OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
Quote:
Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.
A) the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent
B) the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates
C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent
D) there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole
E) the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues
SC61740.02
• HIGHLIGHTSUNLIKE X, YThe moment that you see the word
unlike (a preposition that must be followed by a noun), remember that it functions just as
like functions.
Unlike and
like are comparison words. Start looking for comparison or contrast errors.
Comparisons and contrasts must be drawn between things of the same kind.
Unlike is followed by
historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world.Whatever gets contrasted with that phrase needs to be similar to the noun
historical evidence.
Strip the sentence:
Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly, represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.The sentence, stripped:
Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find [in abundance], the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.(Yes, the "which" is correct. It "reaches" back over the three prepositional phrases to modify its target noun,
evidence.)
The sentence contrasts the evidence of past climates in other regions of the world with the evidence of the past climates of the North Pole.
Plenty of evidence in one case is contrasted with
lack of evidence in the other.
This contrast is conveyed by the word
unlike.THE PROMPTQuote:
Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.
THE OPTIONS (in a shortened sentence)Quote:
A) Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find in abundance, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.
•
the North Pole's clues is odd; it sounds as though the North Pole possesses the clues in a cognizant sense. Inanimate things don't think.
-- GMAC is not consistent about inanimate things and the possessive case. Do not get dogmatic about this subject and insist that inanimate things cannot take the possessive case. They can.
-- in one official GMAT Prep SC, for example, we see "Jupter's moon Europa . . . "
-- the
North Pole's clues is strange because clues are not a typical characteristic of the North Pole. (By contrast, the phrase "the North Pole's ice caps" is not weird.)
• nothing is wrong with
its. -- The North Pole is singular.
-- a possessive pronoun can always refer to a possessive noun. (Maria's umbrella covered her head.)
-- Furthermore, in case people were thinking about the "possessive poison" rule,
the "possessive poison" rule is not an ironclad rule and in fact may never have been a rule at all. I wrote a well-researched post about that matter.
You can read
that post here.
SPOILER ALERT - four official questions are mentioned.
KEEP A tentatively, but look for a better answer
Quote:
B) Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find in abundance, the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates
• Option B incorrectly contrasts (compares)
historical evidence of weather patterns with
the North Pole. Those two items are not similar.
• we do not say
clues as to. That phrasing is not idiomatic.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C) Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find in abundance, clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent.
•
evidence is contrasted with
clues; that contrast is parallel.
Clues are one kind of evidence.
• the slightly odd phrasing in Option A (
the North Pole's climates) is corrected in (C)
(climates of the North Pole)
• the word
clues in the subject position conveys that clues to the past climates of the North Pole are being contrasted with historical weather patterns in other regions.
• saying that clues are "almost non-existent" means that few clues have been found, in contrast to the abundant clues found in other regions.
--
Scarcity is correctly contrasted with
abundance (of evidence).
ELIMINATE A, KEEP C
Quote:
D) Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find [in abundance], there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole.
• we use
there is and
there are to express the fact that something exists, but that phrasing does not work well in this sentence
-- the sentence seems to be contrasting
historical evidence with
there are. That contrast is not parallel
-- OE writers sometimes say that a "there are" clause "blunts the rhetorical construction" of a sentence.
They mean that "there are" is often flabby, passive filler.
Are is a
to be verb, which is inherently passive.
-- Option C compares
evidence to
clues, a contrast that is clear and logical.
-- Option D is not as good as option C
• "climates for the North Pole" uses the wrong preposition,
for.
-- a climate is not
for a place. A climate is [a characteristic] OF a place
Eliminate D
Quote:
E) Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find in abundance, the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues
• incorrectly contrasts
historical evidence of weather patterns with
climates. Those two are not parallel.
ELIMINATE E
The best answer is C.NOTESThe OE writer wrote that "clues to" in option C was better than "clues about" in options A and D:
"The wording
clues to is a more standard usage than
clues about. The sense of the preposition
about is somewhat vaguer;
clues to suggests evidence that will provide answers to specific questions, e.g., what patterns of precipitation were there at the North Pole 1 million years ago?"
No disrespect intended, but I disagree with the analysis.
I don't think that the preposition "to" suggests more specificity than "about."
I do think that "clues to," in this context, is better than "clues about," but not enough to eliminate an option on that basis alone.
By contrast, the other issues in options A and D are more than enough to say that those two are
worse and option C is
better.
Had I been that writer, I might have said, "As a matter of style in terms of forcefulness, concision, and diction, options A and D are inferior to option C."
COMMENTSksht and
sambitspm , welcome to SC Butler.
For the most part, I am pleased with everyone's answers.
This question is a good lesson in "better or worse"?
Option A is grammatical.
But it's not as well written as option C, full stop.
You were brave. Kudos to all.
close
Updated on: 04 Jul 2021, 10:11
25%
(01:36)
wrong 
