The term Immaculate Conception , a doctrine that the Roman

Question

The term “Immaculate Conception,” a doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with ordinary procreative means.

(A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with

(B) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to be occurring by

(C) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring not to the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in

(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by

(E) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred not to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred by

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Mike

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Official Answer

D

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

In this context, both of these are correct. Here we are talking about the source of the doctrine, not what the doctrine says . The idiom for the word "doctrine" is similar to the idioms for the words "teaching", "idea", "ideology", "theory", "principle", etc. etc., all those "mental collection" words. For the source , we can use either a "that"/"which" subordinate clause = the doctrine that the pope proclaimed = the idea about which Darwin first wrote = the idea that Descartes repudiated or we can use the preposition "of" = the doctrine of classical Buddhism = the teachings of Confucius = the thought of the Thomist school = the ideology of the Khmer Rouge For what the doctrine/idea/teaching/ideology is actually saying , the thought embodied in it ----- this is tricky. If we are going to name only a single noun, then we can use the preposition "about" or the participle "concerning" or the preposition "of", but if we are going to describe an action, then the GMAT doesn't like cramming an entire action into a prepositional phrase --- for this case, the GMAT would demand either a "that"/"which" clause with a full + structure. Noun-only constructions: = the doctrine of the Prophet Muhammad unique status among prophets = the doctrine about Christ's human and divine natures = the teaching concerning the afterlife = the teachings about racial tolerance = the idea of non-conservation of parity = the principle of least action Full clause constructions = the doctrine that Christ pre-existed from all eternity = the teaching that the Buddha, in his first sermon, "turned" the wheel of Dharma = the axiom by which the geometric space becomes Euclidean = the idea that all men are created equal = the hypothesis that Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays = the principle that one should resort to violence only in defense Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Marcab , This is one of the devilish things about this question ------ In the answers with the word " that " ... a doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, the whole segment from the word "that" to the comma is a subordinate clause, a "that"-clause --- the words " Roman Catholic Church " is the subject of the clause and " proclaimed " is the verb of the clause, a bonafide real verb. Clauses always have a bonafide noun-subject and bonafide verb. BUT In the answers with the word " of " ... a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, now, the phrase " of the Roman Catholic Church " is just a prepositional phrase, a self-contained modifier, and the word " proclaimed " ( same spelling !) now functions as a participle modifying the word " doctrine ." It is not a full bonafide verb, but merely a participle, a modifier. When I designed this question, I included this split, setting it up so the exact same form of the verb, proclaimed , same spelling and everything, would be used in some of the answers as a verb and in others as a participle. This is one of the harder features of the question to recognize. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

Marcab · Answer

Though it initially seemed quite tough because a huge portion of sentence was underlined, after understanding the meaning it was clear that the question is testing some easy concepts.
i)"not to x, but to y"
ii) if the preceding phrase is not a part of a modifier then "that" can't be preceded by a "comma".

Some answer choices use "they" as referrent but its unclear what "they" refers to.

Choice C incorrectly uses "comma +verbing", implying a cause and effect relationship.

"Occured by" is correct not "occured with or occured in".
E doesn't shows the needed contrast.
+1D

Marcab · Answer

what is the difference between "doctrine of..." and "doctrine that ...". Need help with this split.

Marcab · Answer

Hii Mike.
So in the answer choices, is "proclaimed" being used as a "participle" and not a "verb"?
If it is the case, then the question is crystal clear now.
Thanks in advance.

skiingforthewknds · Answer

The term “Immaculate Conception”, a doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with ordinary procreative means.

(A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, [color=#ff0000]not referring

nailed this one pretty quickly, but it was a little intimidating at first.

(A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with - see ya later "that"

(B) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to be occurring by - see ya later "that"

For these two I honed in on the verb "refer", since the doctrine has the ability to refer ie present tense, choose D.

Please let me know if my logic is wrong on that.

(C) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring not to the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in - tense of referring, wrong

(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by

(E) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred not to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred by - the doctrine can refer today no need for the past tense here, tyson KO.

tia2112 · Answer

The term "Immaculate Conception", a doctrine  that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with  ordinary procreative means.
 
