OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
For SC butler Questions Click Here→ This is mostly an idiom question, though it also involves diction, style, meaning, construction, and concision.
→ I write my own OEs. This time I am quoting Kaplan's OE, often verbatim.
• THE PROMPT AND THE ANSWER CHOICESQuote:
Working with musician Stevie Wonder as a musical adviser, Ray Kurzweil developed what is now the preferred medium for creating nearly all music for today’s commercial albums, films, and television: a computer-based instrument capable of reproducing musical sounds of a quality once thought to be possible only on grand pianos and other acoustic instruments.
A) reproducing musical sounds of a quality once thought to be
B) reproducing musical sounds with a quality as were once thought to be
C) reproducing in musical sounds a quality that was once thought to be
D) [of] reproduction of musical sounds whose quality is the same as what were once thought to be
E) [of] reproduction of musical sounds at a quality once thought of as
→ Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors
This is a long sentence, but the colon indicates that what comes after the colon is simply going to explain more about what comes before the colon, so let’s just focus on what comes after the colon, since that’s where the underlined portion is.
The original sentence may have sounded just fine to you.
Before selecting (A), though, make sure none of the other choices expresses the idea more clearly and concisely. [NOTE:
Never choose what you think is the best answer. Eliminate what you think are the four worst answers. Now, you may get your pool down to two or three options, at which point you must choose between two answers, deciding which is better and which is worse.)
→ Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices
Options (A) and (B) begin with
reproducing musical sounds. (C) begins with
reproducing in musical sounds, and
(D) and (E) begin with
reproduction of musical sounds. It appears that this sentence is testing idiomatic constructions.
→ Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains
The original sentence is correct as written, making (A) the correct answer.
It contains the correct constructions:
capable of reproducing … sounds of a quality once thought to be possible … In (B),
with a quality changes the sentence to mean that the instrument possesses the "quality," when it’s the quality of the sounds that’s discussed here.
Furthermore,
as were once is unidiomatic in the sentence.
Option (C) unnecessarily introduces
in and
that was. Extraneous words are a sign of an incorrect answer in GMAT Sentence Correction questions.
Options (D) and (E) introduce the awkward construction
capable of reproduction of. Option (D) is also extremely wordy, and (E) also includes the unidiomatic "at a quality" and 'once thought of as."
The best answer is A.[END KAPLAN]
COMMENTSThis question is a little slippery.
ElninoEffect and
TarunKumar1234 are stalwart contributors.
Nice work, both of you.
Kudos for good work, for consistency, and for bravery.
Keep up the hard work, everyone.
close
09 Jan 2022, 00:08
25%
(medium)
29%
(01:29)
wrong 
