any verbal expert please explain why we rejected c.

Ayush
Total meaning change you know. The issue is about the reason for the inhibition and not about how the inhibition occurs.
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daagh A is clearly the answer here, but could you help with what's wrong with D?

Kriti
A asks a question as to why something is happening whereas D confirms that something is happening. We can see the altered intent
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Am really confused now.
As per discussion on https://gmatclub.com/forum/canadian-sci ... 01939.html, it is said Should is reserved for recommendations and should not be used to express probability.
how can the OA be A then?

Why cheddar cheese should inhibit tooth decay is unclear, but Dr. Bowen, who reports this effect in her study, speculates that the food might interfere with the acid that decays teeth or with the bacterium that produces the acid.

The passage is concerned with the reason why cheddar cheese 'should' inhibit tooth decay; the emphasis on 'reason' can be best understood by examining what follows the underlined portion of this passage - ,but Dr. Bowen,......,speculates that the food might interfere.... decays teeth....


A. Why cheddar cheese should inhibit tooth decay is unclear - Puts emphasis on the obscurity of the 'reason' why cheddar cheese should inhibit tooth decay. This is perfectly in line with the intention of the passage. Hence, (A) is the right answer choice.

B. Cheddar cheese and how it inhibits tooth decay is not clear - (B) implies that 'Cheddar cheese' is unclear and 'how cheddar cheese inhibits tooth decay' is unclear. The intention of the passage was not to imply that 'cheddar cheese' is unclear, an implication that does not make any sense whatsoever. Hence, eliminate (B)

C. How cheddar cheese should inhibit tooth decay is not clear - this emphasizes on the inhibition 'process' rather than on the reason 'why'. hence, eliminate (C)

D. That cheddar cheese inhibits tooth decay and how is unclear -(D) implies that two things are unclear:

(i) whether 'cheddar cheese' inhibits tooth decay
and
(ii) 'how' cheddar cheese inhibits tooth decay.

the passage does not focus on any of these two implications. hence, eliminate (D)

E. Why there is an inhibition of tooth decay by cheddar cheese is unclear - (E) implies that it is tooth decay that causes 'cheddar cheese'. This obviously does not make sense. Hence, eliminate (E).

daagh Sir,

In option A how the use of "should" is justified?
Because of "should" I went with Option D which is grammatically correct but not maintaining exact meaning.

Please explain.

Thanks in advance
Rishit

Rishit
That is a style of writing. Don't we say why should people drink when they know it is harmful? what is wrong with this?
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daagh: I agree thats correct. But can you comment on the validity of the link i posted above? It explicitly states should is to be used for recommendations/obligations.. and not to denote possibility

If this is how GMAT works, this is how it works. However, from a native speaking and meaning perspective, there's clearly a big flaw in the official correct choice.

After elimination, it comes down to choice A and C. Everything else has meaning or conciseness issues.

Core sentence of the two remaining choices are:
A: "Why cheese inhibit decay is unclear, but Dr. Bowen speculates that..."
C: "How cheese inhibit decay is not clear, but Dr. Bowen speculates that..."

From a native speaker's point of view, we to use "how" to describe the way something is done; "why" is reserved for intent reasoning.

For example, compare the following sentences:
"How they solve the puzzle" vs "Why they solve the puzzle"

"How" implies asking the process by which they solve the puzzle. For example, you could answer: "They solve by lining up the edges first, then filling in the center"

"Why" implies asking the intent of their action. You could answer: "They solve the puzzle because they are bored during coronavirus lockdown."


In this question's case, the remaining sentence describes not the intent of cheese inhibiting decay, but the process by which cheese inhibits decay. The cheese does not have intent.

[quote="ajh258"]If this is how GMAT works, this is how it works. However, from a native speaking and meaning perspective, there's clearly a big flaw in the official correct choice.

Thanks ajh258 for stating this as per a native's perspective, coz i thought on similar lines and marked 'C' option only to find it was wrong option. Also, I couldn't and still not able to comprehend the solution given in the OA!!

Confused by this line of reasoning. Answering "why" also answers "how" in this instance no?
Example:
Why does Cheddar cheese cause inhibition? Because microbes in the cheese breakdown tooth decay.
How does Cheddar cheese cause inhibition? Microbes in the cheese breakdown tooth decay.

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:


Rhetorical Construction; Diction

The sentence considers some possible mechanisms by which cheddar cheese might inhibit tooth decay. The underlined portion of the given sentence may express a certain skepticism, signaled by the use of why … should, as to whether cheddar cheese does, in fact, inhibit tooth decay, and the rest of the sentence attributes to Dr. Bowen a speculation as to how this might occur. The expression why … decay is a noun clause and the subject of the verb is.

A Correct. As explained above, this version of the sentence is clear and grammatically in order.
B This answer choice is incoherent. Because it is nonsensical to say that cheddar cheese is not clear, cheddar cheese cannot be taken as the subject of the verb is; the phrase cheddar cheese and is therefore best viewed as a fragment that does not fit grammatically in the context.
C This version appears intended to indicate that no clear mechanism by which cheddar cheese inhibits, or could inhibit, tooth decay has been described. Because the concern about a mechanism would presuppose that cheddar cheese does, or could, inhibit tooth decay, the use of should to indicate doubt as to whether this is so does not fit well in context.
D The intended thought in this answer choice may be something like the following: it is unclear that cheddar cheese inhibits tooth decay, and how [it would do so]. But this is not correctly expressed. The verb is seems to have two subjects, the that-clause and the implicit how-clause, so the verb form should be the plural are.
E This answer choice is unnecessarily awkward and wordy, with the use of there is and the unnecessary use of the noun inhibition instead of a form of the verb inhibit.

The correct answer is A.

I'm not sure about this

"should" implies an opinion or recommendation from someone

Can someone explain the usage of "Should" ? GMATNinja

After take a look among the answer choices, I hope everybody get the final decision betwen A and C.

Why A and not C?

C) How cheddar cheese should inhibit tooth decay is not clear -> "HOW" tell us that we are 100% sure that cheese cheedar does inhibit tooth decay (we just want to know how is the process), but if we add the word "should", we are giving a space to doubt about the capacity of cheedar cheese to inhibit tooth decay, so use "How" and "Should" in the same clause is a contradiction. This contradiction doesn't occur in answer choice A.

We can also use "should" to express what is probable or expected. For example:

• "Drinking a glass of whiskey should help alleviate the pain from your toothache." (Or the pain from your GMAT exam. Just sayin'.)
• "One hour should be enough time to get to the show."
• "The package should arrive in 3-5 business days."

In this case, cheddar cheese should inhibit tooth decay. Will it always inhibit tooth decay? No. But generally speaking we expect cheddar cheese to inhibit tooth decay.

Nachos, anyone?
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VeritasKarishma

Even after reading the expert posts, I'm not very clear with why C or D is not correct

As per the sentence when we say Dr. has reported this effect in her study and speculates on how it happens, shouldn't C give a better intro by saying how this happens is not clear but Dr. speculates 2 possibilities

Pls help!