GMATPrep SC: Unlike psychiatrists, who are trained as medica

[RonPurewal]

although "wordiness" is never the only problem with an answer choice, sometimes differences in wordiness are VERY clear. remember-- GMAC's correct answers will NEVER be badly written. therefore, if a choice is obviously more wordy than other choices, you can eliminate it.

if you compare B and C, you'll surely agree:
New Mexico began granting prescribing privileges
in New Mexico, the privilege to prescribe began to be granted

you should have little trouble seeing the difference there. that's the most straightforward way to eliminate C.

[RonPurewal]

note that there are also other miscellaneous issues with choice C:

• "the privilege began..." seems to imply that this just happened, as though by pure magic. (it didn't just "begin to be granted" out of nowhere!)
choice B conveys the meaning much more precisely: the NM state government began to grant this privilege.

• "the privilege to ___" is not idiomatic (it's the privilege of ___ing).

• "prescribe their patients drugs" doesn't work. (you can give me drugs, but you can't "prescribe me drugs".)

i'd say the first of these is also pretty straightforward... but note the blue stuff above.

[yuhuanz565]

Is there any difference in the placement of "historically"? In ABC, historically is placed after psychologists, while in CD historically is placed before psychologists.

[RonPurewal]

Is there any difference in the placement of "historically"? In ABC, historically is placed after psychologists, while in CD historically is placed before psychologists.

in context, it's clear that "historically" is describing the verb "have been forbidden".

the first 3 choices place "historically" CLOSER to that verb.
the last 2 choices place "historically" FARTHER from that verb.
so, the first 3 choices are better, and the last 2 are worse. eliminate the last 2.

[fionaw752]

dear instructors, I have a question about the "begin to do" part. As far as I know, "begin to do" means strat to do something, and "begin doing" means keep doing something. In the SC sentence, New Mexico should be "begin to grant somebody to do something" because they did not grant the "licensed, doctoral level psychologists" before 2002, so why is it "began granting prescribing privileges" here?
Thanks in advance!

[RonPurewal]

there's no significant difference between "begin to + VERB" and "begin + VERBing". i'm not sure where you got the idea that there is such a difference, but, nope.

i'm especially mystified by this:

"begin doing" means keep doing something

^^ hm?
i mean... think about what the word "begin" means! it means "start".
there's not going to be some systematic circumstance under which "begin" suddenly starts to mean "continue"—because "begin" and "continue" are two different (and contrasting) ideas.

[fionaw752]

there's no significant difference between "begin to + VERB" and "begin + VERBing". i'm not sure where you got the idea that there is such a difference, but, nope.

i'm especially mystified by this:

"begin doing" means keep doing something

^^ hm?
i mean... think about what the word "begin" means! it means "start".
there's not going to be some systematic circumstance under which "begin" suddenly starts to mean "continue"—because "begin" and "continue" are two different (and contrasting) ideas.

Ron, many thanks to you!
This conception I have been using many years since I thought I learned this in primary school... just realize it is wrong

Well, could you please tell me that how to use "begin to do" and "begin doing" since there is no signficant difference?
I think this point maybe the same as the usage of "start", since there are "start to do" and "start doing"

btw, do you think is it a good method to recite the correct SC sentences from OG since it is about one week to take the GMAT exam?
THX again

[aflaamM589]

Is there any difference in the placement of "historically"? In ABC, historically is placed after psychologists, while in CD historically is placed before psychologists.

in context, it's clear that "historically" is describing the verb "have been forbidden".

the first 3 choices place "historically" CLOSER to that verb.
the last 2 choices place "historically" FARTHER from that verb.
so, the first 3 choices are better, and the last 2 are worse. eliminate the last 2.

Hello Ron,
Apart from adverb being closer to verb it modifies( as you mentioned), isn't placement of adverb after comma also not downright incorrect?
ABC) unlike [noun], noun
DE) unlike [noun], (adverb) noun
Are not DE also incorrect because unlike noun should immediately be followed by noun and thus cannot be followed by adverb( historically in this case) ?

Thanks in advance,
Have a nice day.

[RonPurewal]

again, placement is something you should ALWAYS judge in relative terms.

i.e., you shouldn't think in terms of "this or that placement is correct/incorrect".
instead, you should COMPARE the answer choices... and then make decisions about which placements are clearly BETTER or WORSE.

since there are OTHER choices in which the noun is right there at the beginning (= choices A, B, C), you can safely eliminate D and E on the grounds of placement—because they are objectively worse than the first three.

[aflaamM589]

Combining your previous posts about adverbs with this post , what i understands is...

Adverbs don't effect grammer. So DE (if considered in isolation) are not strictly incorrect.
But since we have to look at answer choices in relative fashion and not in isolation, DE are clearly inferior, though , again, not strictly incorrect.

its about relative judgement vs absolute judgement.
And in GMAT SC relative judgement is what one should resort to.

Am i right?

[RonPurewal]

those sentences are actually incorrect with the adverb in front of "psychologists", but the point is that you don't have to worry about that. the relative judgment is easy, straightforward, and completely black-and-white.

[aflaamM589]

Thank you very much Ron.
I really really appreciate your help.

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.