Internet usage has become so pervasive in virtually every aspect of da

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Internet usage has  become so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents.

A) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning

B) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, many psychologists are beginning

C) so pervasive in daily life’s virtually every aspect, so many psychologists are beginning

D) of such pervasiveness in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning

E) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

THE PROMPT  
 
• The idiom tested is  SO X THAT Y  - GMAC tests this and other SO idioms quite frequently.
→ GMAC is not a fan of the word  so  by itself unless  so  is a coordinating conjunction (and even in that situation, you will find very few official questions) 
→  So X that Y  means: Attribute X is  so  extreme in this scenario  that  Y results.

• I wrote a post about the SO idioms that GMAC tests most frequently.
→  X so that Y , for example, is not the same as  So X that Y 
→ That post is  here .

• meaning? 
→  Pervasive internet usage has prompted psychologists to examine the effects of screen exposure on children and adolescents.  
→ We need to see cause and effect between  pervasive internet usage  and  psychologists who are examining how screen exposure affects children and adolescents .

THE OPTIONS  
 
• The word  and  almost never expresses causation
• In this option, the "connective tissue" between the two sentences sounds casual rather than causal.
 And  is used to join two items of equal grammatical weight but does not itself imply any causation.
→ We need to see causation.
The psychologists are beginning to examine the effects of screen exposure  because  internet usage has become very pervasive.
• the word  so  in the first clause should immediately cue you to look for the word  that,  which is likely to be in the second clause
ELIMINATE A 
 
• You cannot "stick" two independent clauses together with nothing more than a comma.
→ Option B is called a  comma splice.  Some people call it a  run-on . The construction is incorrect 100% of the time, no exceptions.
→ I wrote a short post about that very topic with a link to a good resource  here .
• be wary of  so  by itself. Look for a  that 
Eliminate B
 
•  So X so Y?  Huh? Weird. Not a correct construction.
•  So X that Y  is nowhere to be found.
•  daily life’s virtually every aspect  is a hot mess; compare to  virtually every aspect of daily life . 
-- True, both are possessive forms, but the latter is much better and not at all awkward.
• GMAC does not use  so  meaning  very  and  so  meaning  as a result  in the same sentence
→ if you see  so  meaning  very,  as in this case, look for  that 
• The first  so  makes the second  so  a stylistic disaster (as well as unidiomatic)
 Correct : She was very cold, so she put on a heavy cost.
 Wrong : She was so cold, so she put on a heavy coat.
Eliminate C
 
•  of such pervasiveness  is not standard. Usually you will see
SUCH + adjective + noun + THAT ( Danny Tidwell was such a beautiful dancer that even cynical reporters raved about him .)
or
SUCH + noun + THAT ( My brother is such a pest that I often pretend to be asleep around him. )
•  of such pervasiveness  is a stylistic disaster. 
If you are not sure what to do with the phrase, compare (D) to (E). Option E is better.
Eliminate D 
 
• correctly uses So X that Y
X = pervasive
Y = many psychologists are beginning to examine

The answer is E

COMMENTS

saurabh851  , I welcomed you in the other OE, but two welcomes never hurt anyone.

These answers range from good to outstanding.
I am impressed by 2-3 answers. You probably know who you are.
Nice work by all, and especially nice work by a few. Kudos.

saurabh851 · Answer

ANS: E

A) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning
 Correct construction is, so...that 
 
B) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, many psychologists are beginning
 Same as A
 
C) so pervasive in daily life’s virtually every aspect, so many psychologists are beginning
 Same as A
 
D) of such pervasiveness in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning
 Pervasiveness is a noun and a noun can't modify a noun
 
E) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning
 Correct

sambitspm · Answer

Internet usage has become  so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents.

The correct form is  so.... ...that 
IMO E

A)  so pervasive  in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning

B)  so pervasive  in virtually every aspect of daily life, many psychologists are beginning

C)  so pervasive  in daily life’s virtually every aspect,  so many  psychologists are beginning

D) of such pervasiveness in virtually every aspect of daily life  that  many psychologists are beginning

E)  so pervasive  in virtually every aspect of daily  life that many psychologists  are beginning

youggotthis95 · Answer

Internet usage has become so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents.

A) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning
- So... and.. Incorrect construction

B) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, many psychologists are beginning
- This is a run-on sentence. We need a FANBOYS marker after the comma to make the correct construction.

C) so pervasive in daily life’s virtually every aspect, so many psychologists are beginning
- Daily life's virtually every aspect is changing the meaning. Incorrect.

