Fraternal Twins

[CrystalSpringston]

Hi expert:

Could I know what "they" refers to in correct anwser B?
I thought it ambiguous, so eliminate B.

Thank you

[RonPurewal]

if you have to ask this ^^ then you have failed to understand the meaning of the sentence.

if that's the case, then you did at least one of these 2 things:
1/ you RUSHED through reading the original sentence,
2/ you thought about grammar/mechanics while reading the original.

remember!
STEP 1 of EVERY sentence correction problem:
• read slowly
• read as though you were reading a book or magazine
• get THE INTENDED MEANING of the sentence
• DO NOT THINK ABOUT GRAMMAR AT ALL at this point

the point here is that PAIRS OF TWINS vary considerably in certain ways. if you have done 'step 1' properly, you will understand this.

[RonPurewal]

also, this ...

I thought it ambiguous, so eliminate B.

'ambiguous pronouns' are not tested on this exam.
do not waste your time thinking about 'pronoun ambiguity'.

[CrystalSpringston]

also, this ...

I thought it ambiguous, so eliminate B.

'ambiguous pronouns' are not tested on this exam.
do not waste your time thinking about 'pronoun ambiguity'.

Whoa! but we have maintains of SC problems whose incorrect options contain the error of 'pronoun ambiguity', in both OG and official PREP.

So is it a new policy or trend about the SC?

[RonPurewal]

don't forget—the OG answer keys are usually incomplete, and often incorrect.

the official PROBLEMS are essentially flawless, but the official answer keys are not.
(GMAC's all-stars, the people who write the problems, do not write the answer keys. GMAC 'outsources' that work to people of lesser talent, presumably to cut costs.)

[CrystalSpringston]

don't forget—the OG answer keys are usually incomplete, and often incorrect.

the official PROBLEMS are essentially flawless, but the official answer keys are not.
(GMAC's all-stars, the people who write the problems, do not write the answer keys. GMAC 'outsources' that work to people of lesser talent, presumably to cut costs.)

So my understanding regarding the pronoun problems in SC is:
1) if there is anything wrong with the pronoun, then either the singular/plural problem, or no antecedent.
2) Except for 1), no such ambiguous problems in GMAT exams.

Am I correct?

Thank you!

[charmanineW924]

Ron, can you give an example about the wrong usage of 'this' ?

anything in which "this" is used as a noun is incorrect. if you see "this is..."; "this shows that"; "this VERB" in general, then it's wrong.

the only acceptable use of "this" in formal written english is as an adjective: this fact, this predator, this notion, etc.

So ,”this fact” in E is right ,but the construction is wrong? As you said:the structure of choice (e) indicates that "this fact" is something other than the cited fact about fraternal twins' resemblance. 
But I cannot understand ,why “this fact ” is not the fact that the “because...”indicates.
In E , is there any other problems except the “this fact” ?

[RonPurewal]

you can also understand the problem in terms of redundancy.

remember, you should be able to replace this fact with 'the fact that xxxx' or with 'that xxxx'

here's an analogy with fewer words:
Because cardinals are red, they cannot blend in with their surroundings in winter.
That cardinals are red implies that they cannot blend in with their surroundings in winter.
these sentences work.

Cardinals are red; this fact implies that they cannot blend in with their surroundings in winter.
Cardinals are red. This fact implies that they cannot blend in with their surroundings in winter.
Cardinals are red. The fact that cardinals are red implies that they cannot blend in with their surroundings in winter.
these examples, while needlessly cumbersome, are also correct.
since each example consists of two independent sentences, there is no redundancy. (if two sentences are conjoined by a semicolon, they are still separate sentences.)

this substitution should make the problem clear:
Because cardinals are red, this fact implies that they cannot blend in with their surroundings in winter.
Because cardinals are red, the fact that cardinals are red implies that they cannot blend in with their surroundings in winter.
these don't work. i bet you can see why not.

[sunx649]

Hi, Ron

You said that :
anything in which "this" is used as a noun is incorrect. if you see "this is..."; "this shows that"; "this VERB" in general, then it's wrong.

the only acceptable use of "this" in formal written english is as an adjective: this fact, this predator, this notion, etc.

My question is: Can I use 'that' in the same way?

------------------------------------------------------

And, is there some situation that the word 'that' refers to something mentioned in former sentence?

e.g.
The painting is so beautiful, that makes me happy.


Can you please clarify how to use 'that'?
Thank you !

[RonPurewal]

there's ONE question in the OG in which "that" is used in such a way (#2 in the 2016 OG, can't reproduce or discuss here)—but, in that question, every other choice can be eliminated for much more fundamental and straightforward reasons.
so this use of "that" is a non-issue.

that's literally the only exception in all the thousands of problems GMAC has created, so, this isn't something worth worrying about.

[QIAND24]

My best advice for namely is simply to gloss it as as follows, here and elsewhere.

Now to the technical answer to your question. I hate to multiply grammatical categories, but namely is what is called a conjunctive adverb. It doesn't modify the noun it introduces; it represents the relationship between the clauses (or the clause and phrase) it joins.

Gloss the word namely as as follows to get a sense of the relationship it represents between these two clauses.

That is being used here as a subordinating conjunction, to introduce a subordinate clause. If you look through the OG you'll see many such usages, The committee proposed that..., that sort of thing.

I'll check whether we already have good thread on coordinating conjunctions, and post it below if we do.

hi, instructors,
i am still confused about the usage of "namely", sorry.

as far as i am concerned, "namely" is used to clarify something appears in the preceding sentence, and is followed by noun/noun phrases/noun clauses. in this question, "namely" followed by a noun clause to clarify " feature of fraternal-twin pairs" in the sentence.

is my thought correct? Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

i don't know what "noun clause" means, but there's no need to consider such things on this exam.

"namely" is used to clarify something appears in the preceding sentence

this ^^ is correct, and it's the only thing you need to know here. ("specify" is a better word than "clarify"—since "namely" implies that you're about to SPECIFICALLY NAME or IDENTIFY something.)

[QIAND24]

i don't know what "noun clause" means, but there's no need to consider such things on this exam.

"namely" is used to clarify something appears in the preceding sentence

this ^^ is correct, and it's the only thing you need to know here. ("specify" is a better word than "clarify"—since "namely" implies that you're about to SPECIFICALLY NAME or IDENTIFY something.)

Really appreciate your help!
So sorry that I didn't reply you at once since I didn't receive any notifications of your reply.

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

no worries, there's no reason why replies would have to be instant.

[WeiL965]

(by contrast, in (d), "it" is fine because it's part of the special construction "it is a fact that...", which behaves in the same manner as constructions such as "it is surprising that...").

i have a question about this point. In choice (d)—"it is a fact that highlits..."— that is actually a relative pronoun and thus stands for a fact. But in the structure "it is a fact that ...", that means nothing.

Eg:
It is a fact that the earth goes around the sun. (this is the structure that Ron mentioned. In this sentence, that does not play a role in the earth goes aroung the sun)
it is a fact that proves the common sense—the earth goes around the sun. (this is what happened in (d), in my opinion)

Am i wrong? If i made a mistake, please feel free to correct me. Thanks a lot.