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generis
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IDIOM: distinguish between X AND Y
That introduces essential modifiers; therefore, Comma before that here is incorrect usage.
Considering above, Gotta go with Choice B.
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Imo B
Correct idiom is distinguish between x and y
Also the reference of using for lawyers and judges does not convey the exact meaning....that is preferred

important for lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law--incorrect, as mentioned wrong idiom and usage of that

B) important that lawyers and judges be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, and holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law---correct

C) important for lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, that refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, and holdings, that refer to the binding decisions of the law---incorrect, that is used to represent important information therefore it should have been without comma

D) important that lawyers and judges are able to distinguish dicta, referring to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, referring to the binding decisions of the law---incorrect, wrong idom and ing modifier is to present clause modification

E) important that lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of law+--incorrect, wrong idiom

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generis

Project SC Butler: Day 57 Sentence Correction (SC1)


For SC butler Questions Click Here

Supreme Court decisions, while binding on all United States courts, leave room for interpretation; it is therefore important for lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law.

A) important for lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law

B) important that lawyers and judges be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, and holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law

C) important for lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, that refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, and holdings, that refer to the binding decisions of the law

D) important that lawyers and judges are able to distinguish dicta, referring to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, referring to the binding decisions of the law

E) important that lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of law

The best or excellent answers get kudos, which will be awarded after the answer is revealed.


it tests distinguish between X and Y idiom , so A ,D and E are out.

B has error that Holdings is taken as singular but its plural - so - incorrect

So, correct option is C
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Yash312
Imo B
Correct idiom is distinguish between x and y
Also the reference of using for lawyers and judges does not convey the exact meaning....that is preferred

important for lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law--incorrect, as mentioned wrong idiom and usage of that

B) important that lawyers and judges be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, and holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law---correct

C) important for lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, that refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, and holdings, that refer to the binding decisions of the law---incorrect, that is used to represent important information therefore it should have been without comma

D) important that lawyers and judges are able to distinguish dicta, referring to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, referring to the binding decisions of the law---incorrect, wrong idom and ing modifier is to present clause modification

E) important that lawyers and judges to be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, from holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of law+--incorrect, wrong idiom

Posted from my mobile device

Just wanted to let you know there is no idiom error in D. The error is with the ing modifiers being used to modify a noun when it should modify a clause.

Distinguish X from Y is perfectly fine IMO.
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generis

I agree that "holdings" is singular here. But why the sentence refer "holdings" to "decisions", which is plural? Is that acceptable?

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generis

Also want to confirm, whether "it is important that" always imply we have to apply command subjunctive mood structure?

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duybachhpvn
generis

I agree that "holdings" is singular here. But why the sentence refer "holdings" to "decisions", which is plural? Is that acceptable?

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duybachhpvn , the relative pronoun which
(1) is the relative pronoun for dicta and for holdings
(2) is followed by the singular verb, "refers."

The focus seems to be on "the written material, singular [composed of dicta on one hand and holdings on the other hand]."
This way of dividing a court case into "one part = dicta" and "the other part = holdings" is
specialized and used by legal practitioners and scholars.

If you are asking whether an author can decide to make
what seems to be a plural noun into a collective singular noun, the answer is:
yes, if that's the only grammatical option or
yes, if all five answer choices are identical.
All options use the singular verb refers, so this issue is not a decision point.

I doubt that the GMAT would test the issue this subtly.

The more likely scenario is this one:
in the non-underlined portion of the sentence we would see a word such as "species"
and another word indicating whether species is singular or plural.
Then we would see answer choices that test whether we noticed that "species" is plural [or singular].
HERE is an official question in which the underlined portion tells us about the plurality of the noun.

I cannot think of an official question that tests the issue you raise.
We can say, for example, "I believe that all existing human beings are homo sapiens sapiens, which refers to a single species."
Can we reclassify a plural noun into a singular collective noun?
In this situation and others, yes.
But without concrete examples, I can't say that doing so is always possible.
(And I cannot think of concrete examples in which the reclassification is ungrammatical.)

In short, I would not worry about this issue. :)
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duybachhpvn
generis

Also want to confirm, whether "it is important that" always imply we have to apply command subjunctive mood structure?

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duybachhpvn , on the GMAT, in formal writing, and in well-spoken English, yes.

People trained in British English will need to be a little bit careful about this issue.
In B.E., the subjunctive is often replaced with should.
B.E., wrong on the GMAT: It is important that he should meet her parents.
GMAT and U.S. English, correct: It is important that he meet her parents.

But the clue word is THAT.
We can also use an infinitive:
Correct: It is important to be professional and to show collegiality.
Correct: It is important for him to meet her parents.

If you see "It is important" + THAT, yes, use the subjunctive.

Hope that helps.
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Hi,

Could someone please let me know why "be able to" is correctly used in option B?
I thought we should have used "are" here.

Thank you!
Best regards,
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norahwei
Hi,

Could someone please let me know why "be able to" is correctly used in option B?
I thought we should have used "are" here.

Thank you!
Best regards,
Hi norahwei , I'm not sure whether you read the thread and still do not understand.

In my official explanation above, HERE, I wrote:

If we have
IT IS + an adjective of importance, then command subjunctive is required.

The construction is important, and in that post I explain how it works and why we use it.

If that post did not help, please let me know and I'll be happy to explain more about command subjunctive.

Hope that helps. :)
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Between ... and. Reject A, D, C
Between B and C, B is subjunctive, and used which after comma. Better option. And there is no reason to consider holdings to be plural. It is probably some legal term. Another reason for B to be correct.
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please provide expert reply why option C is wrong?
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In the choice B: important that lawyers and judges be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, and holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law, doesn't the usage of singular "refers" with the plural "holdings" makes the choice incorrect?
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NareshGargMBA
In the choice B: important that lawyers and judges be able to distinguish between dicta, which refers to the written material detailing the opinions of the prevailing justices, and holdings, which refers to the binding decisions of the law, doesn't the usage of singular "refers" with the plural "holdings" makes the choice incorrect?

I have the same doubt as above. I eliminated choice B because of the quoted error
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