OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
Quote:
The development of increasingly accurate representations of the visual appearances of objects has a long history: in Europe, Upper Paleolithic art achieved remarkably lifelike depictions of animals, and Ancient Egyptian art developed conventions involving both stylization and idealization that nevertheless allowed effective depictions being produced widely and consistently.
• Meaning?
The development of increasingly accurate artistic depictions of reality has a long history.
European Upper Paleolithic artists drew very lifelike animals.
Ancient Egyptians used conventions that both (1) deliberately styled and idealized their subjects (approaches that tend to distort reality), and (2) nevertheless widely and consistently allowed realistic portrayals of objects.
Our focus is on the last part of the sentence, which may be a bit confusing.
Ancient Egyptian art developed conventions (ways in which art was done) that, on one hand, involved stylization (distinctive ways of representing the objects) and idealization (representing something as perfect)—but on the other hand, also helped create more accurate representations of reality.
• Issues tested?
→ working verbs
→ verb tense
→ meaning
→ modifiers
→ that-clauses
THE OPTIONS in a shortened sentenceQuote:
A) Ancient Egyptian art developed conventions involving both stylization and idealization that nevertheless allowed effective depictions being produced widely and consistently.
•
allowed . . . being produced is ungrammatical and unidiomatic
→ the verb
allowed should be followed by the infinitive
to be rather than by the gerund
being→ how verbs behave is often idiomatic, as is the case in this instance. (If you read 20 minutes a day, you will have an easy time eliminating
being.)
If you are not sure, KEEP but look for a better answer.
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
B) Ancient Egyptian art developed conventions involving both stylization and idealization that nevertheless allowing effective depictions to be produced[/color] widely and consistently.
•
allowing is not a working verb
• a that-clause is a
clause. Clauses must contain a subject and a working verb. (A verb that would work in a standalone sentence.)
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C) Ancient Egyptian art developed conventions involving both stylization and idealization that nevertheless allowed the effective production of depictions widely and consistently.
• this issue is difficult to catch: what, exactly, is an "effective production"? We know from context that an "effective depiction" is one that is realistic (that represents reality accurately).
→ in this context, is there any difference between
the effective production of depictions and
effective depictions? NO.
→ option C is redundant
→ option C is not concise; we do not need five words if we can use two.
• adverb placement?
→ in options A and B, the adverbs
widely and consistently clearly modified
produced.Adverbs do not have to be placed right next to whatever they modify, but the placement of
widely and consistently seems a little strange.
→ Now
widely and consistently seems to modify "allowed the effective production."
→ That modification sounds strained.
• On the first pass, I do not ever eliminate on the basis of style and diction.
• Some people may think that option C changes the meaning of option A.
It is perfectly okay to change the meaning of option A.
There is nothing special about option A. KEEP C, but uneasily. This sentence is weird.
Quote:
D) Ancient Egyptian art developed conventions involving both stylization and idealization that nevertheless allowed effective depictions to be produced[/color] widely and consistently.
• No errors
•
allowed is properly coupled with
to be• stylistically, (D) is concise, and achieves what (C) means with fewer words than does (C). Eliminate (C).
• Option D (
allowed . . . to be) is also better than B (
allowed . . . being). (I've eliminated B. You may not have done so yet.)
→ ELIMINATE C (and maybe B, too)
KEEP
Quote:
E) and Ancient Egyptian art developed conventions involving both stylization and idealization which had nevertheless allowed the production of effective depictions widely and consistently.
• wrong verb tense: why does this sentence change from simple past (
achieved, developed) to past perfect (
had allowed)?
Answer: No good reason exists. We use the past perfect
had allowed to refer to an action that came before yet another action in the past.
The development of and effects from the conventions are simultaneous.
• the words
which and
that are not interchangeable on the GMAT.
→
which introduces nonessential material and is preceded by a comma
→
that introduces essential material and is almost never preceded by a comma
→ in British English, these two words are interchangeable. Not so on the GMAT.
→ finally, this distinction is hotly contested and GMAC may change its stance (I doubt so).
If other options all contain clear error, and the remaining answer is grammatical except for the that/which distinction, choose that remaining answer.
(That situation is not the case in this instance. Option E has other problems.)
ELIMINATE E
The correct answer is D.NotesI would never eliminate option C in isolation.
Option C creates an inelegant sentence, no doubt.
But odd phrases aren't wrong. And adverb placement is much more flexible than that of other modifiers.
Adverbs can and often do modify fairly faraway verbs.
Takeaway: remember to compare options.
COMMENTSdeeppan , welcome to SC Butler.
This question is hard in the sense that both C and D should seem correct to you.
(Apparently not.
Option C got the unceremonious boot.)
In SC, especially when you face official questions, at 650 level and above, you will frequently find two options that seem correct.
We know what to do.
We will ask which answer is better and which is worse.
Almost always, comparing options makes SC a lot easier. You can work a lot more quickly and confidently if you get more comfortable with feeling uncertain.
That is, try to become comfortable with saying to yourself,
"I can't decide. I'll keep this option. If any other options remain, at the end I will compare this answer to that one. If none remain, then this is the answer."
These answers are varied and thoughtful. Best of all, everyone tried to explain. Well done. Kudos to all.
close
18 Sep 2020, 00:06
22%
(01:47)
wrong 
