The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as th

So, HOW do we understand that x (stars) is antecedent of y (they), and p (planets) is antecedent of q (them)?
Thanks expert...

1. "The stars are in motion" is the main clause. It is not blocked off. It is preceded by a prepositional phrase ("Like the planets"), which is separated by the comma before "the". Again the main clause is succeeded by a subgroup modifier ("some of them..."), which is again separated by a comma after "motion".

2. A comma is generally recommended after "like X".

3. The pronouns "them" and " they" refer to "stars". There are two ways to confirm in this case why these pronouns refer to "stars" and not "planets".
a. If a pronoun that is the subject of a clause has two possible antecedents, one of which is the subject of another clause within the sentence, the pronoun would, by virtue of parallelism, unambiguously refer to the subject antecedent. "Stars" is the subject of a clause and so is "they".
b. The pronoun "them" is within a subgroup modifier. Therefore it must refer to the group (i.e. "stars") that the sub-group modifier is modifying.

Both "they" and "them" refer to "stars". A basic rule about pronouns is that all "they","them","their" and "theirs" must refer to the same antecedent. ( So is true for all he/him/his or she/her/hers etc.)

Dear experts,
Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime

is "some of them at tremendous speeds" an absolute phrase, which modifies the preceding clause.

please confirm



experts,
like + noun works as a phrase in although clause, does it valid?
what I see mostly is that like + noun works as a comparison, in front of entire sentence.
this is first time for me, I am not sure whether it is valid and none discussed in this thread,
appreciate if clarify

thanks a lot
have a nice day
>_~

"Some of them at tremendous speeds" is a special type of modifier called subgroup modifier. I have discussed about this type here:

the-stars-some-of-them-at-tremendous-speeds-are-in-motion-54399-20.html#p1637254

Structurally, constructions such as "like the planets the stars are in motion" may be used as an independent clause by itself or used within a dependent clause - "Although like the planets the stars are in motion...."

Two problems with A "some of them ..." is awkward . The stars are in motion at tremendous speeds.

Since speed describes the motion, the sentence is easier to understand if we introduce motion first.

"The stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds."and "being" is clumsy, we want a verb here, since we're talking about two qualities of stars, and we introduced the first one with a verb.

"The stars ARE in motion yet ARE so far from Earth that ..."

First Glance

The underline starts immediately; a glance at the beginning of the answers reveals substantial changes. How should the sentence start?

Issues

(1) Meaning / Modifier: at tremendous speeds

The original sentence says that the stars, some of them are tremendous speeds, are in motion. The stars themselves don't occur at tremendous speeds; rather, the motion occurs at tremendous speeds. The modifier should be pointing to the action (motion), not the noun (stars).

Answers (B), (C), and (D) all clearly tie in the motion to the speeds: in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds. Like answer (A), answer (E) muddles the meaning of this modifier: the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion.

Furthermore, in answer (E), the some of which modifier points to the preceding noun, planets, not the stars. This answer, then, says that the planets are in motion. It's already common knowledge that planets are in motion; the point of the original sentence was to highlight that the stars are also in motion even though they seem to be fixed in the sky. Eliminate answers (A) and (E).

(2) Structure

The original sentence consists of an independent clause (the stars are in motion as the planets are) followed by a comma and a coordinating conjunction (yet), setting up the expectation for another independent clause.

Chop out the portion after the coordinating conjunction (being so far that X) and read it on its own: that portion is not a complete sentence. The word being could function as a subject−as in the sentence Being far away from loved ones can cause homesickness−but no verb completes the thought. Eliminate answers (A) and (C) because they are sentence fragments.

Answer (C)'s issue is even more severe. Although like is momentarily confusing (because one indicates contrast and the other similarity) and the use of both although and yet is redundant: only one contrast word is needed. Eliminate answer (C).

(3) Comparison: as

Some of the answers contain the comparison marker like: others use the marker as. Like is used to compare two nouns directly; as is used to compare clauses.

Answer (A) correctly uses as to compare two clauses. Answers (B), (C), and (E) correctly use like to compare two nouns. Answer (D), however, uses as to compare two nouns. Eliminate (D).

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (B) consists of two independent clauses connected by a comma and a coordinating conjunction. The sentence makes clear that the motion occurs at tremendous speeds.

hello sir
here my doubt is regarding SOME OF WHICH used in option C
what is the difference between "SOME OF THEM" and "SOME OF WHICH"
SAY,IF THIS WERE THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OPTION A and option E,then which option would be correct?
THANK YOU

The following post addresses your query:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/john-s-nephe ... l#p2005604

https://gmatclub.com/forum/joan-of-arc- ... 35813.html

The below is an explanation in above link -


In a compound sentence, is the repetition of the subject in the part that follows the connector FANBOYS(by replacing with a pronoun) considered redundant?

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat , sayantanc2k, DmitryFarber , MagooshExpert ,chetan2u , daagh , other experts- please help

In this case, it's just unnecessary (wordy). In another sentence, adding the she might create ambiguity if there is more than one noun to which the she could refer.

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and narrow it down to the correct choice! First, let's take a closer look at the original question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as the planets are, yet being so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.

