Prep SC question: Because of the Sun, which...

[keithyang926]

Prep2012-Pack-SC-074 VSC005220

Because of the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, but also 400 times farther away from Earth, so both the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky.

B. The Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, is also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky.

C. The Sun and the Moon have the same apparent size in the sky because the Sun, which is 400 times larger than the Moon, and also 400 times farther away from Earth.

D. Four hundred times larger than the Moon and 400 times farther away from Earth, the Sun has the same apparent size in the sky as the Moon's.

E. Four hundred times larger than the Moon and also 400 times farther away from Earth, so the Sun in the sky has the same apparent size as the Moon.

The OA is B. But I'm not sure what's the problem with D.
At first, I guess because '400 times farther away from Earth' in D does not have a complete comparison structure(lacking 'than the Moon') ,and the whole sentense in D weakens the causal relationship, so D is incorrect. But when I went back and checked B, finding B also maintains the structure '400 times farther away from Earth' without adding 'than the Moon' after it. Can someone justify this use here?

And in D, is the 'as the Moon's' is wrong? I think it's good here, but not sure.

The last question, I think the two parts of description, 'Four hundred times larger than the Moon' and '400 times farther away from Earth' should be parallel with each other, because they both depict the 2 reasons which make the Sun looks as big as the Moon. But in B, they do not, so B is not ideal, right?

Thanks!

[tim]

first --
OFFICIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS ARE CORRECT!
do not question officially correct answers!
far too many students on this forum make the mistake of questioning the correct answers; please note that doing so is a complete waste of your time and effort. i.e., exactly 0% of the time that you spend posting "isn't this official answer wrong?" is productive, and exactly 100% of that time is wasted.

B includes a correct comparison, and D is very close. The only reason D is wrong is because it uses the word "moon's" when it should have used "moon"..

[keithyang926]

first --
OFFICIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS ARE CORRECT!
do not question officially correct answers!
far too many students on this forum make the mistake of questioning the correct answers; please note that doing so is a complete waste of your time and effort. i.e., exactly 0% of the time that you spend posting "isn't this official answer wrong?" is productive, and exactly 100% of that time is wasted.

B includes a correct comparison, and D is very close. The only reason D is wrong is because it uses the word "moon's" when it should have used "moon"..

Hi Tim, thanks for your reply.
But I still got some questions about it.

1. I did not doubt the official correct answer, yet I wondered why in the correct answer, the parallelism of two traits of the Sun was not maintained. And option D does a very good job of it on this point.
So, nothing wrong with "Four hundred times larger than the Moon and 400 times farther away from Earth" ?

2. I thought 'Moon's' was fine, because there's 'has' exists somewhere preceding 'Moon's'. As in the below examples.

a. Laos has the same land area as Great Britain --- incorrect, because we are comparing 'area' to GB.

b. Laos has the same land area as Great Britain's land area --- correct but a little wordy.

So, I think same logic applies here, if we say,
The sun has the same apparent size in the sky as the Moon

aren't we illogically comparing size to Moon?

[tim]

1. what you have to ask yourself is whether the rules of parallelism have been violated in B. if they haven't, then there is no problem..

2. good point. rather than saying "moon's" or "moon", i suppose it would be best to say "moon has"..

[sunkunshan]

Is the "also" in B awkward?

[thanghnvn]

I get B but not soon.

D is wrong because

"moon's" is wrong. we do not have possesive of any kind "of contruction" or " ' " to use ellipsis here.

the initial phrase " Four hundred times larger than the Moon and 400 times farther away from Earth" modifies the subject and the whole clause. This modifier show the context of main clause or something which is not causal relation. causal relation is the intended meaning. for this reason choice D is considerd the distorted meaning and wrong even if the error "moon's" is corrected.

distorted meaning is popular on gmat sc. In the distorted meaning, the focus of meaing is changed. for example

I like his learning English
the focus of meaning is "learning"
I like him learning English.
the focus of meaning is "him"

normmaly on gmat, the first is right.

distorted meaning can be logic and grammatical if this meaning/choice stands alone. This meaning can be logic if this meaning stand alone because the speaker consider that the distored meaning is the focus of meaning. but if this choice stands with the other choice we can "discern" (Ron uses this word) the intended meaning by "using common sense". This situation is popular on gmat sc and is asked many times by students.

so, in the above sentence, "I like him learning English" can be considered correct if this sentence stand alone because it is possible that the speaker focus on "him" not on "learning" . but if 2 choices stand together, one choice must be considered distorted. I think gmat presents this situation to test our ability to convey the correct focus of meaning.

by using common sense, I think B is the intended meaning and D is distorted meaning even if B contains no error of "moon's"

is my thinking correct, pls, help explain.

[RonPurewal]

I get B but not soon.

