MGMAT CAT

[pamelahidajat]

According to a recent study by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the incidence of reported neck and back pain correlate positively to the amount of time spent in sitting positions at work.


A. correlate positively to
B. are correlated positively to
C. correlate positively with
D. are positively correlated to
E. correlates positively with

I understand that answer E is correct, but would it still be correct if the answer was: "positively correlates with"?

Thank you!

[TimothyP873]

I have the same confusion about this question.

Intuitively, I take 'correlates positively' to mean that the correlation is positive. That is, 'positively' is a description of the type of correlation.

On the other hand, I think of 'positively correlates' as highlighting the certainty that the correlatition does exist. That is, 'positively' is an adverb, describing the verb itself.

Not sure if that made sense. Also not sure if there is a rule for this kind of thing. I do know that the adverbs tend to go infrom of the verb they are modifying, and in this case, positively should modify the correlation itself, not the act of correlating.

Hoping that someone can shed some light on this!

Thanks in advance!
Tim

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

It's one of the feature of adverbial modifiers that we need to be careful about where we place them, as they can change the meaning of the sentence. On top of that, 'positively' has more than one meaning, we could get in to trouble here.

The rules concerning placement of adverbs are pretty lengthy, but you don't need to be an expert grammarian for GMAT. Take a look here if you're interested: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar ... s-position