Thoreau stood by his principles and went to jail, instead of

Question

Thoreau stood by his principles and, going to jail, instead of paying taxes supporting the Mexican-American War that he felt was unjust.
(A) Thoreau stood by his principles and, going to jail, instead of paying taxes supporting the Mexican-American War that he felt was unjust.
(B) Standing by his principles and going to jail, rather than paying taxes, Thoreau felt the Mexican-American War to be unjust.
(C) Thoreau did not pay taxes supporting the Mexican-American War because he felt it was unjust; instead, he stood by his principles and went to jail.
(D) Feeling the Mexican-American War was unjust, Thoreau, instead of paying taxes, stood by his principles and went to jail, because they supported it.
(E) Rather than paying taxes supporting the Mexican-American War, Thoreau, standing by his principles and going to jail, felt it as unjust.

Diction is one of the eight major area on the GMAT SC. For a discussion of this important topic, as well as the OE of this question, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/more-on-diction/

Mike :-)

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear aditya8062 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

The first thing I'll say is that I recently wrote this question. Upon reviewing it just now, I decided to make (A) "more wrong." Really, before I changed it, the only thing wrong with it was the " instead of ," which is not GMAT like --- that's questionable, but not enough to disqualify a split. On a good GMAT SC question, each wrong answer must be clearly and unambiguously wrong. I believe (A) is now a fully wrong answer. What do you think? You see, grammar is NOT like math. In math, there's a clear right & wrong, black & white, no ambiguity. Grammar has some clear right/wrong rules, but it also has shades of gray, matters of controversy, etc. The construction "instead of" is not 100% wrong, but it's dark gray. Yes, it's perfectly grammatical to use it with simple nouns --- " I want pie instead of cake " ---- I believe that is universally accepted as correct. With a simple gerund --- hmmm, some people would find that is acceptable, and others (myself included) would find this ungrammatical. BUT: here's the really important point to understand --- on the GMAT, " instead of " seems never to appear in a correct answer, even in the constructions that are perfectly grammatically acceptable. The GMAT seems to save " instead of " for the mistake constructions of incorrect answer choices, for example: She prefers to write with a fountain pen instead of with a disposable pen . "Instead of" + is always 100% wrong; the words " rather than " should be used instead. I am aware of no official question in which " instead of " appears in a correct answer. By contrast, the adverb " instead " is perfectly fine. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

aditya8062 · Answer

hi mike 
Though i got this one correct but i need to confirm as why  "instead of"  is wrong in option A 
 "instead of"  can be used with  "nouns"  and  "paying taxes"  is a simple gerund, a kind of noun !! .so why is it wrong?

can u please elaborate more on the usage of  "instead of"  .please give me some correct sentences with this usage 
also can u please direct me to some OG sentences which have used  "instead of " in correct sentence

thanks and regards

aditya8062 · Answer

hi mike 
do u mean u have edited the option A .honestly i dont remember the original option A but yes right now(as A stands now) i can eliminate it

thanks for this elaboration .i will,from now on, consider  "instead of" + gerund  wrong

i agree that grammar is not 100 % right or wrong but honestly such tips helps to solve the question in 1 min span

himanshujovi · Answer

Hi Mike

Thanks for taking the effort to come up with questions for all of us. I see very difficult explanations for this questions which I could answer is a very short amount of time , simply by first understanding what the original author intended to say and comparing it with which option fits in.

The meaning which I could gather from the original sentence was :-

Thoreau had some principles which he followed to such an extent that he was willing to go to jail for them. Paying taxes for an unjust war was against his principles.

Now reading the options one by one -

a) Thoreau stood by his principles and going to jail ---- here going to usage sounds contradictory to earlier usage of stood by his principles.

b) Does not give clarity that the taxes paid would have supported the war.

c) POE

d) the last phrase - they supported makes it absurd.

e) Rather than paying taxes supporting the Mexican-American War, Thoreau, standing by his principles and going to jail,  felt it as unjust .. -- underlined portion is not clear in referring to Mexican-American war which was the original intent of the author.

Mike my query is , is this approach correct ? It is quite possible that I could think on this line as I have been a voracious reader since school days and the correct answer come to intuitively rather than by explicitly applying the rules.

On a parallel note could the original sentence be written as -

a) Thoreau stood by his principles and  went  to jail, instead of paying taxes supporting the Mexican-American War   which   he felt was unjust.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear himanshujovi , I'm happy to respond. :-)

With simpler questions, one can often eliminate answers quickly with splits. When the entire sentence is underlined, as sometimes happens, usually splits aren't particularly effect, so one has to approach each answer holistically. Intuition can be a good guide, although one always should have a clear and unambiguous reason for rejecting each wrong answer. In choice (A) , the participle " going " should be changed to the full bonafide verb " went ." That's one big problem. The " that " would be better as " which ," but we would need to insert a comma ---- " the Mexican-American War , which he felt was unjust . Even if we change those, then we are in a gray zone. Technically, it is grammatically correct to use " instead of " with a gerund, but essentially, this is never correct on the GMAT. The phrase " rather than " is more formal, and the GMAT always seems to default to " rather than " and avoid " instead of ," even in situations in which this latter structure would be considered correct. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

himanshujovi · Answer

I presume you are commenting on the sentence which I suggested at the end.

