GMAT Sentence Correction: Spot the Trap! (Part 2)
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Last time, we talked about how to read for meaning and spot redundancy traps on GMAT Sentence Correction.
I’ve got another trappy SC for you; this one is from the GMATPrep® free exams. Go for it!
* “A mixture of poems and short fiction, Jean Toomer’s Cane has been called one of the three best novels ever written by Black Americans—the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man.
“(A) Black Americans—the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
“(B) Black Americans—including Native Son by Richard Wright and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
“(C) a Black American—including Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
“(D) a Black American—the others being Richard Wright, author of Native Son, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man
“(E) a Black American—the others being Richard Wright’s Native Son and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man”
What did you think?
My first glance at the beginning of each answer choice told me something was going on with singular vs. plural: should it be Black Americans or a Black American? Keep an eye out for that as you read the original sentence.
Here’s the language that leads into that singular vs. plural decision:
“one of the three best novels ever written by…” (singular or plural?)
It depends. Are we talking about multiple people who collaborate to write each novel? Or are we talking about three novels written by three individual authors?
The remainder of the sentence indicates that the latter scenario is the case, so the sentence needs to say one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American. Eliminate choices (A) and (B).
Or maybe you’re not sure what to do about that issue? I confess that I’m wondering whether it would be okay to use the plural Black Americans (even though the singular sounds better to my ear*). So let’s look for something else to make sure that we’re getting this right.
*By the way, my ear is wrong in this case. ?
What else did you spot in the original sentence?
I know! Being! Did you cross off the original sentence because of that word?
Careful. The word being is very easy to use incorrectly—that’s why it’s often wrong on GMAT problems—but being can be used correctly in a sentence, too.
We have two choices for this part of the sentence: the others being or including. What’s the difference?
The comma including** or hyphen including structure is another way of saying “for example,” and the examples represent the noun that’s just before the comma or hyphen.
In this case, the noun just before is Black Americans (or a Black American), so answer (B) can’t be right, since novels are not people.
Answer (C) is okay…if all you’re trying to do is give a couple of examples of Black Americans. Is that what the sentence is really trying to do?
No, it’s not. The sentence first talked about one novel that is one of the three best novels—so, later, it should be talking about the other two novels in this group of three. We could guess that the sentence is probably trying to say that these other two Black Americans are the authors of these other two best novels…but the sentence doesn’t actually say that. Eliminate choice (C).
That leaves us with the others being in all three remaining choices! If you’d crossed them off because you’d heard that being is always wrong, you’d have crossed off the right answer. ?
Lesson learned: being is often wrong—but not always. If you absolutely have to guess, then your odds are better if you choose an option that does not contain being. But only go there if you have to guess. First, deal with everything that you can in the rest of the sentence.
Okay, so we’re stuck with being. Let’s go back to our insight about the meaning of the sentence: First, we learn about Jean Toomer’s novel Cane—one of the three best novels ever written by a Black American. The others, then, are the other two novels, not the other two authors. The sentence does not claim that these are the three best writers, only that certain novels are the three best novels.
Answer (E) has the correct meaning: the others (two novels) being Native Son and Invisible Man. Answers (A) and (D) both emphasize the authors, not the novels; eliminate these choices.
The correct answer is (E).
Over the last decade, the GMAT has done a great job of moving away from testing super obscure and nitpicky rules and more towards testing something that really matters in day-to-day writing: the meaning that the sentence is trying to convey.
Some of the older study material, though, still focuses more on the nitpicky stuff—and if that’s all you’re focused on, too, then you’re going to struggle with SC when you get to the real test. So start paying attention to meaning: you’re looking for clear, logical, unambiguous, and non-redundant sentences.
**Note: comma including looks like a comma –ing structure, but it isn’t. Comma including is a noun modifier; it’s an exception to the typical comma –ing adverbial modifier structure.
Key Takeaways for Meaning in Sentence Correction
(1) Sometimes, you need to back away from the screen a little bit and think about the overall meaning of a sentence or part of a sentence. Don’t be so focused on micro-portions that you lose sight of the big picture.
(2) Know the difference between playing the odds and actually making a firm decision. It’s true that being is often wrong, but it can be right and it can be very hard to tell the difference. My rule: ignore and deal with everything else that I know how to do. If I still have to guess from there, and only some of the remaining choices have being, then I’ll cross those off—but I know I’m just playing the odds at that point.
(3) As you get better with handling meaning, it’s really important to be able to find the core sentence. Want more practice with that skill? Check out this series. ?
* GMATPrep® questions courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC.
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