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Re: The data being collected in the current geological survey are providin [#permalink]
A quick scan of answer choices shows that this problem hinges primarily on numerical agreement (subject verb agreement and pronoun agreement). There is a choice between verbs: “are providing” and “provide” are plural verbs requiring a plural subject and “is providing” and “provides” are singular verbs requiring a singular subject. “Data” is a difficult noun that can be treated either as the plural of “datum” or as a singular mass noun. While students may wrack their brain trying to determine whether “data” is singular or plural in this sentence, that is a classic false decision point! It is accepted commonly as either plural or singular so there must be other important issues in the sentence. In (B) if “data” is being used with a plural verb (“provide”) then it must be used as a plural noun throughout the sentence. Therefore, the “its” is incorrect as it has no singular antecedent so (B) is incorrect. In (C) “data” is used with a singular verb “is providing” so it must be singular throughout the sentence. The pronouns “their” and “they” further in the sentence are incorrectly referring to the singular “data” so (C) is also wrong. In (D) “data” is again used with a singular verb “provides” so it must be singular throughout the sentence. While the pronoun “its” is now correct in (D), the pronoun “they” in the non-underlined portion of the sentence is incorrectly referring to the singular “data” so (D) is also wrong. In (E) “in consideration for” is improper diction and the meaning is unclear in the second portion – without the possessive “their” it is unclear what “the greatest importance” is referring to thus (E) is incorrect. Only (A) – even though it may sound strange to your ear – properly matches the plural data with a plural verb and plural verbs. Answer choice (A) is correct.
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Re: The data being collected in the current geological survey are providin [#permalink]
Hi,
Can we use the same pronoun to refer to two different things in the same sentence? As "They" has been used for engineers as well as for data. And for that reason I chose E. I have seen many times that we have eliminated options solely because it has same pronoun in the same line referring to two different things. How can we approach this, is there some think line which I am not getting? Please let me know.
Thank you.
You all have been very helpful.
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Re: The data being collected in the current geological survey are providin [#permalink]
As Data is a plural word in common the sentence will be followed by are So, the answer would be A obviously.
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Re: The data being collected in the current geological survey are providin [#permalink]
VeritasKarishma wrote:
A few things to note:

Technically, data is plural of datum. In academic writing it is almost always treated as plural. It is treated as singular in informal writing but GMAT favors treating it as plural. I do not have my OG12 at hand right now but if you look for references of data, it is used as plural.

Even if you do not know this, the use of "theyinfluence the upcoming" should tell you that data is used in plural form here.

There are many pronouns used here. Antecedent of each pronoun is present in the sentence. The usage clarifies which pronoun refers to data and which refers to engineers.

The data being collected in the current geological survey are providing a strong warning for engineers as they consider the new dam project, but their greatest importance might lie in how they influence the upcoming decision by those same engineers on whether to retrofit 75 bridges in the survey zone.

they - only engineers can consider
their, they - greatest importance will be of data, data will influence the decision

There is no ambiguity in the use of pronouns. The nouns are present and the usage clarifies the antecedent.

  • B and D use 'its' for data so they are incorrect.
  • C uses "is providing" for data so it is incorrect.
  • In option (E), "in consideration for the new dam project" is bad diction.
  • Answer is (A)


Here is a note on the use of being in this sentence by Brian:

Quote:
Don't get me wrong - if you eliminate "being" every time you'll be right on well over 90% of SC questions when you do so. But I know there are questions out there where it's used correctly, and they're bound to be among the more difficult since most students know the "being is wrong!" principle. So having that extra moment of caution when, like in this case, you don't like the other answer choices...that's a nice competitive advantage.

"Being" is properly used to express a temporary state. It's often used hideously on the GMAT as a modifier for something that isn't at all temporary:

Being the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong...

"Being" is wrong there - he wasn't "being" the first man on the moon...that's just who he is.

But you could correctly say:

While being driven to the shuttle launch, Neil Armstrong remarked to his chauffeur that...

Because "being driven" is a temporary state.

So in this question, which clearly denotes the "current geological survey", "being collected" is a temporary state. The data won't always be collected, but currently for a temporary period of time the data are being collected, so "being" is used properly here.



VeritasKarishma thank you for the helpful explanation

Could you also clarify the use of being from the Brian's quote . Particularly, i have problem in understanding "So in this question, which clearly denotes the "current geological survey", "being collected" is a temporary state. The data won't always be collected, but currently for a temporary period of time the data are being collected, so "being" is used properly here."

Is the being used to describe the ongoing action- Data is being collected? I CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW IS IT DESCRIBING THE TEMPORARY STATE..please help
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Re: The data being collected in the current geological survey are providin [#permalink]
VeritasKarishma

Just wanted to confirm how we can determine where the usage of being is incorrect. Thanks.
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Re: The data being collected in the current geological survey are providin [#permalink]
aviram wrote:
You can narrow down to A and E pretty easily. Intuitively, I find both a little problematic, but in option A, the use of 'they' to refer the engineers and 'their' to refer to data, followed by 'they' to refer to data and 'those' to refer to engineers is very unclear. That leaves us with answer E, which has a very cumbersome construction (especially the in consideration... part) but can't find anything specifically incorrect with it. My answer by elimination is E. The best way would be to use the antecedents in sentence A, but that isn't amongst the choices.


Good work narrowing the choices down to A vs. E. While A is certainly not ideal, it's better than E for a few reasons. Main ones are:
1) E has less clear meaning - "For engineers in consideration for the new dam project" can also imply these data points are being provided to engineers who are being considered for the new dam project if you read closely. So the meaning is fuzzy and then the focus is not on the actual viability of the project, but the engineers themselves --- likely not the author's intent.
2) The importance - Nothing wrong with that per se but "their importance" is clearer.
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Re: The data being collected in the current geological survey are providin [#permalink]
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