It is known that the ordinary image of a star, whether formed by the

Question

It is known that the ordinary image of a star, whether formed by the eye alone, or by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, contains light of an infinite variety of colors corresponding, according to the mechanical theory of light, to waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths.

(A) It is known that the ordinary image of a star, whether formed by the eye alone, or by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, contains light of an infinite variety of colors corresponding, according to the mechanical theory of light, to waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths.

(B) Whether formed by the eye alone or the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, it is known that the ordinary image of  a star contains light of an infinite variety of corresponding colors, according to the mechanical theory of light, to waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths.

(C) The ordinary image of a star, according to the mechanical theory of light, if formed by the eye alone or the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, is known to contain light of an infinite variety of corresponding colors.

(D) Known to contain light of an infinite variety of corresponding colors if formed by the eye alone or if by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, the ordinary image of star contains waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths, according to the mechanical theory of light.

(E) According to the mechanical theory of light, containing light of an infinite variety of colors corresponding to waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths, is known the ordinary image of a star, whether formed by the eye alone, or by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined.

I have doubt : is it following parallelism-  whether formed by the eye alone , or by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined,  . I think the phrases between whether OR should be structurally parallel. kindly explain. That is why I did not mark the correct answer.

MahmoudFawzy · Answer

The issue with "B" is not the parallelism, but what is "whether" modifying?
Following to it comes "it is known that ..." . What "it" refers to?
There should be a clear noun.

While in "A", "whether" is clearly modifying "image".

budhni · Answer

whether formed by the eye alone , or by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined,  : is this part of the sentence is correct?

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

Yes it corrects the parallelism issue present in rest of the options. the statements are contradicting hence or is to be used and a comma is mandatory to show the parallelism. E does have same, but the structure is changed hence changing whole meaning.

GMAT0010 · Answer

Hi, yashikaaggarwal Could you throw some light on the absolute phrases?

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

Not a SC expert or something, still on the learning phase. But the only thing I know about absolute phrases is that it modifies whole independent sentence, comprising a noun and a participle. 
Such as, Hands shaking, I sat down to take the test.

In this sentence, 'hands shaking' is the absolute phrase. We have a noun (hands) and a participle (shaking). And they are both being used to modify the main clause of the sentence, 'I sat down to take the test.'

Posted from my mobile device

Thinkfloydd · Answer

Shouldn't it be - 'whether formed by...or  formed  by... since x and y should be parallel in 'whether x or y'?

gmat1393 · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Meaning Analysis

The sentence presents a scientific fact. It says that it is known that the image of a star contains light of innumerable variety of colors corresponding to waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths. It does not matter whether the image is formed by the eyes alone or by the achromatic telescope and eye combined.

Error Analysis

1) This sentence has two clauses. All the SV pairs are accounted for make sense and agree in number with each other.

2) All the Verbs have been used in correct Tense. Use of Simple Present Tense Verbs “is” and “contains” is correct as they present scientific facts.

3) Use of pronoun “it” is correct as act as placeholders in this sentence.

4) All the modifiers are worded and placed correctly to present the intended meaning of the sentence.

5) All the idioms are correctly used to present the logical meaning of the sentence.

6) There are no errors in this sentence and hence it is correct as it is.

Answer Choices

A. It is known that the ordinary image of a star, whether formed by the eye alone, or by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, contains light of an infinite variety of colors corresponding, according to the mechanical theory of light, to waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths.

Correct: This choice has no errors as pointed out in error analysis.

B. Whether formed by the eye alone or the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, it is known that the ordinary image of a star contains light of an infinite variety of corresponding colors, according to the mechanical theory of light, to waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths.

Incorrect:

1) The opening Verb-ed Modifier should logically modify “the ordinary image of the star”. But since, the subject of the main clause is the placeholder “it”, “formed” illogically modifies “it”.

2) The correct idiom is “corresponding to…”. Hence use of “corresponding colors… to…” is unidiomatic and hence, incorrect.

C. The ordinary image of a star, according to the mechanical theory of light, if formed by the eye alone or the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, is known to contain light of an infinite variety of corresponding colors.

Incorrect:

1) Placement of the phrase “according to… light” is not correct as it modifies “if formed…”. This is not the intended meaning of the sentence.

2) Use of “if” is not correct in this context. “If” is used to present a condition. Per the given context, the sentence should use the idiom “whether X or Y”.

D. Known to contain light of an infinite variety of corresponding colors if formed by the eye alone or if by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined, the ordinary image of star contains waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths, according to the mechanical theory of light.

Incorrect:

1) This choice repeats the “if” usage error of Choice C.

Placement of “according to…”again leads t distortion in the intended meaning as it modifies the action “contain waves…”.

E. According to the mechanical theory of light, containing light of an infinite variety of colors corresponding to waves of energy of an infinite variety of lengths, is known the ordinary image of a star, whether formed by the eye alone, or by the achromatic telescope and the eye combined.

Incorrect:

1) The Subject “containing” does not make sense with its Verb “is”.

2) The Verb phrase “is knows the ordinary image of the star” is absolutely ungrammatical.

It is known that the ordinary image of a star, whether formed by the

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

It is known that the ordinary image of a star, whether formed by the

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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