Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and

Question

Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and the processes  that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity .

(A) that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity
(B) of producing and understanding it have revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity
(C) by which it is produced and understood has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity
(D) by which it is produced and understood have revealed great complexity rather than underlying simplicity
(E) by which one produces and understands it have revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity

sayantanc2k · Accepted Answer

Research has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity: Though technically not incorrect (maintains parallelism between two nouns, "simplicity" and " complexity"), this usage is awkward. The negation "not" should ideally go with the verb, not the noun "simplicity". The correct construction is:

Research has not revealed underlying simplicity but has revealed great complexity. (parallelism between verbs)
OR
Research has not revealed underlying simplicity but great complexity. (It is alright to omit the repeated parts - even verbs - from the second element of a parallel structure.)

Further notes:
Such noun (or adjective) parallelism is alright with the verb to be (because in negation, correct construction is:  verb to be + "not" ), but not with other verbs (because in negation, correct construction is:  "does not" + other verb , not  other verb + "not" )-

He is intelligent.
He is not intelligent.... correct.
He is not intelligent, but foolish...... correct.

He thinks fast.
he thinks not fast--- incorrect.
He things not fast, but slow.... incorrect.
He does not think fast, but thinks slow... correct.

sayantanc2k · Answer

The pronoun "it" is required in C and A alike to refer to "language". Option C is wrong because of 2 reasons:

1. A is more direct than C:

In "by which", "which" refers to processes. Therefore grammatically the construction is not wrong. However "..that (processes) produce and make it (language) understandable" is more direct than "by which (processes) it (language) is produced and understood" - the latter conveys a wrong meaning as well, as described in the next paragraph below. Moreover, "....reveal complexity instead of simplicity" is more direct than "...reveal not simplicity, but complexity".

2. C conveys wrong meaning:

A implies : Processes produce and make language understandable.
C implies: Language is produced and understood by processes... hence C wrongly indicates that the processes themselves understand the language, not that the processes make the language understandable (to humans).

Hence option C is wrong.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Awkwardness/Redundancy

A:   Correct.  This answer choice correctly refers to the singular noun "Research" with the singular verb phrase "has reveled". Further, Option A is free of awkwardness or redundancy.

B:  This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "Research" with the plural verb phrase "have revealed". Further, Option B uses the needlessly indirect phrase "not underlying simplicity but great complexity", leading to awkwardness.

C:  Trap. This answer choice uses the passive and needlessly wordy construction "by which it is produced and understood" and the needlessly indirect phrase "not underlying simplicity but great complexity", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

D:  Trap. This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "Research" with the plural verb phrase "have revealed". Further, Option D uses the passive and needlessly wordy construction "by which it is produced and understood", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E:  This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "Research" with the plural verb phrase "have revealed". Further, Option E uses the passive and needlessly wordy construction "by which one produces and understands it", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

syamee_u · Answer

sorry ..

my choice :D 50 seconds

processes <by which it is produced and understood > + have should come. Not "HAS"

(A) that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity

in this choice "it" is not correct in pronoun number as noun x and y. it should be them. however meaning also not correct

(B) of producing and understanding it have revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity

in this choice "it" is not correct in pronoun number 

(C) by which it is produced and understood has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity

 singular verb "has" not matching with plural subject processes 

(E) by which one produces and understands it have revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity

awkward.

comments PLZ.

stolyar · Answer

The subject here is RESEARCH (a singular). Therefore, we need verb HAS, which is in A and C. The other options are out.

Between A and C, I, however, opt for A.
"processes by which it is ... understood" does not seem to be as clear as "processes that produce and make it understandable "

Bhai · Answer

Got it A,

In C, Research ...........has   revealed not   underlying simplicity but great complexity. I think it should be has not revealed .......

chunjuwu · Answer

A-HA, I got it why not C. A and C are two kind of meaning. 

Guys, reviewed A more carefully. 

(A)..... process that produce(watch out! there is no objective) and make it(research) understandable. 
There are two actions; one is produce, and the other is make it understandable. (we don't know produce what? )

However, in (C). Passive voice is ambiguous
(.... by which it is produced and understood ..... )

(is preposition  by  a common preposition or not ?)

we cannot make sure preposition  by  belongs which verb? ( be produced by? be understood by? or both)

I hope you understand what I'm talking about.

duttsit · Answer

While crawling web about this SC i found following information on usage of "rather than". I would recommend reading it:

   The phrase rather than consists of an adverb and a conjunction and often means "and not," as in I decided to skip lunch rather than eat in the cafeteria again. It is grammatically similar to sooner than in that it is used with a "bare" infinitiveâ€”an infinitive minus to: I would stay here and eat flies sooner than go with them.

Rather than can also be used with nouns as a compound preposition meaning "instead of": I bought a mountain bike rather than a ten-speed. But some people object to this use, insisting that than should be used only as a conjunction.  They therefore object to constructions in which rather than is followed by a gerund, as in Rather than buying a new car, I kept my old one.

