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RonPurewal
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Re: Laos has a land area

by RonPurewal Wed Oct 22, 2014 6:40 am

soulwangh Wrote:I know the word in CR question.
But,somehow, I did not output it correctly.
It seems that I use two different systems when reading and writing separately.


if you regularly have issues like this one, you may want to re-visit how you learn words.

in particular, many people try to learn words by memorizing definitions (like the ones in dictionaries.)
this is an absolutely horrible idea. don't do it!
first, dictionary definitions tend to be cumbersome, formal, and not very accessible to intuition.
second, they're often exasperatingly difficult to form and/or remember, even for words that represent easy concepts.
e.g., you know what light is. now, try to write a dictionary-style definition for "light"... have fun with that. then, after that fun activity, take a look at how dictionaries actually do define "light", and ask yourself whether that's something you could apply in real time.

instead, you should just remember simple examples, until you don't need them anymore.
e.g., ron's love for hot, dry weather would certainly justify a move to the desert.
if you have this example at your fingertips, then, whenever you see "justify" in some other context, it shouldn't take more than a few seconds for you to figure out (by analogy) what it means.
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Re: Laos has a land area

by soulwangh Fri Oct 24, 2014 8:08 am

RonPurewal Wrote:
soulwangh Wrote:I know the word in CR question.
But,somehow, I did not output it correctly.
It seems that I use two different systems when reading and writing separately.


if you regularly have issues like this one, you may want to re-visit how you learn words.

in particular, many people try to learn words by memorizing definitions (like the ones in dictionaries.)
this is an absolutely horrible idea. don't do it!
first, dictionary definitions tend to be cumbersome, formal, and not very accessible to intuition.
second, they're often exasperatingly difficult to form and/or remember, even for words that represent easy concepts.
e.g., you know what light is. now, try to write a dictionary-style definition for "light"... have fun with that. then, after that fun activity, take a look at how dictionaries actually do define "light", and ask yourself whether that's something you could apply in real time.

instead, you should just remember simple examples, until you don't need them anymore.
e.g., ron's love for hot, dry weather would certainly justify a move to the desert.
if you have this example at your fingertips, then, whenever you see "justify" in some other context, it shouldn't take more than a few seconds for you to figure out (by analogy) what it means.


Your kind suggestion and guidance justify my exclusive participation in Manhattan Forum!
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Re: Laos has a land area

by tim Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:49 am

Glad to hear it!
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
RonPurewal
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Re: Laos has a land area

by RonPurewal Wed Nov 05, 2014 4:49 am

by the way, note that we have a name for the notion of accumulating examples in your brain.
it's called ... experience. and it's pretty much the most valuable form of human capital that exists.
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Re: Laos has a land area

by liu1993918 Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:39 pm

Can I cross out D just because E seems more parallel than D?
E. Laos has a land area (modifier) but a population (modifier)
D. Laos has a land area (modifier) but only four million in population.
It seems that "a population" is more parallel than "four million" to "a land area".

After I read the previous replies, I know that D also has other issues. However, as a non-native speaker, parallelism seems easier to me.

Dear instructors, Please correct me, if I am wrong.
Thanks in advance.
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Re: Laos has a land area

by RonPurewal Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:45 am

liu1993918 Wrote:Can I cross out D just because E seems more parallel than D?


yes.

in fact, parallelism should always be a "beauty contest" between/among the options; it's much easier that way.

i.e., choosing the better/best option, from a very small set of choices, is MUCH easier than trying to formulate a theoretically perfect version (which might not even be there!).
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Re: Laos has a land area

by zerglingzxzxy Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:50 am

I thought someone should have asked this question - but reading thru all the replies I didn't find anyone asking the usage of "but" in option E.
Is "but" here a conjunction (such as "I rush out but I find myself forget to bring my wallet") or a preposition (meaning "except", e.g. "There is no one there but me")?
I assume "but" is a conj. here - I don't think the meaning "except" makes sense - but I cannot find a sentence after "but". The "many of whom..." sentence is a subordinate clause, IMO.
Or is there some omission here? Maybe the completed E should be "Laos has a land area... BUT (Laos has) a population..."

