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12 Jan 2022, 00:58
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C
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
25%
(medium)
Question Stats:
72% (01:48) correct
28%
(01:58)
wrong
based on 174
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
In 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was proposed and a draft charter drawing up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice were taken and now on the eve of monetary union what once seemed like a farfetched dream has been almost realized.
A) In 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawing up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice were taken and
B) Since 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter had been drawn up, a number of tentative steps putting the concept into practice have been taken but
C) Since 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice have been taken and
D) Before 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first a proposal and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice were taken although
E) During 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps that put the concept into practice have been taken if
12 Jan 2022, 01:13
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
THE PROMPT
• Meaning?
The idea of a united Europe was proposed in 1962, then a charter was drawn up and a number of steps were taken to implement the idea; at that time, the idea seemed nearly impossible but now it has been brought about.
• Big Issues
→ Conjunctions (you can eliminate three answer choices using this rule)
When two parts of a sentence support each other, or the second is a continuation of the first without contrast, use "supporting" or "equating" conjunctions such as and (or perhaps so, or, and for).
When two parts of a sentence contrast with each other, use a contrast word such as but or although.
If no contrast exists, do not use a contrast word; doing so renders the sentence illogical and the reader confused.
Finally, unless a condition or a hypothetical exists, do not use the word if.
→ Verb tenses and time
See comments beneath the answer choices.
→ Parallelism (unless good reason exists to shift verb tenses, and requires parallelism)
• Not a big issue in this case: COMMAS
GMAC does not directly test punctuation, but it does use punctuation to test other concepts.
→ This part is important: if two independent clauses fail to be joined by a comma, but everything else is fine, please, do not eliminate the answer.
→ Similarly, unless you are 100 percent sure that a comma is in a place it should not be, let the issue go.
See the footnote** for information about punctuation.
THE OPTIONS
→ idea was first proposed and a draft charter drawing up are not parallel
In fact, the term "drawing up" is nonsensical; it is not a verb.
ELIMINATE A
→ no contrast exists between these two ideas, and as such the contrast word but is illogical.
• parallelism / illogical verb sequence
→ idea was first proposed and a charter had been drawn up are not parallel.
Verbs often change tenses in sentences, but when they describe the same time period, they should be at least roughly parallel.
→ was proposed is simple past tense
→ had been drawn up is past perfect continuous, a tense that should indicate a past event that happened before another event in the past
This sentence suggests that first someone drew up a charter for the EU and after that charter had been drawn up, someone proposed the idea of a united Europe. Huh? No.
ELIMINATE B
• I do not see any errors
• The time/verb structure is correct and fairly common:
Since ____ [time], certain things have been done, and now it appears that a dream has almost been realized.
In the nonunderlined portion at the end, have almost been realized is a big clue that we should be using a similar tense. This option does so.
• The proper conjunction, and, joins the two ideas.
True, a comma should precede the conjunction and.
But none of the options contains a comma before the connecting word.
The presence or absence of a comma is not a decision point.
• Fairly sophisticated ellipsis exists.
Please note that and where I inserted [was.]
The verb was (in was drawn up) is implied by this construction.
KEEP
→ How on earth were people taking tentative steps to put a concept into practice before 1962—before the idea of Europe was a first a proposal and then a charter?
• conjunction / logic error
→ no contrast exists in this sentence, so use of although is incorrect and illogical
• in this case, was is first used as a linking verb and thus cannot be implied as a helping verb in was drawn up, a situation in which "charter" is left without a verb.
ELIMINATE D
. . . IF now on the eve of monetary union what once seemed like a farfetched dream has been almost realized.
• time / verb tense error
We cannot say that "During 1962 . . . these steps HAVE been taken."
(That coupling nearly blows a native speaker's circuits, or should do so.)
We can say, "During 2022, these steps have been taken."
We can say, "During 1962, these steps were / had been taken."
ELIMINATE E
The answer is C.
NOTES
In these notes, I am excerpting, mostly verbatim, from the prep book's OE.
→ Concept discussion
Parallelism: Using and necessitates parallelism between the two actions of proposing and drawing up – the idea was proposed and the charter drawn up are parallel, but proposed and had been drawn” or drawing are not.
Options A and B contain this error.
Conjunctions:
Various conjunctions such as "and," "but," "if" and "although" have been used to connect the first and the second half of the sentence.
"But" and "although" can be used if there is a contrast between the first and the second half, while "and" should be used if there is no contrast.
