Travelers from Earth to Mars would have to endure low levels of gravit

Question

Travelers from Earth to  Mars would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoiding large doses of radiation, plus contending  with the chemically reactive Martian soil, and perhaps even ward off contamination by Martian life-forms.

A. Mars would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoiding large doses of radiation, plus contending

B. Mars would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, contend

C. Mars, having to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, would also have to avoid large doses of radiation, plus contending

D. Mars, having to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, plus contend

E. Mars, who would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, contend with

OG2019 SC03083

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Accepted Answer

Hello Everyone!

This looks like a great example of a question that focuses on   parallelism  ! Whenever we see a question with a long list, parallelism is a great place to start narrowing down wrong answers.

Let's break down each answer to rule out answers that don't use parallel structure.  We know that every item in the list has to be parallel to the one item on the list that isn't underlined: "ward off." Since we cannot change that part, we need to match all other items in the list to that!

A. Mars would have to  endure  low levels of gravity for long periods of time,  avoiding  large doses of radiation, plus  contending  -->  NOT PARALLEL 
B. Mars would have to  endure  low levels of gravity for long periods of time,  avoid  large doses of radiation,  contend  -->  PARALLEL 
C. Mars,  having  to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, would also  have  to avoid large doses of radiation, plus  contending  -->  NOT PARALLEL 
D. Mars, having to  endure  low levels of gravity for long periods of time,  avoid  large doses of radiation, plus  contend  -->  PARALLEL 
E. Mars, who would have to  endure  low levels of gravity for long periods of time,  avoid  large doses of radiation,  contend  with -->  PARALLEL

We can rule out answers A and C for lacking parallel structure!

Okay, so this narrows things down a bit! Let's break down any other problems with answer B, D, and E:

B. Mars  would have to endure  low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, contend 
This is  CORRECT ! It uses parallel structure and includes a verb to make this a complete sentence.

D. Mars , having to endure  low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, plus contend 
This is  INCORRECT  because by adding the comma and changing the verb to the gerund "having," this is now just one long run-on sentence. It is missing a verb!

E. Mars,  who would have to endure  low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, contend with 
This is also  INCORRECT  because the comma turns this into a long run-on sentence that is missing a verb.

Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

aragonn · Answer

Only B can be answer. avoiding can't modify previous part. A out. rest choices does not make any sense at all.

sriramsundaram91 · Answer

Is "Endure" not a verb?..... having to endure sounds right to me .... to endure - verb in the infinitive form?

aragonn · Answer

sriramsundaram91

Here is a post for usage of 'having'. usually problem is with the meaning of the sentence. In most of the Gmat question use of having is only in wrong option, though not all.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/use-of-havin ... 53479.html

Deadpool3 · Answer

Hello  egmat

Could you please explain how come there is no verb in option D as pointed out by earlier explanations.

Travelers  from Earth to Mars, having to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time,  avoid  large doses of radiation, plus  contend  with the chemically reactive Martian soil, and perhaps even  ward off  contamination by Martian life-forms.

Can't the above highlighted act as verb for Travelers? if  having to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time  act as modifier.
I mean I know that in this way sentence will have different meaning than the original one and will be wrong.

generis · Answer

Hi  nitinaroraaa  , you tagged  egmat  about the verb issue, but this part needs addressing.

The highlighted sentence keeps appearing in one form or another.

I do not know from what source this belief comes, but the belief is pervasive and causes too many people to avoid correct answers.

Option A does not determine the original meaning.  
Use all five options to determine meaning.

Many problems in the official guides contain a choice (A) that could not be and is not the intended meaning of the sentence.

I will give you four examples that I found quickly (read: there may be better examples, but these will suffice).

The questions I mention below can be found from  this directory page. 
Click on the title that I reference. 
On the new page, find the question number. 
When you click on the link, the question's topic thread opens.

