An emerging hypothesis about the origins of dyslexia proposes that the

Question

An emerging hypothesis about the origins of dyslexia proposes that the environmental distractions present in classrooms and other settings may be so overwhelming  they interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns and, the result is, to identify  printed letters and words.

(A) they interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns and, the result is, to identify

(B) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns and, as a result, to identify

(C) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns and, the result, they cannot identify

(D) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns, and result in not identifying

(E) as to interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns, resulting in the inability to identify

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear gmatsheeba , I'm happy to help with this. :-)

This is a great question: the official questions are always so good!! (As a GMAT practice question writer myself, it always inspires me to see how good their questions are!!) This question is loaded with idioms. Here's a free GMAT idiom ebook: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/ Idiom #1 : so adjective ] that The participle " overwhelming " serves as an adjective here. Because we have the word " so ", we need the word " that ". Another option would be so adjective ] as to , but that's not an option here. See: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/so-lets-talk-about-so/ Both (A) & (E) leave out the word " that ", so they are incorrect. Idiom #2 : " able to "/ " ability to ]" The words " able " and " ability " demand the infinitive. See: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/verbs-that ... -the-gmat/ The construction " ability to do something " is correct, and the construction " ability for doing something " is wrong 100% of the time. Both (A) & (E) make this mistake, so again, we eliminate those two. Now, it gets interesting --- the remaining choices are all grammatically and idiomatically correct, and (as it typical of a good GMAT question) we have to engage the issue of meaning . The differences are all right at the end ----- (B) "... and, as a result, to identify ... (C) "... and they cannot identify ... (D) "... and and result in not identifying .... First of all, choice (C) makes a trainwreck pronoun mistake --- the first word " they " refers to the " distractions ", and this word " they " at the end refers to the " subjects " --- same pronoun referring to two different antecedents in two places: a lethal pronoun mistake. Choice (C) is out. See https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-pronoun-traps/ Choice (D) has the verb " result ", so the subject is " they ", which stands for " environmental distractions " ---- if we plug this in, we get ".... environmental distractions result in not identifying printed letters and words " :-|

Something is funky about that ---do you see? The " environmental distractions " result in WHO " not identifying printed letters and words "??? I mean, yes, we know they mean the " subjects ", but a grammatically tight sentence should leave that sort of ambiguity hanging. A good sentence say what it means and means what it says. That's what's wrong with (D) . Meanwhile, choice (B) is grammatically and logically correct, the best answer. Does this make sense? Mike :-)

Derkus · Answer

Hi  mikemcgarry , I want to ask you if this is another valid way to eliminate answer choice D: the clause "  and result in not identifying printed letters and words  " is not an independent clause, so it cannot follow the "  , and  " conjunction.

Thanks!

mikemcgarry · Answer

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

The short answer is: no. Here's the question again, An emerging hypothesis about the origins of dyslexia proposes that the environmental distractions present in classrooms and other settings may be so overwhelming they interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns and, the result is, to identify printed letters and words. A. they interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns and, the result is, to identify B. that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns and, as a result, to identify C. that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns and, the result, they cannot identify D. that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns, and result in not identifying E. as to interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns, resulting in the inability to identify Remember that grammar is not mathematics. The rules of grammar & punctuation don't have the same universality that the rules of math do. Choice (D) has two verbs in parallel inside the " that " clause. Ordinarily, when we have " and " , we wouldn't have a comma before the " and ", separating one branch of parallelism from the other. BUT, if the two verb phrases (the "predicates") are long and complex, with long clauses or phrases as part of each predicate, then for clarity, we could use a comma. There's no strict hard-and-fast rule for this, but in this sentence, that first predicate " interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns ," is getting to be long enough that it would be reasonable to have a comma before the end to make the parallelism more clear. Here's another famous example: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another , and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. That is the first sentence of the US Declaration of Independence . Notice the two gigantic infinitive phrases in parallel (" to dissolve " ... " to assume ") --- they are long enough that it's perfectly justified to have the comma before the " and ." We certainly can't reject (D) because of this punctuation issue. As a general rule, punctuation will never be, by itself, the deciding split for any choice on the GMAT RC. It's very important to understand the deep logical problem in (D) . The GMAT SC is as much about logic as it is about grammar, and when it comes right down to it, logic always trumps grammar. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

aimat780 · Answer

(A) they interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns and, the result is, to identify:  Wrong, idiom error 'so that'
 
(B) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns and, as a result, to identify:  Bingo

(C) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns and, the result, they cannot identify:  Wrong, pronoun error of using 'they' 
 
(D) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns, and result in not identifying:  Wrong, environmental...doesn't result in not identifying, they actually interfere with the ability of the subjects to identify
 
(E) as to interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns, resulting in the inability to identify:  Wrong, Same error as in option A

Pavan4455 · Answer

An emerging hypothesis about the origins of dyslexia proposes that the environmental distractions present in classrooms and other settings may be so overwhelming they interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns and, the result is, to identify printed letters and words.
(A) they interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns and, the result is, to identify

(B) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns and, as a result, to identify

(C) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns and, the result, they cannot identify

(D) that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns, and result in not identifying

(E) as to interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns, resulting in the inability to identify

First: read the sentence carefully to find the error(s).
An emerging hypothesis about the origins of dyslexia proposes that the environmental distractions present in classrooms and other settings may be so overwhelming they  (STOP!)  interfere with the ability of some subjects for recognizing patterns and, the result is, to identify printed letters and words.

Once again: hypothesis about Xs that Ys(distractions) may be so overwhelming  they … (definitely, “they” is incorrect; we need “that” instead of “they”) 
Therefore, A and E are out.

Now read the second part: that they interfere with the ability of some subjects to recognize patterns….(this part of the sentence is same in B, C ,and D. So we need to take a close look at what follow the and..) 
D. … to recognize patterns, and result in not identifying … 
(here,  “comma + and”  suggest that it is second in depended clause that is not the case. D is out)

C. … to recognize patterns and, the result,  they  cannot identify.. 
(the use of “they” is ambiguous in this sentence. It can, illogically, refer to hypothesis or distraction. C is out too)

B.  to recognize patterns and , as a result,  to identify…  
(This sentence maintain parallelism and convey intended meaning. B is correct)

VerbalBot · Answer

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An emerging hypothesis about the origins of dyslexia proposes that the

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