The single-most crucial type of Sentence Correction error, Modifiers, Comparisons, and Verb Tenses all share one thing in common: you do not need to be an expert editor to recognize that this sentence is illogical! The introductory phrase in this sentence, “the single-most type…” is clearly meant to describe one item, but the rest of the sentence lists three. This does not make logical sense! Technically you’d call this a modifier error, in that the modifying phrase to begin the sentence – recognizable because it begins the sentence, is separated by a comma, and does not include its own subject and verb (note: these aren’t essential characteristics of any modifier, but they are one surefire way to identify a commonly-occurring type of modifier in which SC errors often crop up) – does not logically modify the noun that follows.
If you want to get really technical, it is an appositive modifier (a noun phrase used to describe another noun), but the GMAT will never require you to describe the grammatical terminology behind it. If you can recognize that “this is wrong – logically it doesn’t make sense”, you can eliminate this answer choice and move on. And even if you do choose to dig deeper into grammatical technicalities, don’t lose sight of your logical focus. Consider this example, often mistaken by students as incorrect:
In order to break the world record in the 100 meter dash at next summer’s Olympics, Tyson Gay will need to run faster than Usain Bolt ran at the 2009 World Championships.
Many a GMAT student has looked at a sentence like this and viewed the comparison as incorrect, citing “parallelism” as their primary concern. “You cannot compare a future tense verb to a past-tense verb…they’re not perfectly parallel!” they’ll claim. But, again, ask yourself about the logic: is there any logical way to put these two actions in the same tense? From where we are standing today, “next summer’s Olympics” must be in the future, and 2009 must be in the past. We simply cannot put them in the same verb tense. For comparisons, the two items must be logically comparable, but they need not be perfectly parallel to the umpteenth grammatical degree. This sentence is wrong:
In order to break the world record next summer, Tyson Gay’s time will need to be faster than Usain Bolt at the 2009 worlds.
Here we are comparing Gay’s time to Bolt, the person, and this is not a logical comparison. Logic is your primary goal on these questions, so look for clearly illogical modifiers, sequences, comparisons, etc. and you will nearly always be able to avoid having to dig that much deeper for grammatical jargon or expertise. If the words “gerund” and “participle” are not currently part of your vocabulary, you probably don’t need them to be when you take the test, either.
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Mastering GMAT Critical Reasoning (2019 Edition)
Chapters
1) Introduction
2) 6 Step Strategy to solve GMAT Critical Reasoning Questions
3) How to overcome flawed thinking in GMAT Critical Reasoning?
4) 4 GMAT Critical Reasoning Fallacies
5) Generalization in GMAT Critical Reasoning
6) Inconsistencies in Arguments
7) Eliminate Out of Scope answer choices using Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
8) Ad Hominem in GMAT Critical Reasoning
9) Slippery Slope in GMAT Critical Reasoning
10) Affirming the Consequent – GMAT Critical Reasoning
11) How to Paraphrase GMAT Critical Reasoning Question
12) How to Answer Assumption Question Type
13) How to Answer Conclusion Question Type
14) How to Answer Inference Question Type
15) How to Answer Strengthen Question Type
16) How to Answer Weaken Question Type
17) How to Answer bold-faced and Summary Question Types
18) How to Answer Parallel Reasoning Questions
19) How to Answer the Fill in the Blanks Question
Question Bank
Question 1: 5G Technology (Inference)
Question 2: Water Purifier vs. Minerals (Fill in the Blanks)
Question 3: Opioid Abuse (Strengthens)
Question 4: Abe and Japan’s Economy (Inference)
Question 5: Indians and Pulse Import (Weakens)
Question 6: Retail Chains in Latin America (Assumption)
Question 7: American Tax Rates – Republican vs. Democrats (Inference)
Question 8: AI – China vs the US (Weakens)
Question 9: Phone Snooping (Strengthens)
Question 10: Traditional Lawns (Assumption)
Question 11: Appraisal-Tendency Framework (Inference)
Question 12: Meta-Analysis of Diet Trials (Weakens)
Question 13: Biases in AI (Strengthens)
Question 14: Stock Price and Effectiveness of Leadership (Inference)
Question 15: US Border Wall (Weakens)
Question 16: Driverless Car and Pollution (Assumption)
Question 17: Climate Change (Inference)
Question 18: Rent a Furniture (Weakens)
Question 19: Marathon Performance and Customized Shoes (Weakens)
Question 20: Guaranteed Basic Income (Assumption)
Question 21: Brexit (Infer)
Question 22: AB vs Traditional Hotels (Assumption)
Question 23: Tax Incentive and Job Creation (Weakens)
Question 24: Obesity and Sleeve Gastrectomy (Inference)
Question 25: Recruiting Executives (Weaken)
Answers with Detailed Explanation
Essential GMAT Reading Comprehension Guide
After you read F1GMAT’s Essential GMAT Reading Comprehension Guide, you will:
1. Complete GMAT RC Questions in less than 1 minute and 50 seconds
2. Read Faster
3. Take Notes Effectively
4. Collect and Interpret Facts
5. Speed up Summary Creation
6. Remember Information
7. Question the Author
8. Learn to answer GMAT Reading Comprehension Title question
9. Learn to Solve GMAT Reading Comprehension Main Idea Question
10.Learn to Solve GMAT Reading comprehension inference question
11. Learn to Solve GMAT Reading Comprehension Detail Questions
12. Learn to Organize passage in GMAT Reading Comprehension
13. Learn to Identify style/tone or attitude of the author
14. Learn to Improve GMAT Reading Comprehension Score
Download Essential GMAT Reading Comprehension Guide
Mastering GMAT Critical Reasoning
After you read F1GMAT’s Mastering GMAT Critical Reasoning Guide, you will:
1) Learn to eliminate out of scope answer choices
2) Learn to spot logical fallacies
3) Learn to read questions by focusing on the holy trinity – premise, assumption, and conclusion.
4) Learn to disregard filler information
5) Complete GMAT CR Questions in less than 1 minute and 40 seconds
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