Pack 12, Q1: Beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, many...

Question

Pack 12, Question 1 of 5:

Beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, many consumers found that buying convenience foods such as TV dinners and visiting drive-through restaurants freed up their time for other things,  with none of the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or with the  formalities, costs, and uneasiness of fine-dining.

A. with none of the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or with the 
B. with none of the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes, nor
C. without the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes nor
D. without the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or with the
E. without the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or the

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Raxit85 · Answer

Beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, many consumers found that buying convenience foods such as TV dinners and visiting drive-through restaurants freed up their time for other things, with none of the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or with the formalities, costs, and uneasiness of fine-dining.

Beginning in the mid 21st century, many consumers found that buying CFs such as TV dinners and visiting drive-through restaurants freed up their time for other things, with none of the restrictions of A and B or with the C and D. Wait, or means checking parallelism. Freed up time without A & B or freed up the time with the C, D & E where A & B are the pros and C,D & E are cons. So, usage is correct but with none of the structure is awkward and wordy. So, let's hold it.

A. with none of the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or with the - Hold it.
with none of the....., nor ..... - No two negative statements shall be used together. So, B and C out.
B.  with none of  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes,  nor 
C.  without  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  nor 
D. without the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or with the - It's more elegant to use without the restrictions than with none of the restrictions. This option reserves the meaning regarding pros and cons. So, better option than A as there is no error and maintains parallelism. 
E. without the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or  the  - Violates the meaning (by breaking parallelism) as per pros and cons or.

Imo. D

aniket2045 · Answer

Answer is D..

First split is Nor and Or... Or is clear winner.. So option B & C gone.

Option A- breaks the parallelism.
Option E - Changes the meaning.

Parikshit07 · Answer

Can you please help me understand the meaning of the sentence and the logical structure?

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation

Beginning in the mid-twenty-first century, many consumers found that buying convenience foods such as TV dinners and visiting drive-through restaurants freed up their time for other things,  with none of the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes or with the  formalities, costs, and uneasiness of fine-dining.

A.  with none of  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  or with the   
 B.  with none of  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes , nor  
 C.  without  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  nor  
 D.  without  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  or with the  
 E.  without  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  or the

After a quick glance over the options, you have two main areas to focus on:

1. with none of vs. without
2. or with the / ,nor / nor / or the

In this sentence, we examine the use of negatives: “with none of” vs. “without” / “or” vs. “nor.” We must consider parallelism, meaning that the items are listed using similar wording and verb tenses. We also need to make sure the word “nor” is preceded with the word “neither” to make the idiom “neither X nor Y” works. Let’s see how each option stacks up:

A.  with none of  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  or with  the  
This is  INCORRECT . The sentence does not use parallel structure. If it were parallel, “with none of” would be used twice in the sentence. There is also a logic issue because “with none of” and “with” contradict each other in the sentence.

B.  with none of  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes , nor  
This is  INCORRECT . Nor is not preceded with the word neither.

C.  without  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  nor  
This is  INCORRECT . Nor is not preceded with the word neither.

D.  without  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  or with  the 
This is  INCORRECT . The sentence does not use parallel structure. If it were parallel, “without” would be used twice in the sentence. There is also a logic issue because “without” and “with” contradict each other in the sentence.

E.  without  the restrictions of home cooking and precise recipes  or the  
This is  CORRECT . It is logically clear and there is no contradiction with the use of “without” and “or.”

There you have it - option E is the only one that has a clear meaning and no idiom problems!

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were so close, Raxit85 ! Check out the explanation in the comments for more details.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were on the right track, aniket2045 ! Check out the official explanation in the comments for more.

VerbalBot · Answer

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