SC Guidance

Question

Hello Everyone,

I am working on my verbal skills to do well in gmat. Little over a month ago when I gave GMAT I got 48Quant but 24 Verbal.
Thus for last few weeks I am working on improving my verbal skills. I have gone thru Manhattan SC couple of times with notes on sc by other users.

I have worked hard specially on SC but still feel that there is a lot more scope for improvement. Following issues i face in SC-

Q-1) In the Gulf of Mexico's 'dead zone,' every summer aquatic life is smothered in an area as large as the state of New Jersey,  which, according to scientists, is caused by excess nitrogen flushed down the Mississippi River .

A) which, according to scientists, is caused by excess nitrogen flushed down the Mississippi River.
B) which scientists say is caused by excess nitrogen flushed down the Mississippi River.
 C)  the cause of which, according to scientists, is excess nitrogen flushed down the Mississippi River.
D) the cause of which is excess nitrogen flushed down the Mississippi River say the scientists.
E) that comes from the flushing of excess nitrogen down the Mississippi River, according to scientists.

A & B also seem right. I cant figure out specially in misplaced modifier which words have been moved??

Q-2) The reason I am hiring her is  because her extensive experience in consulting has made her qualified  for a seat on this important subcommittee.

A) because her extensive experience in consulting has made her qualified for
B) that her extensive experience in consulting have made her qualified for
 C)  that her extensive experience in consulting has made her qualified for
D) that her extensive experience in consulting has made her qualified to
E) because her extensive experience in consulting have made her qualified for

I mean I picked the wrong answer (A) where as the right one is (C). Cant figure out how to pick right one??

And another important problem, subject verb agreement

Q-3) The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) issued a report stating that an increase in time-starved consumers who lack the time and/or patience to do routine daily tasks such as shopping,  have encouraged the growth of online grocery services.

A) have encouraged the growth of online grocery services.
B) have encouraged people to grow their usage of online grocers.
C) has encouraged online grocers to grow
D) has encouraged online grocers to be more patient.
E) has encouraged the growth of online grocery services.

Now I made a mess in verb agreement as I thought  have encouraged  is being pointed out to consumers so went for A which is wrong. How to find which verb is pointing to who??

Help will be appreciated,

Thanks,

Cheers,
GR

GMAT TIGER · Answer

C.

Which is wrong in A/B. 
the cause of which in C is better than which in A/B. Also "according to scientists" is correctly placed.
D/E both are awakward and wordy.

GMAT TIGER · Answer

C. "qualified for" is correct idiom.

because and reason are redundant.

GMAT TIGER · Answer

E. has is correct for singular noun "an increase ....................."
D. is wrong for "to be".
C is incorrect for "online grocers to grow". grocers cannot be online; in fact grocery services can be online. so E.

greatchap · Answer

I was aware of the answers though. But the main issue is how do you guys figure it out?? I mean you pointed that there is singular noun increase so has should be used (how did u identify has was pointing to increase) and in another one you said "according to scientists" is incorrectly placed".

This problem is I have difficulty in identifying the errors unless its pretty obvious. What to do ??

This problem is I have difficulty in identifying the errors unless its pretty obvious. What to do ??

jallenmorris · Answer

What prep materials have you used to study ?

greatchap · Answer

I am solving ques using OG Verbal now a days. I have used Manhattan SC Guide and notes from spidy etc...

fiesta · Answer

Practise as much as possible, try to take note any mistake you make and review it everyday.
Good luck and good study!!!

stallone · Answer

hey Great chap

i think you should go through the basics once more

and when you are solving questions , dnt worry about time as of now

take ur time to analyze it before making a choice ; once you start getting them right then work on speed

also analyze the answer and the explanation thoroughly .

I hope that will definitely help you

greatchap · Answer

Thanks a lot guys for your suggestion. I will go thru basic of SC and will review my mistakes even more throughly. Good luck.

bhushangiri · Answer

One more thing i wud like to add... When you practice with OG, review thoroughly. For each question, even those that you got right, look at the incorrect choices and see why they are incorrect. That really helps. Some guru on this forum suggested this.. and trust me its mighty helpful

dk94588 · Answer

so where exactly is which not able to be used? I always thought it was an acceptable adverb to use in the gulf of mexico scenerio? can someone clear this up for me?

jallenmorris · Answer

It's acceptable to use, but its referrant mus be clear. In some answers, where the answer is "New Jersey, which"....what "which" refers to is unclear. Which always leads us into a part of the sentence that explains or modifies an earlier part of the sentence. In this sentence, the word "which" leads us into an explanation of why the 'dead zone' occurrs. When "which" follows right after "New Jersey", the word appears to be leading into an explanation or modification of "New Jersey" rather than explaning the 'dead zone'. This is why we need to clarify "the cause of which" to make it clear we're explaining the cause, and not modifying New Jersey.

dk94588

so where exactly is which not able to be used? I always thought it was an acceptable adverb to use in the gulf of mexico scenerio? can someone clear this up for me?

dk94588 · Answer

so, in order to use which it has to have a clear referent? that makes sense, thanks.

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