asteroid

[RonPurewal]

had the second part of the sentence been "..and if that were to strike Earth.." wouldn't it have made more sense as far as parallelism is concerned.

This version would be wrong. You can't use "that" as a stand-alone pronoun.

The only acceptable use of "that" is in a comparison, where "that" stands for a noun that's in the other half of the comparison.
E.g., The sales tax rate in Nevada is lower than that in California.

[RonPurewal]

And, by the way ...

Im not questioning the official answer, just wanted to clarify my doubt regarding the parallelism aspect of the sentence.

But, in point of actual fact, you ARE questioning the official answer. Don't fight the official answers.

You wrote this sentence so that I won't "yell" at you, but you are still questioning the correct answer. Look at what you wrote:
"I think that the sentence should look like ____ instead." --> You are questioning the correct answer.
"Wouldn't _____ have made more sense?" --> You are questioning the correct answer.

The questions you should be asking are "How does this correct answer work?" "Why ARE these things parallel?" Etc.

[1009918171]

Ron,
I'm still not quit clear about choice A:
Is the construction "if it strikes earth, it can do..." correct?
Thank you very much !

[RonPurewal]

Ron,
I'm still not quit clear about choice A:
Is the construction "if it strikes earth, it can do..." correct?
Thank you very much !

For a hypothetical one-time threat, you're right"”these tenses don't make sense.

Remember, though, that general facts"”those not confined to a particular timeframe"”normally appear in the present tense. So, for something that represents a constant possibility, these tenses can work.
For instance, if I'm talking to my friend who owns a Presa Canario (a breed of dog that's insanely dangerous if not well-trained), I can say If that dog attacks you, it can kill you.
In the end, this is no different from making a single statement in the present tense, e.g., The Presa Canario can kill people.

[1009918171]

Ron,
I'm still not quit clear about choice A:
Is the construction "if it strikes earth, it can do..." correct?
Thank you very much !

For a hypothetical one-time threat, you're right"”these tenses don't make sense.

Remember, though, that general facts"”those not confined to a particular timeframe"”normally appear in the present tense. So, for something that represents a constant possibility, these tenses can work.
For instance, if I'm talking to my friend who owns a Presa Canario (a breed of dog that's insanely dangerous if not well-trained), I can say If that dog attacks you, it can kill you.
In the end, this is no different from making a single statement in the present tense, e.g., The Presa Canario can kill people.

Thanks a lot for the great explanations!

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

[JaneJ740]

Hi, experts, I am a freshman in here and I come from Shanghai.

I still have a question of this topic

if the structure of D, that is and that, can xxxx is not parallel, how does the structure of C parallel? For the structure of C looks like that is, and that, could xxxxx

Thanks

[HemalT607]

Between A and C, I chose C because stating a possibility requires subjunctive mood and hence 'if it were' is correct.

Is my reasoning correct?

[RonPurewal]

Between A and C, I chose C because stating a possibility requires subjunctive mood and hence 'if it were' is correct.

Is my reasoning correct?

Not necessarily. "If it were..." is only used for possibilities regarded as remote or improbable.

If James were to become rich, he would have to regard new friends with suspicion.
(The writer doesn't think James is very likely to become rich.)

If James becomes rich, he will have to regard new friends with suspicion.
(The writer thinks James could, quite reasonably, become rich.)

In this sentence, common sense says we're talking about an extremely remote possibility—but there's nothing in the sentence to verify that perspective, so this isn't a viable method of elimination here.

[JaneJ740]

Hi, experts, I am a freshman in here and I come from Shanghai.

I still have a question of this topic

if the structure of D, that is and that, can xxxx is not parallel, how does the structure of C parallel? For the structure of C looks like that is, and that, could xxxxx

Thanks

Hello, could someone reply my question? Because it seems that even Ron came here, he omited my question. T..T, is that I didn't make my question clear enough?

[jlucero]

Hi, experts, I am a freshman in here and I come from Shanghai.

I still have a question of this topic

if the structure of D, that is and that, can xxxx is not parallel, how does the structure of C parallel? For the structure of C looks like that is, and that, could xxxxx

Thanks

Hello, could someone reply my question? Because it seems that even Ron came here, he omited my question. T..T, is that I didn't make my question clear enough?

Ron probably missed your question, although he actually answered it earlier.

C) ...an asteroid that is X and that could do Y, but would not Z.
D) ...an asteroid that is X and that can cause Y, but it would probably not Z.

can is parallel to will
could is parallel to would

[gbyhats]

Hi dear Manhattan instructors ; )

Do I need to master the use of tense to tackle SC questions?

It appears that for all the questions I have encountered so far, I was lucky enough to circumvent this subject matter by spotting other grammar errors in wrong choices.


--

Hi Ron, if you happens to see this post, I wanna ask what is the meaning of your " "” "

(Are they actually "dashes" ?)

For a hypothetical one-time threat, you're right"”these tenses don't make sense.

Remember, though, that general facts"”those not confined to a particular timeframe"”normally appear in the present tense. So, for something that represents a constant possibility, these tenses can work.
For instance, if I'm talking to my friend who owns a Presa Canario (a breed of dog that's insanely dangerous if not well-trained), I can say If that dog attacks you, it can kill you.
In the end, this is no different from making a single statement in the present tense, e.g., The Presa Canario can kill people.

[souvik1225]

Really quick question

Scientists have identified an asteroid, 2000 BF19, that is about half a mile wide and, if it strikes Earth, it can do tremendous damage to part of the planet but probably not cause planetwide destruction.

If I had written the sentence the following way, would it be an acceptable construction on the GMAT?

Scientists have identified an asteroid, 2000 BF19, that is about half a mile wide, and if it strikes Earth, it can do tremendous damage to part of the planet but probably not cause planetwide destruction.

[RonPurewal]

this exam does not test the presence/absence of punctuation, so this is a non-issue.

[RonPurewal]

also, punctuation notwithstanding, you need the second "that" (after "and"). without the second "that", the sentence doesn't make sense.

remember—STEP ONE of every SC problem: figure out the exact intended message of the sentence (as though you were reading it in a book or magazine).
at this point you should realize that the sentence SHOULD say "an asteroid that ... and that ..." -- regardless of whether the original sentence does so -- because the sentence is clearly giving 2 parallel facts about the asteroid.

if you connect the statements with just "and", the result is nonsense.
without the second that, you have a sentence that says: "(a) scientists have found this big asteroid, and (SEPARATELY) (b) if it strikes earth, xxxxx". these are not two separate ideas.