Those who maintain that technology is negatively rewiring our brains

Question

Those who maintain that technology is negatively rewiring our brains have several common targets:  GPS devices eroding our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet driving us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired  when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits.

A) GPS devices eroding our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet driving us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired

B) GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive us to distraction, and our smartphones impair our working memory

C) with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space is eroded, with the Internet’s many hyperlinks we are driven to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired

D) GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks driving us to distraction and our smartphones impairing our working memory

E) the conceptualization of space is eroded with GPS devices, distraction is driven by the Internet’s many hyperlinks, and working memory impairment results from our smartphones

daagh · Accepted Answer

A question that goes beyond list parallelism.

A) GPS devices eroding our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet driving us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired ---  the three arms of the list are unparallel 
 
B) GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive us to distraction, and our Smartphones impair our working memory— very tempting to pass it as the right answer; while the three targets are stated forthwith after the colon, still the list is the doer of the modifier ‘when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits’. This is contrary to the logic that it is the human beings who are the doers of the action. In that context, this is inferior to the C’

C) with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space is eroded, with the Internet’s many hyperlinks we are driven to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired --  Maintains the discipline of parallelism while holding aloft common logic. But its verbosity is a distraction. 
 
D) GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks driving us to distraction and our smartphones impairing our working memory ---  Unparallel

E) the conceptualization of space is eroded with GPS devices, distraction is driven by the Internet’s many hyperlinks, and working memory impairment results from our smartphones ---  unparallel with two passive voice and one active voice

Take away: Just do not limit yourself to scanning the underlined portions. In meaning –based questions, the underlined portion, apart from having no grammar flaws, should go with the overall structure.

daagh · Answer

Choice B in its entirety: Those who maintain that technology is negatively rewiring our brains have several common targets: GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive us to distraction, and our smartphones impair our working memory  when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits.

According to B, it is the devices, the hyperlinks and our smartphones. (items contained in the list) that do the recalling a string of digits; Isn’t this distorted intent? It is the humans who can recall the string of digits. Hence B is wrong

2016MBAcandidate · Answer

Did not understand why B is wrong?

reto · Answer

This question is all about parallelism:

Those who maintain that technology is negatively rewiring our brains have several common targets:  GPS devices eroding our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet driving us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired  when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits.

A. GPS devices  eroding  our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet  driving  us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory  is  impaired

B. GPS devices  erode  our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks  drive  us to distraction, and our smartphones  impair  our working memory, > seems all fine with parallelism.

C. with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space  is  eroded, with the Internet’s many hyperlinks we  are  driven to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory  is  impaired > seems all fine with parallelism.

D. GPS devices  erode  our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks  driving  us to distraction and our smartphones  impairing  our working memory > not parallel

E. the conceptualization of space  is  eroded with GPS devices, distraction  is  driven by the Internet’s many hyperlinks, and working memory impairment  results  from our smartphones > it is parallel but the tone is too passive

So we have to look for the context of the two remaining answer choices B and C.

... have several common targets:  with 
... have several common targets: GPS devices ...

this is the big difference, sentence C starts with "with" which seems the better choice when you have some listing of reason. Otherwise I can not explain this. Anyone?

daagh · Answer

A question that goes beyond list parallelism.

A) GPS devices eroding our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet driving us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired ---  the three arms of the list are unparallel

B) GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive us to distraction, and our Smartphones impair our working memory— very tempting to pass it as the right answer; while the three targets are stated forthwith after the colon, still the list is the doer of the modifier ‘when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits’. This is contrary to the logic that it is the human beings who are the doers of the action. In that context, this is inferior to the C’

C) with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space is eroded, with the Internet’s many hyperlinks we are driven to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired --  Maintains the discipline of parallelism while holding aloft common logic. But its verbosity is a distraction.

D) GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks driving us to distraction and our smartphones impairing our working memory ---  Unparallel

E) the conceptualization of space is eroded with GPS devices, distraction is driven by the Internet’s many hyperlinks, and working memory impairment results from our smartphones ---  unparallel with two passive voice and one active voice

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

Those who maintain that technology is negatively rewiring our brains have several common targets:  GPS devices eroding our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet driving us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired  when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits.

A. GPS devices eroding our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet driving us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired
 2 terms of list in active voice while one term is in passive voice.
flawed parallelism between the terms due to  with.

B. GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive us to distraction, and our smartphones impair our working memory

C. with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space is eroded, with the Internet’s many hyperlinks we are driven to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired

D. GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks driving us to distraction and our smartphones impairing our working memory
 flawed parallelism between the terms  erode ,  driving  and  impairing

E. the conceptualization of space is eroded with GPS devices, distraction is driven by the Internet’s many hyperlinks, and working memory impairment results from our smartphones
 here all three problems are caused by technologies, but they are structured or described as
one is done with sth
second is done by sth
third results from sth
The three terms are not parallel.

I'm stuck between B and C, chose B due to verbose nature of C. Can someone explain why B is wrong and how C is the right answer.

gmatassassin2015 · Answer

Let's see if I can help -

You have to understand the meaning of the sentence which is saying sth about our ability. B talks about GPS, hyperlinks and phones doing sth... C is these GPS devices, hyperlinks and smartphone s doing sth to our ability. Remember that anything after ":" has to describe about part before ":". C does which is correct answer Hope this helps.

neeraj609 · Answer

Can we also prefer C over B because in option B, the verb in all examples listed is simple present tense making all the examples as general fact but there is a WHEN (in not underlined part) which limits the general fact. While C does not have any such scenario.

