Marshal Zhu De commander of the Communist armies that conquered China

Question

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Marshal Zhu De, commander of the Communist armies that conquered China, is  so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was  built for him in the Mao Zedong mausoleum.
 
A) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was
 
B) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes as to have a memorial room that was
 
C) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes for a memorial room to be
 
D) revered enough in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was
 
E) revered enough in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes for a memorial room to be

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)

THE PROMPT

• Meaning?

Because the Chinese revolutionary hero Marshall Zhu De was highly revered, a memorial room was built for him in Mao Zedong's tomb.

• Idiom
 So X that Y  ← ← GMAC writers seem to have a rather strange fascination with this idiom (along with  so that  and  due to— go figure.)
 So X that Y  indicates results. Attribute X is so extreme that Y results.

(X = adjective) Correct: The airplane landing was so bumpy that many passengers screamed.
(X = adverb) Correct: The comet glowed so brightly across the night sky that it obliterated starlight.
 
 THE OPTIONS 
 
• I do not see any errors

• So X that Y

X = revered
Y = that a memorial was built for him
The degree to which he was revered is so extreme that a special room is built for him.
KEEP 
 
• not concise. Compare to option A. 
Option B: so revered . . .  as to have  a memorial room THAT WAS
Option A: so revered . . . that a memorial room was built for him.

Do not eliminate on the basis of style on your first pass.
Use "wordiness" or lack of concision as a tiebreaker.

• meaning problems 
→ This sentence suggests that the hero owned or possessed the room in Mao's  tomb. 
Well, not to be ghoulish, but a person who has passed doesn't possess a room.
→ The phrase  that was  is partly to blame.
→ The emphasis should be on the action by those who revered him, an emphasis that this option does not convey because 
The people revered him so much that they built him a room in Mao's tomb.

• Careful:  So X as to Y is a legitimate idiom/  
Manhattan's SC 6th edition book lists the idiom as suspect. 
That assessment may have been true when the book was published but is not so today.
See the footnote in which I cite to an official example.**

ELIMINATE B

• Idiom error
→ There is such thing as So X . . . For Y
ELIMNATE C
 
•  Enough  suggests  sufficient  or  sufficiency,  not excess.
In the idiom So X that Y, some attribute, X, is so intense that Y happens.

• was there some preexisting standard that a general had to reach a certain level of belovedness?
This sentence hints at that meaning.
ELIMINATE D

• Meaning problem
→ again,  enough  is used to show sufficiency, not intensity.

• idiom error: We do not use  enough . . . for  to describe this situation.
 Enough . . . for  might describe a situation of adequacy, not zeal.
("Enough for" is not really idiomatic, though the phrase is spoken quite often. "I have enough money for two tickets." 
That sentence is not quite right. The person should say, "I have enough money to buy two tickets."
Where GMAC stands on this particular issue ("enough for") is not a big deal.

ELIMINATE E

The answer is A.

COMMENTS

ketanbhardwaj131  , good to "see" you again.

These answers are well-reasoned and easy to understand.
Excellent work.
And well done for keeping on in challenging times.

zhanbo · Answer

My answer is (A) . (A) "So + adjective / adverb + that" is a well-known structure, so (A) reads fine. Passive voice is used after "that", a decision that can be well justified because there is no need to specify who built the room for Marshal Zhu. But in test mode, owing to GMAT's usual disdain against passive voice, I still wanted to see if there is better option. Keep (A) for now. (B) "So + adjective / adverb + as to" is also a valid structure. (Read more at https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... as-to-be-y for an exhaustive treatment of the differences between so...that and so...as to). I eliminated (B) because we rarely say that "Marshal Zhu De had a memorial room that was built for him." "Have" indicates ownership, but Marshal Zhu De did not actually take ownership of such a room. (C) I do not think "So + adjective / adverb + for ... to..." is a valid structure. "as to", not just "to", must be used. ("for" can be used as part of the infinitive.) (D) "Adjective / Adverb enough that" is valid. (Read one discussion is at https://forum.wordreference.com/threads ... t.3594571/) Compare (D) with (A), and I feel that "so...that" is more forceful in emphasizing how much Marshal Zhu De is revered: a dedicated memorial room was built for him in a Mausoleum meant for the supreme leader Mao Zedong. One cannot simply be "revered enough" in order to be inducted. (I guess that no other Marshals had the honor.) One must be "so revered" as to have a memorial room built. " Enough " is not enough . (E) Again, I think the structure is not wrong, but " Enough " is not enough .

sumitkrocks · Answer

My tough pick among A, D and E is A

Marshal Zhu De, commander of the Communist armies that conquered China, is  so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was  built for him in the Mao Zedong mausoleum.

so + adj /adv + that : if the emphasis is on a quality described by an adjective, then it's more compact and stylistically better to write "so + adj + that"

Distorts the meaning by giving an impression that Marshal Zhu De possessed memorial room

so + adj /adv + for : not a correct idiom/structure

Enough means  to such a degree : 
Nothin wrong gametically in this option, but this sentence gives an impression that there is some measurable level of reverence that will help in deciding whether to build memorial room

This option is the rephrasing of option (D) using a different syntax: nothing wrong gametically but meaning is not as intended

Sumi1010 · Answer

The sentence can be reduced to -

Marshal Zhu De is  so  revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes  that  a memorial room was built for him in the Mao Zedong mausoleum.

It implies that 
 Marshal's quality of being revered was the reason for the fact that a memorial room was built for him. 
The above sentence does not have any grammatical issue.

Let's look at the choices -
A) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was
 Look right. Hold on with it.  
B) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes as   to have a memorial room  that was
 This choice distorts the meaning. 
 Marshal's quality of being revered was the reason for the fact that he had a memorial room (that was built in the Mao Zedong mausoleum).   
C) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes for a memorial room  to be 
 Marshal is so revered to be built - This is nonsensical. 
When we say : X is something  to be   Y ... , we mean X itself is likely to be Y. 
Marshal was not built. 
D) revered  enough  in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was
 Grammatically correct. 
However, this choice changes the meaning by implying as if there is a criteria for building a memorial room. 
If one qualifies that criteria, a memorial room is built for the one.  
E) revered enough in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes for a memorial room  to be 
 Same as choice C.

IMO  A

ketanbhardwaj131 · Answer

Marshal Zhu De, commander of the Communist armies that conquered China, is so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was built for him in the Mao Zedong mausoleum.

A) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was
No Error.  Correct

B)  so revered  in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes  as to have a memorial room  that was
Marshal Zhu De is so revered as to have a memorial room...doesn't make sense...meaning error

C)  so revered  in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes  for a memorial room to be 
Marshal Zhu De is so revered for a memorial room to be...doesn't make sense....meaning error

D) revered  enough  in the pantheon of  revolutionary heroes that a memorial room  was
Although enough A that B is Idiomatic. But A and B are not parallel in this case.

E) revered  enough  in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes  for a memorial room to be 
enough...For..unidiomatic.

generis · Answer

The official explanation can be found by clicking  this link .

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

A) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was
The meaning is perfect therefore let us hang on to it

B) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes as to have a memorial room that was
as to have addition in the sentence makes it akward therefore out

C) so revered in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes for a memorial room to be
for is akward placement therefore out

D) revered enough in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes that a memorial room was
 placement so before revered iss necessary and enough isn't the right usage hence out

E) revered enough in the pantheon of revolutionary heroes for a memorial room to be
Similar reasoning as C and D

Therefore IMO A

Marshal Zhu De commander of the Communist armies that conquered China

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Marshal Zhu De commander of the Communist armies that conquered China

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

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Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

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