Now that so much data travels via light

[thanghnvn]

A. Now that so much data travels via light"”i.e., is carried in glass fibers rather than by electrical current"”one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that mav one dav lead to smaller, faster semiconductors.

Sorry, I do not make clear my question.

I can sumarize the choice A above as following:

now that so much data travels via light, one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that mav one dav lead to smaller, faster semiconductors.

I do not understand this structure. "now that data travels" and "one goal is to develop" are 2 clauses. I do not understand how these 2 clauses is connected.

pls, help. Thank you.

[jp.jprasanna]

My opinion; with/has/have the capability of doing something = with the ability to do something are idioms..however, "can do something" is comparatively concise compared to the above-mentioned two idioms

don't forget that concision, by itself, is never going to be the only criterion for the elimination of a wrong answer. especially when you deal with idioms, you really don't want to be using concision: after all, idioms are either correct or incorrect, regardless of how concise they are.

the only major difference that i can posit between "can" and "has/have the ability..." is that the latter is generally used only for humans or other living animals, while "can" can be used either for humans/animals or for inanimate objects.

for instance, both of the following are correct:
this dog can speak english.
this dog has the ability to speak english.

however:
this clock can keep time so accurately that it will be off by less than a second at the end of an entire year. --> correct

this clock has the ability to keep time so accurately that it will be off by less than a second at the end of an entire year. --> incorrect (a clock is not a living animal, so this is inappropriate)

Ron -

In option B - meaning wise the below is fine right
a silicon chip with the capability of transmitting and receiving light signals
So this part is wrong because of the idiom "Capability of" correct? It should "Capability to"
Similarly In option C-
a silicon chip that has the capability of transmitting and receiving light signals
Meaning wise the above is sound but the same idiom error as in B right?

I understand there are other problem in these 2 ans choice but just wanted to clear the idiom part.... I strait knocked of this ans choice because of the idioms.

So if the above statements are right then
"capability of"
"capability in"
"ability of"
"ability in"
are unidiomatic - the corrects ones are
capability to
ability to
capable of
able to

In answer choice E this part --->"a silicon chip with the ability to transmit and receive light signals"
Both the meaning and the idioms are correct right?

Cheers

hi Ron - I guess you missed this post. Could you please help me with the above query pls.

Cheers

[RonPurewal]

Ron -

In option B - meaning wise the below is fine right
a silicon chip with the capability of transmitting and receiving light signals
So this part is wrong because of the idiom "Capability of" correct? It should "Capability to"
Similarly In option C-
a silicon chip that has the capability of transmitting and receiving light signals
Meaning wise the above is sound but the same idiom error as in B right?

I understand there are other problem in these 2 ans choice but just wanted to clear the idiom part.... I strait knocked of this ans choice because of the idioms.

So if the above statements are right then
"capability of"
"capability in"
"ability of"
"ability in"
are unidiomatic - the corrects ones are
capability to
ability to
capable of
able to

In answer choice E this part --->"a silicon chip with the ability to transmit and receive light signals"
Both the meaning and the idioms are correct right?

Cheers

you may want to go back up to my post (the one you originally quoted in this response) and read it again.
in general, you shouldn't speak of "abilities" or "capabilities" possessed by inanimate objects. you can probably find random exceptions here and there, but, in general, "abilities/capabilities" belong to people and animals, not to things.

in this sense, "a silicon chip with the ability..." still isn't idiomatically ok, since a silicon chip (an inanimate object) isn't the kind of thing that has "abilities".

you are also being too simplistic with the idioms above. you can't just isolate random words, independent of context, and memorize them as an "idiom"!
more specifically,, the questions you're trying to ask above -- e.g., "is 'capability of' correct?" are basically meaningless without a surrounding context.
if you wrote various people's capability of understanding topic X then, yes, that would be incorrect; however, if you wrote the capability of various people to understand topic X, then it would be fine.

the good news is that the gmat isn't really testing idioms in this way anymore -- with possible exceptions for basic idioms that more or less everyone knows, such as "more ... than", "same ... as", etc. -- so you can rest easy.

[davetzulin]

Now that so much data travels via light"”i.e., is carried in glass fibers rather than by electrical current"”one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that mav one dav lead to smaller, faster semiconductors.


C. the development of a silicon chip that has the capability of transmitting and receiving light signals directly, a development maybe one day leading

E. developing a silicon chip with the ability to transmit and receive light signals directly, with this development maybe one day leading


are both bolded verb-ings wrong because they adopt the tense of the main clause (present). They should be future right?

