Prep SC Q:

[tim]

Ah, that makes much more sense. Thanks for clearing things up, and best of luck with your continued studying!

[RonPurewal]

The reason why I have such a confusion for such a long time is only because I had never studied for English grammar systematically.

neither have i. i just read things all the time (and write a lot, too).

you don't need to know formal english grammar here, except for the most basic rudiments (e.g., how to construct a sentence, as opposed to a sentence fragment).
you certainly don't have to know anything you couldn't pick up by reading well-written things on a regular basis.

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Ron! :)

Thank you for your reply!!!

Thank you for your advise!

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Words below are somewhat off topic so if you don't have time to read can move on helping other students in need.

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After I have studied for GMAT SC for a month, now I share a same feeling as you do: GMAT never wants to trick us.

All the mistakes that appear in those wrong SC questions are pretty basic. What makes these questions challenging is that they mostly show up in such a way that a not well-prepared test taker would find them acceptable.

And I'm happy that GMAT really teaches me how to convey ideas effectively and concisely. I found out that, although the Manhattan Strategy Guide says "the correct answers are not the best sentences in the universe", most of the correct answer are truly beautifully written!!! I may be over-reacting because I'm a non-native English, and studying for GMAT is the first time I study for grammar so intensively.

[RonPurewal]

Words below are somewhat off topic so if you don't have time to read can move on helping other students in need.

the most enjoyable discussions tend to be off-topic. we should try not to let the off-topic discussion metastasize too much, but a little here and there is fine.

All the mistakes that appear in those wrong SC questions are pretty basic. What makes these questions challenging is that they mostly show up in such a way that a not well-prepared test taker would find them acceptable.

that's part of it, but i don't think that's the main part.

analogy: let's say someone in a symphony orchestra--one of the 2nd violinists, say--makes a mistake.

• random people would probably notice "something is off about the music". however, random people would probably NOT be able to identify which instrument made the mistake.

• the orchestra's conductor, on the other hand, has trained his/her ear to hear the individual instruments. so (s)he CAN identify the culprit.

also notice what's actually challenging about this (= why random people can't do it, and why conductors need extensive training).
the challenge is NOT identifying an instrument. rather, the challenge is to ignore all of the OTHER instruments. that is surprisingly hard to do.

the same is true for sentences. people naturally just see or hear "a sentence". but, if they hear a bad sentence, they probably can't readily say what component(s) of the sentence is/are bad.

the biggest challenge in SC is NOT finding splits. nor is it resolving splits (which, as you've pointed out, is surprisingly basic).
rather, the biggest challenge in SC is ignoring everything else that's going on once you have spotted a split/issue.

[RonPurewal]

And I'm happy that GMAT really teaches me how to convey ideas in formal writing effectively and concisely.

^^ fixed that for you. (:

gmat-style writing is appropriate wherever formal writing is appropriate.

anywhere else, such writing would be neither effective nor concise.

e.g.,
• if the safety instructions on airplanes were written in perfect formal english, they'd be much harder to understand.
• a suspense-filled story written in perfect formal english would be a lot less exciting.
• a politician whose campaign slogans are written in perfect formal english ... will not win elections.

etc.

[RonPurewal]

I found out that, although the Manhattan Strategy Guide says "the correct answers are not the best sentences in the universe", most of the correct answer are truly beautifully written!!!

in general, GMAC's shorter sentences tend to be very well written.

GMAC's longer sentences, though, are often awkward and unwieldy (e.g., #59 in the OG verbal supplement).
this is pretty much inevitable, though, because the format of SC requires a single sentence in each problem. so, in the case of something like #59--which any good writer would split into at least 2 sentences--you're going to get some weirdness.

[RonPurewal]

I may be over-reacting because I'm a non-native English, and studying for GMAT is the first time I study for grammar so intensively.

while "studying grammar" does have a role here, that role is surprisingly small. what's much more important is the interaction between structure and meaning.

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Ron! :)

Your words are so inspiring!!!

I was laughing out laud while reading your posts: I'm ashamed by the fact that I think *every sentences* in correct choice is beautifully constructed.

Clearly I have no idea about what a truly beautiful should be. My understanding about writing is so little that even GMAT sentence can surprise me: even though their bulky, sometimes stylishly awkward but always surprisingly grammatically correct.

--

I'm like a blind who what to know what is a elephant: after touching its bulky leg, I believe a elephant has a cylinder shape.

That is the same as:

After I finish study for GMAT, I think "wow, those correct answer are beautiful writing in English"

[gbyhats]

Thank you again for such a long long long post!!! :)

Reading these post over and over again is such a pleasure, I never realize the fact that I have spend more than 20 minutes on them

[RonPurewal]

Thank you again for such a long long long post!!! :)

Reading these post over and over again is such a pleasure, I never realize the fact that I have spend more than 20 minutes on them

great.

thanks for your comments, too-- they make the forum experience more worthwhile on my end. and these sorts of comments are less common than you might think.

[gbyhats]

Thank you for your reply Ron!

these sorts of comments are less common than you might think

All your post, no matter long or short, are worth reading!!! :)

[RonPurewal]

thanks.

[RickyH486]

dear Ron, please correct me if my understanding below is wrong, thanks!

a symptom of anther problem is more appropriate than an illness or a physical condition to be the definition of insomnia, and a symptom of anther problem could be a reaction to certain medications, anxiety about travel, or stress before a job interview.

I'm sorry"”"”I tried several times to read what you wrote, and I just can't follow it.

Let me show you an example of what I'm looking for.

I bought apples, bananas, and grapes.
In this sentence, the three parallel structures are three things I bought, which are ...
"- apples
- bananas
"- grapes

When I say "Which things are in a list?", I'm looking for something with this degree of clarity.
Give it a shot.

Hi master Ron, since the original poster did not answer your question and I actually want to know the meaning of this one, please allow me to take a shot at this. I think the three parallel structure (the things that the sentence intended to enumerate) is "a reaction to certain medication", "a reaction to anxiety about travel", and "a reaction to stress before travel". However, after I figured out the intended parallel structure, I still can't decide between A and E since they share the same structure. A: "may simply be a reaction to certain medications, anxiety about travel, or stress before a job interview. " E: "maybe simply a reaction to certain medications". Therefore so far, the only mistake that I see in E is the use of an informal word "maybe". I don't remember seeing an SC that depends on knowing what word is informal or not (please correct me if knowing what word is informal is actually really important, I will calibrate my understanding if that is the case) . Do you think the structure of "not so much something but something" is unidiomatic (I did not find it in the MGMAT guide so I am not sure about this one)? Please help.

[RonPurewal]

you can just use the FIRST parallel structure.

(A)
an illness or a physical condition || a symptom of another problem
NOUN or NOUN || NOUN

(E)
an illness or a physical condition || symptomatic of another problem
NOUN or NOUN || ADJECTIVE/MODIFIER

this is pretty straightforward—it's perfect parallelism vs. clear non-parallelism.

[NicoleT643]

Hi Ron,
I noticed that choice A uses not A so much as B, the usage is correct. In choice C the usage changed to not so much A but B.
I want to know
1, the usage of not so much as, does as always need to be there?
2, I automatically assumed the usage not...but in choice C, however there is "so much" after not, does it matter putting so much between not...but?
3, what is the differences between "not A so much as B" and "not so much A but B" if the latter one is idiomatic

Thank you.