1000 SC #956

[gter]

956. Baker was perhaps not the most gifted soloist in the orchestra, but the conductor felt what was lacking in his technical skill was more than made up by the passion with which he played the music.
(A) what was lacking in his technical skill was more than made up by
(B) what he lacked in technical skill was more than made up by
(C) whatever was lacking in his technical skill was more than made up by
(D) whatever he lacked in technical skill was more than made up for by
(E) whatever he lacked in technical skill he more than made up by

Can someone please explain why the answer is B and not E? Thanks

[RonPurewal]

A couple of things about this problem.
* 'What' is definitely better than 'whatever'. 'Whatever' is generally used as an indefinite - i.e., to refer to potential things/events that haven't been realized yet.
You can get whatever you might need for your project at the drugstore. --> you don't yet know what you need.
You can get what you need for your project at the drugstore. --> you (and the speaker) know exactly what you need.
The tenor of this sentence suggests that 'what he lacked...' is a KNOWN quantity, so 'what' >>> 'whatever'.

* Most importantly, this sentence is in the PASSIVE VOICE, as indicated by the word 'by' in all five choices. Therefore, you can't use 'he', because that would violate the passive voice construction: 'X was verbed by Y'. You can't say 'X he verbed by Y' in the passive voice.

If you were to convert this to the active voice, then 'by' would be the wrong preposition; you'd need 'with' (She made up for her lack of previous experience with her extremely fast learning).

[gter]

thanks for the great explanation as always Ron

[Saurabh Malpani]

Ron,

So is Answer A here? Because if I understand "HE" is wrong?

Please confrm.

Thanks!

Saurabh Malpani

[GK]

A couple of things about this problem.
* 'What' is definitely better than 'whatever'. 'Whatever' is generally used as an indefinite - i.e., to refer to potential things/events that haven't been realized yet.
You can get whatever you might need for your project at the drugstore. --> you don't yet know what you need.
You can get what you need for your project at the drugstore. --> you (and the speaker) know exactly what you need.
The tenor of this sentence suggests that 'what he lacked...' is a KNOWN quantity, so 'what' >>> 'whatever'.

* Most importantly, this sentence is in the PASSIVE VOICE, as indicated by the word 'by' in all five choices. Therefore, you can't use 'he', because that would violate the passive voice construction: 'X was verbed by Y'. You can't say 'X he verbed by Y' in the passive voice.

If you were to convert this to the active voice, then 'by' would be the wrong preposition; you'd need 'with' (She made up for her lack of previous experience with her extremely fast learning).

Same as Saurabh's concern Ron: is the answer A? Your explanation in bold-faced above implies that B cannot be the answer. Can you clarify? Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

This question is a non-GMAT-like question. I would be very careful about studying from this source (to be more blunt: I wouldn't use the 1000SC source). Some of the questions are fine but many are not sufficiently GMAT-like and will lead you astray.

Ron was nice enough to try to give some direction here without dissing the source - so let me. This is not a good question. Don't study it. :)

[jakildedhia]

This question is a non-GMAT-like question. I would be very careful about studying from this source (to be more blunt: I wouldn't use the 1000SC source). Some of the questions are fine but many are not sufficiently GMAT-like and will lead you astray.

Ron was nice enough to try to give some direction here without dissing the source - so let me. This is not a good question. Don't study it. :)

This is a shocker!
In fact i finished solving all the questions from it only today (this is the 956th question!), and now i read this. But still, i hope it should not be too late to mend!
Can you please suggest the most appropriate material to be used for both, English and Maths. I have already studied from the Manhattan Sentence correction book (which i would say is definitely of good help).
I would appreciate if along with the Manhattan material you could also name a few other options, as i have gone through most of the Manhattan material already and am looking for more (practice) material.

Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

This is a shocker!
In fact i finished solving all the questions from it only today (this is the 956th question!), and now i read this. But still, i hope it should not be too late to mend!

well ... if you've actually studied a thousand SC problems, i can definitely tell that you aren't studying in the right way.
if you've gotten through that many problems, that means that you're just going through problem after problem after problem after problem and just solving the problems, spending little to no time on review.

no matter what you're studying, make sure that you study with the appropriate DEPTH, not just BREADTH.
in particular, you should try to RELATE problems to each other, and look for GENERALIZABLE lessons, in order to gain the maximum benefit from your practice.

THE PROBLEMS ON THE TEST ARE NOT GOING TO LOOK LIKE THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS!
IF YOU JUST MEMORIZE/REMEMBER THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS EXACTLY AS YOU SAW THEM, THEY WILL HAVE NO VALUE!
they may even have negative value, if the same constructions happen to be used in different ways on the official test.

