Awesome Question --But very very confusing

[Saurabh Malpani]

It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise for its unrelenting reporting of the Watergate scandal.

A It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise

B It was only after Katharine Graham's becoming publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and under her command it had one high praise

C Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 and only after that did it move into the first rank of American newspapers, having won high praise under her command

D Moving into the first rank of American newspapers only after Katharine Graham became its publisher in 1963, The Washington Post, winning high praise under her command

E Moving into the first rank of American newspapers only after Katharine Grahame's becoming its publisher in 1963, The Washington Post won high praise under her command


Ron/Stacey,

This question is a toughie for me after re-reading it 10 times I am able to understand that why this question is correct but still I has shaken my fundas up--Can you plese provide concrete explanation.

I understand that IT --is like a poison--and should not have any ambiguity. When I read A it stuck it off because it has sooooo Many It(s).


It was only after Katharine Graham became publisher of The Washington Post in 1963 that it moved into the first rank of American newspapers, and it was under her command that the paper won high praise

As per my understanding if we have two Prnouns each has the same referent---Is this Correct? , even in Different Clauses?

So I thought 2nd It refers to Washington Post so 3rd It should also refer to Washington post and that's not correct.

So what are the rule behind IT?

I know i should start new thread for every questionn but questions are about IT. First one you have already address (http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/in- ... ht=cricket) but I am a bit unclear about the explanation in reference to IT(S) in other questions.

234. The physical structure of the human eye enables it to sense light of wavelengths up to 0.0005 millimeters; infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters-- is too long to be registered by the eye.
A) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters--is too long to be registered by the eye
B )however, the wavelength of infrared radiation-- 0.1 millimeters--is top long to be registered by the eye making it invisible
C) infrared radiation, however, is invisible because its wavelength--0.1 millimeters--is too long for the eye to register it
D )however, because the wavelength of infrared radiation is 0.1 millimeters, it is too long for the eye to register and thus invisible
E) however, infrared radiation has a wavelength of 0.1 millimeters that is too long for the eye to register, thus making it invisible

Between A/C i think in C It doesn't have a clear referent so I can rule out C correct? --ANY OTHER REASON?


In next question in option D, IT is wrong because of the Clause "a work literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced IT as -----Here IT refers to what? if it refers to Work then it's redundant---Is this correct?

In 1713, Alexander Pope began his translation of the Iliad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced the greatest translation in any language.

A. his translation of the Iliad, a work that, taking him seven years until completion, and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced
B. his translation of the Iliad, a work that took him seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced
C. his translation of the Iliad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it as
D. translating the Iliad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it as
E. translating the Iliad, a work that had taken seven years to complete and literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it


If the above reasoning is correct why is D in the Cricket Species question correct?


In some species of Cricket, the number of chirps per minute used by the male for attracting females rise and fall in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and they can infact serve as an approximate thermometer

1. for attracting females rise and fall in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and they can infact serve
2. for attracting females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, which can infact serve
3. in attracting females rise and fall in accordance with the surrounding temperature, infact possibly serving
4. to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and it can infact serve
5. to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, infact possibly serving


Sorry for the Long post but I am confused

Questions are either from OG or GPREP.

Saurabh Malpani

[ddohnggo]

I'll give the first one a shot:

a. three pronouns IT. not clear what the referent is since it is not clear.
b. it could refer to WA Post or becoming publisher. past perfect 'had' doesn't make sense. the award winning occurred AFTER she become publisher and not before.
c. the modifier HAVING modifies the whole phrase rather than WA post. It's the WA post that won awards and NOT Katherine Graham becoming publisher.
d. Disjointed clause. The introductory modifier should modify the main clause, but WA post is then broken up by another modifier.
e. correct one. Intro modifier modifies the correct subject. It's also clear and concise.

[ddohnggo]

Follow up (as an FYI you may want to underline the portion that is to be examined):

for 231, I would have to agree that C is wrong because 'IT' could refer to either wavelength or radiation. It's unclear, so I would rule it out.

the next question:
(choice d is in place)
In 1713, Alexander Pope began translating the Iliad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it as the greatest translation in any language.

i don't necessarily think the choice is wrong because 'IT' doesn't have one referent, but it's wrong because 'IT' is unecessary. If you look at the problem, there is parallel structure. ...a work that x and that y. The second 'THAT' in the structure, already refers back to 'A work.' So if you read it as the following ...'a work...that literary critic Samual Johnson pronounced it as...' you already know that it does not sound correct.


last question:
You can immediately eliminate A-C because the idiom should be 'TO ATTRACT' and we're left with D and E. The two choices are identical until the end. Choice E is incorrect because 'INFACT POSSIBLY SERVING' is quite awkward. Although in choice D, 'IT' could have a referent problem it isn't ALWAYS a reason to cross out an answer choice. As a result, choice D is better than choice E.

