Sales of wines declined in the 1980s

[RonPurewal]

Under test conditions, what would be a good approach to attack this question?
When you can't find any error in the first choice, do you check the remaining choices to make sure that you didn't miss any errors?
Since there is no error in the first choice, how do you do a quick split for B, C, D, and E for this problem?

Thank you.

sam, the best way to answer this question -- along with a whole bunch of other questions like it -- is this: "just look for something that's different in the choices."

really, you can find anything that differs! just scan the choices until you find something that is done differently among different choices. if you can find a reason to eliminate one of the ways in which that thing is done, good! if not, move on and find something else.

by the way, don't "hunt for errors" in choice (a).
in general, you probably won't be able to do this with much proficiency -- after all, if you could, then you wouldn't have any trouble with sentence correction! (in that case, you would be able to do exactly the same thing with all the other choices, and just like boom! the problem would be solved.)
if you see an error that's obvious (to you, anyway) in the original sentence, then go ahead and analyze it. but don't go picking through the original sentence in "search mode" if nothing jumps out at you.

[samwong]

Thanks Ron for your advice. I have learned so much from reading your other posts. I don't post often on this forum because your explanations are very clear. I get very excited when I read your explanations. Thank you so much!

[mylittled2008]

Sales of wines declined in the late 1980s, but they began to grow again after the 1991 report that linked moderate consumption of alcohol, and particularly of red wine, with a reduced risk of heart disease.

A. perfect! in X, particularly Y, I suppose that X and Y should be parallel. "consumtion of alcohol" and " consumption of red wind" make a perfect parallel as it required.

B. "alcohol" is a adjective noun, so it cannot be the noun which parallels with the noun after "particularly"-- "red wine".
"they began growing" is not parallel with "declined" too. The author want to pass the idea that sales declined in xx, but they began to grow after xx. The verbs in these clauses should be parallel in order to convey this idea.

C. The "particularly" issue is the same as B.
"which" refers to "red wine", making the sentence nonsense.
The original sentence are telling us a story that the repot which linked xx with xx contribute to the grow of sales. "caused" in C is telling us that moderate alcohol consumption caused sales to grow. Wrong!

D. The "particularly" issue is the same as B.
The "began growing" issue is the same as B too.
"link X with Y": X and Y should be parallel.

E. "in X and particular in Y" is the right one.
The "started them growing" is not parallel with declined.

[tim]

let us know if you have a question here..

[nowwithgmat]

hello instructor

can u please explain why E is wrong..

thanx in advance

[vijay19839]

Can someone please explain what is wrong with Option D?

Thanks
Vijay

[RonPurewal]

hello instructor

can u please explain why E is wrong..

thanx in advance

* "and in particular red wine" isn't parallel to anything. i.e., there's nothing before "and" that can be the other half of this construction.

* if you eliminate modifiers from this sentence, you get "a reduced risk of heart disease ... started [sales] growing again". that's a nonsense meaning.

[RonPurewal]

Can someone please explain what is wrong with Option D?

Thanks
Vijay

* "in particular red wine" doesn't modify anything.
this construction follows alcohol consumption -- in which "alcohol" is an adjective, not a noun -- rather than just alcohol. red wine is not a type of alcohol consumption, so this modifier isn't workable.

* the "with..." modifier suggests that wine sales themselves have experienced a reduced risk of heart disease.

[thanghnvn]

Can you please explain if the use of 'and' in 'and particularly of alcohol' is correct(required). The sentence seems fine without it.

You're right. Correct either way.

I want to learn from choice A.

"and particularly of red wine" is correct
in this case, "and' is used to make "alcohol" parallel to "red wine" . In short, we have

consumption of alcohol and red wine.

"alcohol" is general and "red wine" is specific. why they can be paralel? the word "particularly" shows that "red wive" is the specific case of "alcohol" so they can not be parallel.

"particularly of rea wince" is should be correct in choice A.

[RonPurewal]

"and particularly of red wine" is correct
in this case, "and' is used to make "alcohol" parallel to "red wine" . In short, we have

consumption of alcohol and red wine.

more precisely, the parallel structures are "of alcohol" and "of red wine".

"alcohol" is general and "red wine" is specific. why they can be paralel? the word "particularly" shows that "red wive" is the specific case of "alcohol" so they can not be parallel.

first, and most importantly, remember -- don't question the official answers.
if the official answer puts two things in parallel, that means those two things can be parallel!

in any case, here's what's going on:
if the construction just said "...of alcohol and of red wine", then, yes, it would be nonsense.
on the other hand, this sentence includes the word "particularly" -- whose function here is to legitimize this parallel structure.
in other words, the inclusion of "particularly" is basically a way of saying, "yes, these really are the two things i wanted to put in parallel."

there are other constructions that do the same type of thing -- because, after all, sometimes authors actually want to make parallel structures between things that are not "traditionally" parallel.
for instance:
hemingway's books were not as famous as hemingway himself.
--> without "himself", the parallelism in this sentence wouldn't make much sense, as it compares books to an author. however, if your actual intention is to state the idea that hemingway's personal fame eclipsed the notoriety achieved by his books, then the inclusion of "himself" correctly specifies that comparison.

--

most importantly, the official answers are always correct!

[jyothi h]

Is there any issue with the usage of "began GROWING" as opposed to "TO GROW" ? I guess "Growing" here isnt wrong either , but "to grow" is preferred if there is one present ? Is my understanding correct ? Just trying to figure out and confirm, all the reasons why the wrong answers are wrong .

Also in option C, because of the use of the prepositional phrase "particularly of red wine" , is this correctly modifying "moderate alcohol consumption" - ( moderate alcohol consumption of red wine ) ?

[tim]

"began to grow" and "began growing" should both be equally valid in almost any conceivable context. in C, we would want to see a noun in front of "of"..

[tkotw79]

Hello,

Is it okay to eliminate answer choices based on "Linked 'X' WITH 'Y'. " And is it a correct idiomatic usage.

I have read "LINK someone or something TO someone or something" is okay. (Not sure if it is ok with GMAC)

Rgds,
Abhi

[RonPurewal]

In sentences describing an association between possible cause and effect, or describing where people think something might originate, I've usually seen "linked to".
E.g., High intake of refined carbohydrates has been linked to the onset of cancer.

I wouldn't use "linked with" for this sort of thing, but I can't tell you whether GMAC would.
(I'd use "linked with" in the more literal sense, e.g., Highway 101 links San Francisco with San Jose.)

[cshen02]

Fuzzy fuzzy...

What does the which in C refer to? OG says it refers to red wine. Can it refer to the consumption of red wine, or modify moderate alcohol consumption (dropping the non-essential modifier0?
In D, can I say in particular red wine is a preposition modifier that describes alcohol consumption?

I always get bogged down in these little issues...

Cheers!