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While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers

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AIMGMAT770
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While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 07 Mar 2019, 00:20
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While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they could refer, for example, to individuals who perform tasks only unexceptionally or, just as easily, to unmemorable or ordinary experiences.


A. referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they

B. referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it

C. referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has connoted broadly varying meanings; it

D. have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it

E. have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they
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B

Originally posted by AIMGMAT770 on 14 Oct 2013, 02:54.
Last edited by Bunuel on 07 Mar 2019, 00:20, edited 3 times in total.
Renamed the topic and edited the question.
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Re: While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   17 Oct 2013, 13:17
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Punyata wrote:
While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they could refer, for example, to individuals who perform tasks only unexceptionally or, just as easily, to unmemorable or ordinary experiences.

A] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they
B] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it
C] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has connoted broadly varying meanings; it
D] have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it
E]have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they

krakgmat wrote:
Mike, Can you please respond to the SC question below. I really appreciate your help. Thanks

Dear krakgmat,
I got your p.m. and I'm happy to help. I added the tag "Debatable OA" to this thread, because someone, perhaps Punyata, marked the answer as (C), but clearly (B) is a better answer, and other websites featuring this question also say the OA is (B). Her'e's my analysis.

Split #1: the subject is "the expression", which is a singular noun. This requires a singular pronoun, "it", not "they", so choices (A) & (E) are incorrect.

Split #2: similarly, because the subject is singular, we need proper SV agreement. The construction "the expression .... referred" is perfectly correct, but the construction "the expression .... have referred" violates SV agreement. Choices (D) & (E) make this mistake and cannot be correct. Incidentally, here's a blog on SV agreement:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/subject-ve ... orrection/

This leaves us with (B) & (C). The only difference between these two is the phrasing concerning the verb "connote". Notice, the contrast here is between an earlier meaning of the expression, the meaning to which the expression "originally referred", and what it means now, past vs. present.
This is one of these very funny idiom things. The phrase "has connoted" sounds unutterably awkward, for reasons that are hard to explain. If we were going to us this in a contrast, we would say: "The expression has connoted X, but now it also connotes Y." It could be idiomatically correct in a construction in which it represents a past meaning that was still continuing ---- although, I must say, even in a sentence in which it logical seems it would be the perfectly natural choice, the words "has connoted" sounds awkward simply as a combination of words. This is the problem with (C), which can't possibly be the answer.
Meanwhile, here we are discussing a condition which originally wasn't true but, through development over time. became more and more true, so that it is perfectly true in the present moment; the correct idiom for this is "has come to mean X", and the construction "[the expression] has come to connote ..." is idiomatically correct and states the exact logical sequence of events we want to convey. This is why (B) is the best answer.

With all due respect, I believe that argha misunderstood some of the idiomatic subtlety of this question. This is a relatively rare idiom, and I suspect that the real GMAT wouldn't use it in SC at all, but here, in (C), it is used perfectly correct and with precision.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Re: While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   14 Oct 2013, 03:26
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While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they could refer, for example, to individuals who perform tasks only unexceptionally or, just as easily, to unmemorable or ordinary experiences.

A) referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they ---> The subject of the sentence is the expression “no great shakes” and it is singular. So use of they (marked in red) is incorrect.

B) referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it
Pronoun ambiguity is corrected here. More over the sentence "it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings" is correctly in present tense because the original sentence means: While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to X, it has come to represent a broad meaning of X. Representing a broad meaning of X should be in present tense as this activity has not yet completed.

C) referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has connoted broadly varying meanings; it
Pronoun ambiguity is corrected here. However, the second part of the sentence ( it has connoted broadly varying meanings) is in past tense, which is incorrect as explained in B.

D) have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it ---> Use of plural verb "have" with singular subject "the expression”

E) have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they ---> ---> Use of plural verb "have" with singular subject "the expression”. Moreover pronoun ambiguity by using plural pronoun "they for singular subject/noun.
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Re: While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   14 Oct 2013, 03:45
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Punyata wrote:
While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they could refer, for example, to individuals who perform tasks only unexceptionally or, just as easily, to unmemorable or ordinary experiences.
A
referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they
B
referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it
Correct Answer
C
referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has connoted broadly varying meanings; it
D
have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it
E
have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they


Pls. underline your question, use a proper title (it should always be first few words of the question),and indicated the source of the question by giving a appropriate TAG.Read the rules for posting in the verbal forum here
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Re: While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   14 Oct 2013, 06:06
IMO C,

Clearly there is a pronoun error that is corrected in options B, C & D...they have referring to "expression "

However, B is too wordy...has come to connote

D uses the incorrect verb...have referred

Hence, C takes the cake..

