04/04/2015

SeehowTHATcanhelpyoudemystifyalongsentence|eGMATblog

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GMAT STRATEGY

SEEHOWTHATCANHELPYOUDEMYSTIFYALONG
SENTENCE

InourfirstsessionofVerbalLivePrepSC1HowtoApproachSentenceCorrectionwesawthatsimplifyingthe
sentencestructurehasatwofoldeffect.Firstly,ithelpsclarifythe(intended)meaning.Secondly,ithelpsyouidentifyerrors.Wealso
sawthatselectingthecorrectanswerbecomesmucheasieronceyouhaveaclearunderstandingofmeaningandidentifytheerrorsin
theoriginalsentence.Clickontheimagetoviewtherecordingofthestrategysession.
Purposeofthisarticle:Inthisarticle,wewillseehowknowledgeofthevarioususesofthatcanbeleveragedtosimplifythesentence
structure.
0

QWhatdoyoumeanbysimplifyingthesentencestructure?
Whenwesimplifythesentencestructure,weidentifytheclausesandweidentifytheSVpairsineachclause.Thenwecheckforother
logicallinkagesinthesentencemodifiers&modifiedentities,verbsequencingbetweenmultipleverbs,logicallists,andpronoun
antecedentpairsanddetermineiferrorsexist.Basedonthisanalysiswethenevaluatetheanswerchoicesandconfidentlymarkthe
correctchoice.
QOk,whydoIneedtoknowaboutthat?
AsyouknowTHATisaverycommonclausemarker.Itisamultifacetedword.Inthisarticlewewilldiscussitstwoprimaryuses.
Notethatmaybeusedinotherwaysbutthesetwousesconstitutethemostcommonusesofthat.

USAGE1THATACTSASSUBJECTOFTHECLAUSE

Letstakeanexample:
Marymadeclaimsthatpertaintoherachievementsinhighschool.
Inthissentencethatreferstotheprecedingnounclaimsandtheentirepurpleclausemodifiesthenounclaims.
Asyoucansee,thatisthesubjectofthepurpleclause.Itsverbispertain.
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SeehowTHATcanhelpyoudemystifyalongsentence|eGMATblog

Letstakeanotherexample:

Retailersdonotapproveoftheappsthatallowshopperstoperformimmediatepricecomparisonbyscanningaproductontheshelf.
Inthissentencethatreferstotheprecedingnounappsandtheentirepurpleclausemodifiesthisnounapps.
Asyoucansee,thatisthesubjectofthepurpleclause.Itsverbisallow.

TAKEAWAY
Thatmodifiestheprecedingnounthroughthismodifyingclauseandactsasthesubjectofthisclause.

USAGE2THATACTSASTHECONNECTORBETWEENTWOCLAUSES

Letstakeanexample:

Maryclaimsthatshewonseveralawardsinherhighschool.
Inthissentencethatconnectstwoclauses.
Maryclaims
Maryclaimswhat?
Maryclaimsthatshewonseveralawardsinherhighschool.
Asyoucansee,thatissimplyaconnector.Itisnotthesubjectofthepurpleclause.Thesubjectofthepurpleclauseissheandits
verbiswon.

Letstakeanotherexample:

Theanalystsstronglybelievethatthemanufacturingsectorwillcontinuetoactasadragongrossdomesticproductinthethirdquarter
andthattheimprovementisunlikelyuntilregionalstructuralissuesareaddressedandthebroaderglobalbackdropbrightens.
Inthissentencethatconnectsclauses.
Analystsstronglybelieve
Analystsstronglybelievewhat?
Analystsstronglybelieve
thatmanufacturingsectorwillcontinuetoactasdrag.
thattheimprovementisunlikelyuntil
Asyoucansee,thatissimplyaconnector.Itisnotthesubjectofthepurpleorblueclause.Thesubjectofthepurpleclauseis
manufacturingsectoranditsverbiswillcontinue.Thesubjectoftheblueclauseisimprovementanditsverbisis.

Letstakeonemoreexample:
MaryfoundcertainevidencethateventheCrimeSceneInvestigators(CSI)couldnotfind.
Inthissentencethatconnectstwoclauses.
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SeehowTHATcanhelpyoudemystifyalongsentence|eGMATblog

Maryfoundcertainevidence
Whatkindofevidence
EvidencethatevenCSIcouldnotfind
Asyoucansee,thatissimplyaconnector.Itisnotthesubjectofthepurpleclause.ThesubjectofthepurpleclauseisCSIandits
verbiscouldnotfind.

