plaverbach wrote:
Besides absolute phrases and idioms, is there any
other way to eliminate C?
I've seen people telling that meaning could help, and, although I can understand the difference, I think that there is no wrong one, and if you look closer, A seems to tell us something that is closest related to C than it is to B.
A. Parallelism
B Correct
C. ???
D. Parallelism
E. Parallelism
I ask this because I did not see the idiom or knew about absolute phrases...
GMATNinja, im marking you here, but if I should not just tell me so! Just read every post here and could not find an answer. It took me about 1:30 to do so and even after exploring other websites it did not convince me... =/
On SC questions, the correct answer is the option that: 1) doesn't violate any grammar rules and 2) most clearly expresses the author's intended meaning. So, it is absolutely possible to eliminate an answer choice that is grammatically correct -- it all depends on whether there are more clear or logical options to choose.
Also, the "intended meaning" of the sentence is not always the meaning expressed in answer choice (A). Treat (A) just like any other option, and choose the answer choice that actually makes the most sense.
Here are (B) and (C):
Quote:
(B) With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit, Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, its 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom.
(C)With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit, Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered as far too cold to support life and has 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom.
The first difference between these options is that (C) has an "and." The parallelism is fine from a grammatical standpoint: "has long been considered" is parallel to "has 60 miles."
But how does the "and" impact the meaning of the sentence?
When you use the word "and," you're basically just listing things that are somewhat related. You could say, for example, "I like dosas and gazelles." Here, the only thing in common between "dosas" and "gazelles" is that I like them both. (Mmm... dosas.
)
(B) doesn't use the word "and." Instead, it changes the last part of the sentence into a modifier. Consider this example: "I watched gazelles in the savannah, reveling in their bouncy beauty." Here, the last part of my (admittedly kinda ridiculous) sentence is tied much more closely to the first -- in fact, it can't even stand on its own. It exists to give further information about the preceding clause.
So, which version works best with the official question? The author isn't just listing loosely related facts about Europa. Instead, he/she is discussing whether Europa can support life. It makes more sense for the fact about frozen water to
modify the main clause, rather than exist on its own as a separate thought.
Is the "and" in (C) absolutely wrong? No, it's not. But when you have eliminated all of the options with grammar errors and still have a couple left, you have to consider how the differences in your remaining options impact the meaning of the sentence. On that front, (B) wins out over (C).
Additionally, the idiom "considered as" is not great. But it's really
not worth your time to worry too much about idioms, so I recommend you stick to analyzing grammar and meaning instead.
I hope that helps!
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