Metropolitan School

[aaldrak]

Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city’s economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

I'm not sure how to cover the question answer with the spoiler tag here, so don't scroll down if you don't wanna know the answer:
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Question Answer = E

I understand that the correct idiom is "so X that Y". However, my problem is with the last part "into a city economy becoming". This part was so bizarre for me that I got rid of this choice right away.

How can this be correct?

Shouldn't it be like this:

"into a city's economy that is becoming"

?

I appreciate your help guys :)

[RonPurewal]

two things.

(1)
OFFICIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS ARE CORRECT.
don't question officially correct answers; doing so is a complete waste of time.
they are correct.
see here: http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

(2)
did you see this question on the GMATPREP SOFTWARE?
i only ask because it also appears in the official guide (OG).

if you got it out of the GMATPREP SOFTWARE, then just say so, and we'll answer your question.
if not, then we can't.

[aaldrak]

1- Ya I actually found the real article in the New York times while googling for an answer :P So it must be correct.

2- I saw it in OG, but the book didn't explain it enough for me.

I don't remember seeing it in the GMATPrep. I saw the word "OG" in one of the thread titles in the first page, so I thought it is ok to post here from the OG.

So you are not allowed to answer this? Or does this question belong to a different section?

Thanks a bunch mate for the response.

[RonPurewal]

1- Ya I actually found the real article in the New York times while googling for an answer :P So it must be correct.

2- I saw it in OG, but the book didn't explain it enough for me.

I don't remember seeing it in the GMATPrep. I saw the word "OG" in one of the thread titles in the first page, so I thought it is ok to post here from the OG.

So you are not allowed to answer this? Or does this question belong to a different section?

Thanks a bunch mate for the response.

yeah, no, we can't answer these. we don't want to sully our (very good) relationship with gmac.

but, here's what you can do:

* make your own version of the problem: create a sentence with EXACTLY THE SAME CONSTRUCTION, but with DIFFERENT WORDS. you don't have to change things like prepositions and articles, but you should change ALL nouns, verbs, and adjectives, at the very least.

* post that problem in the GENERAL VERBAL folder.

thanks!

[madhav.munagapati]

Hi Ron,

Could you plz explain why option E is correct ?

and plz let me know whether 'so X as to be ' correct idiom?

I got this SC on GMAT PREP ...I have a screen shot for the same.

Appreciate your help,
Madhav

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,

Could you plz explain why option E is correct ?

and plz let me know whether 'so X as to be ' correct idiom?

I got this SC on GMAT PREP ...I have a screen shot for the same.

Appreciate your help,
Madhav

please post the screen shot, either directly on here (by selecting "img" from the buttons in the posting area) or on an image-hosting site such as postimage.org.
if you use an image-hosting site, please post a link here.
thanks.

[madhav.munagapati]

Hi Ron,

Could you plz explain why option E is correct ?

and plz let me know whether 'so X as to be ' correct idiom?

I got this SC on GMAT PREP ...I have a screen shot for the same.

Appreciate your help,
Madhav

please post the screen shot, either directly on here (by selecting "img" from the buttons in the posting area) or on an image-hosting site such as postimage.org.
if you use an image-hosting site, please post a link here.
thanks.

http://s9.postimage.org/5meeadg33/SC_Doubt2.jpg
http://postimage.org/image/yc1a70k2z/

Thank you

[jlucero]

There's no way to explain why E is correct other than say that it doesn't have any grammatical errors. Errors occur in the other four answer choices, so E is correct by default. A great sentence? Probably not. Better than A-D? Yup. Here's the core of the sentence though:

Students are so X that it will be Y.

That's a proper usage of the idiom, and (to answer your other question) better than the core of D, which has a misused idiom:

Students are lacking so much X as to be difficult to Y.

It sounds a lot worse if you can take out chunks of the sentence that work together.

[AmmuS624]

There's no way to explain why E is correct other than say that it doesn't have any grammatical errors. Errors occur in the other four answer choices, so E is correct by default. A great sentence? Probably not. Better than A-D? Yup. Here's the core of the sentence though:

Students are so X that it will be Y.

That's a proper usage of the idiom, and (to answer your other question) better than the core of D, which has a misused idiom:

Students are lacking so much X as to be difficult to Y.

It sounds a lot worse if you can take out chunks of the sentence that work together.

Hi,

Why A ;B, C, D options are wrong.

Regards,
Ammu

[RonPurewal]

You're asking for a complete "key" to all the wrong answers. On a forum, that's not a reasonable request (nor will it help your own learning!).

Please ask specific questions.
- What do you already understand?
- What don't you understand?
- Which choices wre you able to eliminate? How?
- About which specific construction(s) do you have questions?

[AmmuS624]

You're asking for a complete "key" to all the wrong answers. On a forum, that's not a reasonable request (nor will it help your own learning!).

Please ask specific questions.
- What do you already understand?
- What don't you understand?
- Which choices wre you able to eliminate? How?
- About which specific construction(s) do you have questions?

Sorry!
I was able to select correct option E but I am not sure my approach is right or not.

As per my approach
A) Students lack skills to such a large degree as to....it should be such ..that
B) Students lack math skills to a large Enough degree That... ENOUGH THAT is wrong
C) Students lack of math skills is so large as to .... i found "lack of math skills and " so ... as to" odd . I think instead of So as to it should be " So that"
D) Students are lacking so much in .... that is missing.

Am I right ? Pls let me know if I am missing any concept.

Regards,
Ammu

[RonPurewal]

Valid for A and B.

C:
This choice has LOTS of problems, but "so (adjective) as to ..." isn't one of them; that's a perfectly valid construction. In fact, it's in the correct answer here:
often-major-economic-shifts-are-so-gradual-as-to-be-t5505.html

But note that the subject can't change. If I say "That thing is so small as to be nearly invisible", then that thing is invisible (because that thing is small).

That creates a problem in C, which says "...lack of skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb..."
The implication is that the lack of skills is "difficult to absorb". That's not the intended meaning; the intended meaning is that it's difficult to absorb the students.
(Also, the following "them" is incompatible with this construction.)

[RonPurewal]

C also starts with "students ... lack of math skills", which is incorrect; it should be students' lack of skills. (This is like trying to say "Ron car" instead of "Ron's car".)
With the modifier after "students" it's pretty much impossible to write this correctly, so the correct answers don't even try"”they write the sentence with "lack" as a verb instead.

[ShriramC110]

Hi Ron,

What is 'it' referring to in option choice E and A.
Is it referring to Students??.Then isn't the option choice wrong.
What am i missing??
And is such as construction unidiomatic, or is unidiomatic only in this usage??
Thanks

[RonPurewal]

that is explained here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p49622