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

daagh

This is surprisingly new concept for me. 
Can you please explain it further as to how  when  limits the scope of generalization?

chetan2u · Answer

hi ,
the final two get down to B and C..
 I would answer the following way..
1) firstly, the list following the colon should be examples or augmenting the preceding clause.
2) Apart from parallelism, conveying the correct meaning.
so let us examine the sentences:

B) GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive us to distraction, and our smartphones impair our working memory

if i join the non underlined portion, it becomes "GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive us to distraction, and our smartphones impair  our working memory when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits .  
 why can't the clause when modify "our working memory"
 it carries the original meaning that the erosion is continuing/ a fact as per the author.
 parallelism
  'GPS devices erode our ability', ' the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive' and 'the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive' gives us a list of common targets

C) with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space is eroded, with the Internet’s many hyperlinks we are driven to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired

Would the way to spell out common targets be correct as B or the way it is done in C..
 although a small difference, but "with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space is eroded" does mean that the erosion has happened and does not clearly mention that it is continuing.. may be 'with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space is eroding' would be better..

I would feel B is a better choice...

tarunk31 · Answer

Hi chetan2u Let's consider the portion of the sentence you underlined as follows: our smartphones impair our working memory when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits . Here main clause is "our smartphones impair our working memory" and reduced subordinate/adverbial clause is: "when doing something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits Note that I mentioned reduced clause rather than a clause as we don't really have a SV pair here. We can only reduce adverbial clauses when they share the subject with the main clause. So this sentence can only be correct if "when" adverbial clause share the subject(smartphones) of the main clause and subject smartphones for adverbial "when" clause doesn't make sense. If we try to expand the reduced clause the complete sentence will be: our smartphones impair our working memory when our smartphones do something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits. As you can see this sentence doesn't make sense. You can read further on clause reduction in the following link: https://www.grammar-quizzes.com/8-12.html Hope it helps

OmarFirdaus · Answer

Explanation:
The way i saw the problem was,

There were three targets i.e. erosion our space, distraction, impairing of our working memory. ---MEaning
+ these three targets needs to be parallel.

A. explains the targets but failed in parallelism
B. reading the option i felt that GPS devices, hyperlinks of internet and SMartphones were carrying out the targets rather than the intent meaning of "Those who......have several common targets"
C. maintains parallelism and meaning
D. same as B and parallelism error
E. parallelism issue.

At least , it worked for me. Although i guessed it in 3 minute but took me 6 minutes to lock it.

Sidhrt · Answer

i was under the impression that ICs can not be separated commas; they require semicolons.

leanhdung · Answer

Those who maintain that technology is negatively rewiring our brains have several common targets:  GPS devices eroding our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet driving us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory is impaired   when doing  something as fundamental as recalling a string of digits.

A) GPS  devices eroding  our ability to conceptualize space, the many hyperlinks of the Internet  driving  us to distraction, and with our smartphones our working memory  is impaired 
B) GPS devices erode our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks drive us to distraction, and  our smartphones  impair our working memory
C) with GPS devices our ability to conceptualize space  is eroded , with the Internet’s many hyperlinks  we are driven  to distraction, and with our smartphones   our working memory    is impaired 
D) GPS devices  erode  our ability to conceptualize space, the Internet’s many hyperlinks  driving  us to distraction and our smartphones  impairing  our working memory
E) the conceptualization of space is eroded with GPS devices, distraction is driven by the Internet’s many hyperlinks, and working memory impairment results from our smartphones
--> wordy.

Mahmud6 · Answer

If so, is 'the Internet’s many hyperlinks' correct?

Mahmud6 · Answer

If so, is 'the Internet???s many hyperlinks' correct?

sayantanc2k · Answer

I have not come across any authentic source that states that inanimate object cannot take possessive - "the book' cover", in my opnion, is alright and equivalent to "cover of the book".

aragonn · Answer

MAGOOSH Official Explanation:

This question is very tricky, since two answer choices maintain parallelism,(B) and (C), yet the one that is stylistically inferior, (C), is the one that is actually correct. How can this be?

There are two main reasons:

Idiom error: “Ability for” is incorrect. The correct idiom should be “ability to”, not

Illogical Modification: In the last clause of the underlined part in (B), it says “our smartphones impair our working memory.” Smartphones are the subject of this clause, so when we continue on to the non-underlined part, “when doing something as fundamental as recalling”, we end up creating an absurd meaning: smartphones—not our memories—recall a string of digits. From the original sentence it is clear that it is our memories that recall the digits, not the smartphones. This error also happens in (D).

(A) “is impaired” is not parallel to “eroding” and “driving”. Watch out for the word “working”. It is not being used as a participle the way that “eroding” and “driving” are. It is part of the noun phrase “working memory”.

(B) See above.

(C) The answer. See above.

(D) makes several errors. First off, we want the three clauses following the colon to be parallel. “Is eroded” is not parallel to “driving” and “impairing”. The next error is the one described in “Illogical Modification” at the beginning of this explanation.

(E) “the conceptualization of space is eroded” creates a strange meaning by saying that space itself is being eroded, not that devices are eroding our ability to conceptualize space. “Distraction is driven by” and “working memory impairment is resulting from” or both awkward and the GMAT would always favor more concise phrasing, e.g., “working memory is impaired”.

redskull1 · Answer

Superb question....keep it up magoosh

Those who maintain that technology is negatively rewiring our brains

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Those who maintain that technology is negatively rewiring our brains

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