Under high pressure and intense heat, graphite, the most stable form

"changes into the substance commonly referred to as diamond and remaining this way"

The one takeaway from this question is that whenever one sees the construction " and +verbing", it should flash a red signal that that it is a precursor to a potential parallelism error. Immediately look for a similar participle construction on the left of 'and', very often it has been seen that there is a verbed clause rather than a present participle. We can remove a good chunk of faulty choices, as the at least three choices that we can dump in one stone in this given case.

In D, "although" is not correct as suggested above. I am not sure "this way" is acceptable as it is vague usage.
In E, "thus" can be replaced with "so" and vice versa.

I had a car, thus, I drove.
I had a car, so I drove. (No change in meaning)

Thus, (So,) E is much better choice than D.
Please correct me if wrong.

Could someone explain E? Other SC questions have taught me than 'When' has to be used when something is referring to time. Here in E when is referring to condition "Removal of heat and pressure'.
IMO both D and E are not a good answer

In (E), "when" is used to indicate that, at a time "when" heat and pressure are removed, the substance remains diamond.

This question is based on Parallelism and Construction.

The conjunction ‘and’ just before the underlined portion of the sentence connects the two independent clauses - the most stable form of pure carbon changes into the substance commonly referred to as diamond and remaining this way whether or not the heat and pressure are removed. As can be seen from the highlighted portions, ‘remaining’ is not parallel to ‘changes’. So, Option A can be ruled out.

The same error is repeated in Options B and C. So, those options can be ruled out too.

The conjunction ‘although’ is redundant as there is no contradiction implied in the sentence. So, Option D can also be ruled out.

This option has the appropriate verb form ‘remains’ that is parallel to ‘changes’. The adverb ‘thus’ refers to the changed form of graphite. And the adverb ‘when’ refers to the time at which heat and pressure are removed.
Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

A. Parallelism requires 'changes' to be parallel to 'remains'. Hence incorrect. Also 'whether'
implies an alternative so 'whether or not' is unnecessary.
B. No Parallelism. 'like' can only be used to compare nouns
C. Same as A
D. in this way" can refer only to the MANNER IN WHICH AN EVENT OR ACTION OCCURS
OR IS PERFORMED. It CANNOT refer to the physical state of something.
E. Correct.

Hello experts sayantanc2k AjiteshArun

I could not understand why although is incorrect in option D because if we replace although with Even though., it is making sense graphite changes..... and remains in this way even though heat and pressure are removed
please correct me if i am making any mistake in understanding.

Thanks in advance.

Hello kadamhari825,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can resolve your doubt.

The use of "although" in Option D incorrectly implies that the graphite that has turned into diamond remains diamond, despite the fact that the heat and pressure are removed; the intended meaning is that the graphite that has turned into diamond remains diamond, even after the heat and pressure are removed.

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

Hi kadamhari825,

Under certain {conditions}, graphite changes into diamond, and remains diamond even when those {conditions} are removed. Now, we need to take a meaning call on how ~definite we want to be about the removal of those {conditions}. Here's a similar example:

1. The immune system retains a memory of the virus for at least 6 months after vaccination although it isn't exposed to the actual virus in that time period. ← This means that the immune system definitely is not exposed to the virus during the time period mentioned (6 months after vaccination).

2. The immune system retains a memory of the virus for at least 6 months after vaccination even when it isn't exposed to the actual virus in that time period. ← This means that the immune system retains a memory of the virus irrespective of whether it is exposed to the virus during the time period mentioned or not.

Since we don't want to assume that a person won't be exposed to the virus in that 6 month time period, we choose (2), not (1). Similarly, the intended meaning of this SC question is that diamond remains diamond, irrespective of whether the {conditions} are removed.

Thanks ExpertsGlobal5 AjiteshArun for quick reply.

Hello experts,

Key concept to learn here!

‘Remains in this way’ VS ‘thus’

‘Remains this way’ sounds ok to me- Diamond is a form of graphite and it remains this way after the application of high pressure and heat.

Thus- means therefore and I think it should come before remains.

like- thus remains even when heat and pressure are removed.

Remains thus sounds odd and is a poor construction.

Why?

For the purposes of the GMAT, way = a METHOD or PROCESS.
OAs in the OG12:
There are several WAYS to build solid walls using just mud, but the most extensively used METHOD has been to form the mud into bricks.
The only WAY for growers to salvage frozen citrus is to have it quickly PROCESSED into juice.

Option D in the SC posted here:
Graphite changes into the substance known as diamond and remains in this way.
Conveyed meaning:
Graphite changes into the substance known as diamond and remains IN THIS METHOD OR PROCESS.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Even worse, it contradicts the non-underlined portion at the end, which refers to the CESSATION of the process (the heat and pressure are removed).
Eliminate D.

In the context of this SC, thus = in this STATE.
OA: Graphite changes into the substance known as diamond and remains thus even when the heat and pressure are removed.
Conveyed meaning:
Graphite changes into the substance known as diamond and remains IN THIS STATE even when the heat and pressure are removed.
This meaning makes sense.

As a matter of fact, way also means - state, I have attached a photo. According to google, third or fourth meaning of way is state.
Can you please look into this.
MartyTargetTestPrep

Many usages that are considered acceptable outside the GMAT (at least in certain contexts) will be considered errors on the GMAT.
For example:
Outside the GMAT, which often serves to refer to an entire clause.
Generally, this sort of usage is not permissible on the GMAT.

The family was in a poor way.
This wording seems far too colloquial for the GMAT.
Note also that this wording is the very last example cited in your screenshot, suggesting that it is less preferred.
The OAs cited in my earlier post seem to indicate the following:
On the GMAT, way should refer not to a state but to a method or process.

An additional point:
in this way appears in an INCORRECT answer.
Rather than try to justify its usage, we should strive to understand why the GMAT might consider it less preferable than thus, the adverb used in the OA.

I'd add to what GMATGuruNY said that I have seen "way" used to refer to a state only in situations in which that state is a CONDITION, such as "in a poor way," meaning "in a poor condition."

I don't think "way" would be used in describing a state of being such as that of carbon in a diamond state.

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