Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Apr 2512:30 AM EDT
-01:30 AM EDT
At one point, she believed GMAT wasn’t for her. After scoring 595, self-doubt crept in and she questioned her potential. But instead of quitting, she made the right strategic changes. The result? A remarkable comeback to 695. Check out how Saakshi did it.
Apr 2610:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
-12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
05 Jan 2021, 00:57
Kudos
Bookmarks
C
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
15%
(low)
Question Stats:
76% (01:21) correct
24%
(01:32)
wrong
based on 360
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
A letter by John Keats, written in the same year as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" were published, reveals that Keats was often unsettled by his lover Fanny Brawne’s behavior towards him.
A) A letter by John Keats, written in the same year as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" were published,
B) A letter by John Keats, which had been written in the same year of publication as "Ode on a Grecian Urn,"
C) A letter by John Keats, written in the same year that "Ode on a Grecian Urn" was published,
D) John Keats wrote a letter in the same year as he published "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that
E) John Keats wrote a letter in the same year of publication as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that
05 Jan 2021, 01:01
Kudos
Bookmarks
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
THE PROMPT
→ Subject/verb agreement
→ Appropriate verb tense
→ Rhetorical construction: unwieldy construction, repetition of subject
→ Misplaced that-clause (noun modifier)
→ "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is the title of a poem, is singular, and does not agree with the plural verb were.
→ Titles of books, poems, songs, stories, plays, movies, and similar works of art are singular.
→ Correct: The Things They Carried is a haunting, lyrical collection of short stories by Tim O'Brien about the U.S. war in Vietnam.
• same year that is preferred to same year as
ELIMINATE A
→ which had been written in the same year of publication as is unnecessarily long.
-- options A and C, for example, "reduce" the relative clause by eliminating the relative pronoun ("which") and the to be verb("had been") and simply use written to describe the letter.
-- The phrase "of publication as" is clunky. (Compare to option C: was published. In general, verbs are preferred to adjectives.)
• wrong verb tense
→ The non-underlined portion contains the present tense verb reveals because in English, even if something was discovered or written in the past, if its content or effect is still true, we use the present tense.
As I have noted before, the classic example of such a sentence is, "In 1905, Einstein discovered that light is both a particle and a wave."
→ had been written is the past perfect tense, which we use to depict the earlier of two past events
→ almost without exception, the sentence must contain at least one past tense verb or a time stamp to mark the later-in-time event (unless we are talking about a Type 3 conditional)
→ No past tense verb or time marker exists. GMAC prefers simple past. No reason exists to use past perfect.
→ had been written should be was written
• same year that is preferred to same year as
ELIMINATE B
• One of the greatest poets in the English language wrote a revealing letter in the same year that one of his apparently noteworthy poems was published.
KEEP
→ Typically, a proper name is used to "tag" the subject only once in the same sentence; barring ambiguity, in the rest of the sentence we use pronouns such as he to refer to the subject
→ Because John Keats is the subject in (D) rather than the letter (as in A, B, and C), in one sentence we see John Keats, he, and Keats.
• same year that is preferred to same year as
• avoid the use of that placed too close to another that
→ that reveals that is stylistically flawed.
On one hand, on the GMAT and in formal writing, we must use that after certain verbs. Reveal is such a verb.
On the other hand, on the GMAT and in formal writing, we should try to avoid phrasing in which we have instances of that placed too close together.
I am teaching you about this stylistic preference because on a few questions OE writers have mentioned the "awkwardness" of that _____ that constructions.
If you are confused, ignore me. This issue is subtle and sophisticated. Go study modifiers instead.
For a discussion of verbs followed by that, see Mike McGarry's excellent post, here.
• the placement of the that-clause is confusing
→ that reveals that Keats was often unsettled by his lover Fanny Brawne’s behavior towards him is placed right after "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and hence modifies the ode rather than the letter. That fact seems illogical.
If the letter is not the thing that reveals Keats's discomfiture, why mention the letter at all?
• ultimately, compare to option C. Option D loses.