TAKEAWAY
Thatconnectstwoclauses.Itactsasaconnector.Eachclauseconnectedbythatrequiresitsownsubjectandverbpair.

HOWTOAPPLYTHISKNOWLEDGE
Oksonowthatyouknowthatthatcantypicallyactintwocapacities,oneinwhichitissubjectoftheclauseandanotheroneinwhich
itissimplyaconnector,howshouldyouutilizethisknowledgetosimplifytheclauses.Itssimple:

1.

Whenyoucomeacrossthewordthat,youshouldknowrightawaythatthereisanotherclause.

2.

ThenwhenyougettoidentifyingtheSVpairsofeachclause,keepinmindthatdependinguponhowthat
isused,itcouldactassubjectanditcouldsimplybeaconnector.

APPLICATIONONOFFICIALQUESTIONIOG13#140
Rocksamplestakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidabouttwicethesizeofthe6milewideasteroidthateradicatedthedinosaurshas
beendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusisevidenceoftheearliestknownasteroidimpactonEarth.

Wewillnowsolvethisquestion.

MEANINGANALYSIS
Thissentenceisaboutcertainrocksamplesthatweretakenfromremainsofanasteroid.Detailsaboutthesizeofthisasteroidhave
beenprovidedinthesentence.Themainaimofthissentenceistospecifytheageoftheserocksamplesandtomaketheclaimthat
theserocksamplesareevidenceoftheoldestknownasteroidimpactonearth.

SENTENCESTRUCTURE
Nowwewillsimplifythesentencestructure.Weseethatthesubjectoffirstclauseisrocksamples.Theportiontakenfromthe
remainsofanasteroidisaverbedmodifier.takencannotbeaverbsinceitisnotprecededbyis/are/was/were.Aswecontinue
reading,wecomeacrossthewordthat,whichsignalspresenceofaclause.thateradicatedthedinosaurs.Thenwecontinuereading
andwefindwhatappeartobethetwoverbsofthesubjectrocksamplesinthebeginningofthesentence.
Rocksamplestakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidabouttwicethesizeofthe6milewideasteroid
thateradicatedthedinosaurs
hasbeendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusisevidenceoftheearliestknownasteroidimpacton
Earth.

ERRORANALYSIS
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Nowthatwehavethesimplifiedsentencestructure,wecanperformtheerroranalysis.Noticehowyoucannowfocusoneachclause
onebyoneandfigureoutthegrammaticalcorrectnessanderrors.TheSVpairshavebeencolorcoded.Asyoucanseethatinthis
sentencereferstotheprecedingnounasteroid.Ithasitsverberadicated.Wealsoclearlyseetheverbsforthepluralsubjectrock
samples.TheseverbsaresingularandhencethereisSVnumbererrorhere.Sothecorrectchoiceshouldhavepluralverbs.Thisisthe
firstandtheprimaryerror.Theseconderroristheidiomaticusageofthephrasedatedtobe.Thecorrectidiomisdatedat.

ANSWERCHOICEANALYSIS
Nowwewillrevieweachanswerchoiceonebyoneandfindthecorrectanswer:

1.

hasbeendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusis
1.

2.

hasbeendatedat3.47billionyearsoldandthus
1.

3.

Idiomerror

havebeendatedasbeing3.47billionyearsoldandthus
1.

5.

SVNumbererror,Verbdoesnotexist.Peroursentencestructureandmeaning
analysis,weknowthattherearetwoverbsforthesubjectrocksamples.Inthis
choice,theverbishasbeenremovedandhencesecondverbnolongerexists.

havebeendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusare
1.

4.

SVNumbererror,Idiomerrorasdiscussed

Idiomerror.SecondverbismissingasinchoiceB

havebeendatedat3.47billionyearsoldandthusare
1.

Correctchoice.Bothverbsareplural.Theidiomhasbeencorrected.

TAKEAWAY
Thisisa700levelquestion.However,itwasextremelysimpletoarriveatthecorrectansweroncewesimplifiedthesentencestructure.
WewillseemoreofthisinourSC2SentenceStructuresession.

EXERCISE
Forthesentencesbelow,dothefollowing:
1.

IdentifyallSVpairsinthesentenceabove.

2.

IsthereanyproblemwiththesentencewithregardstotheSVpairs?

3.

Howwillyoucorrecttheerror?

QUESTION1:
Inareviewof2,000studiesofhumanbehaviorthatdatebacktothe1940s,twoSwisspsychologists,declaringthatsincemostofthe
studieshadfailedtocontrolforsuchvariablesassocialclassandfamilysize,nonecouldbetakenseriously.
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QUESTION2
In1713,AlexanderPopebeganhistranslationoftheIliad,aworkthat,takinghimsevenyearsuntil
completion,andthatliterarycriticSamuelJohnson,Popescontemporary,pronouncedthegreatest
translationinanylanguage.