--

for EVERY problem:
* don't concentrate on the solution to that actual problem, since you can be sure you aren't going to see that actual problem on the exam
* instead, try to find TAKEAWAYS from the problem, which you can then APPLY TO OTHER PROBLEMS. this is key - DO NOT LEAVE A PROBLEM until you have extracted at least one piece of information, whether a formula, a strategy, a trick/trap, etc., that you can apply to OTHER problems.
do not leave a problem until you can fill in the following sentence, meaningfully and nontrivially:
"if i see _____ ON ANOTHER PROBLEM, i should _____"

for EVERY OFFICIAL SC problem:
be able to explain every aspect of every construction in the correct answer choice -- including the parts that are not underlined. (remember, this is the only place where you can be 100% assured of finding constructions that are correct!)
this means that you should be able to explain both the grammar and the meaning of everything those choices -- again, including the stuff that isn't underlined.

Can you please suggest the most appropriate material to be used for both, English and Maths. I have already studied from the Manhattan Sentence correction book (which i would say is definitely of good help).
I would appreciate if along with the Manhattan material you could also name a few other options, as i have gone through most of the Manhattan material already and am looking for more (practice) material.

if you do what i've suggested above -- especially with the correct answers** -- you will probably find that the OG12 alone provides enough SC material for at least a couple of months of study.

honestly, if you put that together with the manhattan SC guide, you should already have more than enough material. quantity is not quality, and, after a certain point (which you have long ago passed if you have actually solved 956 problems), quantity and quality become each other's enemies.

--

**i'll let you in on a little secret here: studying the correct answers in this way is really the hidden weapon on this test.

fun fact:
before i started teaching the gmat, i had zero formal training in english grammar -- i'd never studied it academically, and had basically no idea of any of the non-basic rules that i talk about here. (instead, for SC i relied only upon my experience as a professional editor/writer and upon my sheer exposure to tons and tons and tons of material written in highly formal, scholarly english. even though i didn't know any of the actual grammar rules, my experience allowed me to identify "right" and "wrong" immediately and almost instinctually without any sort of formal breakdown -- much as people are able to identify the nature of, say, facial expressions without having to break them down muscle by muscle. for all practical purposes, that sort of approach is impossible for non-native speakers of english.)
here's the fun part:
every single thing i've ever posted on this forum about english grammar, i learned by studying correct answers to official SC problems.
this is not an exaggeration.
here was the process:
* study a correct answer
* justify the use (= grammar and meaning) of EVERY construction in the correct answer
* attempt to generalize the result
* if the generalization is questionable, search other official SC problems for the same construction, and see whether the generalization works.

[jakildedhia]

hey Ron, thanks a lot for such an insightful reply.
Honestly, I am extremely glad that not only did you take so much of your precious time to reply but you also gave an in-depth explanation with your own example!
Thanks again!

(P.S.: was the 'not only....but also' construction in my reply correct?
I guess this test has taken such a toll that I now keep on searching for SC where ever I can!)
:)
....oh btw u may choose not to reply (or even delete the latter, question, part) as this may be of little help to anyone visiting this forum

[jnelson0612]

Thank you all! This is a great thread and very helpful.

[hsh.vjy]

Thank you Ron for valuable advice on how to study SC. This had exactly been my problem on SC and my dip in verbal score in my last attempt was the result of complete reliance on 1000SC.

With all the N-number of rules that are being followed in SC, how is it possible for an 'AVERAGE' English student (me) to cram it up. Each question in OG12/Manhattan SC props up a unique rule. I am planning a 8 hr session tomorrow to cover up the bits and pieces left in my SC (using OG12 and ManhttnSC guide).

Your thoughts here would be highly appreciated.

[mschwrtz]

Please don't study SC for eight hours today. Please don't study anything for eight hours today. I have been a teacher for about 30 years and have never met a student who could study productively for eight hours at a stretch.

Ron has already given you some good advice on studying. He (or I or some other instructor) could tailor that to your particular situation if you let us know what that situation is. When are you taking the test?

[pawanugt]

Hi Ron, Stacey

I second your opinion about the 1000 SC. They are definitely not GMAT-like.

However, I just want to learn the usage of "Made Up". Are the below mentioned sentences right ? Please explain the nuances.

P.S : To me, Text written by you is equivalent to text published by GMAC. Kindly consider clarifying my doubts. I would be waiting.

1. His hard work made up for his bad luck.

2. His bad luck was more than made up with his hard work.

3. His bad luck was more than made up by his hard work.

[tim]

2 and 3 are wrong because they are missing a "for". other than that, these all look acceptable to me..