General question in CR- use of "some" in correct answers

[Khush]

Hi Ron,

I wanted to learn whether the usage of "some" is acceptable in the correct answer choice in official questions.

Although i have not exhausted all the official GMAT CR questions and have not come across the use of "some" in the correct ans choice in official questions solved so far, i have seen the usage of "some" in quite a number of correct answers of unofficial CR questions.

Is this a hard-and -fast rule that the usage of "some" is not correct in official GMAT?

If in case this word is used in correct answers, could you please mention the circumstances in which this is correct ?

Could you please shed some light in this issue?

Much Thanks..

[RonPurewal]

Is this a hard-and -fast rule that the usage of "some" is not correct in official GMAT?

No. Of course not.

You will NEVER be able to make a rule that says "If a choice contains ____ word, then it's wrong." Don't waste your time.

There's no way to get around the fact that critical reasoning involves, well, critical reasoning. It's impossible to memorize "rules" for CR. The more "rules" you try to memorize, the worse you'll get, guaranteed.

If in case this word is used in correct answers, could you please mention the circumstances in which this is correct ?

You have to think individually about each situation. It's impossible to make rules for this stuff.

Incidentally, I opened up OG13 and looked through it for about thirty seconds, and I found "some" in the correct answers to #93, #100, and #103. That's 3 counterexamples in 30 seconds.
This suggests that you should do some more research of your own before posting this kind of question. (:

[Khush]

Sorry about the confusion Ron.
I could have been more specific about my question.

My question was about the use of "some" used as a pronoun of the main subject in the answer choice (especially in strengthen and weaken answer choices) and not about the use of the word anywhere in the sentence.

I will try to clarify the above description:

please see the below uses->

"some cabinet makers..." [OG-13 CR #21 choice B]
"some employers..." [OG-13 CR #26 choice E]
"some people.." [OG-13 CR #52 choice A]

All of the above choices are wrong answer choices and i am clear about why are these choices wrong. However i want to understand whether any choice with above format can be correct.

just trying to give an example (please correct me if i am wrong ):

" Premise: spending more time on computers causes eye problems."

"conclusion: students who further study on computers after attending computer classes in the school are at a greater risk of developing eye problem compared with students who do not do so."

Can a weakener be : "some students who do not study on computers after attending computer classes in the school do watch tv for a long time." ?

------------------------------------------------------------------
I remember an explanation given by you for the use of "many" in the wrong answer choice (A), in the below thread:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=7289

In the above thread , you have mentioned that passage already states that "tourist interest is high".Hence use of "many" was not appropriate.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Revisited OG-13 and saw the question # 58 (weaken the argument question) . Although the correct answer (D) is not in the above mentioned format, it says "in some cases, x happens".
On noting the conclusion, i found that it says "any fever....."..

Looks like since the conclusion says "any fever..." (includes all fevers that develop in a person after that person has moved to a malaria free region), the weakener says "in some cases of fever.. this is not the case."

Please confirm my understanding.

[RonPurewal]

I'm feeling lazier than usual today, so, in lieu of typing a new answer, I'm just going to quote myself.

You will NEVER be able to make a rule that says "If a choice contains ____ word, then it's wrong." Don't waste your time.

Really.
Don't waste your time.

Right now, you're taking a sharp eye and a sharp focus -- and wasting them on an essentially useless effort.
If you take this same degree of focus to thinking about what the words actually mean, rather than trying to find spurious and needlessly specific "rules", then you'll get every single one of these questions right.

[Khush]

Okay. Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

Actually, I originally understated the issue -- it's not merely "wasting time".
If you start trying to concoct "rules" rather than thinking about each situation individually, then you will start to make negative progress in CR. I.e., you'll get worse at it.

(The same is true of anything that varies from situation to situation and that depends non-trivially on intuition. For instance, if you try to remember "rules" for when someone is being sarcastic vs. when he/she is being serious, the net result is that you'll end up much worse than before at detecting sarcasm.)

[Khush]

Thank You Ron!

I will surely keep your suggestion in my mind.

[RonPurewal]

Thank You Ron!

I will surely keep your suggestion in my mind.

Ok.

Remember, this is the reason why CR is on the test in the first place - because it can't be "cracked" with a finite set of rules. It's on the exam to reward test takers who think individually about each situation, and to punish test takers who just try to memorize things. (CR is on the test for largely the same reasons.)