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25 Feb 2022, 00:48
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D
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
45%
(medium)
Question Stats:
58% (01:32) correct
42%
(01:37)
wrong
based on 395
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
The income categories of Senator Crocker’s proposed tax code are as broad as to fail to distinguish the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in a sophisticated stock option move.
A) as broad as to fail to distinguish the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in
B) as broad as to fail in distinguishing between the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop and collecting profits from
C) so broad as to fail to distinguish selling an old chair at a pawnshop and collecting profits from
D) so broad as to fail to distinguish selling an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in
E) so broad that he fails in distinguishing between selling chair at a pawnshop from the profits in
25 Feb 2022, 00:53
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
• A possessive antecedent of a pronoun is not preferred. Occasionally that construction is allowed.
Do not think in terms of absolutes.
Most of the time, a subject pronoun (she, you, him) or an object pronoun (her, your, his) should not have a possessive noun as an antecedent.
Occasionally, that setup is okay, especially when, as here, there is only one logical noun referent.
Some of you have heard of this "possessive poison" rule.
It is not ironclad.
Please read this post of mine, here, in which I analyze a Manhattan question modeled on an official question.
In both questions, a possessive noun is allowed to be the antecedent of a subject pronoun.
• Idiom #1: So X as to Y
Correct: So [adjective] as to
Correct: The courage of the Ukrainian people is so inspirational as to move seasoned diplomats to tears and to bring world leaders to their feet.
Wrong: As [adjective] as to
• Idiom #2: distinguish
Correct: to distinguish P from Q
Correct: One commentator declared that it was time for decent people to distinguish good from evil—out loud and often.
Correct: to distinguish between P and Q
Correct: Even a small child can distinguish between a bully and his innocent target: why then not countries governed by grown people in a United Nations vote?
Wrong: to distinguish between P from Q
I do think that you need to learn idioms; they show up in one-third of questions (or, depending on the volume, nearly one-third).
You do not need to learn 30,000.
Please, do not even try to do so.
I would learn the top 100.
The three I listed above are in that top 100.
MAGOOSH OFFICIAL ANSWER
• Split #1: the idiom "so [adjective] as to" is correct, and the construction "as [adjective] as to" is idiomatically incorrect.
Choices (A) & (B) are incorrect on this split, and choices (C) & (D) & (E) are correct.
• Split #2: the idiom "fail to" is correct, and the construction "fail in" is incorrect.
Choices (B) & (E) are incorrect on this split, and choices (A) & (C) & (D) are correct.
• Split #3: there are two acceptable idioms involving the verb "distinguish":
→ one is to distinguish P from Q (choices A and D have this correct);
→ the other is to distinguish between P and Q (no choice has this correct).
It is incorrect to use distinguish between with from (choices B and E) make this mistake).
It is also incorrect to use "distinguish" + "and" without the word "between" (choice C makes this mistake).
• Split #4: Parallel structure
In either of the forms of the "distinguish" idiom, the P and Q must be parallel in structure.
Both can be gerunds, such as selling and collecting (choices C and D have this correct).
Both can be nouns, such as sale and profits—no answer choice has that construction.
It violates parallelism to have one gerund [verbING] and one [regular] noun — choices A, B, and E make that mistake.
• Split #5: only one choice has this issue, but notice the mystery pronoun in (E): who is the "he" mentioned in this choice?
Senator Crocker's name appears only in the possessive, and on the GMAT, [although a possessive antecedent is occasionally allowed to be referenced by a subject or object pronoun, if a grammatical and stylistically correct answer exists that does not pair a pronoun with a possessive antecedent, use that answer].
The only possible answer is (D).
Quote:
The income categories of Senator Crocker’s proposed tax code are as broad as to fail to distinguish the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in a sophisticated stock option move.
A) as broad as to fail to distinguish the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in
B) as broad as to fail in distinguishing between the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop and collecting profits from
C) so broad as to fail to distinguish selling an old chair at a pawnshop and collecting profits from
D) so broad as to fail to distinguish selling an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in
E) so broad that he fails in distinguishing between selling chair at a pawnshop from the profits in
TAKEAWAYSA) as broad as to fail to distinguish the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in
B) as broad as to fail in distinguishing between the sale of an old chair at a pawnshop and collecting profits from
C) so broad as to fail to distinguish selling an old chair at a pawnshop and collecting profits from
D) so broad as to fail to distinguish selling an old chair at a pawnshop from collecting profits in
E) so broad that he fails in distinguishing between selling chair at a pawnshop from the profits in
• A possessive antecedent of a pronoun is not preferred. Occasionally that construction is allowed.