D is wrong because

"moon's" is wrong. we do not have possesive of any kind "of contruction" or " ' " to use ellipsis here.

the initial phrase " Four hundred times larger than the Moon and 400 times farther away from Earth" modifies the subject and the whole clause. This modifier show the context of main clause or something which is not causal relation. causal relation is the intended meaning. for this reason choice D is considerd the distorted meaning and wrong even if the error "moon's" is corrected.

distorted meaning is popular on gmat sc. In the distorted meaning, the focus of meaing is changed. for example

I like his learning English
the focus of meaning is "learning"
I like him learning English.
the focus of meaning is "him"

normmaly on gmat, the first is right.

distorted meaning can be logic and grammatical if this meaning/choice stands alone. This meaning can be logic if this meaning stand alone because the speaker consider that the distored meaning is the focus of meaning. but if this choice stands with the other choice we can "discern" (Ron uses this word) the intended meaning by "using common sense". This situation is popular on gmat sc and is asked many times by students.

so, in the above sentence, "I like him learning English" can be considered correct if this sentence stand alone because it is possible that the speaker focus on "him" not on "learning" . but if 2 choices stand together, one choice must be considered distorted. I think gmat presents this situation to test our ability to convey the correct focus of meaning.

i don't see how these ideas relate to answer choices (b) and (d) on this problem.

[sameer31job]

what is wrong with 'C'.

[tim]

you can't just say "because the sun"; you have to say "because the sun [did/does something]". in other words, the "because" clause has no verb..

[messi10]

Hello,

Is choice D conveying the same meaning as choice B? (I know choice D is incorrect for using Moon's)

But purely on the basis of meaning, is choice D poor in that its unable to convey why the size of the sun and moon appear to be similar?

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

Hello,

Is choice D conveying the same meaning as choice B? (I know choice D is incorrect for using Moon's)

But purely on the basis of meaning, is choice D poor in that its unable to convey why the size of the sun and moon appear to be similar?

Thanks

you're onto something here.

* the correct answer explicitly indicates the cause/effect relationship, by using the word "so" to connect the ideas.

* choice (d) contains no such transition. the meaning is still pretty much common sense, but it's still better to use the transition that actually indicates the proper relationship.

still, this sort of thing will never be the only thing wrong with a sentence. so, it's good that you noticed the "moon's" thing, too, since that's the only thing in that choice that is genuinely an error.

[mcmebk]

Hello,

Is choice D conveying the same meaning as choice B? (I know choice D is incorrect for using Moon's)

But purely on the basis of meaning, is choice D poor in that its unable to convey why the size of the sun and moon appear to be similar?

Thanks

you're onto something here.

* the correct answer explicitly indicates the cause/effect relationship, by using the word "so" to connect the ideas.

* choice (d) contains no such transition. the meaning is still pretty much common sense, but it's still better to use the transition that actually indicates the proper relationship.

still, this sort of thing will never be the only thing wrong with a sentence. so, it's good that you noticed the "moon's" thing, too, since that's the only thing in that choice that is genuinely an error.

Hi Ron

I am still confused why moon's is wrong.

Do we say:
I have the same book as you or
I have the same book as your or
I have the same book as yours?

In this question, should I consider: The sun has the same size in the sky as the moon (does/has)? otherwise it looks illogical comparison to me between size and moon.

Desperately need your help.

By the way, I once was doing very well (like a week ago) on SC and was started paying too much attention on trivial stuff in SC, and then you told me "if I start to pick up those little stuff, I should just drop things off and go take the test", I then redirected my focus on other parts in the test and now feel I have lost all my grasp in SC again. I am now very confused.

[RonPurewal]

I am still confused why moon's is wrong.

Do we say:
I have the same book as you or
I have the same book as your or
I have the same book as yours?

Don't overcomplicate the issue. Just look for simple parallelism whenever possible.

"Yours" should go with "my book" or "mine". Not with "me".

"You" goes with "I".

So...
I have the same book as you (do) --> works.
I have the same book as yours --> nah
My book is the same as you --> nope
My book is the same as yours --> works.

[RonPurewal]

By the way, I once was doing very well (like a week ago) on SC and was started paying too much attention on trivial stuff in SC, and then you told me "if I start to pick up those little stuff, I should just drop things off and go take the test", I then redirected my focus on other parts in the test and now feel I have lost all my grasp in SC again. I am now very confused.

Anything you can forget in a week is something that doesn't matter in the first place.

For instance, take a look at what I just wrote above: "I" goes with "you" and "my xxx" goes with "yours".
That is clearly not something that you could "forget" in one week.

The same is true for every relationship that has any real degree of importance in SC.
In fact, you won't "forget" the stuff that actually matters, even if you take months or even years away from the test.

[chughbrajesh]

With B when we remove modifier does it not make no sense?
The sun,...is also 400 times farther...,so the sun...? (also...so the sun?) Isn't that awkward?