When Medicare was enacted in 1965, it was aimed at the prevention of a

When Medicare was enacted in 1965, it was aimed at the prevention of a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients.

(A) at the prevention of a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients
(B) at being a preventive against catastrophic illness financially destroying elderly patients
(C) at preventing a catastrophic illness from financially destroying the elderly patient
(D) to prevent a catastrophic illness financially destroying an elderly patient
(E) to prevent elderly patients being financially destroyed by a catastrophic illness

The entry into the topic is through the split between the singular patient and the plural patients. Nobody will enact a law for the sake of a single patient or the patient. Therefore, let's drop C and D.

In B and E, the use of the word 'being' used as modifier renders them wrong.

Particularly the use of 'to prevent' will be redundant in D and E because, we already have 'aimed at" as a purpose marker.

A remains as the correct choice.

Particularly the use of 'to prevent' will be redundant in D and E because, we already have 'aimed at" as a purpose marker.

Official Explanation

Verb Form; Diction

Two issues can be identified here: first, we must determine what form follows the phrase it was aimed, used to describe a goal or intended purpose; second, we must determine what preposition (if any) connects prevent or its cognates with the thing that is actually prevented.

A. This choice uses the idiomatically correct was aimed at. However, the word prevention incorrectly takes both the preposition of and the preposition from; this makes the sentence awkward and ambiguous. Furthermore, using the noun prevention makes the sentence wordier than choices using some form of the verb to prevent.

B. This choice uses the idiomatically correct was aimed at. However, using the noun a preventative makes the sentence wordier than cases using some form of the verb to prevent.

C. Correct. The phrase at preventing is correct in context: it describes Medicare's intended purpose. Furthermore, the preposition from correctly indicates a consequence that has been prevented.

D. This choice uses the idiomatically incorrect was aimed to. Furthermore, it fails to use the idiomatically correct prevent from.

E. This choice uses the idiomatically incorrect was aimed to. Furthermore, it fails to use the idiomatically correct prevent from.

The correct answer is C.

Please Experts,suggest me from where should I learn idioms that are frequently tested in GMAT ? Thanks ☺

Posted from my mobile device

Hi shaonkarim

Three things come to my mind:

1) a very concise list of "the most common idioms" by Magoosh:
https://magoosh.resources.s3.amazonaws.c ... Idioms.pdf

2) a great guide by GMATNinja who, in some way, busts myths to learn all 25,000 idioms:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 41848.html

3) another one, very reputable ManhattanPrep Sentence Correction Guide (they have a special section for Idioms and Odd/Ends)

IDIOMS

When Medicare was enacted in 1965, it was aimed at the prevention of a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients.

(A) at the prevention of a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients ---- "prevention of X from Y" is an incorrect idiom. The correct idiom is "to prevent X from Y". Therefore, the idiom requires the verboid form of "prevent". It can't be set with the noun.
(B) at being a preventive against catastrophic illness financially destroying elderly patients ---- "being a preventive" is extremely wordy.
(C) at preventing a catastrophic illness from financially destroying the elderly patient ----- CORRECT
(D) to prevent a catastrophic illness financially destroying an elderly patient ---- the correct idiom should be "aiming at"
(E) to prevent elderly patients being financially destroyed by a catastrophic illness ----- the correct idiom should be "aiming at"

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-



Choice A: Option A incorrectly uses the noun form of "preventing", "prevention”; the correct form of the idiom "aimed at" requires it to be followed by a verb in the "verb+ing" form. Thus, Option A is incorrect.

Choice B: Option B is needlessly wordy, due to its use of the word "being". Thus, Option B is not a good answer choice.

Choice C: Option C is quite concise and maintains the correct use of idioms throughout the sentence. Thus, C is correct.

Choice D: In Option D, we see the use of the unidiomatic phrase "aimed to". Thus, Option D is incorrect.

Choice E: Option E utilizes the same unidiomatic phrase that Option D does. Thus, Option E is incorrect.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of “Use of ‘Being’ on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

GMATNinja could you please help us choose between option A and C.

The sentence provides the original aim of Medicare. The sentence seems to say that the aim was to prevent a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients.

