Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission

Question

Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit  is a relatively recent phenomenon, beginning only after World War II.

(A) Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit

(B) Though it is now taken for granted by most people, the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic merit

(C) Now taken for granted by most people, colleges and universities admitting students based on their academic merit

(D) Most take them for granted now, but the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on their academic merit

(E) Most people now take for granted that colleges and universities admit students nationally based on academic merit, and it

bsd_lover · Accepted Answer

OA is A :

The original sentence begins with an opening modifier that correctly modifies the nationwide admission of students.

(A) CORRECT. This choice is correct as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) The use of the initial modifier in this choice is correct. However, the adjective “nationwide” is incorrectly applied to students, when it is meant to apply to the admission process.

(C) Here, the modifier is adjacent to the subject “colleges and universities,” incorrectly suggesting that colleges and universities are taken for granted as opposed to the admission process.

(D) This sentence incorrectly uses the pronoun “them” to refer to the “admission” which is a singular subject. The use of the pronoun “their” is also unclear as the antecedent could be construed to be “colleges and universities” as opposed to the intended antecedent, "students."

(E) Using the word "and" at the end of the underline makes the meaning of this sentence less clear by failing to draw an appropriate contrast between the current state of taking the nationwide admission of students for granted and the fact that it is a relatively recent phenomenon. A more appropriate word choice would be "but": "Most people now take for granted..., but it is a relatively recent phenomenon."

iamitgoyal · Answer

What is difference between phrases used in option A "Though most people take it for granted now" and option B "Though it is now taken for granted by most people," ?

Which one of these is more appropriate to use ? Or both are good to use in this context.?

Please help me on this

Muki · Answer

Apart from A being Active (which is preferred) and B being passive, I guess there is a slight change in the meaning as well.
A states that "Nationwide admission" of students - meaning admission of students happening in a Nation, while B states that - admission of "Nationwide Students". This change in position of "nationwide" in B implies that the admission of students is restricted to students of a Nation, not that admissions are hapening nationwide (as in A).

I hope I was able to explain this properly.

swapneilghodke · Answer

Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit is a relatively recent phenomenon, beginning only after World War II.

A Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit

B Though it is now taken for granted by most people, the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic merit
 Passive 
C Now taken for granted by most people, colleges and universities admitting students based on their academic merit
 Passive 
D Most take them for granted now, but the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on their academic merit
-them-> where it points
E Most people now take for granted that colleges and universities admit students nationally based on academic merit, and it

I will go with E as A seems wordy

brooksbrahs · Answer

Free kudos point:

Can someone post a pointer as to how to distinguish between active and passive voice in this example? I know active is when X is doing the action whereas passive is when X has something done to it. I'm just not seeing it in this example.

harkabir · Answer

Active - people take it for granted now... X performs action Y
Passive - it is taken for granted by people... action Y is performed by X

Hope this helps.

anshunadir · Answer

A. Though most people take it for granted now -  people   are doing action

B Though it is now taken for granted    by most people  - passive

BY subject - indicates passive voice.

anshunadir · Answer

Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit is a relatively recent phenomenon, beginning only after World War II. A Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit- short,crisp and correct :-D

B the admission of nationwide students - changes meaning C passive, wordier,incorrect D Most take them for granted now, but the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on their academic merit them refers to admission, singular/plural issue E Most people now take for granted that colleges and universities admit students nationally based on academic merit, and it it refers to academic merit

Marcab · Answer

Assuming that people here may easily reduce their choices to A and B, so I am discussing these two only.
On reading the not underlined part, one may notice that "its a recent phenomenon". Since we are supposed to show a contast, we can do so by the use of any contrasting word. Also notice the use of "now". In A it is emphasizing on time sequence, but in B it is emphasizing on the number of people.
Since we are supposed to draw a contrast between the not underlined part and the underlined part, hence A is preferred.
Hope that helps.
-s

daagh · Answer

A Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit ---  correct modification and reference for the pronoun -it- .

B Though it is now taken for granted by most people, the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic merit ----Wrong word choice ---  Can the phrase nationwide students be defined? Are there any non-nationwide students? 
 
C Now taken for granted by most people, colleges and universities admitting students based on their academic merit ---- Colleges are taken to be granted; wrong modification

D Most take them for granted now, but the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on their academic merit ---  1. same error as in B 2. The word taken is missing. With -them- referring to students, choice implies that the students are for granted now. The meaning is muddled.

E Most people now take for granted that colleges and universities admit students nationally based on academic merit, and it ----  the use of –and- spoils the essence of the contrast that the original intended to expose.

pqhai · Answer

Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit  is a relatively recent phenomenon, beginning only after World War II.

A Though most people take  it  for granted now,  the nationwide  admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit
 Correct.

B Though  it is now taken for granted by  most people, the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic merit
 Wrong.  Passive voice. Also, correct idiom is "take it for granted", not "is taken for granted by"

C  Now taken for granted by most people,  colleges and universities admitting students based on their academic merit
 Wrong  modifier.