Note C uses the correct present perfect tense(has connoted) to denote that the action(of using it wrongly) still continues in the present.



Regards

Argha
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Re: While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   09 Nov 2013, 17:49
mikemcgarry wrote:
Punyata wrote:
While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they could refer, for example, to individuals who perform tasks only unexceptionally or, just as easily, to unmemorable or ordinary experiences.

A] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they
B] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it
C] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has connoted broadly varying meanings; it
D] have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it
E]have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they

krakgmat wrote:
Mike, Can you please respond to the SC question below. I really appreciate your help. Thanks

Dear krakgmat,
I got your p.m. and I'm happy to help. I added the tag "Debatable OA" to this thread, because someone, perhaps Punyata, marked the answer as (C), but clearly (B) is a better answer, and other websites featuring this question also say the OA is (B). Her'e's my analysis.

Split #1: the subject is "the expression", which is a singular noun. This requires a singular pronoun, "it", not "they", so choices (A) & (E) are incorrect.

Split #2: similarly, because the subject is singular, we need proper SV agreement. The construction "the expression .... referred" is perfectly correct, but the construction "the expression .... have referred" violates SV agreement. Choices (D) & (E) make this mistake and cannot be correct. Incidentally, here's a blog on SV agreement:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/subject-ve ... orrection/

This leaves us with (B) & (C). The only difference between these two is the phrasing concerning the verb "connote". Notice, the contrast here is between an earlier meaning of the expression, the meaning to which the expression "originally referred", and what it means now, past vs. present.
This is one of these very funny idiom things. The phrase "has connoted" sounds unutterably awkward, for reasons that are hard to explain. If we were going to us this in a contrast, we would say: "The expression has connoted X, but now it also connotes Y." It could be idiomatically correct in a construction in which it represents a past meaning that was still continuing ---- although, I must say, even in a sentence in which it logical seems it would be the perfectly natural choice, the words "has connoted" sounds awkward simply as a combination of words. This is the problem with (C), which can't possibly be the answer.
Meanwhile, here we are discussing a condition which originally wasn't true but, through development over time. became more and more true, so that it is perfectly true in the present moment; the correct idiom for this is "has come to mean X", and the construction "[the expression] has come to connote ..." is idiomatically correct and states the exact logical sequence of events we want to convey. This is why (B) is the best answer.

With all due respect, I believe that argha misunderstood some of the idiomatic subtlety of this question. This is a relatively rare idiom, and I suspect that the real GMAT wouldn't use it in SC at all, but here, in (C), it is used perfectly correct and with precision.
Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)

Thanks Mike. I am changing the OA to B.
Just to add my 2 cents there is also a slight change in meaning. The expression 'broadly varying meanings' in option C changes the intent conveyed by the sentence while ' broad variety of meanings' used in B aptly expresses it and is a better logical fit.
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Re: While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   26 Jul 2017, 12:44
While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they could refer, for example, to individuals who perform tasks only unexceptionally or, just as easily, to unmemorable or ordinary experiences.

A] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they

- incorrect pronoun reference "they" which is plural for a singular noun "the expression"

B] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it

- CORRECT

C] referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has connoted broadly varying meanings; it

- "had connoted" is in past tense which is incorrect

D] have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it

- "the expression" is singular and cannot have plural verb "have"

E]have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they

- "the expression" is singular and cannot have plural verb "have"

Hence, Answer is B

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Re: While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   16 Jun 2020, 22:09
While the expression “no great shakes” originally referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they could refer, for example, to individuals who perform tasks only unexceptionally or, just as easily, to unmemorable or ordinary experiences.


A. referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they - the singular subject ''the expression'' cannot take the plural pronoun ''they''.

B. referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it - has no error. hence, (B) is the right answer choice.

C. referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has connoted broadly varying meanings; it - here, we have a mismatch of verb tense that does not clearly indicate the origin (timeline) of events described by the verbs: ''has connoted'' is in the present perfect verb tense that highlights an event that originated at some time in the past, whereas, the verb ''referred'' is in the simple past tense. We do not have information that highlights which of these two events occurred first.

D. have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, it has come to connote a broad variety of meanings; it - we cannot have the present perfect tense ''have referred'' to describe an event that took place in the past.

E. have referred to gamblers who were not adept at rolling dice, they have come to connote broadly varying meanings; they - the singular subject ''the expression'' cannot take the plural pronoun ''they''.
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Re: While the expression no great shakes originally referred to gamblers [#permalink] New post   25 Oct 2023, 10:57
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Re: While the expression no great shakes originally referred to gamblers [#permalink]
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