The sentence has the following problems:

1. As is, the sentence means that the law, Medicare, was aimed at preventing a catastrophic illness – this doesn’t make much sense. How can a law prevent people from suffering catastrophic illnesses?
2. The modification of “prevention” by “from financially destroying elderly patients” doesn’t make sense since “prevention from financially destroying patients” doesn’t make sense.



A. at the prevention of a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients
Incorrect. For the reasons mentioned above.

B. at being a preventive against catastrophic illness financially destroying elderly patients
Incorrect. For the following reasons:

1. The phrase “aimed at being a preventive against illness” is sufficiently awkward. For example, we don’t say “This protest is aimed at being a demonstrator for the injustice”; we say “This protest is aimed at demonstrating the injustice”.
2. In this option, “financially destroying elderly patients” is a verb-ing modifier for the “illness”. Thus, the option means that the law was aimed at preventing some kind of illness. What kind of illnesses? The kind of illnesses that are financially destroying elderly patients. Neither of these aspects – the law aiming at preventing illnesses, and preventing illnesses that are currently financially destroying elderly patients – makes sense.

C. at preventing a catastrophic illness from financially destroying the elderly patient
Correct. This option says that the law was aimed at preventing x from doing y i.e. the aim was that x should not be able to do y. In other words, the aim was that a catastrophic illness should not be able to financially destroy elderly patients. That makes a lot of sense. Financial aid could be provided to elderly people who are suffering from a catastrophic illness so that they don’t get financially destroyed.

D. to prevent a catastrophic illness financially destroying an elderly patient
Incorrect. This option has the second error of option B.

E. to prevent elderly patients being financially destroyed by a catastrophic illness
Incorrect. This option says that the law is trying to prevent elderly patients! Doesn’t make sense. Also, “being financially destroyed” is a verb-ing modifier for “patients”, meaning that we are talking about patients that are currently being destroyed by a catastrophic illness. Again, doesn’t make sense.

Please note that while the official explanation says that “aimed to” is incorrect, this use is quite common in credible publications such as WSJ.com and Nytimes.com. Thus, we do not consider this construction incorrect.

I think you're on the right track regarding (E). In (E), it sounds like Medicare was enacted to prevent elderly patients themselves -- as if there was a group of "elderly patients being financially destroyed by a catastrophic illness" and Medicare's goal was to "prevent" that group. Um... prevent them from doing something? Prevent the group from existing?

The logical meaning is more clear in (C): What was Medicare aimed at preventing? The financial destruction OF the elderly patient BY a catastrophic illness.

Here's an explanation of (A) vs (C) that doesn't depend on the alleged VAN rule.


Hmm... not sure I follow. Can you elaborate? The main subject-verb pair in the clause ("it was aimed") is identical in all five answer choices, so I'm not sure that passive vs. active could be an issue here at all. But let us know if you're thinking of something different.

Dear IanStewart

What bewilders me in C is “the elderly patient”.
“the” seems to talk about one exact elderly patient, doesn’t it? While reading C, I was wondering how an entire Medicare can be enacted for one person? As it is, the correct choice is adopted from The New York Times. I browsed it but still have no clue. I would much appreciate if you could elucidate.

Many thanks in advance.

It's actually the opposite that can be true - using "a" instead of "the" can suggest you're talking about one specific thing. if you take this sentence:

The snow leopard is threatened by climate change.

we're using "the" to refer to the category of "snow leopard". Here we could also use the plural, "Snow leopards are threatened by climate change", but we could not use an indefinite article without changing the meaning: "A snow leopard is threatened by climate change" would mean there is one snow leopard that is threatened. The sentence would no longer refer to the species or category as a whole.

I've never really thought about this use of "the", so perhaps there's a rule someone else might be able to articulate better than I can, but it seems to me any time a sentence could be phrased using a plural ("snow leopards are threatened", or "the bill is meant to prevent illnesses from financially destroying elderly patients"), then if we rephrase the sentence in the singular, "the" will usually be preferable to "a", since by using "the" we are referring to the category rather than to an individual within the category. While saying "an elderly patient" seems fine to me in this question, you could read it to mean "a particular elderly patient", and for that reason, using "the" might be preferable.

