MGMAT Test Question (Sentence Correction) Glass Houses

[spencer]

By choosing glass apartments towering a hundred feet over brownstone units designed for earlier generations, seemingly younger-than-ever moneyed professionals have embraced a modern design ethic that accentuated their luxury-laden lives.

A) By choosing glass apartments towering a hundred feet over brownstone units designed for earlier generations, seemingly younger-than-ever moneyed professionals have embraced a modern design ethic that accentuated

B) By choosing glass apartments towering a hundred feet over brownstone units designed for earlier generations, seeming younger-than-ever moneyed professionals have embraced a modern design ethic that accentuates

C) In choosing glass apartments in hundred-foot towers instead of brownstone units designed for earlier generations, seemingly younger-than-ever moneyed professionals have embraced a modern design ethic that accentuates

D) In choosing glass apartments in hundred-foot towers instead of brownstone units designed for earlier generations, seemingly younger-than-ever moneyed professionals have embraced a modern design ethic that accentuated

E) In choosing glass apartments towering a hundred feet over brownstone units designed for earlier generations, seeming younger-than-ever moneyed professionals have embraced a modern design ethic, accentuating


Once again I can't seem to be on the right side of the fence. The original sentence states that people are choosing glass apartments that tower 100 feet over brownstone units. My mental image of this sentence is a 100 foot high brownstone units and a 200 foot apartment buildings right next to it.

Selection C says that people are choosing apartments in towers that are 100 feet high instead of brownstone units. This selection distorts the stated facts and the meaning of the original sentence.

MGMAT says that C is the correct. This is the best of the worst because it uses "seemingly" and "accentuates" BUT I SUGGEST THAT THIS PROBLEM BE REMOVED BECAUSE IT TOOK ME 6 MINUTES TO CHOOSE THE WRONG ANSWER

[Dhruv]

i guess i m ready for the real thing..
that was a toughie...n i got it right... although i dunno if i got it right for the right reasons :D
anyway.. this is wat i thought...
all the sentences have "have embraced", that kind of did it for me....
bcoz of the "have" in the sentece.. the sentence should begin with "In choosing"
and bcoz of the "have" again... it should end with "accentuates"
am i right?

[StaceyKoprince]

Hmm. I agree - I don't like the re-wording of that 100-foot info. I'll email our curriculum director. Grammar trumps all else, though, so I still would pick C on this one.

Dhruv, you're on track. "Have embraced" does demand "accentuates" so eliminate A, D, and E. Between B and C, "seeming" is an adjective and "seemingly" is an adverb. This word is supposed to modify another adjective, so it needs to be in the adverb form. Eliminate B. (By the way, by choosing vs. in choosing is basically a red herring here - they're trying to get you to focus on that split even though either one is fine.)

Also, one thing spencer - you will see questions on the test that tempt you to spend 6 minutes (and on which you will also probably choose the wrong answer). This doesn't (necessarily) indicate anything wrong with the test - most of the time, the issue is us! If you can't get an SC in 1.5 min, pick something anyway and move on. (2 min for all other question types.)

No matter how good you get, you'll still be presented with questions you can't do and on which you will be very tempted to spend way more time than you even realize you're spending. Your responsibility is to manage your time so that this doesn't happen.

[dhushan]

Hi everyone. I was just wondered why the verb accentuates is singular here, should it not be plural because it is referring to the professionals?

[dhushan]

sorry just read the sentence again and realized the verb is referring to the word "design".

[RonPurewal]

stacey wrote:

Hmm. I agree - I don't like the re-wording of that 100-foot info. I'll email our curriculum director. Grammar trumps all else, though, so I still would pick C on this one.

maybe.

the original poster is correct in that, strictly speaking, there's an ambiguity here.

HOWEVER, the context of the problem clearly indicates that the younger generation has chosen "a modern design ethic".
the interpretation of a literal 100-foot difference in height, although grammatically sound, doesn't jibe with this theme. therefore, CONTEXT determines that (a) here is WRONG.

there are official problems in which you must use context to determine that a (grammatically correct) choice (a) is actually nonsensical.
check this out:
post24246.html

[gorav.s]

I agree and picked C as well.

Main point is that
In choosing ,,, have ,,,,, needs accentuates at the end, - for present tense verb.
Hence seemingly - is also needed , only C is correct,

I do agree C is having different meaning than the original sentence.

[RonPurewal]

.

[amitganguly2k12]

I am afraid,I am not aware of this rule.
Have embraced is essentially present perfect.So the requirements of In Choosing and accentuates relate to the timing of the events. Is that so?

Please help me out on this one.
Thank you in advance.

[RonPurewal]

I am afraid,I am not aware of this rule.
Have embraced is essentially present perfect.So the requirements of In Choosing and accentuates relate to the timing of the events. Is that so?

Please help me out on this one.
Thank you in advance.

* "in choosing" has NO time requirements. you can attach an -ING modifier to a sentence in any tense at all; remember that -ING modifiers automatically adopt the tense of the context that they modify.
in choosing a used car, James always considers the price. (description of current / ongoing character trait)
in choosing a used car, James has always considered the price. (summary of observed behavior, up to the present)
in choosing a used car, James always considered the price. (he doesn't anymore - he either stopped considering the price or just doesn't buy used cars anymore, or perhaps is deceased)
in choosing a used car, James will always consider the price. (prediction of future behavior)

* "accentuates" is a character trait / objective description. those are usually listed in the present tense, even if the principal context of the sentence is in a different tense.
e.g.
i know lara will buy a dress that matches her shoes. --> "matches" is an objective description, so it's in the present tense, even though the sentence is in the future tense.

[samysayz09]

Hi Ron
I understand what you are trying to convey. But can you just sum it up for me as a thumb rule.

Are you trying to say that a construction of form ,

preposition + [verb]-ING -----> <followed by have + participle> ----- >< object describtion in present tense>

ALSO PLS explain what does this mean, as posted by gorav.s

"Main point is that
In choosing ,,, have ,,,,, needs accentuates at the end, - for present tense verb.
"

what does he mean by a present tense verb here ?

[tim]

A, you have not finished the question you started, so it is impossible to tell what you are asking..

B, you will have to ask gorav to explain what he meant; i'm sure we are all as confused as you are..

[agarwalmanoj2000]

Foot is singular and feet is plural.

Should the correct answer choice C use "Hundred-feet" in place of "Hundred-foot" ?

Please advise.

Cheers,
Manu

[george.kourdin]

agarwalmanoj2000,

thats "unidiomatic". we don't say hundred feet wall or 10 feet bridge.
try googling expressions and see what comes up....

just because there is more than one foot, does not mean that we need to use the plural <feet> in this construction. the word feet is preceeded by a number so it is clear, which quantifies/clarifies the length of whatever it is that we are measuring.

[agarwalmanoj2000]

Thanks a lot George !!!

I googled and found below -

When you use 'foot' as an ADJECTIVE, you keep the singular, thus 'a thirty-foot tree,' NOT 'a thirty feet tree'.

On the other hand, when 'foot' is followed by adjectives describing measurement e.g. high, tall, deep, over etc; you use 'feet', NOT foot (The tree is thirty feet tall).

All five choices are using foot/feet correctly in this SC.


A) hundred feet over

B) hundred feet over

C) hundred-foot towers (foot used as adjective to describe noun towers)

D) hundred-foot towers (foot used as adjective to describe noun towers)

E) hundred feet over