(A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with

(B) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, which, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to be occurring by

(C) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring not to the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in

(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by

(E) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred not to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred by

Kudos please.. if you liked the question

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear tuanquang269 I'm happy to respond! :-)

This is another question that I wrote, so I am happy to explain it. It's a wordy and hard one. Split #1 : As the prompt stands, it has no full verb---it's not a complete sentence. Both (A) and (C) have the participle " referring ," rather than a full verb at that place. The famous missing verb mistake ! These two are wrong. Split #2 : the mysterious " they " --- in options (A) & (E), we have ". . . the fact that they believe . . ." Presumably, the referent are the people in the Roman Catholic Church, but this Church is a singular collective noun, and would have to take a singular pronoun. Use of " they " here is wrong. Split #3 : idiom with " means ." The word " means " occurs after the underlined section. The correct idiom is " by means " or " by means ." The constructions " in means " or " with means " are incorrect, so we can reject choices (A) & (C). Split #4 : the mid-sentence contrast, after " occurred miraculously " (A) despite his mother Mary being a virgin = awkward, not acceptable on the GMAT (B) even though his mother Mary was a virgin = a full clause = perfectly fine (C) with his mother Mary being a virgin = no contrast at all, and an awkward unacceptable construction (D) even though his mother Mary was a virgin = a full clause = perfectly fine (E) with his mother Mary being a virgin = no contrast at all, and an awkward unacceptable construction In choices (A), (C), and (E), we have the construction + + . In some uses, as here, this construction is entirely unacceptable. For a more detailed discussion, see, https://magoosh.com/gmat/2015/with-noun- ... orrection/ All of these taken together show that the only possible answer here is (D) . Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

khoathanglong · Answer

Dear Mike,
I have a question about B and D
+not refer to...but to (in B) .vs refer not to...but to (in D)
IMO, that is the reason to pick B or D. But I read somewhere that choice B is preferable.
Could you explain?
Thank you!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear khoathanglong I'm happy to respond. :-)

The structure about which you are asking is the Once Outside or Twice Inside rule, which is explained here: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-paral ... ce-inside/ Here, because the " not " applies to only one branch of the parallelism, it must go on the inside of the parallel structure. Correct : refer not to...but to --- in (D) Incorrect : not refer to...but to ---in (B) This is another reason why (D) is correct and (B) is wrong. In the second version, the word " not " comes before the verb " refer ," so we would expect the " not . . . but " contrast to compare one verb to another: it does not refer to X but does something else . The second branch of the parallelism is not another verb, but merely another preposition, so we have to show that we are comparing the two prepositional phrases. That's what the version in (D) does. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

daagh · Answer

Although delving into multiple concepts, this tough question can be coincidentally fixed on the 
D-day by the correlative conjunction parallelism of –  not to … but to  --- about which Mike has pointed out.

(A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854,  not referring to the conception  of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with --it should be  referring not to the conception …. but to the conception.

(B) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854,  did not refer to the conception  of Jesus, which, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin,  but to the conception  of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to be occurring by—correct format is –  did not refer to the conception but referred to the conception

(C) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring  not to  the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin,  and to  the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in ---  use of ‘and, takes away the contrast and is unidiomatic . – It should be  not to – but to--

(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by

(E) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred  not to  the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin,  and to  the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred by ---  same error as in C

Alex75PAris · Answer

IMHO D

A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that  they  believe this conception occurred with
the antecedent of "they" is not clear

(B) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed  to be occurring by 
Verb tense is wrong

(C) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring not to the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary  being  a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in
usage of being

(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by
 OK

(E) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred not to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously  when  his mother Mary was a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne,  despite the fact that they  believe this conception occurred by
the antecedent of "they" is not clear

Nick90 · Answer

The term “Immaculate Conception”, a doctrine that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with ordinary procreative means.

(A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, [color=#ff0000]not referring

(A)  that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred with------- being, not parallel not x but y and occurred with is not correct here.

(B)  that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to be occurring by----- occuring (present participle) wrong, did not x but y is not parallel.

(C)  of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring not to the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in---- not to .. and to... wrong, occured in wrong usage here.

