nishtil wrote:
Many English adjectives, when included in questions, indicate a bias although their opposites do not; for example, questions beginning with "how close," a construction implying that whatever is under discussion is nearby, but those beginning with "how far" do not necessarily carry the implication of long distance.
A although their opposites do not; for example, questions beginning with "how close," a construction implying that whatever is under discussion is nearby, but those beginning with "how far" do not necessarily carry the implication of long distance
B unlike their opposites; for example, by beginning a question with "how close," speakers imply that whatever is under discussion is nearby, but they do not necessarily imply a long distance in beginning them with "how far."
C while their opposites do not; for instance, questions beginning with "how close" imply that whatever is being discussed is nearby, but those beginning with "how far" do not necessarily imply a long distance.
D that their opposites lack; in the case of speakers who begin questions with "how close," for instance, it is implied that whatever is under discussion is nearby, but for those who begin questions with "how far" there is no corresponding implication of long distance.
E that their opposites do not; for instance, when speakers begin questions with "how close," implying that whatever is being discussed is nearby, but when they begin questions with "how far" a long distance is not necessarily implied.
Official ExplanationThis sentence describes an interesting fact about English adjectives: some of them create biased questions, even though their opposites do not. The sentence must express this idea with a logical comparison. In the second clause, which provides specific examples, the two given examples should be expressed as similarly as possible in order to create an overall parallelism.
(A) The portion of the sentence following the semicolon is not a complete sentence. The first portion (questions beginning) contains a noun that could be the subject but no verb follows here or later in the sentence; a construction implying is merely a modifier, describing "how close." The second portion begins with the conjunction but, indicating that there should be two complete sentences, one before and one after the but. There is a complete sentence afterwards but not before. (For example, a correct sentence might say "she suggested going out for dinner but he was too tired." The portion before the but and the portion after the but are each complete sentences.)
(B) The phrase a bias unlike their opposites creates an illogical comparison between a bias and the opposites (as opposed to a comparison between some adjectives and their opposites). In addition, due to parallel structure, the plural pronoun them appears to refer to the singular question. (Also note that it is generally a bad idea to use the three forms they, them, and their to refer to different nouns in a single sentence. In this case, they refers to speakers while them is intended to refer to questions.)
(C) CORRECT. The first clause correctly expresses the idea that some adjectives create a bias, even though their opposites don't. The two examples after the semicolon (questions beginning with... imply... and those beginning with... do not imply) are parallel. The plural pronoun those correctly refers to the plural noun questions.(D) The expression that their opposites lack does not accurately convey the intended meaning. The intended meaning is that the opposite adjectives have no bias at all, but this wording simply suggests that they don't have the bias that the original adjectives have (perhaps the opposites have a different bias?). The wordings in the case of speakers and For those results in an illogical meaning, suggesting that the bias or lack of bias refers to the speakers themselves rather than to the significance of their questions.
(E) The expression that their opposites do not does not accurately convey the intended meaning. The intended meaning is that the opposite adjectives have no bias at all, but this wording simply suggests that they don't have the bias that the original adjectives have (perhaps the opposites have a different bias?). The portion of the sentence following the semicolon is not a complete sentence. The first portion (when speakers begin) is a subordinate clause (because it starts with the word when). The second portion begins with the conjunction but, indicating that there should be two complete sentences, one before and one after the but. There is a complete sentence afterwards but not before. (For example, a correct sentence using when might say "when she suggested going out for dinner, he said that he was too tired." A correct sentence using but might say "she suggested going out to dinner but he was too tired.")
close
05 May 2013, 00:15
45%
(medium)
29%
(02:11)
wrong 
