When preparing for an endurance race such as a triathlon, athletes mus

Whenever I read these SC sentences, I like to comb through the original sentence itself to spot any glaring errors before I jump into the responses. Here, the barebones main clause says that athletes must run and swim, train themselves, and consume food. The why comes right after the underlined portion, and notice how to sustain matches the earlier infinitive explanation in to master boredom. The GMAT™ question-writers love parallelism in its many forms. In other words, I see nothing wrong with the original sentence. However, it can be a good idea to disprove other answers sometimes in order to feel stronger about selecting (A), not to mention that there just might be another response that somehow expresses the same idea in a more concise manner. So, where do the other answers fall short? My take on each:

(B) for providing

Analysis: Why use the preposition for and an -ing form of the verb when there is no earlier example? In fact, as I pointed out above, that earlier example of an action followed by an explanation uses to instead: train themselves to master boredom. Look to the non-underlined portion for clues--they are usually there.

(C) and which provide

Analysis: The which clause is unnecessary and wordy, and provide is supposed to modify food, not foods. A singular verb agreement is needed.

(D) that provide

Analysis: This follows the same subject-verb agreement trap from choice (C). If it was incorrect there, then it must be incorrect here.

(E) foods which is

Analysis: The answer is long-winded for starters, and since the extra words add nothing in the way of clarity, a shorter answer is stronger. This one opts for the opposite subject-verb agreement problem, pairing the plural foods with the singular is. But even before that, the which clause in Standard American English indicates non-essential information, and for this reason, it should use a comma before it. Observe the following model sentences and how the meaning changes based on essential versus non-essential clause triggers (i.e. that versus which):

Sentence 1: The book that was on the table was red.
Meaning: The person reading or hearing this information needs to know that the red book was on the table, or that the book that was on the table was red instead of some other color.

Sentence 2: The book, which was on the table, was red.
Meaning: The person reading or hearing this information needs to know that the book was red, but the information about its location is just tossed in to satisfy any curiosity about where that red book was spotted.

I want to emphasize again that this that versus which issue is not something most Americans adhere to consistently, but that in Standard American English, the type that is tested on the GMAT™, such a distinction is, indeed, necessary.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

generis I cannot think of as to how option A is correct.

highly nutritious food to provide enough energy to seems a bit awkward construction to me.
Please help.

warrior1991 It can be tempting to grab a string of words and convinced ourselves that they don't work well together, but we have to look a the role each part plays in the sentence. For instance, many people don't like the sound of "simultaneously with but," but in this sentence it makes perfect sense: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-first-tr ... 25551.html

The same goes here. If we simplify A down, it is quite sensible. Athletes want to consume food. Why? To provide enough energy. Enough energy for what? Enough energy to sustain their bodies.

Hi all

anoopjand
SPatel1992
warrior1991

Here is OE


Hope it helps

warrior1991 , I would add that because you practice CR and RC questions and have worked hard to master Verbal, ironically, you probably need to remind yourself now and then to follow the basic rule: eliminate four incorrect answers and do not look for one correct answer.

If the fifth answer is not great, check the other four answers one more time.
If the fifth is still the best of five, mark it.

As you practice RC and CR, you are exposed to prose written by authors who do not have to test multiple concepts in one sentence.
RC and CR sentences tend to "flow" more than many sentences in SC.

On occasion, an SC answer will seem wrong. You won't be able to shake that feeling. Back to basics. Have you found four incorrect options?
(A) ??
(B) Not parallel (train themselves to master and consume food for providing are not parallel)
(C) S/V error (singular food needs the verb provides, not provide)
(D) S/V error (same as that in C)
(E) S/V error (plural foods needs the verb are, not is)

The errors in the other four options are fatal. No similar errors exist in A.

As your "ear" develops from exposure to more prose in RC and CR, sometimes SC constructions will seem wrong.
Ignore your ear. Use the basic "eliminate four" test.

I suspect that (A) struck (or strikes) you as not quite correct because the last item in the list is a lot longer than the other items and its phrasing contains two infinitives.


P.S. for others - sentences in CR and RC occasionally contain errors. Do not change what you know about SC because you saw something different in the other two verbal sections.

Although i chose A, i have a question?

Do we need "a" or "the" before "highly nutritious food" ?

Can anyone help ?

Thanks and best regards

ChuHoaiNam No, it's better without "a" or "the." We aren't talking about one particular item, meal, or kind of food. Rather, we are saying that whatever food is eaten should be nutritious. In this sense, food is uncountable, like water, love, or energy. Just as we say to drink water or conserve energy, we can say that someone needs to eat food.

A. highly nutritious food to provide — correct

B. highly nutritious foods for providing — for providing is incorrect idiom.

C. food that is highly nutritious, and which provide — which refers to food (singular noun) and needs singular verb “provides“.

D. highly nutritious food that provide — same as C

E. foods which is highly nutritious in order to provide — “foods” plural. Need “are”.

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I can see why B-E have flaws, but what bothers me is why the singular food here is preferred over the plural foods. Surely people and athletes consume 'foods' not 'food'. Can someone explain this?

I think it's done intentionally -- the correct answer is not always the best sounding answer. This is especially true when the questions get higher in difficulty.

A choice along the lines of "highly nutritious foods that provide enough energy" would be too easy.

Option A gives the impression athletes provide energy to sustain their bodies

Hello RS2747,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity here, the meaning conveyed by Option A is actually correct.

The clause "athletes must...consume highly nutritious food to provide enough energy" conveys that the athletes must consume highly nutritious food for the purpose of gaining the required amount of energy; the food is what the energy comes from, but the athletes get the energy - or provide themselves with the energy, in other words - by consuming the food.

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