See How “THAT” Can Help You de-mystify a Long Sentence _ E-GMAT Blog

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GETTING STARTED HELP VIDEOS SC CR RC GMAT STRATEGY

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SEEHOWTHATCANHELPYOUDEMYSTIFYALONGSENTENCE

InourfirstsessionofVerbalLivePrepSC1HowtoApproachSentenceCorrectionwesawthatsimplifyingthe

sentencestructurehasatwofoldeffect.Firstly,ithelpsclarifythe(intended)meaning.Secondly,ithelpsyouidentifyerrors.Wealsosawthatselectingthecorrectanswerbecomesmucheasieronceyouhaveaclearunderstandingofmeaningandidentifytheerrorsintheoriginalsentence.Clickontheimagetoviewtherecordingofthestrategysession.Purposeofthisarticle:Inthisarticle,wewillseehowknowledgeofthevarioususesofthatcanbeleveragedtosimplifythesentencestructure.

QWhatdoyoumeanbysimplifyingthesentencestructure?Whenwesimplifythesentencestructure,weidentifytheclausesandweidentifytheSVpairsineachclause.Thenwecheckforotherlogicallinkagesinthesentencemodifiers&modifiedentities,verbsequencingbetweenmultipleverbs,logicallists,andpronounantecedentpairsanddetermineiferrorsexist.Basedonthisanalysiswethenevaluatetheanswerchoicesandconfidentlymarkthecorrectchoice.QOk,whydoIneedtoknowaboutthat?AsyouknowTHATisaverycommonclausemarker.Itisamultifacetedword.Inthisarticlewewilldiscussitstwoprimaryuses.Notethatmaybeusedinotherwaysbutthesetwousesconstitutethemostcommonusesofthat.

USAGE1THATACTSASSUBJECTOFTHECLAUSE

Letstakeanexample:Marymadeclaimsthatpertaintoherachievementsinhighschool.Inthissentencethatreferstotheprecedingnounclaimsandtheentirepurpleclausemodifiesthenounclaims.Asyoucansee,thatisthesubjectofthepurpleclause.Itsverbispertain.

04/04/2015 SeehowTHATcanhelpyoudemystifyalongsentence|eGMATblog

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Letstakeanotherexample:Retailersdonotapproveoftheappsthatallowshopperstoperformimmediatepricecomparisonbyscanningaproductontheshelf.Inthissentencethatreferstotheprecedingnounappsandtheentirepurpleclausemodifiesthisnounapps.Asyoucansee,thatisthesubjectofthepurpleclause.Itsverbisallow.

TAKEAWAY

Thatmodifiestheprecedingnounthroughthismodifyingclauseandactsasthesubjectofthisclause.

USAGE2THATACTSASTHECONNECTORBETWEENTWOCLAUSES

Letstakeanexample:

Maryclaimsthatshewonseveralawardsinherhighschool.Inthissentencethatconnectstwoclauses.MaryclaimsMaryclaimswhat?Maryclaimsthatshewonseveralawardsinherhighschool.Asyoucansee,thatissimplyaconnector.Itisnotthesubjectofthepurpleclause.Thesubjectofthepurpleclauseissheanditsverbiswon.Letstakeanotherexample:Theanalystsstronglybelievethatthemanufacturingsectorwillcontinuetoactasadragongrossdomesticproductinthethirdquarterandthattheimprovementisunlikelyuntilregionalstructuralissuesareaddressedandthebroaderglobalbackdropbrightens.Inthissentencethatconnectsclauses.

Analystsstronglybelieve

Analystsstronglybelievewhat?

Analystsstronglybelieve

thatmanufacturingsectorwillcontinuetoactasdrag.

thattheimprovementisunlikelyuntil

Asyoucansee,thatissimplyaconnector.Itisnotthesubjectofthepurpleorblueclause.Thesubjectofthepurpleclauseismanufacturingsectoranditsverbiswillcontinue.Thesubjectoftheblueclauseisimprovementanditsverbisis.Letstakeonemoreexample:MaryfoundcertainevidencethateventheCrimeSceneInvestigators(CSI)couldnotfind.Inthissentencethatconnectstwoclauses.

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Maryfoundcertainevidence

Whatkindofevidence

EvidencethatevenCSIcouldnotfind

Asyoucansee,thatissimplyaconnector.Itisnotthesubjectofthepurpleclause.ThesubjectofthepurpleclauseisCSIanditsverbiscouldnotfind.

