The ancient Romans piped hot water through the walls and under the flo

Question

The ancient Romans piped hot water through the walls and under the floors  so as to warm up the rooms .

(A) so as to warm up the rooms

(B) and so would be able to warm up the rooms

(C) to warm the rooms up

(D) so that they could warm up the rooms

(E) in order that they would warm up the rooms

u2lover · Accepted Answer

Absolutely D

Correct Idiom "SO THAT (CLAUSE)"

A is incorrect, because there is no idiom "SO AS TO..." There is "SO x AS TO BE y" or "NOT SO x as y"

now C seems good, but "warm ... up" is separated... a no-no on gmat grammar

u2lover · Answer

I would think so... can't find the rule now but could swear I read that keeping the verb and prepositions together is important... I think it came from MGMAT SC... just browsed through... can't remember where... Also never separate "to" and "base form of the verb" (to slowly go forward) 

is D correct? (pm me if you don't want to post yet)

zoom612 · Answer

Would it be correct , if option C were
'to warm up the rooms' ?

freetheking · Answer

I picked C over D since it's more concise.

I don't see any reason why C is wrong.

shoonya · Answer

C although coincise, is awkward.
D and E use "so that" and "in order" which both are right. I will choose D over E.

sharadGmat · Answer

I read on testmagic that split infinitives aren't always wrong in gmat..
however in this case, it's wrong..

FQ · Answer

The ancient Romans piped hot water through the walls and under the floors so as to warm up the rooms.

A. so as to warm up the rooms
 Correct idiom should be so X and to Y 
B. and so would be able to warm up the rooms
 Wrong placement of "so" 
C. to warm the rooms up
 "up" should be after "warm" 
D. so that they could warm up the rooms
 CORRECT usage of "so" for the cause and effect relationship 
E. in order that they would warm up the rooms 
 wrong "that" after "in order"; wrong use of "would"

IndigoIntentions · Answer

"So as to" is wrong on the GMAT.

It needs So + Adjective + as to 
e.g. ....so hot as to burn my mouth.

C) is wrong since "warm the room up" is unidiomatic. You "warm up the room".
E) B) awkward and lengthy as has already been pointed out above.

amod243 · Answer

Those whoe think that D is the answer , whats dose " they " in D option refers to ??

does it refers to Romans, walls or floors??

rohu27 · Answer

garima,

In Ron's words:

"this question is horrible. you should run away from this source as fast as you can. don't look back.

you could argue for any one of (a), (c), or (d) here. all are acceptable.
if this were an official problem, it would say something like "in order to warm the rooms".

:D is this from 1000 SC?

immaculatesahai · Answer

Thanks mundasingh for posting the link for Ron's reply. I also found a nice explanation of so as to usage on the link. Thought i'd post it here for everyone's review:

so as to : we need a verb after this.
so that : we need a subject after this, or u can say that a clause after so that.

now when you use "so as to", make sure there is only one AGENT before so as to.

here,
The ancient   piped hot water through   and under   so as to warm up the rooms

Can you see here we have 4 agents
romans
walls
floors
walls and floors

so This creates AMBIGUITY.

Best replacement of 'so as to' is 'so that'.
CLAUSE_1 so that CLAUSE_2
subject of CLAUSE_1 is subject of CLAUSE_2
so in ur question, "they" refers to Romans.

Its clear and the answer.
I hope it helps.

example:
I study a lot so as to score high on GMAT.
only one AGENT here, "I"

bhairavdeep · Answer

Hello

The reason C is wrong coz it says To warm the room up

You don"t need Up or Down after warm. 
Warm word itself means the temp will rise. It dosen't require up.

Archit3110 · Answer

VeritasKarishma   zhanbo   generis 
 GMATNinja  : could you advise on why option D is correct .. I am not able to understand what does 'they' in option D refers to 
IMO A should be correct choice

PyjamaScientist · Answer

I second you man!
So as to defines purpose. And option A uses the idiom "so as to" perfectly for that purpose.

I think A is better than D. And since the question is from a non-official source, I advise let's skip this one.

Pranaybhonagiri · Answer

Hi,

I think we can observe that the sentence can be deduced to this form.

The ancient Romans piped hot water   through the walls and under the floors   so that they could warm up the rooms.

It makes sense now to what  "THEY"  refers to (i.e Ancient Romans),

please correct me if I am wrong.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Pranaybhonagiri ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, your reasoning is correct here.

However, a simpler way to determine which noun "they" refers to is through logic; "Romans" is the noun that makes the most sense in this context because it is not logical to say that the "walls" or the "floors" are heating the rooms.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

The ancient Romans piped hot water through the walls and under the flo

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