What about the approach to pick the right answer ?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear himanshujovi , I don't know whether you saw my first paragraph, which was my response to your question about approach: I don't know whether this answers your question or whether you have further questions on this point. I would be happy to respond. Mike :-)

himanshujovi · Answer

Ok thanks Mike. That does give me pointers. How were my reasons as elucidated above

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

vlakhanpal14 · Answer

Hello Mike,
I have a doubt regarding option c
 Thoreau did not pay taxes supporting the Mexican-American War because he felt " it " was unjust; instead, he stood by his principles and went to jail.

I discarded this choice assuming that it cant refers to the clause .Is "it" just a placeholder here.

tarunk31 · Answer

"It" logically and grammatically refers to war here.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear vlakhanpal14 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

You are right that the pronoun " it " cannot refer to the action of the previous clause (i.e. paying taxes to support the Mexican-American war). As a singular neuter pronoun, it must refer to a singular object mentioned earlier in the sentence. The only singular object mentioned earlier is " the Mexican-American War ," and the prompt clearly indicates that it's this particular war that Thoreau felt was unjust. Thus, as tarunktuteja indicated, the pronoun " it " refers grammatically & logically to " the Mexican-American War ." BTW, a placeholder "it" is never a direct object, as this " it " is in this sentence. Mike :-)

Mo2men · Answer

Hi Mike,

In you blog, one of the reasons mentioned to eliminate choice B is that verb 'feel' needs 'that'. However, verb 'feel' can be followed adjective such as the following example:

I feel sick today.

My question: could we say also ' Thoreau felt the Mexican-American War unjust '??

Thanks in advance

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Mo2men , I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, the word " feel " is a complex word with many meanings. When we convey the emotional state or bodily condition of someone, we use " feel " with a predicate adjective. I feel sick. He feels rejected. They feel excited. That's 100% correct, but it is uniquely informal. This sort of topic would be quite common in colloquial speech among friends, but it is not at all academic and formal. Whenever the object of " feel " is a clause, that clause needs to begin with " that ." Again, in colloquial speech, the "that" is typically omitted, and without the "that" it may sound fine to native speakers used to colloquial speech. Thus: Thoreau felt the Mexican-American War unjust = awkward, would not be said Thoreau felt the Mexican-American War to be unjust = colloquial, not formal Thoreau felt the Mexican-American War was unjust = colloquial, not formal Thoreau felt that the Mexican-American War was unjust = formal, could be correct on the GMAT Does this make sense? Mike :-)

ashutoshsh · Answer

hey!
isnt the refernce of "it" in optionC unclear. "it" is for mexican war or for tax? ...
or may b we cn say it's refernce is clear bcoz "taxes" are plural and only singular term is war... m not sure :?:

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear ashutoshsh , I'm the author of this question and I am happy to respond. :-)

First, my friend, I am going to caution you. GMAT Club is one of the first steps you are taking toward the GMAT, so it is one of the first steps you are taking toward your entire professional life. The people here on GMAT Club may one day be your employers, your managers, your colleagues, your customers, your partners, your competitors, etc. You don't know where you may meet someone again in the global economy. Furthermore, in this life, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and several psychological studies have demonstrated that first impressions have massive influence on later interactions. In the business world, it is always worthwhile to be as professional as possible and, accordingly, to put your best self forward at all times. Your post here is extremely casual, full of slang and abbreviations and spelling errors. Such language would be fine in a text to your friends or a post on social media, but GMAT Club is NOT a social media site. This is a serious professional site where candidates can get valuable aid in preparing for the GMAT, applying to business school, etc. I would strongly urge to rise to the highest standard of language of which you are capable, each and every time you post on GMAT Club. This is not a place to experiment with whether you are an adult. This is an adult community, and regardless of whether you realize it, you will be evaluated according to adult and professional standards. I wanted to caution you, my friend, because I am concerned for you. I want you to be seen in the best possible light. If you always strive to do your best, you will have far fewer regrets in life. Furthermore, if you have ambitions to excel on the GMAT, you would be well advised to strive for excellence in every aspect of your life. In answer to your specific question, yes, because " it " is a singular pronoun, it's absolutely clear that it refers to the only singular noun that precedes it in the sentence, the Mexican-American War . Whether a pronoun is singular or plural is always a crucially important delimiter in determining its antecedent. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

ashutoshsh · Answer

Hello Mike!
I am really sorry for using inappropriate language. I appreciate your advice.
Thanks

ravigupta2912 · Answer

What does “taxes supporting” in C and E indicate? A subset of taxes that were used to support the war effort? It seems almost illogical that T would refuse to pay only a subset of taxes.

I’m confused on this construct.

Would request if anyone can chime in with their inputs  IanStewart   AndrewN   VeritasKarishma   generis

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KarishmaB · Answer

Thoreau refused to pay the tax which was levied to fund the Mexican-American war. That is what is meant by "taxes supporting the war". It is commonplace for governments to levy taxes for specific purposes such as education cess and swachh bharat cess in India.

IanStewart · Answer

I agree with how you're breaking down the meaning of the construction, but it can be logical for a tax (say a sales tax on a single product) to support a specific government endeavour, so the meaning is not inherently illogical. If I understand the history correctly, though, Thoreau refused to pay the general poll tax, not only to protest the war but also to protest slavery, so the sentence is a bit misleading about the facts it's recounting.

Thoreau stood by his principles and went to jail, instead of

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Thoreau stood by his principles and went to jail, instead of

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