In OG 2018, look at SC #741 (in which A's meaning is nonsensical and opposite from that intended) 
and at SC #781 (in which option A's logic is both incredibly confusing and not the intended meaning)
 HERE  is yet another example.

If you have access to the Official Guide Verbal Review 2019, look at SC #273, in which the author of the OE writes,
" It is difficult to tell which parts of this sentence go together because of errors and confusion in  . "

Spoiler alert,  one  incorrect answer to official question revealed:     About the correct answer, which is NOT A, the author writes, "In this sentence, the meaning is clearer . . ."
 Part of that OE is  here .

In short, we use context, grammar, comparison of options, logic, and other things to discern the intended meaning. 
Sure, if option A is garbled and illogical, we can try to infer the meaning from the errors.

On the other hand, we could read the other options and find one that is not garbled and illogical.

I would hate for anyone to eliminate a correct answer because its meaning was different from that in A.
It's okay if the correct answer does not match the meaning in option A.

SUNNYRHODE002 · Answer

Sir,

I didn't understand your logic for eliminating E  because the comma turns this into a long run-on sentence that is missing a verb ]
What would have been the correction associated with your RUN-ON sentence logic.

I eliminated it based on "who" -> Modifying Mars not Travelers , So that changes the meaning.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal  or Anyone else who could throw some light.

Regards

SUNNYRHODE002 · Answer

Can one explain the parts of this sentence in terms of Clause and phrase , Main subject , Main verb etc.

Getting confused.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Hello  SUNNYRHODE002

You could absolutely eliminate option E for the modifier problem - that option has many issues.

Here is how I eliminated it on the basis of a missing verb. To start, here is what option E looks like if we add back in the non-underlined parts:

Travelers  from Earth to Mars,  who would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time ,  avoid large doses of radiation, contend with the chemically reactive Martian soil, and perhaps even ward off contamination by Martian life-forms.

The subject is pretty easy to find - travelers. After that, we have a modifier that starts with "who," which we already said was a problem. What comes after that is a list of actions that are tied to the modifier. None of these things can stand in as a verb - they are simply adding more information to the modifier.

Since there is no verb/action tied to the subject (travelers), this is not a complete sentence and cannot be the correct option.

I hope that helps! There are typically multiple ways to arrive at the correct answer on GMAT questions - I am merely offering up one way to do it. If you got the same correct choice, but took a different path, that's totally okay! In fact, it's good for everyone to see all the different ways we tackle each question - it gives us great ideas for how to best train for the GMAT!

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Sunny, the correct sentence is:

Travelers from Earth to Mars would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, contend with the chemically reactive Martian soil, and perhaps even ward off contamination by Martian life-forms .

So, the bare bones structure of the sentence is:

Travelers from Earth to Mars would have to W, X, Y, and Z .

The above is the  main  clause, and  would have  is the main  verb .

Note that  endure, avoid, contend,  and  ward  are  not  used as pure-play  verbs  here, but as  infinitives :  to endure, (to) avoid, (to) contend , and  (to) ward .

You can watch our  video  on   Clauses .

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  Clauses , their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

daagh · Answer

Will someone please confirm whether E has a typo? What is that 'with' doing there at the end, when there is another 'with' in the non-underlined part? Sorry if this has already been pointed out. If on the contrary, if it is not a typo, just boot out for repetition.

Additionally, in E, if the main verbs are 1. avoid, 2 .contned and 3. ward off, then it looks as though there are plenty of travelers to Mars every now and then and they carry out these actions as a matter of routine. This is weird.

In effect, E is no run-on since there are no two ICs to join. "And perhaps ward off" is not a clause but a subjectless predicate.

On the contrary, if one considers the four actions such as to endure, avoid, contend and ward off as part of the relative clause, then E will be a fragment with a captive verb for the subject Travelers. All said and done, E is just out of the radar

AliciaSierra · Answer

GMATNinja , Could you please advise usage of "WOULD HAVE" in option A and B. Option C, D and E were absolutely wrong for me. So I got stuck between A and B. Finally I chose A thinking "avoiding large doses of radiation" as modifier for preceding phrase i.e. ...Mars would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time. I was able to see clear parallelism in option B

GMATNinja · Answer

"Would have" is simply the conditional form of "to have" ("IF travelers were to go from Earth to Mars, then they would have to...").

