sakshamgmat wrote:
This is taken from Manhattan SC Guide
Often, the GMAT provides two grammatically correct phrasings. For instance, one phrasing might be
[Adjective + Adjective + Noun], in which the two adjectives both modify the noun. The other phrasing
would be [Adverb + Adjective + Noun], in which the adverb modifies the adjective, which in turn
modifies the noun. These two phrasings do not mean the same thing. Pick the phrasing that reflects
the authors intent.
Wrong: James Joyce is Max's SUPPOSEDLY Irish ancestor.
Right: James Joyce is Max's SUPPOSED Irish ancestor.
James Joyce may or may not be Max’s ancestor, but James Joyce was certainly Irish. Thus, we want the
adjective supposed, so that we can modify the noun ancestor.
Wrong: Max's grandmother is his SUPPOSED Irish ancestor.
Right: Max's grandmother is his SUPPOSEDLY Irish ancestor.
What is in question here is whether Max’s grandmother was Irish, not whether she is Maxs ancestor.
Thus, we want the adverb supposedly, so that we can modify the adjective Irish.
My doubt is how do we identify what is the author's intent in the 2 questions mentioned above.
Both questions seem identical to me,yet they have different answers and explanation is intent.
Can someone please explain
Dear
sakshamgmat,
I'm happy to respond.
First of all, I see you are relatively new to GMAT club. This post is slightly miscategorized. You see, the "Ask GMAT Experts" subforum is for logistical advice (study schedules, retakes, GMAC policy, etc. etc.) This is not really the place for questions about GMAT content. Questions about content should go in the appropriate content sub-heading. For example, this post should have been made in the Sentence Correction section, where other people studying SC would benefit from it. Does this make sense?
In answer to your question, those
MGMAT sentences were supposed to illustrate the grammar points, but they were NOT illustrating everything about how they would show up in context in a GMAT SC question. With those questions, we really had to have outside information to figure out the intended meaning. The GMAT excels at creating self-contained questions that provide all the information we need to figure out the meaning.
Here's an example practice question on this issue:
An increase in theDoes all this make sense?
Mike