Verbal problems from the *free* official practice tests and
problems from mba.com
14548284
Students
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:27 am
 

Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by 14548284 Fri Jan 29, 2010 3:11 am

Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone lines, where they thus automatically inform the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, cellular calls require emergency operators to determine the location of the caller.

(A) lines, where they thus automatically inform the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, cellular calls require emergency operators to determine the location of the caller
(B) lines and thus automatically inform the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, cellular calls require emergency operators to determine the location of the caller
(C) lines, thus automatically informing the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, the location of the caller on a cellular phone has to be determined by the operator
(D) lines, and thus automatically inform the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, emergency operators have to determine the location of the cellular phone caller
(E) lines, thus automatically informing the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, emergency operators receiving a cellular call have to determine the location of the caller

please explain why each choice is correct/incorrect
from gmat prep
gkhan
Course Students
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 8:34 am
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by gkhan Fri Jan 29, 2010 4:42 am

My guess is B, use the 12th's "unlike x, y" construction, use of "where" strange, ambiguous pronoun with "they" can refer to regular telephone lines or emergency calls (two potential plural antecedents)

B. Valid comparison (emergency calls to emergency operators) clearer *fewer pronouns, concise
C. Improper comparison (regular telephone lines to a single location?) Usage Issues "to be" "-ing" yikes!
D. Improper comparison (calls to operators?) but otherwise promising
E. Improper comparison (calls to operators?)
Last edited by gkhan on Sat Feb 06, 2010 4:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
14548284
Students
 
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:27 am
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by 14548284 Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:05 am

to:gkhan
you are right.OA is "b"
gkhan
Course Students
 
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 8:34 am
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by gkhan Sat Jan 30, 2010 4:52 am

14548284 Wrote:to:gkhan
you are right.OA is "b"


cool, hope it makes sense.
sanyalpritish
Students
 
Posts: 54
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:36 pm
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by sanyalpritish Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:53 pm

OA is B for 2 reasons

1.Unlike X,Y which is only in A and B2.The usage of where in A is not going back to a location
umeshkathuria
Students
 
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:36 pm
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by umeshkathuria Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:48 am

(A) lines, where they thus automatically inform the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, cellular calls require emergency operators to determine the location of the caller pronoun error
(B) lines and thus automatically inform the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, cellular calls require emergency operators to determine the location of the caller correct
(C) lines, thus automatically informing the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, the location of the caller on a cellular phone has to be determined by the operator wrong comparison [editor: you've misidentified the subject here; the subject of this choice is actually "the location". it's still a nonparallel comparison, though.]
(D) lines, and thus automatically inform the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, emergency operators have to determine the location of the cellular phone caller wrong comparison
(E) lines, thus automatically informing the operator of the location and phone number of the caller, emergency operators receiving a cellular call have to determine the location of the caller wrong comparison
[nice analysis.]
RonPurewal
Students
 
Posts: 19744
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by RonPurewal Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:20 am

i'll show one possible route of elimination; forum traffic has reached a point where it's not feasible to list everything wrong with a question. if you have further issues with a certain answer choice(s), please go ahead and post them below.


* probably the easiest way to start:
notice the initial comparison
Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone lines

as soon as you see this, you know IMMEDIATELY that the main subject must be parallel to "emergency calls" -- i.e., the main subject must be another type of phone call.

the main subject of (a) and (b) is "cellular calls" --> this is ok.
the main subject of (c) is "the location" --> not ok eliminate (c)
the main subject of (d) and (e) is "emergency operators" --> not ok eliminate (d) and (e)

all that's left is (a) and (b).

in (a):

* you must interpret "where" literally. if you do, then this sentence means that the operator is given the information in the telephone lines (i.e., the operator is literally standing inside the telephone wires). not good.

* we don't know who "they" is.

thus (b)
yunjun.l33
Students
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:49 pm
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by yunjun.l33 Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:00 am

Hello, I have a question (about parallel) in choice (B),

Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone lines and thus automatically inform the operator of the location and phone number of the caller,....

Here we have parallel:
"that travel through regular telephone lines" and "(that) thus automatically inform xxxxxx".

I thought the second "that" is omitted, and such kind of omitted structure is confusing to me.

Please tell me if I'm wrong.

Thanks all.
yunjun.l33
Students
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 9:49 pm
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by yunjun.l33 Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:29 am

I've found the explanation for my question in other thread:

post25465.html#p25465

Please delete my posts if unnecessary.

Thanks.
tim
Course Students
 
Posts: 5665
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:08 am
Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by tim Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:17 am

no need to delete your posts. thanks for doing some research on your own; there's a lot of good stuff on here!
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Follow this link for some important tips to get the most out of your forum experience:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/forums/a-few-tips-t31405.html
zhongshanlh
Forum Guests
 
Posts: 60
Joined: Wed Apr 18, 2012 7:34 am
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by zhongshanlh Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:47 am

actually, i am wondering is there anything wrong in option C and option E regarding the use of COMMA+verbING construction-->(, thus automatically informing) ??
please help and thanks in advance.
tim
Course Students
 
Posts: 5665
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:08 am
Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by tim Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:34 pm

nothing is technically wrong with that construction..
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Follow this link for some important tips to get the most out of your forum experience:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/forums/a-few-tips-t31405.html
gelled01
Forum Guests
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:00 pm
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by gelled01 Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:04 am

Good question and ..
And so well ans. also ..same problem i am faceing right now and when try to find ans got this topic and got the ans. also..
Good ans dear thanks to you all .[spam deleted]
tim
Course Students
 
Posts: 5665
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 9:08 am
Location: Southwest Airlines, seat 21C
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by tim Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:48 am

keep your spam off our boards!
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Follow this link for some important tips to get the most out of your forum experience:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/forums/a-few-tips-t31405.html
qianruS779
Students
 
Posts: 59
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 4:40 am
 

Re: Unlike emergency calls that travel through regular telephone

by qianruS779 Sun Jan 24, 2016 5:56 pm

Hi Instructors,

One question for answer choices B and D in the beginning part of the answer: lines and thus automatically inform the operator .... There is a very tiny difference between choices B and D: if there is a comma separating from "and thus". As we know the B is correct, the choice D should add they before thus (after and). Is that correct?

Thank you very much

Best, Song