Thanks!
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Re: Laos has a land area

by RonPurewal Sun Mar 01, 2015 7:18 am

i don't know the grammar terms, so i can't help you on that front.

in any case, this is just "but" used to connect 2 parallel structures.
Ron is lazy but efficient. (2 parallel adjectives)
I have many large books but no place to display them. (2 parallel nouns+modifiers)
etc.
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Re: Laos has a land area

by RonPurewal Sun Mar 01, 2015 7:21 am

in any case, you seem to be thinking that, if "but" is a connector, it must connect complete sentences. that's not true; "but" (like "and") can connect basically any parallel structures.

i would also like to suggest that your focus on terminology is the cause of your trouble here-- not the solution to it!
this fact ("but" can connect 2 parallel structures) is not a minor technical nuance; it's quite fundamental, but your focus on terminology is blinding you to it nonetheless.
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Re: Laos has a land area

by JianchengD868 Wed Apr 15, 2015 12:46 am

Dear Ron,

I know choice A is wrong because it compares "the land area" with a place-Great Britain.

My question is can we say -Laos has a land area about the same size as Great Britain ?
Do we need to add that of before Great Britain when we use the same size as ?

Regards,
Jiancheng
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Re: Laos has a land area

by JianchengD868 Wed Apr 15, 2015 1:47 am

JianchengD868 Wrote:Dear Ron,

I know choice A is wrong because it compares "the land area" with a place-Great Britain.

My question is can we say -Laos has a land area about the same size as Great Britain ?
Do we need to add that of before Great Britain when we use the same size as ?

Regards,
Jiancheng


Hi Ron,

I am so sorry to bump the post. I found the reason why I am confused by myself.
There are examples using the same size as:
Australia is roughly the same size as the United States with less than a tenth of the people.
Venus is almost the same size as Earth.

These examples compare one place directly to another place, for example Australia to the United States, and Venus to Earth.
However, in the sentence -Laos has a land area about the same size as Great Britain, the author wants to compare two land areas, not two places. So I think this sentence is wrong, and the right sentence is "Laos has a land area about the same size as that of Great Britain".

pls forgive me.

Regards,
Jiancheng
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Re: Laos has a land area

by RonPurewal Wed Apr 15, 2015 9:25 am

JianchengD868 Wrote:the right sentence is "Laos has a land area about the same size as that of Great Britain".


this is exactly correct. it's also exactly what the correct answer does.

in other words, this is just basic parallelism.
Aus || GB
Area of Aus || Area of GB (= that of GB)

pls forgive me.


i don't understand this comment at all.
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Re: Laos has a land area

by JianchengD868 Wed Apr 15, 2015 9:52 am

RonPurewal Wrote:
JianchengD868 Wrote:the right sentence is "Laos has a land area about the same size as that of Great Britain".


this is exactly correct. it's also exactly what the correct answer does.

in other words, this is just basic parallelism.
Aus || GB
Area of Aus || Area of GB (= that of GB)

pls forgive me.


i don't understand this comment at all.


Hi Ron,
Because I bumped my post after I got the answer by myself, I know you don't like us to bump our own post.

Regards,
JianchengD868
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Re: Laos has a land area

by RonPurewal Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:46 am

ah, ok.

the problem with "bumping" has nothing to do with me; i'm not annoyed by it.

rather, the problem is that, since we answer posts strictly in order from oldest to newest, "bumping" a thread will actually move it to the LAST place in the queue.
in other words, when you "bump" a thread, you're just protracting the time you'll have to wait for a response.
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Re: Laos has a land area

by RichaChampion Tue Jul 07, 2015 1:52 pm

RonPurewal Wrote:
BG Wrote:I can not figure out the sentense structure. Say, "a population of only 4 million people" after "but" is used for what?


the "but" creates parallelism between the 2 nouns describing things that laos has.

with choice (e), the sentence reads as follows:
laos has a land area comparable to that of Great Britain but a population of only 4 million people, many of whom...

so, basically, laos has X but Y, where X and Y show some kind of contrast with each other. (the contrast here is apparent, as great britain certainly has more than four million inhabitants.)

and the "many of whom..." clause modifies "4 million people", as such clauses are wont to do.


and the "many of whom..." clause modifies "4 million people", as such clauses are wont to do.

I am unable to understand the meaning of this part - as such clauses are wont to do.

One More question Ron -
many of whom Vs Many of them

can you please comment in which grammar category they fall and where they are used. I think this is a Good question to study that split.
Richa,
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