Many teenagers undergo stress, but results of a recent study

[RonPurewal]

Thanks Guys !

I do not contest the OA. Its unambiguous.

However, I have a questions regarding Ron's affirmation above regarding the helping verb do.
Why cant do refer to verb "result". Is it because we are talking about comparisons and the verbs(main/helpings) have to be in the same category? Or the situation(discussing study results/predicting likelihood) discussed in the sentence that mandates usage of verbs from the same category.

you're being too "academic" about this. just think about meaning, and it will be clear why that's not a thing here.

if you let "do" = result, then you get a nonsense comparison: in the first part you've got the likelihood that something will happen ... but in the second part you've got the thing that actually happens.

here's another set of examples:
I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife
I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife is
--> both correct.
no information here about the relative quantities of cheese that we might consume; there's just a greater chance that i'll eat (an unspecified quantity of) cheese.

I am likely to eat more cheese than my wife
I am likely to eat more cheese than my wife does
I am likely to eat more cheese than my wife will
I am likely to eat more cheese than my wife can
--> all fine.
now we're talking about the quantity of cheese, not the likelihood.

I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife does/will/can
--> nonsense.
if you want to quantify why it's nonsense, think about the fact that the left side would be measured as 50% likely, 70% likely, etc., whereas the right side would be measured as 8 ounces of cheese, 100 grams of cheese, etc.

that's the best i can do here. hope it helps.

[harishmullapudi]

Tough one. I like A best.

The sentence is making a comparison, so we have to make sure the comparison makes logical sense and is parallel.

Part of the comparison is girls' stress patterns, so I need to mention stress patterns of boys. B and C are out. (A uses the pronoun "those" to refer to stress patterns, so it stays in.)

Also, I'm specifically comparing how likely the two different patterns are to result in depression- it's not just a straight comparison between different patterns, but the effects of the different patterns - so the comparison needs to indicate this too. This is likely going to be accomplished via a verb, so E is out.

That leaves me with A and D. A uses the same verb in the same tense ("are") while D introduces a new verb ("do"). A also follows a similar format for the rest: "patterns of stress that girls experience" and "those that boys experience." D doesn't. A is more parallel, so that's what I would choose.

"Many teenagers undergo stress, but results of a recent study indicate that the patterns of stress that girls experience are more likely to result in depression than are those that boys experience."

Stacey, I know that choice 'A' looks better than any other choice given there, but still when you take only 'A' isn't it awkward?

My defense is... In the first part of the sentence verb (are likely to result...) is used after subject (patterns that girls experience.) In order to make the second sentence parallel, don't we need to use the same format (Subject and then Verb)?

I mean like this...
"patterns of stress that girls experience will more likely result in depression than those that boys experience will result in"
or
"patterns of stress that girls experience will more likely result in depression than patterns of stress that boys experience will result in"


Now when I'm typing this, I got one more doubt. Which of the following sentences is/are correct?

"Fast exercises will result in good body shape than slow exercises will"

"Fast exercises will result in good shape than will slow exercises"

"Fast exercises will result in good shape than are slow exercises"


I'm sorry for this bad example, I can't think of much better one... :)

[tim]

first --
OFFICIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS ARE CORRECT!
do not question officially correct answers!
far too many students on this forum make the mistake of questioning the correct answers; please note that doing so is a complete waste of your time and effort. i.e., exactly 0% of the time that you spend posting "isn't this official answer wrong?" is productive, and exactly 100% of that time is wasted.

"is this correct?" is never a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers. the answer is always yes.
"is this wrong?" / "is this X type of error?" is never a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers. the answer is always no.

instead, the questions you should be asking about correct official answers, if you don't understand them, are:
"why is this correct?"
"how does this work?"
"what understanding am i lacking that i need to understand this choice?"

this is a small, but hugely significant, change to your way of thinking.
you will suddenly find it much easier to understand the format, style, and conventions of the official problems if you retire the idea that they might be wrong.

There is nothing wrong with an answer choice sounding "wordy" or "awkward". In fact, I have NEVER seen a GMAT problem for which the only way to eliminate an answer is awkwardness. If you ever use the phrase "wordy and awkward" (or anything else that sounds similar) to explain your reasoning on a SC question, you have done something wrong. If you are willing to eliminate an answer choice because it is awkward, you may end up eliminating the correct choice. There is ALWAYS a real reason why SC answer choices are wrong, and "wordy and awkward" is NEVER that reason. Please note that if you read an explanation that uses the words "awkward" or "wordy", that explanation is wrong - EVEN IF IT IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE OFFICIAL GUIDE.

