Scientists cannot help but admit that they

Question

Scientists  cannot help but admit that they are uncertain  about the origins of the universe.

(A)cannot help but admit that they were uncertain

(B)cannot admit that they are uncertain

(C)cannot help admitting that they are uncertain

(D)cannot help but to admit that they are uncertain

(E)cannot know but admit that they are uncertain

pqhai · Answer

I chose B because I think this one is more about meaning than grammar.
The intended meaning is: X cannot admit that X are uncertain about........

(A)cannot help but admit that they were uncertain
Cannot help? what scientists cannot help? the logic of "cannot help" and "admit that they are uncertain" does not match.

(B)cannot admit that they are uncertain
Correct.

(C)cannot help admitting that they are uncertain
"Cannot help doing that..." is not grammatical.

(D)cannot help but to admit that they are uncertain
Same as A.

(E)cannot know but admit that they are uncertain
Same as A.

Waiting for OA

KyleWiddison · Answer

Correct answer appears to be D for reasons of Verb Tense and Meaning.

A - Verb tense problem - "cannot help" (present tense) combined with "were" (past tense). That shift in verb tenses is not warranted.
B - Shift in meaning. The intent of the sentence is to show that scientists are forced to admit that they are uncertain about the origins of the universe. This answer choice implies that their pride is preventing them from admitting their uncertainty.
C - Meaning problem (idiom) - "cannot help admitting" doesn't have clear meaning. What does it mean to not "help admitting"?
D - Correct - "cannot help but to admit" provides the clear meaning that scientists are forced to admit their uncertainty. Verb tense "are" (present) is consistent with "cannot help" (present).
E - Meaning shift - This sentence means that it's impossible for scientists to know about the origins of the universe and they freely admit this uncertainty. Not the intended meaning of the sentence.

KW

pqhai · Answer

Hi Kyle

Could you please explain the structure " cannot help but to admit ". Is it an idiom? Cause I think the structure should be "cannot do X but do Y". However, this one is "cannot do X but  to  do Y".

Thanks in advance.

pqhai

ivyph · Answer

I think the sentence is already correct? Answer D could be correct if it repeats the sentence, but it adds "to" that makes an incorrect grammer. How could it be "Scientists to admit that they are ..." ?

tictoc · Answer

It think the answer choice A is wrongly using "were" as in the original sentence it is using "are". @guerrero please confirm ...

Also isnt the extra "to" wrong in option D .. Am i missing something .. ??

umeshpatil · Answer

I think, B is correct.

Scientists  cannot help but admit that they are uncertain  about the origins of the universe.

(A)cannot help but admit that they  were uncertain   usage of tense seems to be wrong

(B)cannot admit that they are uncertain

(C)cannot  help admitting  that they are uncertain

(D)cannot  help but to admit  that they are uncertain

(E) cannot know  but admit that they are uncertain

KyleWiddison · Answer

I can't find any evidence that this is an idiom that has been tested on the GMAT (if anyone has a GMAT example please share). In fact, I can find various examples of several forms of the idiom (the most common form I found is actually "cannot help admitting" - but I don't really like it).

The key takeaway is to not start your SC eliminations with idioms - use solid eliminations from grammar (S/V agreement, parallelism, tense, etc) and meaining before trying to muddle through an idiom.

KW

KyleWiddison · Answer

Per my post above, I would look at the verb tense issue first. Using the past tense "were" doesn't make sense in the sentence and unnecessarily changes tense from the main verb. Be careful about changing tenses without reason.

KW

KW

KyleWiddison · Answer

I agree that the grammar is nice and clean on answer choice B, but if we were talking about an actual GMAT problem you would have an issue with the shift in meaning from the original. In the original the scientists actually do admit their ignorance, but B states that scientists cannot admit the ignorance. It's a completely different sentence.

KW

blueseas · Answer

hi KW,
I know i have doubt regarding option D

(D)cannot help but to admit that they are uncertain==>Dont you think that there is parallelism error in option D ....as there is a parallelism marker BUT...and i dont think that CANNOT HELP and TO ADMIT is parallel.

moreover as you said in your previous post that option B is incorrect because it is changing the intending meaning....but i want know if all the other options are wrong gramatically then cant we select the option gramatically correct although with a changed meaning.(i am sure this will not happen with actual GMAT question.)

please suggest

SKM

dave785 · Answer

I don't feel that the verb tense is necessarily an issue... It could very well be that the scientists were uncertain about the origin, but no longer are... This is especially true when used with the word "admit." Usually, you admit to something that happened in the past. "I admit that I was foolish" or "I admit that I was wrong" However, I believe that "Cannot do x but to y" can be idiomatically correct. "Cannot x but for y" would also be idiomatically correct. "I tried but to no avail" is a pretty common expression. "but to each their own" etc.. but I don't believe that this case is one of those idiomatically correct ones. More on this here: https://english.stackexchange.com/questi ... p-thinking Still.. i was torn, and my gut says A... but i hate trusting my gut. EDIT: After extensive google searching, the answer is C. "Cannot help but to admit" and "cannot help but admit" are both nonstandard. According to multiple sources, https://languageandgrammar.com/2009/01/2 ... t-grammar/ https://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic6044.html https://englishplus.com/grammar/00000199.htm The correct usage should be "cannot help admitting"

guerrero25 · Answer

thank you all for the response and showing me the approach .

the OA is "C"

Here's the OE -

Error in verb form. The set phrase “cannot help” has the meaning "be unable to refrain from" and should be followed by a gerund (a verb in the –ing form), or by "but + bare infinitive". Therefore, only answers C and A are left, but A uses wrong tense (there is no past reference in the sentence so present simple should be used). So C is the correct answer.

KyleWiddison · Answer

The phrase in D isn't really trying to setup a parallel structure (it's just testing an idiom) but you could make an argument about it not being parallel. As you can see from the OA and outside research from dave785, the idiom "cannot help but to admit" is the non-standard form and "cannot help admitting" is correct from an idiom standpoint.

You raise a good question about meaning. On the GMAT you will at times change the meaning of the sentence. Sometimes the meaning changes because the only grammatically correct option has an altered meaning. In other cases, you have to choose between multiple answer choices that are grammatically correct but the meaning has changed. For these cases, you want to maintain the intent of the original sentence unless that sentence has illogical or flawed meaning.

KW

IvyLeague56 · Answer

i think it is D.

B is clearly changing the meaning of the sentence.
C does not make grammatical sense.

Also in the question shouldn't A be the same as the underlined part in the question ??

and what is the original source ?

yang199108 · Answer

Shouldn't the idiom be "can't help but do sth"?
I believe the correct answer was A. However, answer A has a tying error. It should be the same as the underlined part in the question.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Scientists cannot help but admit that they

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