This usage of "the" is not common, but nor is it altogether rare. Your question immediately reminded me of another official question which uses "the" in the same way (at the beginning, in the non-underlined portion) :

https://gmatclub.com/forum/for-the-farm ... 61370.html

Ah, I see. Honestly, I can't really come up with a good example either. But I wouldn't conclude that "aim at ___ing" is always wrong in an active construction. The GMAT loves to punish us when we try to cling to an ever-growing list of memorized grammar rules. Instead, keep an eye out for this construction, and think really hard about how the wording affects the meaning in each unique example.

That probably isn't too satisfying, but I hope that it helps a little bit!

When Medicare was enacted in 1965, it was aimed at the prevention of a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients.

(A) at the prevention of a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients

Wordy choice that features two prepositions -- 'of a catastrophic illness' and 'from financially destroying elderly patients'. Other choices are better.

(B) at being a preventive against catastrophic illness financially destroying elderly patients

'being a preventive' is incorrect

(C) at preventing a catastrophic illness from financially destroying the elderly patient

Looks good -- keep.

(D) to prevent a catastrophic illness financially destroying an elderly patient

A catastrophic illness doesn't do the act of financially destroying an elderly patient -- we need 'from' after prevent. 'Aimed to' is also the incorrect idiom -- should be 'aimed at'

(E) to prevent elderly patients being financially destroyed by a catastrophic illness

'Aimed to' is also the incorrect idiom -- should be 'aimed at'.

Hi CJAnish AndrewN

Can you please how/why is the second prepositional phrase modifying "prevention" and not "illness"?
In general any thumb rule to identify any prepositional phrase modifies which noun? nearest one or elsewhere

Hello, shanks2020. I cannot speak for CJAnish, but I read your query as one stemming from the original sentence. The answer has to do with context and the way the verb to prevent is used. There are two main structures for this verb:

1) prevent + object
Example: The campaign was meant to prevent the spread of AIDS.

2) prevent + object + from + object
Example: The campaign was meant to prevent the uneducated from spreading AIDS.

In the original sentence above, we see a sentence that falls into the second pattern, even if the verb in question has been altered to a noun:

When Medicare was enacted in 1965, it was aimed at the prevention of a catastrophic illness from financially destroying elderly patients.

That is a simplification, but it illustrates what I have been outlining. When looking to qualify a prepositional phrase, yes, the majority of the time, it will touch the noun it modifies, but you should look to the context of the sentence to see whether it steers you into one interpretation or another. I would not get too caught up on the issue in (A). You could just as easily disfavor the answer choice for its use of three words in the prevention of when preventing on its own would do.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me.

- Andrew

HI AndrewN sir

1. If instead of past tense, the sentence were in present tense, then D' could be correct?
D' When Medicare is enacted in 1965, it is aimed to preventing a catastrophic illness from financially destroying the elderly patient
D'' When Medicare is enacted in 1965, it aims to preventing a catastrophic illness from financially destroying the elderly patient
D''' When Medicare is enacted in 1965, it aims to preventing a catastrophic illness from financially destroying the elderly patient

I am just trying to identify in what situation aim to and prevent from would be correct.
I know you don't like to reject on the basis of idioms, Could you please share your take on rejecting D and on new versions of D.

Hello, mSKR. In general, I also shy away from reinterpreting sentences and creating spin-offs, since the five options are carefully prepared by the folks at GMAC™ to allow us to identify particular errors, and analyzing an altered sentence may lead to wayward conclusions or generalizations. Still, I will say that it is aimed to is incorrect usage. You could write, it is aiming to, but the first altered sentence you have written above would remain incorrect. A larger issue, one that affects all three sentences equally, is that if you shift the verb tense to the present, the dependent clause now seems to project into the future, as though Medicare has not been enacted already. Thus, we would expect something across the comma more along the lines of it will aim to prevent. I would not spend too much more effort if I were you thinking of how to rewrite an incorrect answer choice. Learn what makes it incorrect and see if you can identify how the correct answer addresses any deficiencies, and you will set yourself up for success if that point is tested again.

I do not mean to be a nay-sayer. I imagine you put a fair amount of effort into crafting the above sentences. However, my goal is to provide sound advice on how to prepare for the GMAT™, and I believe that certain preparation methods are effective while others are not, based on my experience as both a test-taker and a tutor.

Thank you for thinking to ask me.

- Andrew