The first half is "idea was proposed and a charter drawn up," and the second half is "now it has been realized, what had seemed impossible has changed."
The two choices are – "something was conceptualized and has been actualized" or "something was conceptualized but has been actualized."
There is nothing contradictory in the second half, and thus we cannot use the contrast conjunctions but or although.
In addition, "if" cannot be used because if is used to show conditions and results that may happen.
However, there are no conditions or results. Option E contains this error.
Note: Had the sentence been "something was conceptualized but it turned out to be different in actuality," then a contrast conjunction could have been used. [End of outside material.]
COMMENTS
This question is challenging.
You will almost certainly meet a couple of curve balls on the test—SC details that you did not expect and that startle you.
You'll be startled for half a minute, then you'll take a breath, exhale, and start by finding something small.
After you eliminate one option (what is that "if" doing in option E?), you can keep chipping away at the options with a little more confidence.
Do not be discouraged if you made a mistake or did not notice subtle differences—be glad that you made an attempt and proud of yourself for doing so.
In face, winterschool and NarayanaGupta007 (welcome to SC Butler!) get kudos because both were brave.
Reasoning in both cases took a slightly wrong turn, but that fact is okay.
I value bravery, which by definition puts you in an uncomfortable place—and I have reaped and witnessed its benefits.
Who dares, wins.
These stats are better than I expected.
Well done!
Keep up the hard work, everyone.
**Punctuation
GMAC occasionally tests comma splices, semicolons, colons, and Oxford commas.
I have posted quite a few questions and official explanations that involve comma splices and semicolons.
You can find one such question here (not official, but good). My OE is on the thread.
GMAC occasionally tests colons. Here are the rules:
What comes before a colon must be an independent clause.
What comes after a colon does not have to be an independent clause but can be so. (The latter case is rare.)
What comes after the colon expands upon, explains, or gives examples in support of the first part of the sentence.
THE PROMPT
Quote:
• Meaning?
The idea of a united Europe was proposed in 1962, then a charter was drawn up and a number of steps were taken to implement the idea; at that time, the idea seemed nearly impossible but now it has been brought about.
• Big Issues
→ Conjunctions (you can eliminate three answer choices using this rule)
When two parts of a sentence support each other, or the second is a continuation of the first without contrast, use "supporting" or "equating" conjunctions such as and (or perhaps so, or, and for).
When two parts of a sentence contrast with each other, use a contrast word such as but or although.
If no contrast exists, do not use a contrast word; doing so renders the sentence illogical and the reader confused.
Finally, unless a condition or a hypothetical exists, do not use the word if.
→ Verb tenses and time
See comments beneath the answer choices.
→ Parallelism (unless good reason exists to shift verb tenses, and requires parallelism)
• Not a big issue in this case: COMMAS
GMAC does not directly test punctuation, but it does use punctuation to test other concepts.
→ This part is important: if two independent clauses fail to be joined by a comma, but everything else is fine, please, do not eliminate the answer.
→ Similarly, unless you are 100 percent sure that a comma is in a place it should not be, let the issue go.
See the footnote** for information about punctuation.
THE OPTIONS
Quote:
• parallelism error
→ idea was first proposed and a draft charter drawing up are not parallel
In fact, the term "drawing up" is nonsensical; it is not a verb.
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
• logic / conjunction error
→ no contrast exists between these two ideas, and as such the contrast word but is illogical.
• parallelism / illogical verb sequence
→ idea was first proposed and a charter had been drawn up are not parallel.
Verbs often change tenses in sentences, but when they describe the same time period, they should be at least roughly parallel.
→ was proposed is simple past tense
→ had been drawn up is past perfect continuous, a tense that should indicate a past event that happened before another event in the past
This sentence suggests that first someone drew up a charter for the EU and after that charter had been drawn up, someone proposed the idea of a united Europe. Huh? No.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
• I do not see any errors
• The time/verb structure is correct and fairly common:
Since ____ [time], certain things have been done, and now it appears that a dream has almost been realized.
In the nonunderlined portion at the end, have almost been realized is a big clue that we should be using a similar tense. This option does so.
• The proper conjunction, and, joins the two ideas.
True, a comma should precede the conjunction and.
But none of the options contains a comma before the connecting word.
The presence or absence of a comma is not a decision point.
• Fairly sophisticated ellipsis exists.
Please note that and where I inserted [was.]
The verb was (in was drawn up) is implied by this construction.
KEEP
Quote:
• overall logic -- taking steps to achieve a goal that has not even been proposed?
