you use objective form 'them'. Similarly you use "some of them", "a few of them" etc.

It is the same with 'who/whom' here. You will use 'all of whom', not all of 'who'.

On the tournament roster are listed several tennis students, most all of which play as good as their instructor

--> we use almost, not most to modify another adverb.

A. most all of which play as good
B. most all of whom play as good
C. almost all of which play as well
D. almost all of whom play as good
E. almost all of whom play as well

Though I get the logic of good being an adjective and can't be used in place of an adverb, isn't 'as well as' same in meaning as 'also'? It doesn't makes any sense in option E if that's the case. I eliminated option E just because of this construction.