GMATPREP2- VERBAL 10

[mbhusal76]

The first shots of the American Revolution, fired at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, were, according to legend, heard around the world, but news of these shots, which were sent by swift messenger, took four days in reaching New York City as well as another additional eleven days to reach Charleston, South Carolina.

A.shots, which were sent by swift messenger, took four days in reaching New York City as well as another additional eleven days

B.shots that was sent by swift messenger took four days in order to reach New York City, and also another eleven days

C.shots that were sent by swift messenger took four days to reach New York City and another eleven days

D.shots took four days by swift messenger in order to reach New York City and another eleven days in addition

E.shots took four days by swift messenger to reach New York City and another eleven days.


I selected c, but the oa is different. Can anyone please explain?

[kalps1980]

Is OA E?

[agha79]

Is the correct Answer "B"

A - i belive is wrong becasue of "which" refrence
C - not to sure. orignally i choose C as well
D & E use passive voice very strangly.

Any help form GMAT Staff?

[ritesh.bindal]

E IMO.

[2amitprakash]

For me:
A - wrong
"were" is not correct to use as "news" needs a singular verb.
B - wrong
The second part ", and also..." is missing a right conjuction and subject. Als I think that modifier "that was sent by swift messenger" is made essential and this is not the case - confusing if it is for news or shots (you can determine based on whether it makes any sense or not but huh!).
C - wrong
"were" is not correct to use as "news" needs a singular verb.
D - wrong
use of "another" and "in addition" - plain wordy and little much
E - Seems the best choice
although a little troubled by placement of "by swift messenger" but guess better than other choices.

[RonPurewal]

The first shots of the American Revolution, fired at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, were, according to legend, heard around the world, but news of these shots, which were sent by swift messenger, took four days in reaching New York City as well as another additional eleven days to reach Charleston, South Carolina.

A.shots, which were sent by swift messenger, took four days in reaching New York City as well as another additional eleven days

B.shots that was sent by swift messenger took four days in order to reach New York City, and also another eleven days

C.shots that were sent by swift messenger took four days to reach New York City and another eleven days

D.shots took four days by swift messenger in order to reach New York City and another eleven days in addition

E.shots took four days by swift messenger to reach New York City and another eleven days.


I selected c, but the oa is different. Can anyone please explain?

hi - when you post here, please post the answers to problems. if you want to hide them, post them in white on white (colors are at your right when you post), but do not post problems without answers.

(c) contains "shots that were sent by swift messenger", illogically implying that the shots themselves were sent by swift messenger.

("news" is singular, surprisingly enough)

[ruoxueshe]

The first shots of the American Revolution, fired at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, were, according to legend, heard around the world, but news of these shots, which were sent by swift messenger, took four days in reaching New York City as well as another additional eleven days to reach Charleston, South Carolina.

A.shots, which were sent by swift messenger, took four days in reaching New York City as well as another additional eleven days

B.shots that was sent by swift messenger took four days in order to reach New York City, and also another eleven days

C.shots that were sent by swift messenger took four days to reach New York City and another eleven days

D.shots took four days by swift messenger in order to reach New York City and another eleven days in addition

E.shots took four days by swift messenger to reach New York City and another eleven days.


I selected c, but the oa is different. Can anyone please explain?

hi - when you post here, please post the answers to problems. if you want to hide them, post them in white on white (colors are at your right when you post), but do not post problems without answers.

(c) contains "shots that were sent by swift messenger", illogically implying that the shots themselves were sent by swift messenger.

("news" is singular, surprisingly enough)

Sorry to bump this old thread. I have a question here for choice B.
I have read many threads. Almost everyone said choice C is wrong because that...modify shots instead of news.
But in Manhattan 12th edition chapter 12 "modifiers: exceptions to the touch rule" it says "a mission critical modifier falls between. Example: He had a way of dodging opponents that impressed the scouts. that can modify the entire noun phrase so it's right"

I choose B because I think that was sent can modify news of shots.

Please correct me if I'm wrong here. I'm confused about this kind of problem for a long time. Thanks a lot.

[kvitkod]

What does the modifer "by SWIFT messenger" modify in E?

shots took four days by swift messenger to reach New York City and another eleven days.