Hope this helps and maybe Stacy and/or Ron can help clarify some more.

[Saurabh Malpani]

Ddohngoo,

I agree with you. I don't have any problem with the answers I agree what is correct and what's wrong.

But my question here is different---for e.g in the Katharine Graham and in the Wavelenght question the problem is multiple references of IT.

I the graham question I rejected it because it has so many IT(S) and each IT referes to a different Noun.--This is Correct here but the same principle is wrong in WAVELENGTH question.

I understand the parallel structure in"Pope' question but we do have a parallel structure in "Cricket" question.

So I don't know if I am making sense but..

Follow up (as an FYI you may want to underline the portion that is to be examined):

for 231, I would have to agree that C is wrong because 'IT' could refer to either wavelength or radiation. It's unclear, so I would rule it out.

the next question:
(choice d is in place)
In 1713, Alexander Pope began translating the Iliad, a work that took seven years until completion and that literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope's contemporary, pronounced it as the greatest translation in any language.

i don't necessarily think the choice is wrong because 'IT' doesn't have one referent, but it's wrong because 'IT' is unecessary. If you look at the problem, there is parallel structure. ...a work that x and that y. The second 'THAT' in the structure, already refers back to 'A work.' So if you read it as the following ...'a work...that literary critic Samual Johnson pronounced it as...' you already know that it does not sound correct.


last question:
You can immediately eliminate A-C because the idiom should be 'TO ATTRACT' and we're left with D and E. The two choices are identical until the end. Choice E is incorrect because 'INFACT POSSIBLY SERVING' is quite awkward. Although in choice D, 'IT' could have a referent problem it isn't ALWAYS a reason to cross out an answer choice. As a result, choice D is better than choice E.

Hope this helps and maybe Stacy and/or Ron can help clarify some more.

[Saurabh Malpani]

Heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes it likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.

A.

B. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that worked well in the past, makes missing signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting ones likely when they do appear.

C. An executive who is heavily committed to a course of action is likely to miss or misinterpret signs of incipient trouble when they do appear, especially if it has worked well in the past.

D. Executives’ being heavily committed to a course of action, especially if it has worked well in the past, makes them likely to miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpreting them when they do appear.

E. Being heavily committed to a course of action, especially one that has worked well in the past, is likely to make an executive miss signs of incipient trouble or misinterpret them when they do appear.




I know I should open a new thread but if you can explain this "IT" question also that wil be great

I eliminated E because of amigious reference of multiple It(s).



Saurabh Malpani

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, Saurabh

It's fine to have multiple questions from one source if they're talking about the same issue but, unfortunately, I do need you to split out the GMATPrep questions from OG questions.

We're about to make an announcement on this tomorrow but I'll tell you now to save you some trouble: GMAC has requested that we no longer allow people to post questions from OG. So please either edit out the above questions that are from OG or let me know which ones are OG and I'll delete them. (And then don't bother to repost them in the OG folders, because those folders are going to be removed tomorrow.) Very sorry for the inconvenience. :(

[Saurabh Malpani]

Stacey,

The question posted here http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/the ... t1872.html

also deals with IT and here A is correct over E. But I thought "TO BE" is generally wrong on GMAT.

Can you please comment on the IT again?

[Guest]

Just to add that i know tat To is correct when used in idioms claims to be, estimate to be etc. but otherwise i think they not correct?

Saurabh malpani

[vanD]

re: publisher of digital works qn, "to be sold" is appropriate here because, the publisher is not committing to sell itself... it might want to have other retailers sell them... whereas E, commits the publisher to sell them...How do we know what the publisher meant/announced? No, we dont. Now that A and E both are grammatically correct, concision comes into play..leave A as the best choice..

[RonPurewal]

Just to add that i know tat To is correct when used in idioms claims to be, estimate to be etc. but otherwise i think they not correct?

Saurabh malpani

i'm sorry, i'm having a hard time understanding. it seems that you're asking whether these are the only idioms that use 'to'; the answer to that is most definitely no - there are tons of them. here are a few: seems to be, dedicated to, choose to, decide to, chosen to be, ... those are just the first five to pop into my head. there are probably hundreds of them - way too many to memorize, by any count. just make an inventory, whether in your head or on paper, of the idioms that stump you, memorize them, and go from there.