The British sociologist and activist Barbara Wootton

[Rui.er.yong]

hi，ron
i am a fan of you! Your explanitions are soooo help!!!
I still have question about this one. Why not C??? Just because it does not suggest that the point of W's example was the elephant's very existence???????????? So the "it " is wrong??

[tim]

did you read the post? several people have explained why C is wrong..

[mcmebk]

Stacey,

For (B), you stated that "had been earning" should be in the simple past like the other verbs in the sentence. When you say "other," I'm assuming that you're referring to the verb "earned" towards the end of the sentence and not "noted." Is that correct? I ask because I actually chose (B) thinking that the perfect past tense appropriately indicated that the elephant gave rides before the example was noted. Perhaps if the simple past "gave" were used instead of present participle "giving," the error would have been more conspicuous. That said, if "then earned" were to be replaced by "had been earning" for (B), would this ans. choice be correct?

Thanks,
Julgi.

first, you are not incorrect that the past perfect could make sense here; it's possible (though certainly unlikely -- this is not the type of observation that someone would make in retrospect) that, for instance, wootton noted several years later that the two incomes were the same.

however, you shouldn't go with that, for at least two reasons.

1) remember -- [/b]if there are two or more choices that are grammatically correct, then you should preserve the meaning of the original.[/b]
this applies to all parts of the original meaning that are reasonable. if any parts of the original meaning are absurd, then you can change those, but only those.
so, since the original version of this problem places wootton's discovery at the same time as the earnings themselves, you are not at liberty to change that timing.

2) we have never seen a problem on which a complex tense, such as the past perfect, has been used without justification. i.e., we've seen plenty of sentences using the past perfect, but all of those sentences contain some sort of time cue that indicates the difference between the two time frames.
this problem contains no such cue.

--

also, there is another problem in choice (b), anyway: the modifier shouldn't be a nonessential modifier.
right now the modifier ("giving rides to children at the Whipsnade Zoo") is set off by commas, indicating that it can be removed from the sentence with no loss of meaning.
this doesn't make sense -- "the elephant", alone, would not be a valid reference, and we need to be told that it was specifically the elephant that gave rides to the children (and not some other elephant). for both of these reasons, the modifier must be an essential (not set off by commas) modifier.

Hi Ron

In this question many-population-studies-have-linked-a-high-salt-diet-t8824.html , you said that "X THAT Y THAT Z or X OF Y OF Z" is a wordy construction and is thus wrong.

What is happening here?

Thank you so much Ron.

[tim]

Ron said no such thing in that post.

There is nothing wrong with an answer choice sounding "wordy" or "awkward". In fact, I have NEVER seen a GMAT problem for which the only way to eliminate an answer is awkwardness. If you ever use the phrase "wordy and awkward" (or anything else that sounds similar) to explain your reasoning on a SC question, you have done something wrong. If you are willing to eliminate an answer choice because it is awkward, you may end up eliminating the correct choice. There is ALWAYS a real reason why SC answer choices are wrong, and "wordy and awkward" is NEVER that reason. Please note that if you read an explanation that uses the words "awkward" or "wordy", that explanation is wrong - EVEN IF IT IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE OFFICIAL GUIDE.

[SC312]

Ron,

Can we eliminate B) because the use of COMMA+VERB-ing is wrong ? It should modify the complete clause that precedes the COMMA. This is not what is intended in the sentence since we want to refer to the elephant only.

Thanks

[tim]

That is correct.

[benjamindian]

We need "that" to start the underline: Wootton noted (the fact) that something is true. Eliminate D and E.

C is passive and separates the two clauses by an "and" when we are actually trying to draw a connection there. Eliminate.

B has a tense problem (had been earning - this should be the simple past like the other verbs in the sentence). In addition, the "giving rides" modifier implies something going on while it's giving rides, but that's not the correct meaning.

The correct meaning is exhibited by A: "the elephant that gave rides" - which elephant? The one that gave rides to kids.

A is correct.

Is the sentence structure of this problem that "Wootton noted (the fact) that something is true as a humorous example"? Or to make it simpler, "Wootton noted A as B"? And because A part is too long, it's put after "as B"?

[RonPurewal]

Is the sentence structure of this problem that "Wootton noted (the fact) that something is true as a humorous example"? Or to make it simpler, "Wootton noted A as B"? And because A part is too long, it's put after "as B"?

Precisely.

[PrakharS433]

We need "that" to start the underline: Wootton noted (the fact) that something is true. Eliminate D and E.

C is passive and separates the two clauses by an "and" when we are actually trying to draw a connection there. Eliminate.

B has a tense problem (had been earning - this should be the simple past like the other verbs in the sentence). In addition, the "giving rides" modifier implies something going on while it's giving rides, but that's not the correct meaning.

The correct meaning is exhibited by A: "the elephant that gave rides" - which elephant? The one that gave rides to kids.

A is correct.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Stacey / Ron

I opted for correct answer but I want to discuss few things.

@stacey ,


As you said We need "that" , so eliminate D and E.
When I read option D and E, it also seems to me as in this question we need "THAT"
But If I talk about you. You are VERY SURE we need THAT.

Is there any rule behind this, because I eliminated D and E as I thought we need "THAT" but don't know WHY..?

Can you please assist.

Thanks and Regards,
Prakhar

[RonPurewal]

without "that", you have a sentence that says that she noted the elephant.

that's not what the sentence is saying -- the sentence is saying she noted that the elephant made a certain amount of money.