asteroid

[souvik1225]

Thanks sire.

[RonPurewal]

"sir"... lol (funny mistake, because "sire" is an old-fashioned way to address a king/emperor/etc.)

(:

[Crisc419]

when you look at these sentences with "and", you need to figure out what should be grouped -- in other words, which ideas are meant to be expressed in parallel structure.

in this sentence, those two ideas are the two facts about the asteroid:
* the asteroid is about 1/2 mile wide.
* if the asteroid strikes earth, blah blah blah xxxxx will happen.

look at how (a) is written:
(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.)
this grouping doesn't make sense.

look at how (c) is written:
Scientists have identified an asteroid, 2000 BF19, (that is about half a mile wide) and (that, if it were to strike Earth, could do xxxx)
this is the correct grouping.

i understand the structures of these sentences, but when i have to decide which part should be parallel with which part, i always get stuck and choose the wrong choice.

subject+ verb+ that......+ and that.....
subject+ verb+ that......+ and subject+ verb


I cannot figure out why the following parallel doesn't make sense.

(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]

just imagine that you're making a powerpoint slide to convey the meaning of the sentence -- and think about what would be the "bullet points" on that slide.

if you wrote...
• scientists have identified an asteroid...
• if it strikes earth, the asteroid could do damage...
...these don't make any sense as bullet points. (the second part is a DESCRIPTION OF the asteroid in the first part ... so, on a powerpoint slide, you'd indent the second part further underneath the first part.)

on the other hand, if you wrote 2 things about the asteroid...
• it is about half a mile wide
• if it were to strike earth, it could do xxxxx
...then these make perfect sense as bullet points, because they're 2 facts about the same asteroid.

[jabgt]

Dear Ron Sir,

From the correct answer " if it were to strike Earth, could do tremendous damage to part of the planet but would probably not cause planetwide destruction.", can I draw conclusion that subject can be omit in the clause, if the precedent clause contains the same subject? Or I can only draw the conclusion that lacking of subject is not necessarily wrong?

Thank you so much!

Best Regards,
Christine

[RonPurewal]

nothing is "omitted".

could xxxx ... but would yyyy
2 verbs in parallel. not sure where you're getting the idea that anything is "omitted", but, that's an incorrect idea.

[FaysalT485]

Hi Ron,

In the 6th edition of the SC Guide (guide 8) Page 171 specifically mentions

".. if you find yourself wanting to say "and this" ... or "and that" ... to add a second thought, then you need an absolute phrase or another legitimate way to refer to the previous thought"

In the context of the exercise in hand, wouldn't the above make answer options C D E wrong ?

Thanks.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

This is a different use of the word that. The passage in the strategy guide is referring to the context in which 'that' refers to a whole thought. For example 'It rained on the weekend, and that ruined our plans.' Here, 'that' refers to the fact it rained on the weekend. Although I'd be happy to use a sentence like that one in my ordinary speech, GMAT avoids such constructions.

In the example above, the word 'that' is part of a modifier giving information about the asteroid. There are two pieces of information about the asteroid: (1) it's about half a mile wide and (2) it could do tremendous damage.

Here's a similar construction: 'I have a dog that barks in the night and that can jump over a high fence.' Here, both the words 'that' are referring back to 'dog'.

[FaysalT485]

Crystal clear. Thank you !

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

[FaysalT485]

Hi Sage, following up on our discussion. Here is a CORRECT gmat sentence that i encountered

That some fraternal twins resemble each other greatly while others look quite dissimilar highlights an interesting and often overlooked feature of fraternal-twin pairs, namely that they vary considerably

"That" seems to be referring to the whole idea "some fraternal twins resemble each other greatly while others look quite dissimilar".

Thoughts ?
(I'm thinking maybe the rule we discussed applies only when "that" is coupled with "and" --> "and that")

Source of that sentence in gmat prep exam 1

Thanks,

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Good find. This example shows a different function of the word 'that' from the one you first mentioned, and from the example I gave you. It's kind of saying "[The fact] that some twins...". Consider what the sentence is trying to say (i.e. present contrasting information about twins) and try to think of another way to say it. My ordinary use of English would give a very clumsy sentence, and this structure is an elegant solution, if a bit old-fashioned. There's another problem in the 2018 guide that has the same use (802). Also, it makes a good trap, as most of us wouldn't start a sentence with 'that' in the same way.

[FaysalT485]

Thanks Sage,

1 more question on "That". Should "that" be immediately preceded by the noun it's modifying ?

Thanks,

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

When it's used as a noun modifier it should be placed as close as possible to the noun it's modifying. But as we discussed above, it has some other functions too. Do you have an example in mind?

[FaysalT485]

Thanks for the quick response.

I don't have an OG example right now. But i think this should do it:

Sage took his dog on a walk by the river that was a pure breed (here "that" is supposed to modify "dog")
Sage took his dog, on a walk by the river, that was a pure breed (here "that" is supposed to modify "dog")
Sage took his dog on a walk by the river that was very exhausting (here "that" is supposed to modify "walk")
Sage took his dog on a walk, by the river, that was very exhausting (here "that" is supposed to modify "walk")
Sage took his dog on a walk by the river that flooded 20 years ago (here "that" is supposed to modify "river")

Which ones of the above are correct ?

Thanks again