ELIMINATE D
See the analysis of (D)
• the placement of the that-clause is confusing
See the analysis of (D)
• ultimately, compare to (C). Option E loses.
ELIMINATE E
The best answer is C.
NOTES
• In option B, which does not refer to Keats but rather to letter.
→ which "reaches back over" the prepositional phrase "by Keats" and modifies letter.
One of GMAC's favorite traps is to put a long string of prepositional modifiers after the main noun (the noun that "anchors" a noun phrase), in order to make it harder for you to see subject/verb disagreement or to make you believe that which is misplaced.
→ Nothing is wrong with which in option B. Which modifies letter.
There is zero chance that which modifies Keats.
• which and the Modifier Touch Rule
→ In general, a which-clause (a noun modifier) should be placed adjacent to its noun.
Consequently, quite often, which modifies the noun immediately preceding it. Not always.
→ Sometimes this adjacent placement is impossible, and which is allowed to "reach back over" other words to target the main noun.
→ The most common type of these "other words" that come between a noun and its which-clause are prepositional phrases such as by Keats.
By Keats is an essential modifier. By Keats cannot be placed anywhere else.
Essential modifiers trump nonessential modifiers. Which is a nonessential modifier.
So the prepositional phrases follow the noun at issue, and which follows those phrases, but which still modifies the main/anchor noun.
Takeaway: When you are looking for an antecedent of which, keep looking to the left.
Look for a noun that which could logically modify.
COMMENTS
Those of you who explained wrote very good to outstanding answers.
Nicely done.
Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
THE PROMPT
Quote:
• Issues?
→ Subject/verb agreement
→ Appropriate verb tense
→ Rhetorical construction: unwieldy construction, repetition of subject
→ Misplaced that-clause (noun modifier)
Quote:
• subject/verb agreement
→ "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is the title of a poem, is singular, and does not agree with the plural verb were.
→ Titles of books, poems, songs, stories, plays, movies, and similar works of art are singular.
→ Correct: The Things They Carried is a haunting, lyrical collection of short stories by Tim O'Brien about the U.S. war in Vietnam.
• same year that is preferred to same year as
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
• very clumsy construction, but unlike the next issue, not enough to eliminate this option on the first pass
→ which had been written in the same year of publication as is unnecessarily long.
-- options A and C, for example, "reduce" the relative clause by eliminating the relative pronoun ("which") and the to be verb("had been") and simply use written to describe the letter.
-- The phrase "of publication as" is clunky. (Compare to option C: was published. In general, verbs are preferred to adjectives.)
• wrong verb tense
→ The non-underlined portion contains the present tense verb reveals because in English, even if something was discovered or written in the past, if its content or effect is still true, we use the present tense.
As I have noted before, the classic example of such a sentence is, "In 1905, Einstein discovered that light is both a particle and a wave."
→ had been written is the past perfect tense, which we use to depict the earlier of two past events
→ almost without exception, the sentence must contain at least one past tense verb or a time stamp to mark the later-in-time event (unless we are talking about a Type 3 conditional)
→ No past tense verb or time marker exists. GMAC prefers simple past. No reason exists to use past perfect.
→ had been written should be was written
• same year that is preferred to same year as
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
• I do not see any errors
• One of the greatest poets in the English language wrote a revealing letter in the same year that one of his apparently noteworthy poems was published.
KEEP
Quote:
• no need to repeat the subject in full: use he twice rather than he and Keats
→ Typically, a proper name is used to "tag" the subject only once in the same sentence; barring ambiguity, in the rest of the sentence we use pronouns such as he to refer to the subject
→ Because John Keats is the subject in (D) rather than the letter (as in A, B, and C), in one sentence we see John Keats, he, and Keats.
• same year that is preferred to same year as
• avoid the use of that placed too close to another that
→ that reveals that is stylistically flawed.
On one hand, on the GMAT and in formal writing, we must use that after certain verbs. Reveal is such a verb.
On the other hand, on the GMAT and in formal writing, we should try to avoid phrasing in which we have instances of that placed too close together.
I am teaching you about this stylistic preference because on a few questions OE writers have mentioned the "awkwardness" of that _____ that constructions.
