Some introductory notes from generis , aragonn , sudarshan22 , and rohan2345

Where to start? With a guide that takes 5 to 8 minutes to read, HERE.

GMAT Club’s very own GMATNinja 's "Ultimate Guide for SC Beginners" is not just for beginners.
The post contains immensely helpful information and links. It includes an explanation of elimination strategies mentioned below.

Strategic approaches to SC questions

• Always remember: you are looking for FOUR WRONG answers, NOT one correct answer.
• To find those 4 wrong answers, use a process of elimination (POE)
• GMATNinja describes POE in the link above
• Sometimes the POE process is called “using splits.” THIS Manhattan Prep article, here, also describes how to use splits in POE.
• If you have found 4 answers with errors . . . check the remaining answer for accuracy. Do NOT check for perfection. You do not have to like the sentence. You may be irked by it. But if you cannot find a definite error in that option, mark it and move on.

How to train better for SC – spread out your learning, take practice questions, and get busy with flash cards

• The 3 BEST learning techniques, according to a comprehensive report based entirely on studies and described in THIS Time article, are:
(1) Distributed practice : spread out your study practice. Practice a little bit consistently
(2) Practice testing – These questions are practice testing. Use the timer. Some people should aim for accuracy and ignore time except to note final result. Others should aim for accuracy and speed.
(3) FLASHCARDS. Flashcards are a form of practice testing.

• The 4th important learning technique for language specifically: immersion in the speech of a variety of speakers and writers
In other words, READ.

bb , founder of GMAT Club, encourages aspirants to read novels and has a terrific list, HERE

mikemcgarry , a Magoosh expert, recommends that aspirants read The Economist, and explains why in THIS post

Other ways in which the Butler Project and we can help

• We hope that aspirants will engage in dialogue (yet another excellent way to learn)
-- Writing a clear answer to a question improves your thinking.
-- Seeing an issue from another person's perspective will help you see CR and RC material from the author's perspective —
an absolutely critical skill that is very hard to practice. Here's your chance.

The GMAT Verbal section is interlocked. This SC Butler Project is a good way to give yourself a head start.

• We will also be available to answer questions on which people are “stuck.”
• Bonus: if you post a complete POE, and you are struggling, one of us will be happy to help you improve your POE approach.
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generis aragonn sudarshan22 pls post 700+ level question

(sudarshan22 is retired and aragonn is on leave.)

TheNightKing , for helping both in content and by example, +1.

Alpha14 , I will be more than happy to fulfill your request, as I explain below.

I am genuinely curious: do you believe that I would withhold such questions if I had them?

I suspect that you (and other aspirants) have no idea how much time and energy are required:
-- (1) to run this initiative alone and to do so in a way that strives for excellence; and
-- (2) to find quality questions at any level.

I spend many hours a month just looking for good questions.

If I could find good 700-level questions, believe me, I would post them.

There are tens of thousands of forum members.
Many of you are enrolled in test prep programs or have access to regional resources, both of which provide you with SC questions.

This math is easy: Tens of thousands of forum members. One generis.
The odds of finding good questions are overwhelmingly in favor of forum members.

So I will ask you and anyone who reads this post:



Meaning: you post the question after I show you how to do so with the Butler banner. You also have the opportunity to post the OE, but I must see a draft and approve of it first.

Alpha14 , there is your answer. It's the only way I can think of that might deliver what you request.

If anyone has a better idea, by all means, post it.
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In OG, i found many questions which test rhetorical constructions skills and i truly believe it is difficult to differentiate such correct options.

According to my understanding (may be incomplete), rhetorical construction may not be the error but rather a style of writing by placement of the clauses or phrases in a awkward manner, though those are not as per GMAC.

The reason behind my request to generis to add one such kind of question in SC butler is a mind-boggling official such question that made me think about correct usage for more than 15 minutes.

To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, and she remained in France during the Second World War as a performer and an intelligence agent for the Resistance

(A) To Josephine Baker, Paris was her home long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate
(B) For Josephine Baker, long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Paris was her home
(C) Josephine Baker made Paris her home long before to be an expatriate was fashionable
(D) Long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Josephine Baker made Paris her home
(E) Long before it was fashionable being an expatriate, Paris was home to Josephine Baker

I could easily eliminate A, B and E but i confused between C and D. Ultimately, i chose C over D because of active voice usage as GMAC prefers rather than passive voice (although it is not hard and fast rule).

As per my learning, both, option C and D, are grammatically correct, and indicate the same meaning. The difference is inverting the clauses and change of voice.

Here, i'd like request generis to jump in to shed more lights and suggest how one can choose correct answer for such type of examples.

Regards,
Raxit.

Raxit85 , hi.

I cannot encapsulate in one post what "rhetorical construction" consists of.
This thread probably isn't the place for a long discussion. A quick overview might help.

In a very general way, rhetorical construction refers to whether a sentence is well constructed.