As for the examples you have given, all three are incorrect. Take a closer look at them and see if you can figure out why.

[nghiaac2002]

Thanks Guys !

I do not contest the OA. Its unambiguous.

However, I have a questions regarding Ron's affirmation above regarding the helping verb do.
Why cant do refer to verb "result". Is it because we are talking about comparisons and the verbs(main/helpings) have to be in the same category? Or the situation(discussing study results/predicting likelihood) discussed in the sentence that mandates usage of verbs from the same category.

you're being too "academic" about this. just think about meaning, and it will be clear why that's not a thing here.

if you let "do" = result, then you get a nonsense comparison: in the first part you've got the likelihood that something will happen ... but in the second part you've got the thing that actually happens.

here's another set of examples:
I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife
I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife is
--> both correct.
no information here about the relative quantities of cheese that we might consume; there's just a greater chance that i'll eat (an unspecified quantity of) cheese.

I am likely to eat more cheese than my wife
I am likely to eat more cheese than my wife does
I am likely to eat more cheese than my wife will
I am likely to eat more cheese than my wife can
--> all fine.
now we're talking about the quantity of cheese, not the likelihood.

I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife does/will/can
--> nonsense.
if you want to quantify why it's nonsense, think about the fact that the left side would be measured as 50% likely, 70% likely, etc., whereas the right side would be measured as 8 ounces of cheese, 100 grams of cheese, etc.

that's the best i can do here. hope it helps.

Hi Ron,
In the case that you mentioned above:
I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife does/will/can

If I need to fix that, can I put "is" at the end of the sentence or I have to put it next to the word "than"?

Thank you very much

[RonPurewal]

The best way to fix that sentence would be to dump the helping verb entirely, because it's not necessary.
I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife.

(Obviously I am not thinking about eating my wife, so this sentence is perfectly clear and unambiguous.)

[RonPurewal]

If I need to fix that, can I put "is" at the end of the sentence or I have to put it next to the word "than"?

Thank you very much

Again, as noted above, you'd be best off dumping the "is" entirely. It's unnecessary (and somewhat annoying for the reader).

But, if you insist on including it...

* If it just says "my wife", then you can put "is" in either location.
I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife is.
I am more likely to eat cheese than is my wife.
The second one is a bit weird, but it's not wrong.

* If "my wife" is followed by a modifier, then "is" goes before.
I am more likely to eat cheese than is my wife, who does not tolerate lactose well.
(If "is" is after the modifier, the sentence becomes essentially impossible to read in one shot.)

[Jessica213]

The best way to fix that sentence would be to dump the helping verb entirely, because it's not necessary.
I am more likely to eat cheese than my wife.

(Obviously I am not thinking about eating my wife, so this sentence is perfectly clear and unambiguous.)

Is it better to omit "are" in choice A? I think the omission will not result in any ambiguity...Besides, I'm still confused with E. I think though the form's different, "stress pattens of boys" could also express the intended meaning clearly. Also, even though the verb "are" is omitted, it is still clear that the comparion is between the subjects since "result in stress patterns of boys" makes no sense.
Pls let me know if I've misunderstood something. Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

Is it better to omit "are" in choice A?

No.

The best answer to this question is two answers:
(a) That's the correct answer, so why bother trying to hypothesize "better" things? Don't waste your time.
(b) Don't edit GMAC's sentences -- your hands are presumably already full enough with the choices that are there.

If "are" is removed, then a second meaning becomes possible, i.e., girls' experiences are more likely to turn into depression than to turn into something similar to boys' experiences.

[RonPurewal]

I think though the form's different,

^^ As soon as you get to the red thing, you're done with choice E.
Choice A expresses two parallel things in exactly the same way. Choice E expresses them in substantially different ways. You know who wins that one.

Choice E is like saying "I like swimming and to run", versus choice A "I like swimming and running". Absolutely no doubt which one wins.
What you're saying is equivalent to remarking that "swimming" and "to run" are individually ok -- which is, of course, true. But that's not the point. The point is that they don't match each other, so the sentence is wrong.

Parallelism is the #1 thing tested on sentence correction. If you are thinking about anything else before you consider parallelism ... don't.

