SC

Verbal problems from the *free* official practice tests and
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vicksikand
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Re: SC

by vicksikand Sat Dec 11, 2010 9:39 pm

RonPurewal Wrote:hi -

normally you're supposed to, at a minimum, ask some sort of question about the problem. you're not supposed to just post it with no commentary, as if it had accidentally fallen out of a grocery bag.

this problem is a pure test of word choice / idiomatic expression. that's a situation that i don't see often on official problems; it's almost as though the gmat is taking cheap potshots at the (great many) non-native speakers of english who take the test.

* "specially", which means "in a special way", is incorrect here. (example of correct use: "the specially crafted exclusive edition of this car costs more than the standard edition") you want "especially", which means "in particular" or "more so than all the others". therefore D and E are gone.

* "capability of ____ing" and "capability in ____ing" are unidiomatic, so B and C are gone.

those two are enough, but note also:
* "because of ____ing", where ____ing is a verb participle, is unidiomatic, so B and E are gone.
NOTE: be careful with this elimination. if ____ing is an adjective, not a participle, then "because of ____ing NOUN" is a perfectly acceptable structure, as in "because of diminishing returns, i don't get as much interest from my bank account anymore".


I was thrown off-balance by this* difference between specially and especially. Other than the erroneous usage of specially in (D) is there any other error in that option?
X's ability to deal Y and Capability of X to deal with Y both seem grammatically correct and both seem to convey the same meaning.
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Re: SC

by ChrisB Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:30 pm

Hi,

Ron answered your question regarding D earlier on in the post:

* "capability of ____ing" and "capability in ____ing" are unidiomatic, so B and C are gone.


He didn't list D in this case but D uses "capability of/in" instead of "ability to."

D. a specially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system to deal


Thanks,
Chris
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vicksikand
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Re: SC

by vicksikand Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:23 pm

ChrisB Wrote:Hi,

Ron answered your question regarding D earlier on in the post:

* "capability of ____ing" and "capability in ____ing" are unidiomatic, so B and C are gone.


He didn't list D in this case but D uses "capability of/in" instead of "ability to."

D. a specially serious pollutant because it diminishes the capability of the respiratory system to deal


Thanks,
Chris


So is "Capability of X to deal with Y" incorrect?
X's ability is correct - now is this is a concision issue? Meaning wise both seem correct.

Thanks....Vik
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Re: SC

by tim Tue Dec 14, 2010 4:28 pm

not at all. this is not a concision issue; you want to look instead at how the "ability" or "capability" is used in the sentence and go with the correct idiom. you always deal with idioms as the last grammar issue, but still before concision or even meaning..
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Re: SC

by jp.jprasanna Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:52 pm

StaceyKoprince Wrote:someone/something is capable OF something (noun)
She is capable of running swiftly.

someone/something has the capability TO do (verb) something
She has the capability to run swiftly.

not as common: someone/something has the capability of someone or something else (noun)
She has the capability of a gazelle.


Thanks Stacey.. So ability/able to is the correct Idiom? Or are there any other forms?

Cheers
JP
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Re: SC

by jp.jprasanna Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:59 pm

OK thought of another example for ability.. is the below correct?

GMAT tests ability OF an individual's thinking capacity.

If the above is correct how to decide whether to go with ability of / to?
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Re: SC

by RonPurewal Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:30 am

jp.jprasanna Wrote:GMAT tests ability OF an individual's thinking capacity.


"capacity" means "ability", so this construction would be redundant. you'd just say "an individual's thinking capacity", "an individual's capacity for thinking", or "an individual's ability to think".
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Re: SC

by zhongshanlh Fri May 18, 2012 4:35 am

RonPurewal Wrote:those two are enough, but note also:
* "because of ____ing", where ____ing is a verb participle, is unidiomatic, so B and E are gone.
NOTE: be careful with this elimination. if ____ing is an adjective, not a participle, then "because of ____ing NOUN" is a perfectly acceptable structure, as in "because of diminishing returns, i don't get as much interest from my bank account anymore".