D) of such pervasiveness in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning
- of such pervasiveness is a wordy option. I am not sure if such a construction even exists.

E) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning
- Right idiom choice. So... that..

NiftyNiffler · Answer

Internet usage has become  so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents.

The idiomatic expression is "so X that Y". So, E is the clear winner.

E) Internet usage has become so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents.

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

Internet usage has become  so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents. 
 
Key idea: When we use ''so'' to lay emphasis on a point, we need to have the ''so...that'' structure.  
 
A) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  -  does not have the complete ''So.. that'' structure. 
  
B) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, many psychologists are beginning  -  does not have the complete ''So.. that'' structure. 
  
C) so pervasive in daily life’s virtually every aspect, so many psychologists are beginning  -  does not have the complete ''So.. that'' structure. 
  
D) of such pervasiveness in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning  -  does not have the complete ''So.. that'' structure. 
 
E) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning - has no error. Hence,    (E) is the right answer choice.

monk123 · Answer

Internet usage has become  so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents.
 
POE:
Eliminate (A), (B) - modifier error.
Eliminate (C), (D) - change of meaning

A) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life,  and many  psychologists are beginning

B) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life,  many psychologists  are beginning

C) so pervasive in  daily life’s virtually every aspect , so many psychologists are beginning

D) of  such pervasiveness in virtually  every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning

E) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning -   CORRECT

tyildirim92 · Answer

Internet usage has  become so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents.

A) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  // this option is grammatically correct. when we first read the sentence, we somehow feel that because internet usage becomes so pervasive, psychologists begin interested in the impact of such a usage. this is a cause and effect relationship, right? I would say it is not elegant to combine this relationship between two sentences with the conjunction "and". But, let's not eliminate A for now.

B) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, many psychologists are beginning  // a run-on sentence. two independent clauses are connected by only a comma.

C) so pervasive in daily life’s virtually every aspect, so many psychologists are beginning  // daily life's virtually every aspect does sound confusing. "virtually every aspect of daily life" is much better. "so many" may refer to psychologists, in such a case, we have a run-on sentence. "so" may mean "therefore". but so x so y is not idiomatic. so x that y is the correct idiom.

D) of such pervasiveness in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning  // this one really hurts my ear. "internet usage has of such pervasiveness"??? what does "has of" mean???

E) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning  // perfect as per the analysis. the cause and effect is maintained well. a correct idiom, "so x that y" is used. .

vipulshahi · Answer

Internet usage has  become so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, and many psychologists are beginning  to turn their attention to the impact of constant exposure to screens on the lives of children and adolescents.

Lets analyze each & every aspect of the sentence.

* Subject Verb Agreement   
- All subjects have respective verb pair & conveys meaning full.Correct.

* Tense    
- tense used conveys intended meaning. Correct

* If-then Condition  - not used

* Subjunctive Verb  - not used

* Pronoun   
-pronoun "their" has proper antecedent.Correct

* Modifier    
- modifies the clause appropriately. Correct.

* Parallelism    
 - two clauses connects due to the presence of parallelism marker "and" but there is nothing makes any sense while connecting two clauses. Both clauses are talking about diff. topic so there is no need of any parallelism marker "and". Incorrect
 
 * Comparison  - not used

* Idioms   so  pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life,  and  many psychologists are beginning ]
 - Idioms "so...and.." used but its incorrect ; "so ...that" is correct idioms. Incorrect.

While analyzing the sentence, only   parallelism & idioms error   are identified. 
 
A)   so   pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life,   and   many psychologists are beginning
 
1. idiomatic error; usage of " so...and" makes incorrect
2. parallelism error; marker " and" used inappropriately

- Incorrect.

B)   so   pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life, many psychologists are beginning

- Idiomatic error ; "so...that.." is correct idioms but "that" is missing.

- Incorrect
 
C)   so   pervasive in daily life’s virtually every aspect,   so   many psychologists are beginning
 
- Idiomatic error ; usage of "so...so.." makes incorrect

- Incorrect.

D)   of such   pervasiveness in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning
 
- usage of "of such " changed the meaning.

- Incorrect.

E) so pervasive in virtually every aspect of daily life that many psychologists are beginning
 
- usage of "so....that" removes the idiomatic & parallelism error.

- Correct

IMO(E)

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here

ArindamLucky · Answer

IMO E

Correct Idiom is So X that Y

Only E satisfies this

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Internet usage has become so pervasive in virtually every aspect of da

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