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macjas
Joined: 09 May 2012
Last visit: 30 Jul 2015
Posts: 306
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Affiliations: UWC
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Schools: Rotman '15 (A) Schulich '15 (M)
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
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34%
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Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(D) Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(E) Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
OG16 SC118
OG17 SC784
OG18 SC786
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(D) Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(E) Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
OG16 SC118
OG17 SC784
OG18 SC786
20 Aug 2012, 15:10
Kudos
Bookmarks
Received a PM for this one 
To the original poster: this question is very confusingly transcribed. Unlike the Official Guide, which uses an em-dash (the big dashy looking thing) to separate the parenthetical phrase beginning '...they are often green', your question uses an em-dash (which you interpreted as a hyphen) to separate two independent clauses, a grammatical nicety that would lead straight to answer is (D). The answer was (B) however, and my head was spinning trying to figure out how that could be the case. Surely, joining a dependent clause to an independent clause is verboten. What I did not see was the hyphen hidden, without any intervening spaces, between bruises and heirlooms.
Only after I hunted down question #132 in the OG did I realize that the sentence was very different from the one transcribed here. There are two distinct em-dashes, as I've faithfully recapitulated below :
Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year--they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises--heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the pervious year
(D) Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(E) Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
Explanation:
A good way to attack this question is to ignore the parenthetical phrase, "they are often green and striped...". Instead we need to focus on the two parts of the sentence, i.e. the part that comes before the first dash and the part that comes after the second dash. Notice the subordinating conjunction, 'although...' This suggests that the first clause needs to be a dependent clause that connects grammatically to the independent clause, "heirlooms are more flavorful..."
(A) Here is an attempt to make the underlined part a combination of a dependent clause ("Although appearing...") and an independent clauses ("heirloom tomatoes). However 'heirloom tomatoes' an independent clause does not make.
(B) "Although...appear less appetizing..." is a dependent clause. This matches up well with the independent clause following the second dash (the non-underlined part). The Answer.
(C) Same problem as (A).
(D) This answer choice forms an independent clause. Two independent clauses cannot be joined by a parenthetical comment (regardless of whether that comment is separated by em-dashes--as seen here--commas, or even parentheses). On the other hand, you can use just one em-dash to separate independent clauses (which is how I originally interpreted the question, and was thus drawn to (D)).
(E) Sounds awkward by placing 'heirloom tomatoes' before the although.
Hope that helps!
To the original poster: this question is very confusingly transcribed. Unlike the Official Guide, which uses an em-dash (the big dashy looking thing) to separate the parenthetical phrase beginning '...they are often green', your question uses an em-dash (which you interpreted as a hyphen) to separate two independent clauses, a grammatical nicety that would lead straight to answer is (D). The answer was (B) however, and my head was spinning trying to figure out how that could be the case. Surely, joining a dependent clause to an independent clause is verboten. What I did not see was the hyphen hidden, without any intervening spaces, between bruises and heirlooms.
Only after I hunted down question #132 in the OG did I realize that the sentence was very different from the one transcribed here. There are two distinct em-dashes, as I've faithfully recapitulated below
: Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year--they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises--heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the pervious year
(D) Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(E) Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
Explanation:
A good way to attack this question is to ignore the parenthetical phrase, "they are often green and striped...". Instead we need to focus on the two parts of the sentence, i.e. the part that comes before the first dash and the part that comes after the second dash. Notice the subordinating conjunction, 'although...' This suggests that the first clause needs to be a dependent clause that connects grammatically to the independent clause, "heirlooms are more flavorful..."
(A) Here is an attempt to make the underlined part a combination of a dependent clause ("Although appearing...") and an independent clauses ("heirloom tomatoes). However 'heirloom tomatoes' an independent clause does not make.
(B) "Although...appear less appetizing..." is a dependent clause. This matches up well with the independent clause following the second dash (the non-underlined part). The Answer.
(C) Same problem as (A).
(D) This answer choice forms an independent clause. Two independent clauses cannot be joined by a parenthetical comment (regardless of whether that comment is separated by em-dashes--as seen here--commas, or even parentheses). On the other hand, you can use just one em-dash to separate independent clauses (which is how I originally interpreted the question, and was thus drawn to (D)).
(E) Sounds awkward by placing 'heirloom tomatoes' before the although.
Hope that helps!
01 Apr 2019, 10:46
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hello Everyone!
Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and narrow it down to the correct choice quickly! To get started, here is the original question with any major differences between the options highlighted in orange:
Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(D) Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(E) Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
There is a lot to deal with here, right? If you look carefully at WHY each of these options is so vastly different, you should be able to pick out the grammar concept we need to focus on:
MODIFIERS!
Let's take a look at the original sentence for clues:
Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
The portion of the sentence in blue is called a parenthetical. It's a non-essential phrase plugged into the sentence between parentheses or dashes to add more information or to emphasize a point.
The portion of the sentence in pink is a modifier. It is another non-essential phrase meant to add more details about heirloom tomatoes, but it's not necessary.
One thing we can try to rule out wrong options is to eliminate the parenthetical and the modifier. If the sentence still makes sense without it, then leave it for later. However, if it doesn't make sense, then eliminate it! Let's see how each option looks with the non-underlined portion added in:
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes,grown from seeds saved during the previous year—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
This doesn't work! Read the sentence with the parenthetical and modifier taken out. It ends up butting the words "heirloom tomatoes" and "heirlooms" next to each other, which sounds awkward. So let's rule this one out because it's clear that the parenthetical and modifier aren't in the right place.
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes,grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
This is OKAY for now! If we read the sentence without the added parenthetical and modifier, it sounds fine. So let's keep it for later.