[momo32]

Hi Ron，

in the choice E，
Many teenagers undergo stress, but results of a recent study indicate that the patterns of stress that girls experience are more likely to result in depression than stress patterns of boys

i think we can omit are because result in stress patterns of boys is wrong. so we can think that it is the comparison with two subjects?
is it right? and i have seen a lot of example that can omit the helping verb. may you explain when we can omit the verb? or we just can omit the helping verb not action verb?

TIA

[RonPurewal]

By trying to consider the answer choices individually, you're taking a potentially very easy task and making it much too hard.

Parallelism is a RELATIVE decision.
It's a "beauty contest".
Just look at the choices. Keep the choices that are MORE parallel than the others. Throw out the others.

From that point of view, the answer to this problem is obvious (= a word I don't throw around lightly).
the xxxx that girls experience
those that boys experience
EXACT parallelism. All four other answer choices are much, much, much worse. So, you're done.

(It's true that the helping verbs are often left out, but there's absolutely no reason to dither about such niceties in a problem with such stark differences in the choices.)

[JetS736]

Tough one. I like A best.

The sentence is making a comparison, so we have to make sure the comparison makes logical sense and is parallel.

Part of the comparison is girls' stress patterns, so I need to mention stress patterns of boys. B and C are out. (A uses the pronoun "those" to refer to stress patterns, so it stays in.)

Also, I'm specifically comparing how likely the two different patterns are to result in depression- it's not just a straight comparison between different patterns, but the effects of the different patterns - so the comparison needs to indicate this too. This is likely going to be accomplished via a verb, so E is out.

That leaves me with A and D. A uses the same verb in the same tense ("are") while D introduces a new verb ("do"). A also follows a similar format for the rest: "patterns of stress that girls experience" and "those that boys experience." D doesn't. A is more parallel, so that's what I would choose.

You say" those" refers to stress patterns.I think “those”refers to "more likely to result in depression“. Is it right?

[RonPurewal]

Pronouns stand for nouns.

[YidanX684]

Dear experts,

(B)
can I say that 'what' is unidiomatic on GMAT?

Update:

I actually tried understand this answer choice, but couldn't put my fingers on it. Does this answer choice have a dual meaning without verb 'are'(as Ron mentioned above) or is it just a problem with 'what'?

Could you please break this one down in detail?

Appreciate your coaching, as always!

both problems exist.

without the helping verb, this choice has the ambiguity that i've described above.

as far as "what" --
this construction is idiomatically ok: what + SUBJ + VERB is a perfectly good way to generalize the object of that particular verb. for instance, what you eat means, basically, "the things that you eat".
the reason why this construction is problematic has nothing to do with idioms; it's problematic because the construction is way too general and doesn't adequately specify that we are talking about stress patterns. in other words, "what boys experience" actually means everything that boys experience -- so, with that construction, the sentence doesn't adequately convey a proper comparison.

hi, Ron
I have a question about what you have explain for the "what".

In another prep question, you have compared the usage of "what" and "something" as following:

The success of the program to eradicate smallpox has stimulated experts to pursue what they had not previously considered possible--better control, if not eradication, of the other infections such as measles and yaws.

(A) what they had not previously considered possible--better control, if not eradication, of the other infections such as
(B) what they had not previously considered a possibility--better control, if not eradication, of such infections like
(C) something they had not previously considered possible-better control, if not eradication, of such infections as
(D) something not considered a previous possibility--better control and perhaps eradication, of other infections such as
(E) the possibility of what they had not previously considered--better control and possibly eradication of infections like


- Minor problem is "what they had not..." vs. "something they had not..." The "what" construction is awfully strong, suggesting that this was THE ONE THING they hadn't thought possible.
* As an analogy, compare the meanings of "I want to do what I love for a living" and "I want to do something I love for a living." The first suggests that the speaker has one particular field in mind; the second doesn't.

in the above example, "what" means a particular field.

However, in this sentence, "what"means a wide range rather than stress patterns.

So i'm so confused about the usage of "what", could you please explain for this?

Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

the point is that "what ___" is exhaustive.

thus, if someone can properly say "i want to do what i love for a living", then that person must have one primary passion (= the thing they want to do for a living).
the only alternative possibility is that they indeed love multiple fields--and can pursue all of them.

if that person loves lots of different fields, then "do what i love", taken literally, doesn't work; (s)he should use a construction that doesn't imply exhaustiveness, such as "do something that i love".

(obviously, casual conversation--in which this kind of thing is actually likely to occur--is not held to such rigorous standards.)