Many children ride their bicycles at night unprotected by neither rudi

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
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Many children ride their bicycles at night unprotected by  neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor  headlights.

A) neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor

B) neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, or

C) rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, or

D) rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor

E) either rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors or

The official explanation is  here .

rajatchopra1994 · Answer

Explanation:
The idea of using "unprotected" , "neither" & "nor" introduces a double negative. So A, B & D cannot be the answer.
Between C & E, Either used in E option not okay.

IMO-C

suchita2409 · Answer

IMO C .

Niether... nor.. can't be used as we have used unprotected .
It will change the meaning of the sentence.
 Usage of either is inappropriate as well because we are not giving a choice here .
We can keep it simple.

So C

Posted from my mobile device

sambitspm · Answer

Many children ride their bicycles at night  unprotected by neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, no r headlights.

Here  unprotected  modifies the children riding bicycles at night. Now unprotected by what?

A) neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor

B) neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, or

C) rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, or

D) rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor

E) either rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors or
 
IMO A

monk123 · Answer

Many children ride their bicycles at night unprotected by neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor headlights.
 
POE:
if you remove neither then the meaning of the sentence changes. It will become 'children are unprotected by safety equipment, reflectors.....'
So, we require neither. 'neither...nor' is the correct form.
Eliminate (B),(C),(D) &(E)

A) neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor -   CORRECT

B)  neither  rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, or

C)  rudimentary  safety equipment, reflectors,  or

D)  rudimentary  safety equipment, reflectors,  nor

E)  either  rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors  or

vipulshahi · Answer

Many children ride their bicycles at night unprotected by  neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor headlights.

A)  neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor

- changed the meaning.

- Incorrect

B)  neither  rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors,  or

- idiomatic error

- Incorrect

C) rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, or

- corrects all the error.

- Correct

D) rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors,  nor

- Idiomatic error.

- Incorrect

E)   either  rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors or

- grammatically correct but does not convey the intended meaning.

- Incorrect

IMO(C)

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)

Quote:

Many children ride their bicycles at night unprotected by neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor headlights.

A) neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor

B) neither rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, or

C) rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, or

D) rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors, nor

E) either rudimentary safety equipment, reflectors or

• Meaning?
The sentence means:
Many children who ride their bicycles at night fail to wear basic safety equipment, reflectors, or headlights.

• Split #1: avoid double negatives

-- unprotected (not protected) and neither are both negating words.
-- When two negating words are used in the same sentence, they create a double negative.
Wrong: I do not like neither okra nor lima beans.
Correct: I like neither okra nor lima beans.
Correct: I do not like okra or lima beans.

Options A and B create a double negative.
Furthermore, in B, neither is improperly connected to or.
-- The pairing neither/nor is correct. (Never use a neither/or pairing.)
Eliminate A and B

Option C creates a double negative.
-- unprotected and nor are both negating words that create a double negative
Wrong: I will not eat okra nor cook lima beans.

That last sentence sounds okay to most native speakers. It is probably not okay. (See the article I link to below.)
The word nor negates what it refers to, so this sentence breaks down this way:

I will not
-- eat okra
-- not cook lima beans

Because of the double negative, it sounds as though I will cook lima beans. Wrong meaning.
Option D creates a double negative with nor.
Eliminate D
(For a very short article about nor and how to use it, go here.

• Split #2: eliminate unnecessary words
Option E uses . . . unprotected by either X, Y, or Z.
Option C uses . . . unprotected by X, Y, or Z.
→ we don't need either. Option C is just fine without either.
Eliminate E

The answer is (C)

NOTES

Tip: when the logic of a sentence hinges on a negative construction such as unprotected, rewrite the word in your notes.

We are not attempting to write elegant prose.
We are trying to track on logic.

We could rewrite unprotected by as not protected by or without being protected by.
Making the not explicit helps us to focus on the items that are attached to that not.
(The children do not wear X, Y, or Z.)

Would I strike an answer if it used neither/nor or either/or with more than two items?
No, I would not eliminate for that reason as the only or first basis. I would look for other errors.

As far as I recall, GMAC has not tested whether neither/nor can be used with more than two items.
I doubt that GMAC will test the issue, which is highly contested.
→ GMAC does test whether a neither/nor or either/or construction is parallel.
→ GMAC may test whether you know that neither, if paired, is always paired with nor and is never paired with or.

COMMENTS

rajatchopra1994 , welcome to SC Butler.

This question is deceptively simple.

Some of you need to explain yourselves a little more.
"Subjunctive error," for example, doesn't tell a person what the error is.
A label is not an explanation.

Kudos go to those who were correct before the OA was revealed.
(If I get this time stamp thing wrong, PM me.)
Smiley faces to everyone else.

This question is deceptively simple. Some of you need to explain yourselves a little more. "Subjunctive error," for example, doesn't tell a person what the error is. A label is not an explanation.

Kudos go to those who were correct before the OA was revealed. (If I get this time stamp thing wrong, PM me.) Smiley faces to everyone else.

Many children ride their bicycles at night unprotected by neither rudi

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Many children ride their bicycles at night unprotected by neither rudi

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