(A) The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as the planets are, yet being
(B) Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are
(C) Although like the planets the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, yet
(D) As the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are
(E) The stars are in motion like the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion but

After glancing over the options quickly, a few key differences pop out that we can focus on:

1. yet being / but they are / yet / but (Coordinating Conjunctions)
2. placement of the phrase "some of them at tremendous speeds" (Modifiers/Meaning)
3. just as the planets are / like the planets / as the planets (Idioms/Comparisons)

Let's start with #1 on our list: coordinating conjunctions! Whenever we see coordinating conjunctions as one of our key differences, we MUST check to see that they are being used properly. Coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) can only be use to connect 2 independent clauses. Let's take a look at each option to figure out if they are using conjunctions correctly. (I've added the non-underlined portion of the sentence to help see the problem.)

(A) The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as the planets are, yet being so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.

independent clause + yet + dependent clause = WRONG

(B) Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are being so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.

independent clause + but + independent clause = OK

(C) Although like the planets the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, yet being so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.

independent clause + yet + dependent clause = WRONG

(D) As the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are being so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.

independent clause + but + independent clause = OK

(E) The stars are in motion like the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion but being so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.

independent clause + but + dependent clause = WRONG (This is also missing a comma before the conjunction "but.")

There you go - we can eliminate options A, C, & E because they don't use coordinating conjunctions properly!

Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 options, let's take a closer look at each one and see if we can find any problems:

(B) Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are

This is the CORRECT choice! The preposition "like" should always be used after a noun, which it is here.

(D) As the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are

This is INCORRECT. The word "as" should only be used as a conjunction to join two clauses together. Since the phrase "As the planets" isn't a clause with a subject and verb, this doesn't work.


There you have it - option B is our correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as the planets are, yet being[/u] so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.


(A) The stars, some of them at tremendous speeds, are in motion just as the planets are, yet being (yet introduces 2nd clause, but there is no subject for 2nd IC)

(B) Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are ( correct construction)

(C) Although like the planets the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, yet ( Although & yet both are conjunctions, Use of two conjunctions is not correct, again no subject for the 2nd IC)

(D) As the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are( Use of as to introduce comparison is not correct)

(E) The stars are in motion like the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion but ( There is no comma before conjunction but)

Will go with choice B, but i couldn't find the error in option E.I request somebody to please help me on this.

Thanks

I think what HKD1710 pointed out is probably the best way to take option E out. Here are a couple of other issues we could look at:

B. Like the planets, the stars are in motion...
E. The stars are in motion like the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion...

Using in motion twice doesn't help us in any way.

Also, because E introduces planets after stars, we're not quite sure what the information after but points to.

... the planets, some of which at tremendous speeds are in motion but so far away... ← This seems to say "the planets are in motion but (are) so far away that their apparent positions in the sky..."

It's better to connect apparent positions in the sky to stars (we can see stars more easily than we can see planets).

Isn't 'they' ambiguous in option B? I read one comment that priority is to first check the structure. Do we have any order of checking the sentence correction. I know first is the meaning of the sentence, then the rules, and then idioms and awkwardness. But within rules also we have some orders?

Hello rashwiniyer!

Thanks for your question! Let's take a look at option B and answer your questions:

(B) Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.

For this option, the pronoun "they" isn't ambiguous at all. It's clearly referring back to "stars." We know this because it's the only main noun that "they" could be referring back to. It can't refer to "planets" because that's part of a modifier, and pronouns don't refer back to modifiers - they refer back to nouns or subjects of sentences.

While some people use a hierarchy when checking SC questions for the GMAT, we at EMPOWERgmat don't think that's helpful. It forces you to look for problems that may not be there, or focus on grammar concepts you're not great with! We prefer to use this method:

1. Do a quick scan over the options, and eliminate any that you can tell right away are just plain wrong.
2. Highlight/Note the major differences between each option. That's a hint of what you should focus on!
3. Start with the major differences that will eliminate 2-3 options right away, or choose the difference you're most familiar with to start. For example, if the options use two different conjunctions (let's say 2 use "but" and 3 use "and"), this is a great place to start because no matter which one is correct, you will easily remove 2-3 options quickly. Or, if you're more familiar with using pronouns, and there are major differences with the pronouns in each one, start there.
4. Eliminate options that don't work until you only have one left!

I hope this helps! I highly recommend checking out our site (https://www.empowergmat.com) for more helpful tools to beat the SC portion of the GMAT!

Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal,

The solution you have posted is very insightful and helped me eliminate a number of choices that I had confusion with. Thanks for the posting.
I have one last doubt which I request you to help with - I understand that 'Like' is used to compare and must be followed by nouns but in D the construction 'Like the planets, the stars are in motion' seems to compare the motion of stars with planets. Should it be not 'The stars are in motion as planets are'?

Warm Regards,
Pritishd

Thank you for your question, Pritishd!

In option D, this is what it would look like if you repeated the comparison on both sides:

Like the planets are in motion, the stars are in motion

Since we don't have to repeat the same phrase twice to get our point across, the writer simply left it out of the first half. The two things being compared are still the planets and the stars - which are parallel in kind - the basis on which they're being compared is that they're in motion. As long as we compare planets to starts, and not planets to motion, as it is in option D, we're fine.

You could also write it the way you suggested, which I think is how they do in option A - however, option A has other problems that remove it from our list of options.

I hope this helps! Feel free to tag us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal if you have any other questions!