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes,grown from seeds saved during the previous year—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
This also doesn't work! Read the sentence with the parenthetical and modifier taken out. It ends up butting the words "heirloom tomatoes" and "heirlooms" next to each other, which sounds awkward. So let's rule this one out because it's clear that the parenthetical and modifier aren't in the right place.
(D)Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
This doesn't work because it created a run-on sentence! Both portions in red are independent clauses without any conjunctions or punctuation connecting them. So let's rule this one out because it's actually a very, very long run-on.
(E) Heirloom tomatoes,grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
This also doesn't work! The way this is organized creates a major problem. The phrase "although they appear....cousins" was turned into another modifier. If we remove that one as well, this doesn't make sense. So let's toss this one out too!
There you have it - option B is the correct choice! It's the only sentence that uses modifiers and parenthetical phrases correctly! All the other options fall apart because the modifiers are in the wrong position or worded awkwardly. Remember - when dealing with long sentences that have several non-essential phrases, start by crossing them out and seeing what's left over. It's a quick, easy way to spot problems without needing to think too hard about it!
Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and narrow it down to the correct choice quickly! To get started, here is the original question with any major differences between the options highlighted in orange:
Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year
(D) Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
(E) Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins
There is a lot to deal with here, right? If you look carefully at WHY each of these options is so vastly different, you should be able to pick out the grammar concept we need to focus on:
MODIFIERS!
Let's take a look at the original sentence for clues:
Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year—they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises—heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
The portion of the sentence in blue is called a parenthetical. It's a non-essential phrase plugged into the sentence between parentheses or dashes to add more information or to emphasize a point.
The portion of the sentence in pink is a modifier. It is another non-essential phrase meant to add more details about heirloom tomatoes, but it's not necessary.
One thing we can try to rule out wrong options is to eliminate the parenthetical and the modifier. If the sentence still makes sense without it, then leave it for later. However, if it doesn't make sense, then eliminate it! Let's see how each option looks with the non-underlined portion added in:
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes,
This doesn't work! Read the sentence with the parenthetical and modifier taken out. It ends up butting the words "heirloom tomatoes" and "heirlooms" next to each other, which sounds awkward. So let's rule this one out because it's clear that the parenthetical and modifier aren't in the right place.
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes,
This is OKAY for now! If we read the sentence without the added parenthetical and modifier, it sounds fine. So let's keep it for later.
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes,
This also doesn't work! Read the sentence with the parenthetical and modifier taken out. It ends up butting the words "heirloom tomatoes" and "heirlooms" next to each other, which sounds awkward. So let's rule this one out because it's clear that the parenthetical and modifier aren't in the right place.
(D)
This doesn't work because it created a run-on sentence! Both portions in red are independent clauses without any conjunctions or punctuation connecting them. So let's rule this one out because it's actually a very, very long run-on.
(E) Heirloom tomatoes,
This also doesn't work! The way this is organized creates a major problem. The phrase "although they appear....cousins" was turned into another modifier. If we remove that one as well, this doesn't make sense. So let's toss this one out too!
There you have it - option B is the correct choice! It's the only sentence that uses modifiers and parenthetical phrases correctly! All the other options fall apart because the modifiers are in the wrong position or worded awkwardly. Remember - when dealing with long sentences that have several non-essential phrases, start by crossing them out and seeing what's left over. It's a quick, easy way to spot problems without needing to think too hard about it!
Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
10 Sep 2012, 21:48
Kudos
Bookmarks
Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year--they are often green and striped, or have plenty of bumps and bruises--heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand.
This Questions becomes very easy if 2 things are known - sentence structure & focus on meaning.
The intended meaning: It presents a contrast. Although heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than their supermarket cousins (fact), they are more flavorful & in increasing demand (is the contrast).
Splitting the sentence:
1. Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year. SV error. No verb for subject Heirloom tomatoes.
2. they are often green and striped, or (they) have plenty of bumps and bruises. SV pair looks ok.
3. heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand. SV pair in agreement.
Pronoun "they" logically refers to noun heirloom tomatoes, because author is presenting a fact/contrast about heirloom tomatoes.
POE:
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year. No verb for this clause.
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins. Correct choice with proper SV Pair.
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the pervious year. No verb for noun heirloom tomatoes
(D) Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins. This sentence seems grammatically correct (other than usage of ; ) but loses the contrast per original sentence..
(E) Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins. This seems again IC and Heirloom tomatoes has no verb
This Questions becomes very easy if 2 things are known - sentence structure & focus on meaning.
The intended meaning: It presents a contrast. Although heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than their supermarket cousins (fact), they are more flavorful & in increasing demand (is the contrast).
Splitting the sentence:
1. Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year. SV error. No verb for subject Heirloom tomatoes.
2. they are often green and striped, or (they) have plenty of bumps and bruises. SV pair looks ok.
3. heirlooms are more flavorful and thus in increasing demand. SV pair in agreement.
Pronoun "they" logically refers to noun heirloom tomatoes, because author is presenting a fact/contrast about heirloom tomatoes.
POE:
(A) Although appearing less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year. No verb for this clause.
(B) Although heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins. Correct choice with proper SV Pair.
(C) Although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins, heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the pervious year. No verb for noun heirloom tomatoes
(D) Grown from seeds saved during the previous year, heirloom tomatoes appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins. This sentence seems grammatically correct (other than usage of ; ) but loses the contrast per original sentence..
(E) Heirloom tomatoes, grown from seeds saved during the previous year, although they appear less appetizing than most of their round and red supermarket cousins. This seems again IC and Heirloom tomatoes has no verb
