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03 Jan 2021, 06:24
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AjiteshArun
AjiteshArun thank you for your prompt reply and helpful remarks,
sorry for this follow up question, it's just I'm a little bit confused with this part 1. ""a course required separately ~ The course is {required in a separate way}."" , The course is not going to be integrated in the curriculum so it should be required separately ( so each student should ask for it to be included in a separate way)- I think there is something that I have misunderstood , what is the mistake exactly in the use of separately (meaning wise I guess)?
03 Jan 2021, 23:03
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UNSTOPPABLE12
Hi UNSTOPPABLE12,
A follow-up question is never a problem. In fact, I myself am not sure about exactly when we would use required separately when we're talking about a course (possibly because I don't think I've come across anything like "the course is required separately" before). A second opinion would be useful here.
If we look at the first half of the sentence, we see a contrast indicator (while) and the idea it introduces is that business ethics should be integrated into every business course.
While some academicians believe that business ethics should be integrated into every business course...
It seems logical to say that the opposite of a course that is integrated into every business course is a separate course, where separate is an adjective for the noun course. If instead we use separately, to describe required, then the meaning that we're looking for (that the course is ~compulsory and it is a separate course) is lost (or not as clear).
The course is compulsorily separate. ← This is not a very good example, but do you see what I mean? This sentence does not really tell us that the course is both compulsory and separate.
10 Apr 2021, 14:52
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This question popped up on our Ask Me Anything About SC thread. We're reposting the answer here, just in case it helps anybody.
With that in mind, let's take a look at a simplified version of choice (B) both with and without the "only":
Now let's look at a simplified version of your "Statement 2": "Students will take ethics seriously if it is taught only as a separate, required course."
Phew, that's a bit confusing. Luckily, the GMAT isn't asking us to worry about that distinction here. As long as you understand what the "only" does to choice (B), you've done your job. And unfortunately memorizing a bunch of rules is unlikely to help.
Instead, if you're ever confused about the word "only" is doing in a sentence, ask yourself, "What is the difference in meaning between the sentence WITH the 'only' and the sentence WITHOUT the 'only'?" (As explained in our SC Beginner's Guide, to get to an elite SC score, you’ll have to get pretty good at finding the strict, LITERAL differences in meaning between two or more answer choices.)
I hope that helps!
r24350
The good news is that the GMAT is not meant to be a grammar test, and you'll never be asked what a modifier technically modifies. And unfortunately, I don't think that memorizing an exhaustive list of "rules" governing adverbs and adjectives would do much good -- in fact, it might just encourage you to think too mechanically instead of focusing on meaning and logic.
With that in mind, let's take a look at a simplified version of choice (B) both with and without the "only":
- "Students will take ethics seriously if it is taught as a separate, required course." - Here we have a simple if-then statement (no "only"). IF ethics is taught as a separate/required course, THEN students will take ethics seriously. Notice that there might be OTHER ways to get students to take ethics seriously -- for example, IF there is a Netflix mini-series about the importance of ethics or IF Kim Kardashian tells everyone to take ethics seriously. Teaching ethics as a separate/required course is ONE way to get students to take ethics seriously, but it's not necessarily the ONLY way.
- "Students will take ethics seriously only if it is taught as a separate, required course." - Putting the "only" back changes the meaning entirely. Now there is in fact only ONE way to get students to take ethics seriously, and that's by teaching ethics as a separate/required course. Do we care what exactly the "only" modifies? Not really. What matters is what it does to the meaning. In other words, we care about the function, not the technical label. What matters is that we are distinguishing between a simple "if-then" condition and an "if ONLY-then" condition.
Now let's look at a simplified version of your "Statement 2": "Students will take ethics seriously if it is taught only as a separate, required course."
- The position of the "only" has been changed, and this does change the meaning a bit. Now we are distinguishing between (1) teaching ethics as a separate/required course and (2) teaching ethics ONLY as a separate/required course.
- In this case, the focus is on the teaching part -- maybe there are many different ways that we could teach ethics (i.e. as a separate course that is NOT required, as part of some other course(s), as an instructional video game that students are free to access, whatever...). And maybe we want to utilize more than one of those options. Without the word "only," notice that it doesn't matter what OTHER options are available -- as long as we have the separate/required course, students will take ethics seriously.
- But as soon as we add the word "only", things change. Now it sounds as though making those OTHER options available would actually be a problem. If we have a separate/required course BUT also have all those other options, students might NOT take ethics seriously! Why? Because apparently students will take ethics seriously if it is taught ONLY as a separate/required course (and not taught any other way).
Phew, that's a bit confusing. Luckily, the GMAT isn't asking us to worry about that distinction here. As long as you understand what the "only" does to choice (B), you've done your job. And unfortunately memorizing a bunch of rules is unlikely to help.
Instead, if you're ever confused about the word "only" is doing in a sentence, ask yourself, "What is the difference in meaning between the sentence WITH the 'only' and the sentence WITHOUT the 'only'?" (As explained in our SC Beginner's Guide, to get to an elite SC score, you’ll have to get pretty good at finding the strict, LITERAL differences in meaning between two or more answer choices.)
I hope that helps!