TAKEAWAY

Thatconnectstwoclauses.Itactsasaconnector.Eachclauseconnectedbythatrequiresitsownsubjectandverbpair.

HOWTOAPPLYTHISKNOWLEDGE

Oksonowthatyouknowthatthatcantypicallyactintwocapacities,oneinwhichitissubjectoftheclauseandanotheroneinwhichitissimplyaconnector,howshouldyouutilizethisknowledgetosimplifytheclauses.Itssimple:

1. Whenyoucomeacrossthewordthat,youshouldknowrightawaythatthereisanotherclause.

2. ThenwhenyougettoidentifyingtheSVpairsofeachclause,keepinmindthatdependinguponhowthatisused,itcouldactassubjectanditcouldsimplybeaconnector.

APPLICATIONONOFFICIALQUESTIONIOG13#140

Rocksamplestakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidabouttwicethesizeofthe6milewideasteroidthateradicatedthedinosaurshasbeendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusisevidenceoftheearliestknownasteroidimpactonEarth.Wewillnowsolvethisquestion.

MEANINGANALYSIS

Thissentenceisaboutcertainrocksamplesthatweretakenfromremainsofanasteroid.Detailsaboutthesizeofthisasteroidhavebeenprovidedinthesentence.Themainaimofthissentenceistospecifytheageoftheserocksamplesandtomaketheclaimthattheserocksamplesareevidenceoftheoldestknownasteroidimpactonearth.

SENTENCESTRUCTURE

Nowwewillsimplifythesentencestructure.Weseethatthesubjectoffirstclauseisrocksamples.Theportiontakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidisaverbedmodifier.takencannotbeaverbsinceitisnotprecededbyis/are/was/were.Aswecontinuereading,wecomeacrossthewordthat,whichsignalspresenceofaclause.thateradicatedthedinosaurs.Thenwecontinuereadingandwefindwhatappeartobethetwoverbsofthesubjectrocksamplesinthebeginningofthesentence.

Rocksamplestakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidabouttwicethesizeofthe6milewideasteroid

thateradicatedthedinosaurs

hasbeendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusisevidenceoftheearliestknownasteroidimpactonEarth.

ERRORANALYSIS

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Nowthatwehavethesimplifiedsentencestructure,wecanperformtheerroranalysis.Noticehowyoucannowfocusoneachclauseonebyoneandfigureoutthegrammaticalcorrectnessanderrors.TheSVpairshavebeencolorcoded.Asyoucanseethatinthissentencereferstotheprecedingnounasteroid.Ithasitsverberadicated.Wealsoclearlyseetheverbsforthepluralsubjectrocksamples.TheseverbsaresingularandhencethereisSVnumbererrorhere.Sothecorrectchoiceshouldhavepluralverbs.Thisisthefirstandtheprimaryerror.Theseconderroristheidiomaticusageofthephrasedatedtobe.Thecorrectidiomisdatedat.

ANSWERCHOICEANALYSIS

Nowwewillrevieweachanswerchoiceonebyoneandfindthecorrectanswer:

1. hasbeendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusis

1. SVNumbererror,Idiomerrorasdiscussed

2. hasbeendatedat3.47billionyearsoldandthus

1. SVNumbererror,Verbdoesnotexist.Peroursentencestructureandmeaninganalysis,weknowthattherearetwoverbsforthesubjectrocksamples.Inthischoice,theverbishasbeenremovedandhencesecondverbnolongerexists.

3. havebeendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusare

1. Idiomerror

4. havebeendatedasbeing3.47billionyearsoldandthus

1. Idiomerror.SecondverbismissingasinchoiceB

5. havebeendatedat3.47billionyearsoldandthusare

1. Correctchoice.Bothverbsareplural.Theidiomhasbeencorrected.

TAKEAWAY

Thisisa700levelquestion.However,itwasextremelysimpletoarriveatthecorrectansweroncewesimplifiedthesentencestructure.WewillseemoreofthisinourSC2SentenceStructuresession.

EXERCISE

Forthesentencesbelow,dothefollowing:

1. IdentifyallSVpairsinthesentenceabove.

2. IsthereanyproblemwiththesentencewithregardstotheSVpairs?

3. Howwillyoucorrecttheerror?

QUESTION1:

Inareviewof2,000studiesofhumanbehaviorthatdatebacktothe1940s,twoSwisspsychologists,declaringthatsincemostofthestudieshadfailedtocontrolforsuchvariablesassocialclassandfamilysize,nonecouldbetakenseriously.

