Advice needed on SC problem from ETS paper exam

[ZoeH439]

Can anyone please tell me what "it" in answer choice c is referring to? Is "it" referring to study?

this is an example of the ONLY pronoun that is allowed to go without standing for a noun.

THE ONLY PRONOUNS ON THE GMAT THAT DON'T HAVE TO STAND FOR NOUNS:
It + description + that + complete sentence (independent clause)
It + description + to + verb (infinitive)
It + (TO BE verb) + NOUN + that/who + verb

these "it"s DO NOT have to stand for nouns.
ALL other gmat pronouns must stand for nouns.

FIRST TYPE

It + is obvious + that Medellín will beat Nacional in Wednesday’s game.
(for any paisas who might be reading this --vamox medallo!)

It + has been said + that the moon is made of green cheese.

Johnny found it + counterintuitive + that the GMAT tests exceptions to rules just as often as it tests the rules themselves.

SECOND TYPE

It + is often difficult + to distinguish between a past-tense verb and a past participle.

The rain made it + quite challenging + to drive on the freeway.

THIRD TYPE

It + was my own brother + who committed the crime.


if you look at the examples you've given above, you will find that all of them conform exactly to the above templates.

also, if you have og12, check out #57.
there are four instances of "it".
the two instances of "it" that occur at the beginning of choices (present in choices (c) and (d)) fit the above templates, and so are ok even though they don't stand for nouns.
the other two instances of "it" (in choices (a) and (c)) do not fit the above templates, and so must stand for nouns; since there are no suitable nouns in those choices, those pronouns are incorrect.

Hi Ron,
I want to make sure whether the structure "make possible +noun "and structure"make possible +that+complete sentence" are correct or wrong? i mean,omit the pronounce"it"
I thought it was right because i could always come across this kind of expressionS in GRE and GMAT articles.
here is a example from GRE sentence:
Friedrich Engels, however, predicted that women would be liberated from the “social, legal, and economic subordination” of the family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of “the whole female sex into public industry”.

THX SO MUCH

[RonPurewal]

This is not a GRE forum, so, technically, this question has no business here.

But...
This is the same construction as "to make X possible".

Sometimes, when an element is really, really long, the usual order of words will be inverted so that the really, really long element goes LAST.

E.g.,
I dedicated a song to my father. (normal order of words)
I dedicated to my father a song. (not technically wrong, but weird order-- you wouldn't really see a sentence like this one outside of poetry)

BUT...
I dedicated a song with lyrics recalling many of my favorite childhood moments to my father.
This sentence is absolutely unreadable. If you can make any sense of it, that's only because of the boldface part.
Here it is without the boldface part: I dedicated a song with lyrics recalling many of my favorite childhood moments to my father.
Impossible to understand unless you read it several times.

I dedicated to my father a song with lyrics recalling many of my favorite childhood moments.
Reverse of the usual order ... but easy to read.
Here it is without the boldface: I dedicated to my father a song with lyrics recalling many of my favorite childhood moments.
Still easy to read.

Word order will NEVER be tested on this exam, so, really, this is a non-issue.
You should at least know that these constructions exist, though, so that you can avoid mistakenly marking them as incorrect.

[asmitajolly]

My apologies to reopening an old thread.

I just wanted a clarification on option D explanation mentioned in this thread. Ron said that "it", in choice D, has no counterpart. May I ask you to elaborate this point. My understanding was that it can refer to the study. Thanks in advance.

[RonPurewal]

My apologies to reopening an old thread.

I just wanted a clarification on option D explanation mentioned in this thread. Ron said that "it", in choice D, has no counterpart. May I ask you to elaborate this point. My understanding was that it can refer to the study. Thanks in advance.

Try substituting "the study" for "it". The resulting sentence doesn't make sense.

[SeanW667]

New techniques in thermal-scanning photography, a process that records radiation from surface areas, makes it possible to study the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than ever before.
a. makes it possible to study the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than ever before
b. make it possible to study, in greater detail, the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river than ever before
c. have made it possible to study in greater detail than ever before the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river
d. make possible the study of the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than it ever was before
e. has made it more possible than ever before to study in greater detail the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river

This sentence tries to compare a new study method with old one, isn't a time modifier needed before "than", since it is "ever before" after "than"? Otherwise, if current method "in greater detail" is compared with previous method, isn't "than it was ever before" required after "than"?