→ How on earth were people taking tentative steps to put a concept into practice before 1962—before the idea of Europe was a first a proposal and then a charter?
• conjunction / logic error
→ no contrast exists in this sentence, so use of although is incorrect and illogical
• in this case, was is first used as a linking verb and thus cannot be implied as a helping verb in was drawn up, a situation in which "charter" is left without a verb.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
• nonsensical - what is IF doing?
. . . IF now on the eve of monetary union what once seemed like a farfetched dream has been almost realized.
• time / verb tense error
We cannot say that "During 1962 . . . these steps HAVE been taken."
(That coupling nearly blows a native speaker's circuits, or should do so.)
We can say, "During 2022, these steps have been taken."
We can say, "During 1962, these steps were / had been taken."
ELIMINATE E
The answer is C.
NOTES
In these notes, I am excerpting, mostly verbatim, from the prep book's OE.
→ Concept discussion
Parallelism: Using and necessitates parallelism between the two actions of proposing and drawing up – the idea was proposed and the charter drawn up are parallel, but proposed and had been drawn” or drawing are not.
Options A and B contain this error.
Conjunctions:
Various conjunctions such as "and," "but," "if" and "although" have been used to connect the first and the second half of the sentence.
"But" and "although" can be used if there is a contrast between the first and the second half, while "and" should be used if there is no contrast.
The first half is "idea was proposed and a charter drawn up," and the second half is "now it has been realized, what had seemed impossible has changed."
The two choices are – "something was conceptualized and has been actualized" or "something was conceptualized but has been actualized."
There is nothing contradictory in the second half, and thus we cannot use the contrast conjunctions but or although.
In addition, "if" cannot be used because if is used to show conditions and results that may happen.
However, there are no conditions or results. Option E contains this error.
Note: Had the sentence been "something was conceptualized but it turned out to be different in actuality," then a contrast conjunction could have been used. [End of outside material.]
COMMENTS
This question is challenging.
You will almost certainly meet a couple of curve balls on the test—SC details that you did not expect and that startle you.
You'll be startled for half a minute, then you'll take a breath, exhale, and start by finding something small.
After you eliminate one option (what is that "if" doing in option E?), you can keep chipping away at the options with a little more confidence.
Do not be discouraged if you made a mistake or did not notice subtle differences—be glad that you made an attempt and proud of yourself for doing so.
In face, winterschool and NarayanaGupta007 (welcome to SC Butler!) get kudos because both were brave.
Reasoning in both cases took a slightly wrong turn, but that fact is okay.
I value bravery, which by definition puts you in an uncomfortable place—and I have reaped and witnessed its benefits.
Who dares, wins.
These stats are better than I expected.
Well done!
Keep up the hard work, everyone.
**Punctuation
GMAC occasionally tests comma splices, semicolons, colons, and Oxford commas.
I have posted quite a few questions and official explanations that involve comma splices and semicolons.
You can find one such question here (not official, but good). My OE is on the thread.
GMAC occasionally tests colons. Here are the rules:
What comes before a colon must be an independent clause.
What comes after a colon does not have to be an independent clause but can be so. (The latter case is rare.)
What comes after the colon expands upon, explains, or gives examples in support of the first part of the sentence.
13 Jan 2022, 01:01
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Bookmarks
In 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was proposed and a draft charter drawing up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice were taken and now on the eve of monetary union what once seemed like a farfetched dream has been almost realized.
A) In 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawing up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice were taken and Incorrect
two IC without a ", + and" must be wrong
B) Since 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter had been drawn up, a number of tentative steps putting the concept into practice have been taken but Correct
seems correct
C) Since 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice have been taken and Incorrect
same as A
D) Before 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first a proposal and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice were taken although Incorrect
first a proposal - should be "first proposed "
E) During 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps that put the concept into practice have been taken if Incorrect
if uses doesnt convey proper meaning, during uses changes meaning
A) In 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawing up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice were taken and Incorrect
two IC without a ", + and" must be wrong
B) Since 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter had been drawn up, a number of tentative steps putting the concept into practice have been taken but Correct
seems correct
C) Since 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice have been taken and Incorrect
same as A
D) Before 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first a proposal and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps to put the concept into practice were taken although Incorrect
first a proposal - should be "first proposed "
E) During 1962 when the idea of a united Europe was first proposed and a draft charter drawn up, a number of tentative steps that put the concept into practice have been taken if Incorrect
if uses doesnt convey proper meaning, during uses changes meaning
