Verbal questions from any Manhattan Prep GMAT Computer Adaptive Test. Topic subject should be the first few words of your question.
niitsm
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Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by niitsm Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:58 am

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.
that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can
has offered complimentary wireless Internet access to the public; with a wireless-enabled device, anyone can
to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may
offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access, enabling anyone with a wireless-enabled device to
offers to the public complimentary wireless Internet access, which, with a wireless-enabled device, allows anyone to

Hi Instructors

Can you please explain what's wrong with choice B & E .

And what's the verb in first part of the choice C .
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by jlucero Sat Aug 17, 2013 6:05 pm

B) In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities has offered complimentary wireless Internet access to the public; with a wireless-enabled device, anyone can access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

In B, the clause before the semi-colon is incomplete. La Plata, Argentina IS one of the first cities that offered complimentary wifi. The meaning in B changes to "within La Plata" there is another city which is first in offering wifi. The same problem happens in E:

E) In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities offers to the public complimentary wireless Internet access, which, with a wireless-enabled device, allows anyone to access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

Finally, in C, the main clause is below:

(In La Plata, Argentina,) (one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public), anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.
Joe Lucero
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by niitsm Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:22 pm

Thanks Joe it was helpful
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by jnelson0612 Sun Sep 08, 2013 2:51 pm

Great!
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by deepak_pathania Sat May 02, 2015 11:58 am

I have question about usage of "can" and "may" in this sentence. I did not select option C because "anyone with a wireless-enabled device can" is different from "anyone with a wireless-enabled device may" in the meaning.
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by RonPurewal Fri May 22, 2015 9:22 am

both of them make sense.

there is a difference in meaning, but that difference is very slight—much too slight to be important. that split is basically there to distract you from other stuff.
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by Meerak869 Tue Jun 09, 2015 8:43 am

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.


that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can

has offered complimentary wireless Internet access to the public; with a wireless-enabled device, anyone can

to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may

offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access, enabling anyone with a wireless-enabled device to

offers to the public complimentary wireless Internet access, which, with a wireless-enabled device, allows anyone to

This sentence describes a noteworthy fact about the city of La Plata, Argentina: the city offers complimentary wireless Internet access to anyone with a wireless-enabled device.

It is mentioned below that in the slution that modifier is followed by an independant clause. Whereas it is separated by only a comma in the choices appeared.

(C) CORRECT. The idiomatic construction one of the first to is used correctly. The modifier is followed by an independent clause, and all parts of the sentence convey a logical meaning.

I agree that "one of th first to do sth" is correct but after replacinf the underlined portion with option C it looks like

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

I feel the verb is missing even from this sentence. I re-expressed it as below
Sentence 1: In La.., Argentina, one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless internet access to the public.
one of the...... is a modifier defining Argentina where is verb in this sentence.

, is to replaced by ;

sentence 2:anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area. This seems ok.

please explain.
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by RonPurewal Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:04 am

there is no 'sentence 1' and 'sentence 2'.

what you are calling 'sentence 2' is THE core sentence—the only core sentence. the rest is just a bunch of modifiers.

Anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

In La Plata, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

In La Plata, one of the first cities to xxxxxx, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

^^ all the same sentence, with varying amounts of extra description.
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by RonPurewal Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:05 am

by the way, "La Plata, Argentina" is a single noun; it's a city (like "Los Angeles, California" or "Dallas, Texas").
you can't split it up, and you can't describe only "Argentina".

similarly, if "Dallas, Texas" is followed by a modifier, it is impossible for the modifier to describe only "Texas". again, you should think of "Dallas, Texas" as a single word; obviously it's impossible to modify half a word!

in the sentences above, i replaced "La Plata, Argentina" with just "La Plata" so that it's easier to see the underlying structure.
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by Meerak869 Fri Dec 11, 2015 2:51 am

RonPurewal Wrote:by the way, "La Plata, Argentina" is a single noun; it's a city (like "Los Angeles, California" or "Dallas, Texas").
you can't split it up, and you can't describe only "Argentina".

similarly, if "Dallas, Texas" is followed by a modifier, it is impossible for the modifier to describe only "Texas". again, you should think of "Dallas, Texas" as a single word; obviously it's impossible to modify half a word!

in the sentences above, i replaced "La Plata, Argentina" with just "La Plata" so that it's easier to see the underlying structure.


can u elaborate this compound noun subject? How are we supposed recognize this pattern in the exam?
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by NibeditaN250 Sat Dec 19, 2015 5:19 pm

Dear Instructors,

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.


(A) that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can

I rejected option (A) on the basis of S-V agreement. Is my understanding wrong?

'that' modifies 'cities' so the verb should be 'were' instead of 'was'.

Can you please confirm. Thank you!
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by AnkitT402 Mon Jul 25, 2016 10:17 am

You are correct 'were' is the right the verb in option (a) as it modifies the cities.
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by cgentry Sat Oct 08, 2016 11:08 am

NibeditaN250 Wrote:Dear Instructors,

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.


(A) that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can

I rejected option (A) on the basis of S-V agreement. Is my understanding wrong?

'that' modifies 'cities' so the verb should be 'were' instead of 'was'.

Can you please confirm. Thank you!


Actually, it's more complex than this. A modifier construction like this is determined by both placement and verb; while placement would indicate the "that" modifier clause describes "cities", the verb "was" actually prevents that interpretation.

You are correct to examine S/V agreement here. But in this case, the verb "was" means the "that" clause modifies the singular noun "one".

The real problem is the fact that there is no independent clause (core sentence) before the semicolon.
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Re: Manhattan CAT SC question " La Plata wireless "

by cgentry Sat Oct 08, 2016 11:10 am

AnkitT402 Wrote:You are correct 'were' is the right the verb in option (a) as it modifies the cities.


Please see my reply to NibeditaN250!