Compare with another question:
A large rise in the number of housing starts in the coming year should boost new construction dollars by several billion dollars, making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago.
(A) making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(B) and make the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(C) making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than it was five years ago
(D) to make the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(E) in making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than it as five years ago


I remember vividly (although now I can't find the post by Ron) how a comparison is constructed in a sentence: You have to find the counterpart of the element after "than" in the portion before "than".

[RonPurewal]

New techniques in thermal-scanning photography, a process that records radiation from surface areas, makes it possible to study the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than ever before.
a. makes it possible to study the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than ever before
b. make it possible to study, in greater detail, the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river than ever before
c. have made it possible to study in greater detail than ever before the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river
d. make possible the study of the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than it ever was before
e. has made it more possible than ever before to study in greater detail the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river

This sentence tries to compare a new study method with old one, isn't a time modifier needed before "than", since it is "ever before" after "than"? Otherwise, if current method "in greater detail" is compared with previous method, isn't "than it was ever before" required after "than"?

"before" is a sufficient indication of time.

[RonPurewal]

more importantly, the above is a non-issue in this problem: the only choice without "...than ever before" contains an "it was" that can't logically stand for anything.
so, after that relatively straightforward elimination, all we have is 4 choices containing "...than ever before".

[thanghnvn]

New techniques in thermal-scanning photography, a process that records radiation from surface areas, makes it possible to study the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than ever before.
a. makes it possible to study the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than ever before
b. make it possible to study, in greater detail, the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river than ever before
c. have made it possible to study in greater detail than ever before the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river
d. make possible the study of the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than it ever was before
e. has made it more possible than ever before to study in greater detail the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river

This sentence tries to compare a new study method with old one, isn't a time modifier needed before "than", since it is "ever before" after "than"? Otherwise, if current method "in greater detail" is compared with previous method, isn't "than it was ever before" required after "than"?


Compare with another question:
A large rise in the number of housing starts in the coming year should boost new construction dollars by several billion dollars, making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago.
(A) making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(B) and make the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(C) making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than it was five years ago
(D) to make the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(E) in making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than it as five years ago


I remember vividly (although now I can't find the post by Ron) how a comparison is constructed in a sentence: You have to find the counterpart of the element after "than" in the portion before "than".

this is a great question.
yes , we have to find the cut off element of the second part of comparison in the first part of comparison. we do so on the basis of paralellism. but in the second problem" large rise..." , there is no parallelism-there is no a form of "to be" in the first half of comparision- so, we can not infer "robust " in the second half.

the oa of the second question is in doubt, I think. this question is not from og or gmatprep. if you see it in og or gmatprep, pls, email to me, [redacted] and we continue to discuss.

in the oa of our question from gmatprep, the papallelism dose appear
to study in greater detail than (to study in great detail) ever before

perfect parallelism and correctness.

[tim]

I do not understand most of what you are saying here. Please let us know if you have a question here, and if you do, please try your hardest to make it grammatically correct and understandable so we can help you.

[DiZ806]

C is right.

The comma before of a river doesn't have anything to do with that phrase. The commas set off the phrase or warming, which phrase modifies calefaction. Without that modifier C would read simply

New techniques in thermal-scanning photography, a process that records radiation from surface areas, have made it possible to study in greater detail than ever before the effects of calefaction of a river.

That would also be grammatically correct, though we probably wouldn't have any idea what it meant.

Why We can not use C.Using it refers to construction industry's economic

[tim]

You trailed off mid-sentence. Care to try again?

[KirilZ11]

Hello Ron,
I would like to kindly ask you if you can give few thoughts of why the present perfect tense is correct in C. I went after B only because I thought that the tense in C is wrong.

Thanks for all your work that you do for us, the students.

New techniques in thermal-scanning photography, a process that records radiation from surface areas, makes it possible to study the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than ever before.

(A) makes it possible to study the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than ever before
(B) make it possible to study, in greater detail, the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river than ever before
(C) have made it possible to study in greater detail than ever before the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river
(D) make possible the study of the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river in greater detail than it ever was before
(E) has made it more possible than ever before to study in greater detail the effects of calefaction, or warming, of a river

[RonPurewal]

we're describing something in the (recent) past, with a clear impact upon the situation at present. that's exactly when "has/have ___ed" is used.