hi,Ron, i am confused about ur explanation here.
i think that after the preposition "of",we need a noun. i think the "diminishing" is a gerund here so it is correctly used here.
what is wrong about my thought?please help and thank you very much.
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Re: SC

by RonPurewal Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:47 am

zhongshanlh Wrote:hi,Ron, i am confused about ur explanation here.
i think that after the preposition "of",we need a noun. i think the "diminishing" is a gerund here so it is correctly used here.
what is wrong about my thought?please help and thank you very much.


read that again -- "unidiomatic", not "ungrammatical". that means it's wrong because it's not an accepted grouping of words, not because of any grammatical issue.
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Re: SC

by cumulonimbus Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:14 pm

those two are enough, but note also:
* "because of ____ing", where ____ing is a verb participle, is unidiomatic, so B and E are gone.
NOTE: be careful with this elimination. if ____ing is an adjective, not a participle, then "because of ____ing NOUN" is a perfectly acceptable structure, as in "because of diminishing returns, i don't get as much interest from my bank account anymore".[/quote]

Hi Ron,
I was under the impression that participles are always adjectives. Hence this statement makes me think I am wrong.

Can you please clarify when participles act as adjectives and when not.
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Re: SC

by jlucero Sat Mar 02, 2013 8:55 pm

cumulonimbus Wrote:those two are enough, but note also:
* "because of ____ing", where ____ing is a verb participle, is unidiomatic, so B and E are gone.
NOTE: be careful with this elimination. if ____ing is an adjective, not a participle, then "because of ____ing NOUN" is a perfectly acceptable structure, as in "because of diminishing returns, i don't get as much interest from my bank account anymore".


Hi Ron,
I was under the impression that participles are always adjectives. Hence this statement makes me think I am wrong.

Can you please clarify when participles act as adjectives and when not.[/quote]

It depends on its usage in the sentence:

Running (noun) is fun.
I am running (verb) four miles.
The boy who was running (adjective clause) tripped and fell.

In this example, Ron points out that we have a verb participle functioning as a verb- sulfur dioxide IS diminishing the respiratory system. This means it is incorrect, because diminishing is in a prepositional phrase, which can't include verbs. The only time you can have an of + verbING is if that verb is clearly turned into a thing (noun/gerund):

The idea of running 10 miles tomorrow makes me want to throw up.
Joe Lucero
Manhattan GMAT Instructor
JustinCKN
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Re: SC

by JustinCKN Wed Sep 28, 2016 6:39 am

RonPurewal Wrote:* "because of ____ing", where ____ing is a noun, is unidiomatic, so B and E are gone.
NOTE: be careful with this elimination. if ____ing is an adjective, not a participle, then "because of ____ing NOUN" is a perfectly acceptable structure, as in "because of diminishing returns, i don't get as much interest from my bank account anymore".



DEAR Ron:
I get the idea that "because of ____ing", where ____ing is a noun, is unidiomatic,

My question is that can you show me some examples in which " OF+_ING" is correct.

I try my best to find a example in which " OF+ _ing" is correct : The loan company announced it would soon lend money to borrowers with proven records Of not paying back their loans on time, a group collectively known as the subprime lending market.

But I know that the example above " OF+_ing" is correct ,because it is idiomatic usage of "Records of VERBing ..."
So can you do me a favor to show me more examples in which " OF+_ING" is correct.?

( Maybe my request is too abroad, I feel shy.)


Thanks
Sincerely
JustinCKN.
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Re: SC

by RonPurewal Fri Sep 30, 2016 2:46 pm

the point of that post is that you shouldn't select things that have the form "because of __ing", in which "__ing" is used as a NOUN.

there is no issue with other uses of "of + __ing", so there would be no point in trying to collect other examples. (in any other situation, "of + __ing" is going to be basically identical to "of" + any other noun.)
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Re: SC

by JustinCKN Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:28 pm

RonPurewal Wrote:the point of that post is that you shouldn't select things that have the form "because of __ing", in which "__ing" is used as a NOUN.

there is no issue with other uses of "of + __ing", so there would be no point in trying to collect other examples. (in any other situation, "of + __ing" is going to be basically identical to "of" + any other noun.)


Hi Ron:
I understand .
Thanks !
JustinCKN
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Re: SC

by RonPurewal Fri Oct 07, 2016 10:42 pm

you're welcome.