There may be more than a dozen boat parties in the Grand Canyon on a

1. "Such that" vs "So that"
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"Such that" is a description of HOW something is to be done.
"So that" is a description of WHY something is to be done.
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'such that' expresses consequence, 'so that' purpose.
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Gramatically, both options, A and E are correct.
Meaningwise, E is correct. The purpose of positioning of parties is that the parties shouldn't interfere with each other.
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2. "The other" vs "Another"
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"The other" is used when there are only two entities involved.
"Another" is used when more than two entities involved.
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"one seldom encounters the other" implies that there are 2 things involved. So either one will not encounter the other one.
Use of 'the' shows that the other is defined. With 2, when you pick one, the other is defined.

When we have multiple things and we need to talk about each pair that can be picked, we use "one another". So if we pick one, then it should not encounter any other. Hence (A), (C) and (D) are eliminated.

Option (B) doesn't make sense because "few encounters one with another" is unclear. "encounters" is used as a noun here.
Option (E) clearly says "one seldom encounters another" which means one doesn't bump into any other.

Answer (E)

A and B are similar options Bunuel : please check

SPLIT1:
I was pretty clear that it should be so not such , why? Because

"Such that" means "in such a way that"
"So that" means "with the intention that"
Refer this post:


SPLIT2
Distinction between:
so as to vs so that


So that wins over so as to

Case1: A can do B so as to X
Meaning: A can do B and in process X appears to happen.
Note1: It has not happened but it seems to happen something hypothetical situation.

Case2: A can do B so that X
A can do B so that X can happen
Note1: Someone is doer of X ( have purpose).
Note2: Why do you do B? -- > for the purpose of X.

Refer this post

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Fixed. Thank you!
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GMATNinja, I was torn between A and E and I ended up choosing A. The meanings of the two seem the same to me. Is it about the use of "another" over "other"? Can you pls opine?

Please throw some light of the usage of Other and Another

Hi ANUsha93, generally speaking, "the other" is used when there are only two entities involved; "another" is used when there are multiple entities.

For example:

While they were both old classmates, none of them recognized the other when they met many years later.

While my favorite dish was available at the restaurant, I ordered another.

In the sentence under consideration, since there are multiple entities (boat parties), usage of "another" makes sense.
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In (A), "one seldom encounters the other" suggests that we only have TWO things: (1) one and (2) the other. But we are actually talking about potentially dozens of boat parties, not just two.

In (E), "one seldom encounters another" suggests that we have MULTIPLE things and that one of those things seldom encounters ANOTHER one of those things.

This makes the most sense given the context -- we're talking about running into ANY other boat party, not just one specific other boat party. So the meaning is off in choice (A), and (E) is the best option.
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Hi VeritasKarishma

In option-C, OTHERS is used in place of THE OTHER. Could you please elaborate why this choice is incorrect?

Regards
Rohit

(C) each party positioned in such ways as not to encounter others...

Each party is positioned in one way. The use of plural "ways" doesn't make sense.
Also, I wouldn't like to split "as to" if I were using it.

1. Is there any difference in the usage of "others" vs "other"
2. Is the usage of "ways" in option C correct? If not, to me it didn't sound correct so can you please help me understand what the error is
3. When do we use "so as to" ?
4. Is it correct that "such that" is used to show consequences, if yes, then is it correctly used in option A and B? I think it is correctly used, can you please correct me

1. Either one could work. Of course, "others" is plural, but think of it this way: I could say "I didn't see any other person" or "I didn't see any other people." Depending on what else I was saying, one might serve better than the other, but neither creates trouble on its own.
2. The plural here leads to confusion. Each party is positioned in more than one way? What are these different ways? It seems we're describing one thing--a group gets positioned so that it isn't visible to other groups.
3. In everyday speech, it functions more or less like "in order to." ("I arrived early so as to get good seats." "I spoke in general terms so as not to exclude anyone.") The GMAT *could* use this; however, it doesn't seem to be the preferred idiom, and we've seen it struck out on an official question. I wouldn't rule out an answer just because it used "so as to," but if I had the choice, I'd go with something else.
4. Sure, "such that" is used well to show a result in A and B. It's what follows in each that creates the trouble.
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C is wrong as one can not be positioned in wayS buy in way. D is wrong because of so as idiom. It should be so that.



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