[RonPurewal]

if this problem is genuinely from the GMAT PREP software, then there should be a widely published official answer; so far, no one has come forward with one (nor with proof that the problem is from GMAT PREP).

therefore, we will delete this thread within a week if no one does the following:
* post a screenshot (here or at an image hosting website such as postimage.org) to prove that the problem is actually from GMAT PREP;
* post the official answer, per the forum rules.

thanks.

[lambandme]

if this problem is genuinely from the GMAT PREP software, then there should be a widely published official answer; so far, no one has come forward with one (nor with proof that the problem is from GMAT PREP).

therefore, we will delete this thread within a week if no one does the following:
* post a screenshot (here or at an image hosting website such as postimage.org) to prove that the problem is actually from GMAT PREP;
* post the official answer, per the forum rules.

thanks.

This is a GMAT prep question, I did this question on my prep software before, however I've reset that test so I can not provide a screen shot ,nevertheless, the OA is E.
I got C, would C be right if we change it to "news of shots that was sent by..."?

[vaibhav_agarwal2002]

("news" is singular, surprisingly enough)

Dear ron

"News are coming from all over the places that US is going to suffer big financial issues this year"

tell me news is used rightly in this sentence or not?

[vaibhav_agarwal2002]

if this problem is genuinely from the GMAT PREP software, then there should be a widely published official answer; so far, no one has come forward with one (nor with proof that the problem is from GMAT PREP).

therefore, we will delete this thread within a week if no one does the following:
* post a screenshot (here or at an image hosting website such as postimage.org) to prove that the problem is actually from GMAT PREP;
* post the official answer, per the forum rules.

thanks.

Dear ron
http://imageshack.us/f/153/gmatprob.jpg/

[aaron.1choi]

A.shots, which were sent by swift messenger, took four days in reaching New York City as well as another additional eleven days
news is singular so "were" should be singular, ie. was

B.shots that was sent by swift messenger took four days in order to reach New York City, and also another eleven days
wordy and redundant, unnecessary

C.shots that were sent by swift messenger took four days to reach New York City and another eleven days
plural/singular subject/verb agreement
D.shots took four days by swift messenger in order to reach New York City and another eleven days in addition
again, "in order" is wordy, redundant and unnecessary. "in addition" is used improperly. Although this does have the correct structure of the idiomatic "in addition to", it is used incorrectly. "in addition to" should begin a phrase/complete thought; should start a sentence, right after conjunction or comma.
E.shots took four days by swift messenger to reach New York City and another eleven days.
changes verb to active tense, bypassing plural/singular agreement problem (TRICKY!). correct, concise sentence. For those of you having issue with modifier "by swift messenger", this is modifying "four days". eg. the mail took four days by post to arrive. "by post" lets us know what type of mailing method took four days

this is what i did to tackle this problem and hopefully these explanations help.

[aaron.1choi]

does anyone know when using "in order to" is acceptable and not wordy? or is it even wordy?
(but even if "in order" could be acceptable here, (b) has "also another", a wordy construction compared to simply "another")

seems like "in order to:" is a british (formal english) thing, and the gmat discriminates against, or rather, distinguishes american usage from british.

[RonPurewal]

I have read many threads. Almost everyone said choice C is wrong because that...modify shots instead of news.
But in Manhattan 12th edition chapter 12 "modifiers: exceptions to the touch rule" it says "a mission critical modifier falls between. Example: He had a way of dodging opponents that impressed the scouts. that can modify the entire noun phrase so it's right"

yeah, but "news" is singular. (sorry, you just have to memorize that one.) so that modification doesn't work, because "were" is a plural verb.

I choose B because I think that was sent can modify news of shots.

(b) has "in order to", which is incorrect.
"IN ORDER TO" specifies the GOAL or PURPOSE of an action.

i took four days to finish the project -- correct
i took four days in order to finish the project -- incorrect
here, the second version is incorrect because "a finished project" is not a goal; it just describes what took four days.

i took four days off work in order to finish the project -- correct
in this case, my purpose in taking four days off work -- i.e., the goal that i hoped to achieve by doing so -- was to finish the project.

i was supposed to finish the project in one day, but i took four days in order to produce it more carefully
same sort of thing.