Prospecting for gold during the California gold rush

[RonPurewal]

option B , C ,and D change the meaning
X,Y,and Z that thust the volcanic activity bha bha ...

but original sentence provides idea that is

X , Y , and Z individually cause to....bha bha....

thanx

well, if you have "a, b, and c that xxxxx...", then that could have either of two interpretations:
1/
a;
b;
c that xxxxx...
or
2/
a, b, and c, all of which xxxxx...

this may seem troubling, but, if there's enough context to decide between the two, it's not an issue.
you do have a point, though, in the sentence that there's absolutely no ambiguity in the structure of the correct answer. still, is that a strong enough criterion to eliminate answer choices? don't know about that.

[nowwithgmat]

option B , C ,and D change the meaning
X,Y,and Z that thust the volcanic activity bha bha ...

but original sentence provides idea that is

X , Y , and Z individually cause to....bha bha....

thanx

well, if you have "a, b, and c that xxxxx...", then that could have either of two interpretations:
1/
a;
b;
c that xxxxx...

thanx ron

glad to your explanation.



or
2/
a, b, and c, all of which xxxxx...

this may seem troubling, but, if there's enough context to decide between the two, it's not an issue.
you do have a point, though, in the sentence that there's absolutely no ambiguity in the structure of the correct answer. still, is that a strong enough criterion to eliminate answer choices? don't know about that.

[tim]

i couldn't tell if you're asking a question here or just copying Ron's post. if you have a question, can you make it more clear?

[bodhisattwabiswas]

Prospecting for gold during the California gold rush was a relatively easy task, because of erosion, prehistoric glacier movement, and ancient, gold-bearing riverbeds thrust to the surface by volcanic activity put gold literally within reach for anybody with a pan or shovel.

A. because of erosion, prehistoric glacier movement, and ancient, gold-bearing riverbeds thrust to the surface by volcanic activity put gold literally within reach for
B. because of erosion, prehistoric glacier movement, and volcanic activity that thrust ancient, gold-bearing riverbeds to the surface, and putting gold literally within reach of
C. owing to erosion, prehistoric glacier movement, and volcanic activity that had thrust ancient, gold-bearing riverbeds to the surface, and putting gold literally within reach of
D. since erosion, prehistoric glacier movement, and volcanic activity that thrust ancient, gold-bearing riverbeds to the surface, putting gold literally within reach for
E. since erosion, prehistoric glacier movement, and ancient, gold-bearing riverbeds thrust to the surface by volcanic activity put gold literally within reach of

Answer: E

So, in the correct answer choice 'thrust' is used as noun instead of verb? and 'riverbeds' is used as adj. of 'thrust' instead of noun?
Please correct me if I am wrong...

[tim]

No, I don't think anyone said that. "riverbeds" is a noun, and "thrust" is its adjective.

[bodhisattwabiswas]

No, I don't think anyone said that. "riverbeds" is a noun, and "thrust" is its adjective.

seems that I am a bit confused about the meaning of the sentence...
Could you please mention the three (I suppose) distinct nouns in choice E that are paralleled here, and how did the parallelism work?

[tim]

erosion, movement, and riverbeds.

[bodhisattwabiswas]

erosion, movement, and riverbeds.

Thanks for the clarification...
So, the sentence means "xxxxxxxxxx, since A, B and C thrust to the surface by volcanic activity put gold literally within reach of xxxxxxxxxx"? And "thrust to the surface by volcanic activity" is modifier of "riverbeds"?

[jlucero]

erosion, movement, and riverbeds.

Thanks for the clarification...
So, the sentence means "xxxxxxxxxx, since A, B and C thrust to the surface by volcanic activity put gold literally within reach of xxxxxxxxxx"? And "thrust to the surface by volcanic activity" is modifier of "riverbeds"?

Just to clarify:

since (1: erosion), (2: prehistoric glacier movement), and (3: ancient, gold-bearing riverbeds thrust to the surface by volcanic activity) put gold literally within reach

Those three things all put gold within reach.

[Tadashi]

A general question maybe..
Could some expert tell me the difference among "because of" ,"owing to", "due to", "inasmuch as", "in that", "because", "since"

Really need your help badly.
it's a big question so i try to answer it myself first.

"because of" + sth. or doing sth. (NEVER + sentence)
"because"+sentence, (offer a reason)
"since"+sentence, (offer a reason)
"owing to"="because of"
"due to"=caused by
"inasmuch as"=??? (sorry I don't know because I have never seen it used in gmat OA)
"in that"=because (when you see a "in that" & "because", choose "in that". someone told me)
---------------
Then what's the differences between because and since when we want to offer a reason?
What's the differences between "because XX do sth." , "because of XX's doing sth."
What's the differences among "inasmuch as", "in that", "because"? which one is superior?

Really a mess here...

Maybe the only one who can save me on the earth is Ron..

DOMO ARIGATO
Tadashi.

[RonPurewal]

Could some expert tell me the difference among "because of" ,"owing to", "due to", "inasmuch as", "in that", "because", "since"

This is much, much too broad for a forum post.

You can get a good sense of the use of these words"”and a much more complete picture than you could get here"”by...
... looking them up in a dictionary and reading the example sentences;
... Googling them and reading how they are used in the results.

If you're going to Google them, you can also google random words along with them, just so that you don't get endless dictionary pages as a result.
For example, if you Google something like
"inasmuch as" economy
or
"inasmuch as" Obama
then you'll see the phrase used in actual articles.

[RonPurewal]

Then what's the differences between because and since when we want to offer a reason?

Inasmuch as the GMAT is concerned, there is no difference. (This sentence is also an example of "inasmuch as".)

What's the differences between "because XX do sth." , "because of XX's doing sth."

They are quite similar. Without a specific context, it's not really possible to answer this.

[RonPurewal]

What's the differences among "inasmuch as", "in that", "because"? which one is superior?

post56463.html#p56463

They don't mean the same thing, so, without a context, "Which is better?" is a nonsense question.

[Tadashi]

thanks Ron.

1. I've looked up "inasmuch as" in online webster dictionary
(1) inasmuch as = since, because. (Webster eg.) you should not use that source, inasmuch as it is badly out-of-date
(2) insamuch as = in the degree that .(Ron eg.) Inasmuch as the GMAT is concerned, there is no difference.

2. still can't fully understand the nuance between "because" & "in that"..

X is Z because Y --> this must actually mean that there is a literal cause-and-effect relationship. in other words, this sentence claims that "Y" is actually the reason why "X" is "Z".

X is Z in that Y --> this is a qualifier; it implies that "Y" is the only certain way in which X is Z. (don't understand the boldface part.)

For me, the examples below are really the same . can't tell the difference. T T..sigh....

My brother and I are alike because we both have a quirky sense of humor
My brother and I are alike in that we both have a quirky sense of humor

Would you like to provide more support to me?
Tadashi.

[RonPurewal]

In the link, I tried to provide more detailed explanations of the meaning of each of those sentences. Did those make sense to you?

"- I'm just going to go ahead and assume that you understand "because".

- Don't think of "in that" as some special construction. It's just "in" + noun, with "that + complete sentence" substituted for the noun.
See here if you don't know what I mean:
post47979.html#p47979