[jp.jprasanna]

hi Ron - Many many thanks re-read the post and this one..... everything makes sense nw. Thanks again.

So can i take the below to be a rule... After you had posted this I came across many questions in which I was able to eliminate atleast 3 ans choices, which used "abilities" or "capabilities" for inanimate objects. So can i chalk this down as rule or would there be exceptions!?

For example I could eliminate B , D and E strait away in 30 seconds : og-sc-105-t1277.html

in general, you shouldn't speak of "abilities" or "capabilities" possessed by inanimate objects. you can probably find random exceptions here and there, but, in general, "abilities/capabilities" belong to people and animals, not to things.

in this sense, "a silicon chip with the ability..." still isn't idiomatically ok, since a silicon chip (an inanimate object) isn't the kind of thing that has "abilities".

Cheers

[RonPurewal]

hi Ron - Many many thanks re-read the post and this one..... everything makes sense nw. Thanks again.

So can i take the below to be a rule... After you had posted this I came across many questions in which I was able to eliminate atleast 3 ans choices, which used "abilities" or "capabilities" for inanimate objects. So can i chalk this down as rule or would there be exceptions!?

a good sentence shouldn't do that.

you should make sure that there are other answer choices that don't do that. if there are such choices, then you should be able to eliminate the ones that do.

[nmullapudi87]

Which one is correct?
1. "one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that may one day lead to"

2. "one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that may one day leads to"



My argument is since development is singular, the verb must be singular, which is "leads". But why 1st sentence is correct according to GMAT Prep? pleas explain. I have my exam in a week. I use sub-verb agreement as my main elimination technique. :(

[wei.xiang.thu]

Which one is correct?
1. "one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that may one day lead to"

2. "one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that may one day leads to"



My argument is since development is singular, the verb must be singular, which is "leads". But why 1st sentence is correct according to GMAT Prep? pleas explain. I have my exam in a week. I use sub-verb agreement as my main elimination technique. :(

one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that may one day lead to....

You might miss the modal helping verb may. Another related word, maybe is an adverb, but it's sometimes considered not formal.

[thanghnvn]

Now that so much data travels via light"”i.e., is carried in glass fibers rather than by electrical current"”one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that mav one dav lead to smaller, faster semiconductors.


C. the development of a silicon chip that has the capability of transmitting and receiving light signals directly, a development maybe one day leading

E. developing a silicon chip with the ability to transmit and receive light signals directly, with this development maybe one day leading


are both bolded verb-ings wrong because they adopt the tense of the main clause (present). They should be future right?

CORRECT, Leading in C and E take the tense of main clause and so is not logic.
they are absolute phrase. in absolute phrase, "with..." may or may not refer to a noun in the main clause.

when ever we see, doing, do-ed, to do (the verbal), immediately we have to give them subject and tense. Thinking this way helps us attack the error actively. The problem is that we can understand the explanation, but can not solve the questions. thinking this way help us solve the problem

[RonPurewal]

Which one is correct?
1. "one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that may one day lead to"

2. "one goal of semiconductor research is to develop a silicon chip that can transmit and receive light signals directly, a development that may one day leads to"



My argument is since development is singular, the verb must be singular, which is "leads". But why 1st sentence is correct according to GMAT Prep?

the verb is "may lead", not "lead(s)".

when you have a helping verb (may, can, could, will, etc.) in front of the main verb, the form of the main verb is always the same.
i lead, you lead, he/she leads, they lead
BUT
i will lead, you will lead, he/she will lead, they will lead.

[AbhilashM94]

Ron,

Eliminate (C) because it just sounds awkward.

Any major errors in this that I need to know for GMAT?

[thanghnvn]

in english, we use

the goal is to do something

we do not use

the goal is doing something or
the goal is development of something

is that right? this is idiom problem, is that right?

[RonPurewal]

Nouns (e.g., "the development") can also be used as "the goal of" something.

[sdfsdfsdfs481]

Hi Ron,

E. developing a silicon chip with the ability to transmit and receive light signals directly, with this development maybe one day leading
What does , with this development maybe one day leading means? Is it correct to use comma prep(with) structure here?

I think that in comma prep(with) structure, the logical meaning connection between the modifier (comma prep structure) and the element to be modified is vaguer than which/that/whose modifiers and appositives. I'm always confused about under what circumstances we should/can use comma prep(with) structure. Please give me some idea.

[RonPurewal]

read this (and the following post):
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p102567