TAKEAWAY
1.

Youcansimplifythesentenceintoclausesifyoufollowtheclausemarkers.

2.

Thathasmanyfunctions.Thetwocommonfunctionsarelistedbelow:
1.

SubjectoftheClause

2.

Connector

SC2SENTENCESTRUCTURE[VERBALLIVEPREPCUSTOMERS]
InSC1HowtoapproachSentenceCorrection,wediscussedthethreepillarsofSentenceCorrectionMeaning,SentenceStructure
andGrammar.Furthermore,wedemonstratedhowonecanansweridentifyerrorsandspotthecorrectanswerthroughintended
meaning.InthenextsessionSC2SentenceStructurewewilldiscusshowyoucanleveragesentencestructureto
1.

Identifytheintendedmeaning

2.

Identifymajorityoftheerrors.

Inourexperience,youcansolveover95%oftheSCquestionsthroughthemethodsdescribedabove.Togetthemostofthis
session,makesurethatyouhavereviewedthisarticlethoroughlyandanalyzedthetwoexercisesentencesabove.Hereisasample
analysisofthefirstquestion.
Rocksamplestakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidabouttwicethesizeofthe6milewideasteroidthateradicatedthedinosaurshas
beendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusisevidenceoftheearliestknownasteroidimpactonEarth.

Weseethatthesubjectoffirstclauseisrocksamples.Theportiontakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidisaverbedmodifier.
takencannotbeaverbsinceitisnotprecededbyis/are/was/were.Aswecontinuereading,wecomeacrossthewordthat,which
signalspresenceofaclause.thateradicatedthedinosaurs.Thenwecontinuereadingandwefindwhatappeartobethetwoverbsof
thesubjectrocksamplesinthebeginningofthesentence.

WhatifyouarenotaneGMATcustomer?
1.

IfyouarenotaneGMATcustomerbutareinterestedtoknowmoreaboutVerbalLivePrep2.0,thenclick
here.

2.

Interestedtoknowmoreaboutsentencestructure:ThereareafewveryhelpfulconceptsintheeGMATfree
trial.Clickheretoregisterandtoreviewthoseconcepts.

EXTRAINFORMATION
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NOTEFOREGMATVERBALLIVEPREPSTUDENTS
ThisarticleisoneoftheprerequisitesforSessionSC2SentenceStructure.Makesurethatyougettheessenceofthisarticle.So
understandthearticlewellandanswerthequestionsabove.Inadditiontotheabovetwoquestions,alsoprepareashortparagraphon
howtoarriveatthissentencestructure.Basicallywritetheparagraphonsimilarlinesaswediscussedinpreviousanalysis:
Weseethatthesubjectoffirstclauseisrocksamples.Theportiontakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidisaverbedmodifier.
takencannotbeaverbsinceitisnotprecededbyis/are/was/were.Aswecontinuereading,wecomeacrossthewordthat,which
signalspresenceofaclause.thateradicatedthedinosaurs.Thenwecontinuereadingandwefindwhatappeartobethetwoverbsof
thesubjectrocksamplesinthebeginningofthesentence.

Notethatthiswillbeoneoftheshortessaytypequestionsinthepreassessmentquiz(dontworrythiswillbetheonlyessaytype
questioninthequiz).Andwewilldiscuss

APPLICATIONONOFFICIALQUESTIONOG13#67
In1713,AlexanderPopebeganhistranslationoftheIliad,aworkthat,takinghimsevenyearsuntil
completion,andthatliterarycriticSamuelJohnson,Popescontemporary,pronouncedthegreatest
translationinanylanguage.
In1713,AlexanderPopebeganhistranslationoftheIliad,awork
that,takinghimsevenyearsuntilcompletion,and
thatliterarycriticSamuelJohnson,Popescontemporary,pronouncedthegreatesttranslationinany
language.

Afewyearsago,theCanadianGlobalPublicHealthInformationNetwork,lookingforpatternsinglobalhealthreports,spottedthe
onsetoftheSARSepidemicbeforetheWorldHealthOrganizationdidmorerecently,asitecalledDataminr,relyingonsoftwarethat
automaticallyscannedtheglobalTwitterstream,wasabletoreporttoitssubscribersthatOsamabinLadenhadbeenkilledagood20
minutesbeforeitwasofficiallyannounced.
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