If you are confused, ignore me. This issue is subtle and sophisticated. Go study modifiers instead.
For a discussion of verbs followed by that, see Mike McGarry's excellent post, here.
• the placement of the that-clause is confusing
→ that reveals that Keats was often unsettled by his lover Fanny Brawne’s behavior towards him is placed right after "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and hence modifies the ode rather than the letter. That fact seems illogical.
If the letter is not the thing that reveals Keats's discomfiture, why mention the letter at all?
• ultimately, compare to option C. Option D loses.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
• stylistic problem: the second Keats should say he
See the analysis of (D)
• the placement of the that-clause is confusing
See the analysis of (D)
• ultimately, compare to (C). Option E loses.
ELIMINATE E
The best answer is C.
NOTES
• In option B, which does not refer to Keats but rather to letter.
→ which "reaches back over" the prepositional phrase "by Keats" and modifies letter.
One of GMAC's favorite traps is to put a long string of prepositional modifiers after the main noun (the noun that "anchors" a noun phrase), in order to make it harder for you to see subject/verb disagreement or to make you believe that which is misplaced.
→ Nothing is wrong with which in option B. Which modifies letter.
There is zero chance that which modifies Keats.
• which and the Modifier Touch Rule
→ In general, a which-clause (a noun modifier) should be placed adjacent to its noun.
Consequently, quite often, which modifies the noun immediately preceding it. Not always.
→ Sometimes this adjacent placement is impossible, and which is allowed to "reach back over" other words to target the main noun.
→ The most common type of these "other words" that come between a noun and its which-clause are prepositional phrases such as by Keats.
By Keats is an essential modifier. By Keats cannot be placed anywhere else.
Essential modifiers trump nonessential modifiers. Which is a nonessential modifier.
So the prepositional phrases follow the noun at issue, and which follows those phrases, but which still modifies the main/anchor noun.
Takeaway: When you are looking for an antecedent of which, keep looking to the left.
Look for a noun that which could logically modify.
COMMENTS
Those of you who explained wrote very good to outstanding answers.
Nicely done.
05 Jan 2021, 02:48
Kudos
Bookmarks
In original sentence -
A letter by John Keats, written in the same year as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" were published, reveals that Keats was often unsettled by his lover Fanny Brawne’s behavior towards him.
there are two problems -
1. in the same year as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" - The correct construction is - IN the SAME year THAT xxx (was/had) happened.
2. "Ode on a Grecian Urn" were published - "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is singular and requires WAS.
Eliminations -
A) A letter by John Keats, written in the same year as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" were published,
Incorrect for the above two reasons.
B) A letter by John Keats, which had been written in the same year of publication as "Ode on a Grecian Urn,"
Incorrect perfect tense "Had been". Simple past is required as there is no two past events correlated.
C) A letter by John Keats, written in the same year that "Ode on a Grecian Urn" was published,
Correct.
D) John Keats wrote a letter in the same year as he published "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that
"in the same year as " is incorrect construction.
E) John Keats wrote a letter in the same year of publication as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that
"in the same year as " is incorrect construction.
IMO C
A letter by John Keats, written in the same year as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" were published, reveals that Keats was often unsettled by his lover Fanny Brawne’s behavior towards him.
there are two problems -
1. in the same year as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" - The correct construction is - IN the SAME year THAT xxx (was/had) happened.
2. "Ode on a Grecian Urn" were published - "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is singular and requires WAS.
Eliminations -
A) A letter by John Keats, written in the same year as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" were published,
Incorrect for the above two reasons.
B) A letter by John Keats, which had been written in the same year of publication as "Ode on a Grecian Urn,"
Incorrect perfect tense "Had been". Simple past is required as there is no two past events correlated.
C) A letter by John Keats, written in the same year that "Ode on a Grecian Urn" was published,
Correct.
D) John Keats wrote a letter in the same year as he published "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that
"in the same year as " is incorrect construction.
E) John Keats wrote a letter in the same year of publication as "Ode on a Grecian Urn" that
"in the same year as " is incorrect construction.
IMO C