Do not think in terms of absolutes.
Most of the time, a subject pronoun (she, you, him) or an object pronoun (her, your, his) should not have a possessive noun as an antecedent.
Occasionally, that setup is okay, especially when, as here, there is only one logical noun referent.
Some of you have heard of this "possessive poison" rule.
It is not ironclad.
Please read this post of mine, here, in which I analyze a Manhattan question modeled on an official question.
In both questions, a possessive noun is allowed to be the antecedent of a subject pronoun.
• Idiom #1: So X as to Y
Correct: So [adjective] as to
Correct: The courage of the Ukrainian people is so inspirational as to move seasoned diplomats to tears and to bring world leaders to their feet.
Wrong: As [adjective] as to
• Idiom #2: distinguish
Correct: to distinguish P from Q
Correct: One commentator declared that it was time for decent people to distinguish good from evil—out loud and often.
Correct: to distinguish between P and Q
Correct: Even a small child can distinguish between a bully and his innocent target: why then not countries governed by grown people in a United Nations vote?
Wrong: to distinguish between P from Q
I do think that you need to learn idioms; they show up in one-third of questions (or, depending on the volume, nearly one-third).
You do not need to learn 30,000.
Please, do not even try to do so.
I would learn the top 100.
The three I listed above are in that top 100.
MAGOOSH OFFICIAL ANSWER
• Split #1: the idiom "so [adjective] as to" is correct, and the construction "as [adjective] as to" is idiomatically incorrect.
Choices (A) & (B) are incorrect on this split, and choices (C) & (D) & (E) are correct.
• Split #2: the idiom "fail to" is correct, and the construction "fail in" is incorrect.
Choices (B) & (E) are incorrect on this split, and choices (A) & (C) & (D) are correct.
• Split #3: there are two acceptable idioms involving the verb "distinguish":
→ one is to distinguish P from Q (choices A and D have this correct);
→ the other is to distinguish between P and Q (no choice has this correct).
It is incorrect to use distinguish between with from (choices B and E) make this mistake).
It is also incorrect to use "distinguish" + "and" without the word "between" (choice C makes this mistake).
• Split #4: Parallel structure
In either of the forms of the "distinguish" idiom, the P and Q must be parallel in structure.
Both can be gerunds, such as selling and collecting (choices C and D have this correct).
Both can be nouns, such as sale and profits—no answer choice has that construction.
It violates parallelism to have one gerund [verbING] and one [regular] noun — choices A, B, and E make that mistake.
• Split #5: only one choice has this issue, but notice the mystery pronoun in (E): who is the "he" mentioned in this choice?
Senator Crocker's name appears only in the possessive, and on the GMAT, [although a possessive antecedent is occasionally allowed to be referenced by a subject or object pronoun, if a grammatical and stylistically correct answer exists that does not pair a pronoun with a possessive antecedent, use that answer].
The only possible answer is (D).
kungfury42
Joined: 07 Jan 2022
Last visit: 31 May 2023
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25 Feb 2022, 04:41
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There are two important structures that we must identify in the sentence.
Structure 1: "so X as to Y"
Structure 2: "distinguish X from Y"
We can see that only option D uses both these structures correctly and hence is our answer.
We can see that all options employ an incorrect variant of Structure 1 and can be easily eliminated, and only option that comes to close to D, is option C but we can clearly see that it employs an incorrect variant of Structure 2 and hence can also be eliminated.
Hence, option D.
Posted from my mobile device
Structure 1: "so X as to Y"
Structure 2: "distinguish X from Y"
We can see that only option D uses both these structures correctly and hence is our answer.
We can see that all options employ an incorrect variant of Structure 1 and can be easily eliminated, and only option that comes to close to D, is option C but we can clearly see that it employs an incorrect variant of Structure 2 and hence can also be eliminated.
Hence, option D.
Posted from my mobile device