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QUESTION2

In1713,AlexanderPopebeganhistranslationoftheIliad,aworkthat,takinghimsevenyearsuntilcompletion,andthatliterarycriticSamuelJohnson,Popescontemporary,pronouncedthegreatesttranslationinanylanguage.

TAKEAWAY

1. Youcansimplifythesentenceintoclausesifyoufollowtheclausemarkers.

2. Thathasmanyfunctions.Thetwocommonfunctionsarelistedbelow:

1. SubjectoftheClause

2. Connector

SC2SENTENCESTRUCTURE[VERBALLIVEPREPCUSTOMERS]

InSC1HowtoapproachSentenceCorrection,wediscussedthethreepillarsofSentenceCorrectionMeaning,SentenceStructureandGrammar.Furthermore,wedemonstratedhowonecanansweridentifyerrorsandspotthecorrectanswerthroughintendedmeaning.InthenextsessionSC2SentenceStructurewewilldiscusshowyoucanleveragesentencestructureto

1. Identifytheintendedmeaning

2. Identifymajorityoftheerrors.

Inourexperience,youcansolveover95%oftheSCquestionsthroughthemethodsdescribedabove.Togetthemostofthissession,makesurethatyouhavereviewedthisarticlethoroughlyandanalyzedthetwoexercisesentencesabove.Hereisasampleanalysisofthefirstquestion.Rocksamplestakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidabouttwicethesizeofthe6milewideasteroidthateradicatedthedinosaurshasbeendatedtobe3.47billionyearsoldandthusisevidenceoftheearliestknownasteroidimpactonEarth.Weseethatthesubjectoffirstclauseisrocksamples.Theportiontakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidisaverbedmodifier.takencannotbeaverbsinceitisnotprecededbyis/are/was/were.Aswecontinuereading,wecomeacrossthewordthat,whichsignalspresenceofaclause.thateradicatedthedinosaurs.Thenwecontinuereadingandwefindwhatappeartobethetwoverbsofthesubjectrocksamplesinthebeginningofthesentence.WhatifyouarenotaneGMATcustomer?

1. IfyouarenotaneGMATcustomerbutareinterestedtoknowmoreaboutVerbalLivePrep2.0,thenclickhere.

2. Interestedtoknowmoreaboutsentencestructure:ThereareafewveryhelpfulconceptsintheeGMATfreetrial.Clickheretoregisterandtoreviewthoseconcepts.

EXTRAINFORMATION

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NOTEFOREGMATVERBALLIVEPREPSTUDENTS

ThisarticleisoneoftheprerequisitesforSessionSC2SentenceStructure.Makesurethatyougettheessenceofthisarticle.Sounderstandthearticlewellandanswerthequestionsabove.Inadditiontotheabovetwoquestions,alsoprepareashortparagraphonhowtoarriveatthissentencestructure.Basicallywritetheparagraphonsimilarlinesaswediscussedinpreviousanalysis:Weseethatthesubjectoffirstclauseisrocksamples.Theportiontakenfromtheremainsofanasteroidisaverbedmodifier.takencannotbeaverbsinceitisnotprecededbyis/are/was/were.Aswecontinuereading,wecomeacrossthewordthat,whichsignalspresenceofaclause.thateradicatedthedinosaurs.Thenwecontinuereadingandwefindwhatappeartobethetwoverbsofthesubjectrocksamplesinthebeginningofthesentence.Notethatthiswillbeoneoftheshortessaytypequestionsinthepreassessmentquiz(dontworrythiswillbetheonlyessaytypequestioninthequiz).Andwewilldiscuss

APPLICATIONONOFFICIALQUESTIONOG13#67

In1713,AlexanderPopebeganhistranslationoftheIliad,aworkthat,takinghimsevenyearsuntilcompletion,andthatliterarycriticSamuelJohnson,Popescontemporary,pronouncedthegreatesttranslationinanylanguage.

In1713,AlexanderPopebeganhistranslationoftheIliad,awork

that,takinghimsevenyearsuntilcompletion,and

thatliterarycriticSamuelJohnson,Popescontemporary,pronouncedthegreatesttranslationinanylanguage.

Afewyearsago,theCanadianGlobalPublicHealthInformationNetwork,lookingforpatternsinglobalhealthreports,spottedtheonsetoftheSARSepidemicbeforetheWorldHealthOrganizationdidmorerecently,asitecalledDataminr,relyingonsoftwarethatautomaticallyscannedtheglobalTwitterstream,wasabletoreporttoitssubscribersthatOsamabinLadenhadbeenkilledagood20minutesbeforeitwasofficiallyannounced.

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