Salt deposits and moisture

[divineacclivity]

D is wrong because "the site of an ancient civilization flourishing at the same time as .." is a run on. Am I right, experts?

thanks in advance.

[RonPurewal]

D is wrong because "the site of an ancient civilization flourishing at the same time as .." is a run on. Am I right, experts?

thanks in advance.

that is wrong for other reasons discussed here, but it's not a run-on.

[divineacclivity]

D is wrong because "the site of an ancient civilization flourishing at the same time as .." is a run on. Am I right, experts?

thanks in advance.

that is wrong for other reasons discussed here, but it's not a run-on.

Oh yes, got it.
Option D has two problems:
".. as those did in Nile delta .." - (1) did shd go away (2) those refers to civilizations and there's only singular antecedent "civilization" so wrong.

thank you very much Ron. I think now I'm pretty clear on why D is wrong and I have a good take away from this discussion. thank you very much

[tim]

:)

[cumulonimbus]

Since the comparison is between ancient civilization in singular and civilizations in plural, we cannot use the relative pronoun "those" for the latter and we have to use the word "civilizations" instead.
Hence, we can eliminate options C,D and E.

Now, we are left with options A and B.
We will chose A over B as B contains a past perfect verb which is irrelevant as the first verb used is "threaten" which is in present sense and not past tense to justify the use of past perfect tense.

Hi Ron/Tim,

Can you please explain how is 'those' referring to civilization?
Logically it should refer to civilizations in Nile dleta and the river valleys.

The second clause contains both possible referrents of 'those'.

Is it because that and those both appearing in the same clause must have same referrents?

[tim]

of course "those" should refer to "civilizations"; that's why any answer choice that has "those" but doesn't have "civilizations" is wrong!

[ericyuan0811]

hello instructors

if we rewrite C.D.E as

...as did those civilizations in the Nile Delta...

is that correct?

thanks for your help!

[tim]

i would caution you against ever asking "what if" questions about changing parts of verbal questions, because there are often several interconnected parts that cannot be fully accounted for by a single change. just focus on why the right answer is right and why all the wrong answers are wrong..

[zhlzhe_2010]

Dear Manhattan Staffs :
I got two questions after I read explanation of E in the book though I know E is wrong. It says "were is awkward and unnecessary". Since I saw in another questions says if the verb is understood in the first part, then we don't need to repeat it in the second part, e.g They are priced to sell, and they do (sell), I'm wondering if this sentence-The civilization was flouring at the same time as civilizations were (flouring) in other places. - could be right?
Also since civilization flourishing means that civilization that is flouring, so I think the were in the sentence is not unnecessary.
If the helping verbs in the parallel structure are used in different tenses like was and is, can we still treat the as same tense and eliminate the same verb. (e.g was working, are working )
Thanks for your help in advance!

[RonPurewal]

sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to ask. (In fact, I can't tell which part of your post is the question in the first place.) If you can find a way to ask your question more clearly, we can take a look.

I will, however, tell you this: Don't try to edit GMAC's sentences.

* The existing answer choices are enough of a handful already.

* If you edit GMAC's sentences -- especially if English is not your first language -- then there is virtually a 100% chance that your new version will have errors.
Worse, most of those errors will be things that GMAC doesn't even test -- leaving us to respond with, "No, that's wrong, but you don't need to worry about the reasons why."

[Alice]

Hi Ron,

Just find a new similar question in OG, is it this sentence correct ?

[----]

[RonPurewal]

Sorry, we can't quote OG on the forum.

Please read the forum rules (first post at the top of every folder) before you post. Thanks.

[bodhisattwabiswas]

owning and living is a goal of young adults like that (a goal) of earlier generations.

when you see "like a, xxxxxx" or "xxxxxx, like a", the comparison must be between "a" and the subject of clause "xxxxxx".

therefore, even if that = a goal, you still have an illogical comparison, between that (= "a goal") and owning and living...

thanks for the explanation...
so, if we say --- "abcd is efgh of ijkl, like that of mnop.", then 'that' is always comparable to only 'abcd' of the first clause?
and, what are the comparable parts in "abcd is efgh of ijkl, like mnop."?

[RonPurewal]

so, if we say --- "abcd is efgh of ijkl, like that of mnop.", then 'that' is always comparable to only 'abcd' of the first clause?

Yes.

and, what are the comparable parts in "abcd is efgh of ijkl, like mnop."?

The comparable parts would be "abcd" and "mnop".

It's extremely unlikely that you'd ever see a sentence written that way on the GMAT exam, by the way, because that's poor placement. There are two much better places to put that modifier:
Like mnop, abcd is xxxxxx.
Abcd, like mnop, is xxxxxx.
If "like" appears in a correct answer, it's basically a certainty that you'll see one of these two constructions.

[mondegreen]

so, if we say --- "abcd is efgh of ijkl, like that of mnop.", then 'that' is always comparable to only 'abcd' of the first clause?

Yes.

and, what are the comparable parts in "abcd is efgh of ijkl, like mnop."?

The comparable parts would be "abcd" and "mnop".

Hi Ron! So can I paraphrase this as : For two or more nouns/pronouns performing the same action(any verb), we don't have to repeat the action(verb) twice?

And just for my own understanding, the action above is "is", which is the same for "that" and "abcd"?

Thanks,