The parallelism in (B) is nice and clean: "... would have to (1) endure, (2) avoid, (3) contend, and {perhaps even} (4) ward off..." We have a parallel list of 4 verbs, and all 4 can be tied back to "would have to".

As for (A), think about the meaning. What does "avoiding large doses of radiation" have to do with enduring low levels of gravity? Will the travelers have to avoid large doses of radiation WHILE enduring low levels of gravity but NOT WHILE warding off contamination??

And what about "contending with the chemically reactive Martian soil"? That certainly isn't parallel to "endure" and "ward off". And if we wanted it to modify "endure" (which wouldn't make much sense for the same reason just described), it would be better to have something like, "avoiding large doses of radiation AND contending...". As written, the function of the "contending..." part is unclear.

So, in choice (B) we have a perfectly parallel list of verbs, and the meaning is crystal clear: all 4 represent  distinct  things that the travelers would have to do. In choice (A), we have a parallel list of two verbs ("endure" and "ward off"), but the meaning/function of the two -ing parts ("avoiding..." and "contending...") is, at best, unclear.

That makes (B) a better option.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Travelers from Earth to  Mars would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoiding large doses of radiation, plus contending  with the chemically reactive Martian soil, and perhaps even ward off contamination by Martian life-forms.

All the things that Travelers from Earth to Mars would have to do fall under the same list of things and hence must all be parallel.

A. Mars would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time,  avoiding  large doses of radiation,  plus   contending 
"Avoiding" and "contending" are not parallel with- endure, and ward off.  Eliminate  A.

B. Mars would have to  endure  low levels of gravity for long periods of time,  avoid  large doses of radiation,  contend

Travelers from Earth to Mars would have to endure.., avoid.., contend.., and ward off.- All the items are perfectly parallel.   Correct  .

C. Mars,  having  to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, would also have to avoid large doses of radiation, plus contending
“Having” is a participle and not a verb. The first item in the list is a modifier and the rest of the items in the list are verbs.  Eliminate

D. Mars,  having  to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, plus contend
“Having” is a participle and not a verb. The first item in the list is a modifier and the rest of the items in the list are verbs.  Eliminate

E. Mars,  who would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time, avoid large doses of radiation, contend with

The relative pronoun who introduces a modifier. There’s no corresponding verb for Travelers. Eliminate.

VP
GMAT Verbal SME

abhishekmayank · Answer

Option E :

Travelers from Earth to Mars,  who would have to endure low levels of gravity for long periods of time  , avoid large doses of radiation, contend with the chemically reactive Martian soil, and perhaps even ward off contamination by Martian life-forms.

Not able to figure out as to why this sentence was commented as fragment, run-on etc. If we treat the highlighted part as modifier (relative clause), then the remaining sentence becomes :

Travelers from Earth to Mars  avoid  large doses of radiation,  contend  with the chemically reactive Martian soil, and perhaps even  ward off  contamination by Martian life-forms..

And the above sentence looks perfectly correct having combination of three verbs.

Experts, could you please help. Thanks in advance.

EducationAisle · Answer

with  is getting repeated in option E.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  abhishekmayank ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, In Option E, "endure", "avoid", "contend", and "ward off" are all part of the modifying prase "who would have to..."; it does not make sense for us to act on the noun phrase "Travelers from Earth to Mars" with the simple present tense verbs "avoid", "contend", and "ward off", as the use of these verbs implies that there are at present people traveling from the Earth to Mars who habitually take these actions.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

VerbalBot · Answer

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Travelers from Earth to Mars would have to endure low levels of gravit

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Travelers from Earth to Mars would have to endure low levels of gravit

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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