Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Nov 2007:30 AM PST
-08:30 AM PST
Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
Nov 2211:00 AM IST
-01:00 PM IST
Do RC/MSR passages scare you? e-GMAT is conducting a masterclass to help you learn – Learn effective reading strategies Tackle difficult RC & MSR with confidence Excel in timed test environment- Nov 23
11:00 AM IST
-01:00 PM IST
Attend this free GMAT Algebra Webinar and learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Value problems with ease. 
Nov 2510:00 AM EST
-11:00 AM EST
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors.
03 Sep 2017, 09:11
Kudos
Bookmarks
A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
25%
(medium)
Question Stats:
64% (00:58) correct
36%
(01:02)
wrong
based on 1431
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
What caused the $100 million museum's approval and construction to take 12 years was a combination of the complexity of the financing requirements and the opposition of several small but vocal constituencies.
A)What caused
B)What has caused
C)The thing that caused
D)That which caused
E)Causing
A)What caused
B)What has caused
C)The thing that caused
D)That which caused
E)Causing
03 Sep 2017, 09:14
Kudos
Bookmarks
manishtank1988
Official answer -
Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:
The sentence as written contains no errors. The singular relative pronoun "what" is properly used to refer to the singular "a combination": "What caused [these things to happen] was a combination [of other things]." The past tense "caused" is correct, as it matches the non-underlined past tense "was." Plan on selecting (A), but check the other choices to make sure nothing was overlooked.
Scan and Group the Answer Choices:
A quick scan does not reveal any patterns that lead to a useful grouping. The choices are short, so just proceed to analyze them more carefully.
Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:
(B) uses the present perfect "has caused," which is not parallel to the past tense "was." Had the sentence said has been a combination ..., then "has caused" would have been parallel. Eliminate (B).
(C) replaces "what" with "the thing that." While this is not grammatically incorrect, it is unnecessarily wordy. Eliminate (C).
(D) replaces "what" with "that which." This is not grammatically incorrect, but it is a less common wording in modern English and it uses two words where one would do. Since there is no reason to switch from "what" to "that which," eliminate (D).
(E) uses the wrong verb tense with "causing." This can be seen by rearranging the original sentence to read A combination of ... was what caused the ... But (E) would read A combination of ... was causing the ..., which distorts the meaning of the sentence. The sentence wants to describe events that happened and were completed in the past. The simple past tense, "was" and "caused," is appropriate here.
As expected, (A) is correct.
TAKEAWAY: Don‘t forget that (A) is correct about 20 percent of the time, just like each of the other choices. Don't be so eager to find errors that you “find” mistakes that aren’t there.
General Discussion
Updated on: 03 Sep 2017, 09:16
Originally posted by manishtank1988 on 03 Sep 2017, 09:12.
Last edited by manishtank1988 on 03 Sep 2017, 09:16, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by manishtank1988 on 03 Sep 2017, 09:16, edited 1 time in total.
Kudos
Bookmarks
Can anyone/you elaborate as to why C is wrong?
I see it as following -
The thing [that caused the $100 million museum's approval and construction to take 12 years] was a combination of the complexity of the financing requirements and the opposition of several small but vocal constituencies.
Main clause - The thing [that caused the $100 million museum's approval and construction to take 12 years] was a combination of the complexity of the financing requirements and the opposition of several small but vocal constituencies.
I understand that this is a substantive clause starting with relative pronoun "what" but i got this question wrong as i only realized it when i saw the answer and explanation. So can anyone please elaborate as to why to choose A compared to C
OR
how to understand as to when A (substantive clause) to use and when to use C(normal construction) ?
Helpful resource: Magoosh Substantive clause - https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/substanti ... -the-gmat/
I see it as following -
The thing [that caused the $100 million museum's approval and construction to take 12 years] was a combination of the complexity of the financing requirements and the opposition of several small but vocal constituencies.
Main clause - The thing [that caused the $100 million museum's approval and construction to take 12 years] was a combination of the complexity of the financing requirements and the opposition of several small but vocal constituencies.
I understand that this is a substantive clause starting with relative pronoun "what" but i got this question wrong as i only realized it when i saw the answer and explanation. So can anyone please elaborate as to why to choose A compared to C
OR
how to understand as to when A (substantive clause) to use and when to use C(normal construction) ?
Helpful resource: Magoosh Substantive clause - https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/substanti ... -the-gmat/