D Most take  them  for granted now, but  the admission  of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on their academic merit
 Wrong.  The admission is singular.

E Most people now take for granted that colleges and universities admit students nationally based on academic merit, and  it 
 Wrong.  "It" is unclear.

chetan2u · Answer

Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit  is a relatively recent phenomenon, beginning only after World War II.

A. Though most people take  it  for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit
 although 'it' initially may seem odd, but it clearly refers to the clause in 2nd part of the sentence.. correct as it is..

B. Though it is now taken for granted by most people, the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic merit
 two errors..
1) it is in passive voice and we have an active voice available in choices
2) changes the meaning by changing ' the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic ' to ' the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic '

C. Now taken for granted by most people, colleges and universities admitting students based on their academic merit
 wrongly constructed

D. Most take them for granted now, but the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on their academic merit
 them refers to singular the admission.. also changes meaning as in B

E. Most people now take for granted that colleges and universities admit students nationally based on academic merit, and it
 The original shows contrast and here it removes the contrast..also improper construction

so ans A...

chetan2u · Answer

Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit  is a relatively recent phenomenon, beginning only after World War II.

A. Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit
 although 'it' initially may seem odd, but it clearly refers to the clause in 2nd part of the sentence.. correct as it is..

B. Though it is now taken for granted by most people, the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic merit
 two errors..
1) it is in passive voice and we have an active voice available in choices
2) changes the meaning by changing ' the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic ' to ' the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic '

C. Now taken for granted by most people, colleges and universities admitting students based on their academic merit
 wrongly constructed

D. Most take them for granted now, but the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on their academic merit
 them refers to singular the admission.. also changes meaning as in B

E. Most people now take for granted that colleges and universities admit students nationally based on academic merit, and it
 The original shows contrast and here it removes the contrast..also improper construction

so ans A...

daagh · Answer

A. Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit – The pronouns correctly stands for the admission --  correct choice. 
 
B. Though it is now taken for granted by most people, the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on academic merit –  The admission of nationwide students distorts the meaning as if there are now a set of nationwide students; 'nationwide' must truly modify the admissions to be correct.

C. Now taken for granted by most people, colleges and universities admitting students based on their academic merit –  misses an important element of nationwide admission and hence is deficient in meaning.

D. Most take them for granted now, but the admission of nationwide students to colleges and universities based on their academic merit ---  No proper reference for 'them', since the admission is singular. In addition, the nationwide students distorts the meaning .

E. Most people now take for granted that colleges and universities admit students nationally based on academic merit and it –  The contrast is missing. It should ‘but it’ and not ‘and it’. In addition, there is no clarity what the pronoun it stands for, as there is no singular noun in the first clause. Thirdly, ‘students nationally based on academic merit’ may be misread that the students are based nationally rather than the admissions being national. The proper word order should be ‘nationally admit students’

Youraisemeup · Answer

Need a guidance on the Correct choice..
Is the construction :  A. Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide   admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit   .  not wrong??

The verb ED modifier 'BASED" incorrectly modifies university and not admission.. BASED ON MERIT should modify admissions and not university.

mikemcgarry   egmat  Need help

chetan2u · Answer

Hi,
you arre correct that "based on merit" modifies "admissions" but just not 'admissions',
It modifies the entire phrase  "the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities" 
we are talking specifically about the admissions to colleges and universities..

Even if we say it modifies only admission, what can you replace it with.. 
1) "to college and universities", but this also modifies admissions
2) " of students", but this also modifies admissions..

you try and shift this closer to admissions.. 
1) Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission  based on academic merit of students to colleges and universities. 
Now we donot know whose admission are we talking of..
2) Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission of students  based on academic merit to colleges and universities. 
this too does not make sense..

so the choice A is written correctly..

Hope it helps you

Chemerical71 · Answer

Though /although generally indicates contrast and need a clause..it refers to the nationwide admission without any ambiguity...OA should be A.

sayantanc2k · Answer

Yes, your understanding is correct - "it" refers to the noun phrase "the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit", not the whole clause "the nationwide admission of students to colleges and universities based on academic merit is a relatively recent phenomenon".

unebaguette · Answer

The reasoning given by manhattan prep for why C is wrong is fallacious.

For C, the modifier is not modifying "colleges and universities" just because that's the immediate noun after the comma. It's modifying the whole complex noun phrase "colleges and universities admitting students based on their academic merit", which is the subject of the sentence as whole and what the verb "is" is referring to. It pertains to the action as a whole: "admitting" as a gerund, which has a subject of "colleges and universities", direct object of "students" and adverbial modifier "based on their merit"

I've reported this to manhattan prep directly, and I've seen many online resources repeat this same explanation, when it might not be grammatically accurate. I hope anyone reading this can see this and see that the official reasoning given for why C is wrong is not true.

Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission

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Though most people take it for granted now, the nationwide admission

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