What does "well constructed" mean?
Well, GMAC gives hints in answer to that question in every one of its official guides—more than twenty pages' worth of hints, actually.
See my notes below.
A sentence that is well constructed uses ""effective expression" and "proper diction."

Is the sentence both forceful and concise?
GMAT sentences will rarely be as forceful as those in a good editorial, for example, but GMAT sentences will convey meaning clearly.
GMAT sentences will not use superfluous words.

What if the sentence is in passive voice?
Passive voice almost always produces longer and less direct sentences.

Passive voice is sometimes the better option, such as when we want to downplay agency.
→ passive voice should never be a first-pass reason to eliminate an option. Never.
→ passive voice is used in correct answers much more often than aspirants believe.

Does the sentence use appropriate vocabulary words in context? Does the sentence "flow"?

The authors of the Official Guide 2020 wrote more than twenty pages in which they discuss the meaning of each SC category: rhetorical construction takes up five of those pages. Every OG has a similar section. In OG 2020 the page numbers are 761 to 783.
Please read those pages or their analogs in any previous guide or OG Verbal Review.

Near the end of the intro to the SC section, authors of the OG separate grammatical construction from "effective expression" and "proper diction."
I can't upload shapshots at the moment, so I'll post a link instead.

GMAC describes all three categories on this page, here

This next comment is not directed at you personally, but rather at all aspirants, native and non-native speakers alike:
if you do not read five days a week (and preferably seven), you will never be able to decide on any consistent basis which of two grammatical sentences is rhetorically superior. Full stop.
It is better to read ten minutes a day, six days a week than it is to read three hours a day for one month before the exam.
Better yet: surely people have 15-30 minutes a day to read good prose.

Find books whose prose makes you want to turn the page.

Read Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz and The Reawakening. Try to find the translation by Stuart Woolf.
Levi was an Italian partisan in WWII, a chemist, a survivor of Auschwitz, and a writer whose talent is too singular to describe.

Read Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, or A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Or Anthony Doerr, All the Lights We Cannot See—a story so fascinating and beautifully written that I read the 500+ page book in one sitting.

Native and nearly-fluent speakers, read anything by Ernest Hemingway, Chinua Achebe, or Arundhati Roy (including her political commentary).

Native and fluent speakers who love language and dense stories, try Wallace Stegner (especially Angle of Repose), or Donna Tartt (especially The Goldfinch).

And, of course, read journals and newspapers.

I can't possibly find two questions three more times per week.
There isn't enough time for me to do so. Finding questions takes a long time. I already work full time at a paying job.
Read up thread. I asked people to guest post with good questions.
No takers.

But I will think of something to help. Give me a few days to speak with my colleagues.
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Hi Raxit85 ,

You have excellent command of grammar rules.
So the good news is that you've reached the point at which rules alone will not help.
You know what you need to do: figure out the little extra parts.

I know of only one way to do so: read.
If you read enough good prose and you come up against a question such as this one again, you will need five seconds to decide that C is inferior to D.

I do not know of a style book that can teach rhetorical effectiveness as well as an exemplary novel can.
I advise people to read novels because human beings like stories.

The slightly bad news might be that the task seems impossible.
It isn't. Focus on one day at a time.

Option (C) is not a well written sentence.

The only reason to choose C over D stems from not knowing
(1) that "it" is a dummy pronoun and very common and
(2) that "it was" is often used to place emphasis on the end of the sentence.

C) Josephine Baker made Paris her home long before to be an expatriate was fashionable, and she remained in France during the Second World War as a performer and an intelligence agent for the Resistance
-- The words in red create construction that is not standard or idiomatic. The phrase "before to be" is a monstrosity. Preposition + infinitive?
Option C hurts my ears. If you read a little each day, eventually such constructions will hurt your ears, too.
-- Here is a post by Mike McGarry[ about dummy pronouns such as IT and THERE.

Option D is much better, but not for profoundly deep reasons based on grammar alone.
Option D is better because it is the way English speakers talk about a situation.

D) Long before it was fashionable to be an expatriate, Josephine Baker made Paris her home, and she remained in France during the Second World War as a performer and an intelligence agent for the Resistance.
-- this construction is standard. The words "It was" might sound weird to a non-native speaker, but when we are describing backgrounds, the words "it was" are common and often used to describe the scene or context in which the subject operates.

I just skimmed that question's thread. Something about those replies must not make sense.
If you can tell me what you don't understand from the posts on that thread, maybe I could help more effectively.

As I promised, I will speak with my colleagues and see what we might be able to do about this issue. I'm glad that you raised it.
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NEW SCHEDULE FOR SC BUTLER QUESTIONS

I am glad to be back!
I am also very grateful to Bunuel for posting questions.

On Monday of next week (Feb 24) SC Butler will have an expanded schedule!
Six days a week you will get two SC questions.
generis and Bunuel will post on alternate days.

That is, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bunuel will post two questions.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, generis will post two questions.

For this week only, I will post Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

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