In some cases, however, rather than can only be followed by a gerund and not by a bare infinitive. If the main verb of the sentence has a form that does not allow parallel treatment of the verb following rather than, you cannot use a bare infinitive, and you must use a gerund. This is often the case when the main verb is in a past tense or has a participle. Thus, you must say The results of the study, rather than ending (not end or ended) the controversy, only added to it. If the main verb was in the present tense (add), you could use the bare infinitive end.

Curiously, when the rather than construction follows the main verb, it can use other verb forms besides the bare infinitive. Thus you can say The results of the study added to the controversy rather than ended it.

The overriding concern in all of this should be to avoid faulty parallels, as in sentences like Rather than buy a new car, I have kept my old one and Rather than take a cab, she is going on foot.

Clearly, it is grammatically defensible to follow rather than with a gerund, but if you prefer to avoid the controversy, use instead of with gerunds.
 

usage of "instead of" to compare two parallel nouns is correct here in A.(see bold part)

misterJJ2u · Answer

Vote: A

Topic of sentence is focused around "research" (singular). Research..."HAS"...

Choices boiled down to A and C.

I'd go wtih A over C b/c A is more concise and C is awkwardly worded.
Choice A: Research...has revealed X instead of Y.
Choice C: Research...has revealed not X but Y.

GMATBootcamp · Answer

The subject of the sentence is "research," all of the other fluff in between can be ignored.

Since "research" is singular, the verb tense must also be singular. Answers B, D, and E all use the plural verb "have," so eliminate answers B, D, and E

Between answers A and C, "by which it..." is wordy and awkward construction.

I would pick answer A

ChrisLele · Answer

'Instead' is used as an adverb and therefore has to modify some verb.

Instead of walking to school, they rode the bus.

In the question, we have two nouns (simplicity, complexity). Thus we want to use the construction not 'A' but 'B'.

Therefore that leaves us with (C).

egmat · Answer

Hi,

Received a PM to comment on the numnber of the subject of this particular problem.

Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and the processes that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity.

The subject of this sentence is "Research". Here we have a huge noun phrase "Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and the processes" where everything after "Research" lies in prepositional phrase and hence cannot be the subject. So the head of this long phrase "Research" is the subject which is singular in number. Plural for "researches". Hence, the singular verb "has revealed" agrees in number with the singular subject in the original sentence.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.
Shraddha

Thanks. Shraddha

daagh · Answer

I haven’t been able to go through all the eight pages of discussion on the topic. But judging from the last few posts, I could see that the discussion has been mostly on idiomatism, SV mismatch etc; But has it been dissected from the pronoun ambiguity angle as well? What would ‘it’ represent? Is it the research, as it is the subject according some, while it could as well stand for the language itself? Or can it replace the nature (in the nature of language)?
Of course, I can easily give arm-chair advice that, since all the five choices have the pronoun problem, we can ignore it altogether and focus on other areas. After all, isn’t a 1000-series problem, an anathema to GMAT? But what is the reality?

Bluelagoon · Answer

B,D and E are out because the subject is Research(singular) so it requires a singular verb 'has'. Now A and C has a difference in meaning.

C :Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and the processes by which it is produced and understood has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity.

Does the processes produce and understand the language. No.

Notice the subtle usage of  understandable  and  understood  in A and C.

The process make it understandable , not understand it themselves. A wins.

newyork2012 · Answer

Research  during the past several decades on the nature of  language  and  the processes that produce and make it understandable   has  revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity.

emcheeks · Answer

The usage of by which, at which
INCORRECT: a standard the performance is measured by, the restaurant we ate at (no prep. at the end of any clauses)
CORRECT: a standard by which the performance is measured, the restaurant at which we ate

Back to the problem, C: " nature of language   and   the processes  by which it is produced and understood"

can be translated into: "the nature of language is produced and understood by processes" (note that here "it" can only refer to "nature of language")

this is wrong because it cannot be understood by processes. it is humans who understand the nature of language.

akshay88 · Answer

Is the parallelism in (A) correct?

Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and the processes  that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity. 
(A) that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity
As per my understanding, each element of the list must individually make sense.
..processes that produce has revealed..
..processes that make it understandable.. (this looks correct, but what about the first element)

Any help will be great
 egmat 
 GMATNinja 
 sayantanc2k

Bambi2021 · Answer

The use of "instead of" makes no sense. It sounds as if complexity or simplicity are the only outcomes and that they are mutually exclusive. If on the other hand we use "rather than", the meaning seems more reasonable. Then the research might have been expected to reveal "simplicity" but did rather reveal complexity.

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DmitryFarber · Answer

Bambi2021 
Agreed. This is in no way a valid SC problem. The "instead of" part is both illogical and ungrammatical, and the initial part of A doesn't work. There's no object for the word "produce." If we want to say "produce it," with "it" meaning "language," then we can't add "understandable." This would mean "produce it understandable and make it understandable," and that doesn't mean anything.

C is much better, but the comparison at the end still doesn't make sense. Why are we comparing "underlying simplicity" and "great complexity"? The only point of using "underlying" would be to show that this simplicity underlies complexity at some other level, so it just doesn't work to make this contrast.

Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and

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Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and

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