Climatic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first fro

Question

Climatic shifts are  so gradual as to be indistinguishable  at first from ordinary fluctuations in the weather.

(A) so gradual as to be indistinguishable
(B) so gradual they can be indistinguishable
(C) so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished
(D) gradual enough not to be distinguishable
(E) gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear Lucy, I'm happy to help. :-)

You may find this blog helpful. https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom ... nsequence/ The correct idioms include " so gradual as to ..." " so gradual that ..." " such that ..." Here ---- (A) correct, and a particularly elegant phrasing (B) the word " that " is missing, so this is, in GMAT-terms, unacceptable (C) grammatically correct, but awkward, wordy, and indirect; rewording to introduce the passive voice is not desirable (D) not a correct idiom --- we need one of the idioms of consequence listed above ---- (E) grammatically correct, but awkward, wordy, and indirect; no reason to rephrase to introduce the indefinite pronoun " one " Technically, (A) & (E) are both grammatically and idiomatically correct, and both say the same thing --- it's just that (A) says it far more elegantly, whereas (E) is roundabout and awkwardly wordy. Choice (D) would pass in American colloquial English, but it's not formal enough for GMAT standards --- it doesn't follow one of the formally recommended idioms for this situation. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

TommyWallach · Answer

Climatic shifts are  so gradual as to be indistinguishable  at first from ordinary fluctuations in the weather.

(A) so gradual as to be indistinguishable
ANSWER: This uses the idiom correctly. "So gradual as to be indistinguishable" is correct. We can say "His work is so famous as to be a cliché."

(B) so gradual they can be indistinguishable
PROBLEM: We need something after "gradual" to segue here. For example "that" or "as".

(C) so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished
PROBLEM: No reason to use the passive voice on "distinguished", because we don't know who is doing the distingushing. Also, "they are unable" makes it sound like they're TRYING to be distinguished, and can't do it.

(D) gradual enough not to be distinguishable
PROBLEM: There's no reason to use "enough" here. It marks a subtle shift in meaning. We want to emphasize that shikts are so gradual that we can't tell the difference between them and ordinary fluctuations. This version, with "enough", makes it sound very direct, as if there's some level of "gradual-ness" that makes shifts indistinguishable from ordinary fluctuations. Finally, putting the not in there instead of the word "indistinguishable" confuses things. It would be weird to say "I am tired enough not to be able to stay awake on my feet" as opposied to "I am tired enough to fall asleep on my feet".

(E) gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them
PROBLEM: Even worse than above. We still have enough, but we've also added an unnecessary pronoun ("one")

LucyDang · Answer

Climatic shifts are  so gradual as to be indistinguishable  at first from ordinary fluctuations in the weather.

(A) so gradual as to be indistinguishable 
(B) so gradual they can be indistinguishable 
(C) so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished 
(D) gradual enough not to be distinguishable 
(E) gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them

Questions:
1. Which option is correct?
2. What's the difference among A, D and E?

kulkarnios · Answer

Hi Mike,

When to use 'be' as a verb?

mikemcgarry · Answer

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

To some extent, your question has a tautological element: you see, " be " is a verb, and can't be used as anything except a verb! Your real question, though, is: when is " be " part of an acceptable GMAT construction? Well, many cases: I don't think I could list them all. One thing I'll say is: " be " can used as an auxiliary verb , so it appears in the correct formulation of several tenses. See: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/auxiliary- ... -the-gmat/ It is also used in a number of idioms. See the free GMAT idiom ebook: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/ To some extent, it depends very much on the individual construction --- what the sentence is trying to say, and what the most efficient and direct way to say this is. For example, in this particular sentence, it happens that the phrase " so as to be indistinguishable " is the shortest and most elegant way to express that idea. It's hard to give a general rule for what the most elegant solution will be --- it depends on the particularity of the sentence. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

Hoozan · Answer

In (E) we have "so that" and not "So X... that Y" So can we say that (E) changes the meaning of the sentence?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Hoozan ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of "so that" does, indeed, change the meaning of the sentence.

The use of "so that" implies that climatic conditions are subtle enough   for the purpose of   one being unable to at first from ordinary fluctuations in the weather.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

TBT · Answer

ExpertsGlobal5  Does "so..that" also imply cause effect?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  TBT ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, yes; “so + cause + that + effect” is an idiomatic construction used to convey cause-effect relationships.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Raman109 · Answer

Climatic shifts are  so gradual as to be indistinguishable  at first from ordinary fluctuations in the weather.

Option Elimination -

(A) so gradual as to be indistinguishable - so "cause" as to "effect" is the correct idiom here. Ok. 
(B) so gradual they can be indistinguishable - First, the idiom is not ok here. Second, it changes the meaning. It says that the climatic shifts are so gradual that they can be indistinguishable, but sometimes they are distinguishable. Not the intended meaning, which is that they are always indistinguishable. 
(C) so gradual that they are unable to be distinguished - "they are unable" as if they are trying, but they are failing to be distinguished. Not the intended meaning. Moreover, using passive voice here is inferior to that of A. 
(D) gradual enough not to be distinguishable - This means the climatic shifts have met some sufficiency criteria (the gradualness is enough). They are trying to make it difficult for us to distinguish them, or the climatic shifts are intentionally designed to be indistinguishable. Not the intended meaning, which is that the changes are subtle and initially challenging to perceive. Wrong. 
(E) gradual enough so that one cannot distinguish them - same issue as D and on top added "one" as well. What is "one" referring back to? Nothing? Wrong.

bPra · Answer

If another option were:
=> so gradual that they are indistinguishable

Then, how would I decide between option A and this option. 
Actually, I am not clear regarding the use of so...that and so...as to. Can someone please elaborate.

Thanks

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

bPra

In this context, the construction you're proposing would be valid, too, so there would be no way to make a choice without some other error showing up. Generally, the 4 wrong answers should all be identifiably wrong in some way. If it comes down to something like style or concision, then one answer should be noticeably simpler or clearer than the other.

Climatic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first fro

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Climatic shifts are so gradual as to be indistinguishable at first fro

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