I know I’m not gmat ninja (he will respond) but I can maybe help you a little with what I saw?
In a sense it’s idiomatic usage, but if you think about the meaning, sometimes it makes sense.
If I say something is dated to be X, such as:
“You are dated to be 100 years old.”
then I first think about the meaning of the statement.
When someone says that you are dated to be an age, there is this sense of “action” on the part of whoever did the “dating”. The meaning implied is that someone performed the action of dating so that you are 100 years old. The unknown actor made sure that you were “dated to be.”
Obviously, when you think about it that way the phrase comes across as nonsensical.
A and B can be eliminated using subject-verb agreement (“rock samples” is a plural subject)
D, to me, seemed like the “runner up” (although that is clearly version C).
Again, I can think about the meaning of saying something “dated as being 100 years old.”
There are a few instances in which “being” can be used properly.
(1)a gerund - “Being a vampire for Halloween is no fun.”
(2)past or present continuous verb structure - “He is being annoying.” “They were being very rude to me.”
(3)although it’s an offshoot of (1) or (2), the structure I’ve seen a few times in sentences is the following: “before being”
“Jonathon worked at a firm before being fired by the partners.”
To say something is “dated as being” is what the guide would call “wordy” or an “unidiomatic construction,” or perhaps even “redundant”
“as being” conveys a meaning of almost being a part of something. It’s one of those meanings that’s hard to pin down (for me).
Just using “as” is enough to get you to the right meaning. Writing “as being” just comes across as unnecessary.
I can’t think of any time in which “as being” is used appropriately. That’s something I’m sure gmat ninja can correct.
Reading definitely helps you get there to understand the meanings. Otherwise, memorizing a list of thousands of idiomatic usages might be the only other way.
I always try to use the phrase in a simpler sentence to try and pin down the meaning, especially when I see the type of split that appeared in this sentence.
I hope something helps?
testtakerstrategy wrote:
GMATNinja -- Can you provide insight here? Usually you mention idioms should not be a deciding factor but all the posts so far are only pointing to idioms. What are your thoughts please?
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