The success of the program to eradicate smallpox

[RonPurewal]

please read the entire discussion thread; i've already explained this. (look at page 3 and page 4.)

[suzannes368]

I was hesitant to choose C and chose C in the end Only because i saw some other correct answer which had " such X as.." instead of "such as x"

i honestly don't know why "such infections as" in C is correct
shouldn't it be "infections such as"?

thanks!

Hi all, I realise this is an old thread but I also did not choose C - only because of the construction "such X as" as referred to in nehajaoo's post. I thought the construction "of such infections as" wasn't quite the same thing as "infections such as" and since "such infections as" didn't seem incorrect I figured "such infections as" must be incorrect - can someone please explain the subtlety I'm obviously missing as to why these 2 constructions are equivalent (and thus both correct) or refer me to the grammar rule here? Thx.

[RonPurewal]

they have the same meaning, so, there's no "subtlety". (The only thing that could be "subtle" would be a difference)

MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY
You will NEVER need to use "subtleties" on GMAT SC!
most minute differences are inserted SPECIFICALLY TO DISTRACT YOU from more fundamental / more black-and-white issues!!

[suzannes368]

Noted Ron, thanks

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

[ashish-mohan]

There are 2 problems with A.
- Major problem is "THE other infections." THE is too definitive here, carrying the connotation of "every single one of the other infections."
* THE is also incompatible with "such as":
- Correct: I never read this book, but I read the other books on the shelf.
- Correct: I never read this book, but I read other books on the shelf, such as "Right Hand, Left Hand" and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."
- Incorrect: I never read this book, but I read the other books on the shelf, such as "Right Hand, Left Hand" and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."
- Minor problem is "what they had not..." vs. "something they had not..." The "what" construction is awfully strong, suggesting that this was THE ONE THING they hadn't thought possible.
* As an analogy, compare the meanings of "I want to do what I love for a living" and "I want to do something I love for a living." The first suggests that the speaker has one particular field in mind; the second doesn't.

Hi Ron, the other infections in A would mean that some infection has already been referred to, earlier in the sentence (otherwise, how can the sentence refer to other infections).

However, there is no reference to other infection earlier (can we assume that smallpox is also an infection?).

Is this approach also valid?

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

It's hard for me to comment on this, because I don't have access to the text of the original problem. If you could copy it out it, that would do everyone a favor.

As for making references to things outside a sentence, that's totally fine. Don't confuse the rule for pronouns (in GMAT, they must refer to something in the sentence) with simply referring to something outside the sentence.

[ashish-mohan]

Hi! The original sentence is:

The success of the program to eradicate smallpox has stimulated experts to pursue what they had not previously considered possible−better control, if not eradication, of the other infections such as measles and yaws.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Thanks for copying that out. However, it's tough to help you when I can see only part of the problem. Remember that Sentence Correction is not simply testing "right" or "wrong" grammar but is asking you to choose the best out of a series of alternatives.

I think I understand your question though. The phrase 'the other infections' is problematic here, but not for the reason you state. We can absolutely use "the" in a sentence, for example: 'Jim finds it hard at school because he doesn't like the other children.' We don't need to refer to the other children earlier in the sentence as we would need to do with a pronoun, but it does need to be clear from the context that we're referring to a specific group of children (i.e. the ones at Jim's school). Using 'the other infections' here would be a bit strange, because it's not clear from the context which group of infections we're referring to.

[SAHILS228]

There are 2 problems with A.
- Major problem is "THE other infections." THE is too definitive here, carrying the connotation of "every single one of the other infections."
* THE is also incompatible with "such as":
- Correct: I never read this book, but I read the other books on the shelf.
- Correct: I never read this book, but I read other books on the shelf, such as "Right Hand, Left Hand" and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."
- Incorrect: I never read this book, but I read the other books on the shelf, such as "Right Hand, Left Hand" and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich."
- Minor problem is "what they had not..." vs. "something they had not..." The "what" construction is awfully strong, suggesting that this was THE ONE THING they hadn't thought possible.
* As an analogy, compare the meanings of "I want to do what I love for a living" and "I want to do something I love for a living." The first suggests that the speaker has one particular field in mind; the second doesn't.

Sorry to bring this thread back to living. I followed this rule. However, In 2017 OG SC Q.No 802 the correct answer is E. In E, "the artifacts" is followed by "such as". How is this correct? I am confused again. Please reply as soon as possible.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Great find Sahil! That's a really good connection. I think Ron owes you a beer. I disagree with what seems to be Ron's rule - that we can never use 'the [somethings]' with 'such as'. Although, to be fair, he didn't state it as strongly.

The main point seems to be that if we say 'the [somethings]' we're talking about a predefined group. I know that SC problem that you're referring to, and it mentions 'the artifacts ... found at the site'. This problem still stands with answer choice A: we don't know which other infections they mean.