Two flawed rough-draft versions of a section of a contract:

Question

Two flawed rough-draft versions of a section of a contract:

Version 1: The writer shall complete the work no later than 16 July 2017 and, provided that the company deems it acceptable, shall pay the writer $275 as full compensation for the work.

Version 2: The writer shall complete the work no later than 16 July 2017, and the company, if deemed acceptable by the company, shall pay the writer $275 as full compensation for the work.

Select for Problem with Version 1 the statement that most accurately describes a flaw in Version 1, and select for Problem with Version 2 the statement that most accurately describes a flaw in Version 2. Make only two selections, one in each column.

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KarishmaB · Accepted Answer

The question tests our understanding of the structure of the sentence. Language comprehension skills are obviously still a part of GMAT Focus though this reminds me somewhat of Sentence Correction questions of old.

Sentence 1. The writer shall complete the work ... and, provided that the company deems it acceptable, shall pay the writer ...

Between the commas, we have a modifier which we can remove to get: 
The writer shall complete the work ... and shall pay the writer ... 
So it seems that as per the contract, the write shall pay the writer.

Hence  select Option 1 for Version 1.

Sentence 2. The writer shall complete the work ... and the company, if deemed acceptable by the company, shall pay the writer ...  
Here the sentence is implying that if the company is deemed acceptable by the company then it shall pay the writer. Instead it should be something like this:

The writer shall complete the work ... and if the work is deemed acceptable by the company, the company shall pay the writer ...

Select  Option 4 for Version 2.

Bunuel · Answer

Could you please provide a screenshot of the question to verify it's from official mocks? That would help. Thank you!

hloonker · Answer

sorry is this an official question? will wew be getting questions like this on GMAT focus official test?

monarchme · Answer

Hey  Bunuel . I have attached the screenshot for your reference. It was from PE-6.  hloonker

Bunuel · Answer

Thank you very much! Here is a similar question also from GMAT Prep: https://gmatclub.com/forum/two-flawed-r ... 39082.html

Goldenfuture · Answer

Bunuel   KarishmaB  Why is this option not acceptable for the first column: It calls for the company to evaluate the writer's work before that work is even started.

Bunuel · Answer

Because Version 1 does not require the company to evaluate the work before it is done.

The sentence says the writer must complete the work no later than 16 July 2017 and then, provided that the company deems it acceptable, payment occurs. The evaluation clearly happens after completion, not before the work is started.

So that option describes a flaw that does not exist in Version 1, which is why it is not acceptable for the first column.

egmat · Answer

Read Version  1  again carefully:
"The writer shall complete the work no later than  16  July  2017  and, provided that the company deems it acceptable, shall pay the writer $ 275 ..."

The timing issue you're seeing isn't actually there.  The phrase "provided that the company deems it acceptable" is simply a  condition  for payment - it doesn't say  when  the evaluation happens. Nothing in this sentence grammatically indicates the evaluation occurs "before" the work is started.

The REAL flaw is grammatical: 
Look at the sentence structure:
- "The writer shall complete..."
- "...and...shall pay the writer..."

Note that  the subject "The writer" carries through to both verbs. So who pays whom?

The writer → pays → the writer (himself/herself)

This is absurd! The writer is paying himself for his own work.  That's  the actual flaw, not a timing issue, but a  subject-verb agreement problem  where the wrong entity is doing the paying.

Therefore,  the correct answer for Version  1  is: "It calls for the writer to pay himself or herself for completing his or her own work."

Two flawed rough-draft versions of a section of a contract:

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Problem with Version 1	Problem with Version 2
		It calls for the writer to pay himself or herself for completing his or her own work.
		It calls for the company to pay the writer in full regardless of whether the writer actually completes the work.
		It makes the company's payment to the writer contingent on the writer's evaluation of the company.
		It makes the company's payment to the writer contingent on the company's judging itself to be acceptable.
		It calls for the company to evaluate the writer's work before that work is even started.

GMAT Two-part Analysis (TPA) Questions

Two flawed rough-draft versions of a section of a contract:

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