(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by

(E)  of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred not to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that they believe this conception occurred by---- not to...and to...Wrong

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kivalo · Answer

Split 1: that vs of. 
Term that the Roman Catholic Church vs. Term of the Roman Catholic Church
It's weird to say that term was proclaimed, hence 'of'. (I'm not sure on this one, please comment)

Better split: 
A) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, not referring to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary being a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that  they  believe this conception occurred  with

B) that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, which, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to  be occurring by

C) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referring not to the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred  in

D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by

E) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, referred not to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin, and to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that  they  believe this conception occurred by

techiesam · Answer

mikemcgarry

Sir, I have found that you ,sometimes, create tricky questions by applying the exception of noun modifier touch rule,specially while using "which". One example is this question and another one is the question with Cloud Monet

"Between 1892 and 1893, Claude Monet produced a series of paintings of the Rouen Cathedral, revised in his studio in 1894, and with the French public receiving it as an emblem of all that was noble about their history and customs."

Now Sir, I have found that the touch rule can be lifted only when a noun hides in a prepositional phrase. Now my question is  why,in this question, the use of which is not ambiguous?

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear techiesam , I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, you may have heard me say before that the GMAT SC is NOT simply a test a grammar. In fact, it is a test of grammar, logic , and rhetoric all at once. You are trying to answer a logic question with grammatical means. That's like someone deciding whether a novel is well-written by the font used: it's at a completely different level of analysis. The relationship of a noun modifier to a noun is one of logic, and the grammar simply supports this logical relationship. Of course, the clearest and most common way to show this logical relationship is to have the noun and the noun modifier touching each other, hence the widespread use of the Touch Rule. The Touch Rule is simply a consequence of this fundamental logical relationship: it's the most basic way to demonstrate the relationship between noun and noun-modifier. To understand the most important exception to the Touch Rule pattern, you need to understand vital noun modifiers . You have to analyze the logic and decide whether any modifier is vital or not vital. Similarly, when a phrase, such as " according to Christianity " in (D) of this question, is set off between two comma, that is called a parenthetical remark or an aside . This is an extra little bit of information that the author throws in: it 100% removable and always understood not to interrupt any grammatical or logical relationships, so of course one of these always can come between a noun and noun modifier. My friend, there is absolutely no way to get to GMAT SC mastery simply by learning some mythical "complete" collection of rules. You have to develop intuition for the language, and the only way you do this is to develop the habit of reading. See: How to Improve Your GMAT Verbal Score Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

AkshdeepS · Answer

(A)  that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854,  not referring to the conception  of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously despite his mother Mary  being  a virgin,  but to the conception  of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that  they believe  this conception occurred with

(B)  that the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, did not refer to the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to be occurring by

(C)  of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854,  referring not to  the conception of Jesus, that in Christianity occurred miraculously with his mother Mary being a virgin,  and to the conception  of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred in

(D) of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854, refers not to the conception of Jesus, which, according to Christianity, occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that this conception is believed to have occurred by

(E)  of the Roman Catholic Church formally proclaimed in 1854,  referred not to  the conception of Jesus, that, as Christianity says, occurred miraculously when his mother Mary was a virgin,  and to the conception  of Mary in the womb of her mother, Anne, despite the fact that  they believe  this conception occurred by

We need "but" in place of "and " to show the contrast.

"They" is not correct as we don't have any plural noun.

Correct parallelism is "not to - but to".

Naman_Agrawal · Answer

Only option D got  not to the...but to the  idiom correct. Once you have spotted the idiom, the question is easy

P.S: Not sure the sentence I wrote above is correct, maybe we can start a thread for correction of this one lol !

IanStewart · Answer

The answer D is the only answer that even approximates English, so it's certainly the best answer here. But I'd be a bit suspicious of it on a real test, because it conveys a meaning that seems the opposite of what is intended. Parsing out what it says:

"the conception of Jesus... occurred miraculously even though his mother Mary was a virgin"

You might paraphrase that this way: "despite the fact that Mary was a virgin, the conception of Jesus was a miracle."

That meaning is profoundly bizarre. It is presumably  because  Mary was a virgin (and not despite that fact) that the conception was miraculous. I think the sentence means to say something like "since" where it says "even though".

I suppose there's a different parsing of the sentence, where you read it as if 'miraculously' is enclosed in commas: "the conception occurred, miraculously, even though Mary was a virgin", which makes more sense, and maybe you can leave those commas out, but at the least the meaning is then ambiguous. So even though this answer choice is grammatically correct, I'd certainly be looking at other answer choices hoping to find one that resolves that ambiguity.

The term Immaculate Conception , a doctrine that the Roman

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The term Immaculate Conception , a doctrine that the Roman

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