ID CREATION_TIMESTAMP CONTENT THREAD_ID AUTHOR AUTHOR_ID 45685 2001-12-12 20:09:00 Inflation in the US has not and, we hope, never will reach a rate of 20 percent a year. a and, we hope, never will reach b reached and, we hope never will c and hopefully never will reach d reached and, we hope, never will reach e reached and hopefully never will reach The answer is E. Why? Thank you in advance, Calin 35 calin_ardeleanu (null) 59 2001-12-12 21:25:00 This is anoldGMAT question, using aretiredgrammar point. Why is hopefully wrong? Is it incorrect to say hopefully ? We have an old grammar controversy in English about the use of hopefully . Some people think that it shouldnt be used as asentence adverb,i.e., an adverb at the beginning of the sentence, usually with a comma after it. These people think that it should instead be used like this: We waited for the results hopefully , meaning in a hopeful way . A, B, and C are all wrong because they are not parallel--we can only omit a word if it is exactly the same in both cases. For example: I havent visited Bora Bora, and neither has Kerry visited Bora Bora. In this case, I can omit visited Bora Bora because it already appears in the sentence. Lets look at another example: I havent visited Bora Bora, and I probably never will V visit Bora Bora V. This is wrong, at least on the GMAT, since visited and visit are different. So, this question, at least the way its written, presents us with a problem--we need to choose either D, which is grammatically correct, but a little awkward because of the location of we hope or E, which is grammatically correct, but uses the controversial hopefully . Between the two, Id go for D as the best GMAT answer, but I dont think this type of question would appear on the GMAT this question looks to me to be a question from a practice book. Can you tell me where its from? Hope this helps you, Calin!! Erin 35 Erin (null) 61 2001-12-14 18:37:00 The question was from an older Barrons kit 1995. I have also supposed that D would be the best answer. Barrons suggests that E is the good one. Thank you again, Calin 35 calin_ardeleanu (null) 62 2001-12-15 02:43:00 Great!! So we agree, right?? I always tell my students to use ONLY official GMAT materials this sample question that you have posted is a good example of how we can be led astray by unofficial materials. High GMAT score!! Always!! 35 Erin (null) 46102 2002-05-31 05:18:00 Hi Erin, 5. The architecture exhibited in the Empire State Building and conveyed us an idea of the prevailing attitudes of the day is important for the historical and cultural value it represents. conveyed conveying The perennial problem: Do I use -ing or -ed? Here we need the -ing form because architecture is the subject of the verbal conveying. I Erin Billy wrote this problem this way because I noticed that many of my students were missing real TOEFL questions just like this one because they were simply matching the Ed form in conveyed with the Ed form in exhibited and assuming it was correct that way. Nope! Not a good strategy--youll miss the harder questions if you do that!! prevailing is it represents Sorry Erin, But I couldnt make any sense out of the scentence even after the correction. Can you please explain ... Raghuveer. 452 raghuveer_v (null) 762 2002-05-31 05:22:00 And ... 6. In 2001 George W. Bush, Jr., entered his first year office as President of the United States. In 2001 entered office of office Gotta have this preposition! as President I agree with the answer. But, I am still a little bit confused about the useage ofTheI thought it should be ....as the President of the Unites States.S.O.S !! Raghuveer. 452 raghuveer_v (null) 946 2002-06-08 13:51:00 I think the U.S. has only 1 President so we can say either the President or throw it away.E.g.The director of this company has just retired. 452 phuongled (null) 983 2002-06-12 06:14:00 Sorry Erin, But I couldnt make any sense out of the scentence even after the correction. Can you please explain ... Raghuveer. Its a bit tricky to answer these questions sometimes, but the main idea behind whether to choose the -ing form or the -ed form this: The -ing form is used for DOING the action, which means SUBJECT, which means ACTIVE voice. The -ed form is used for RECEIVING the action, which means OBJECT, which means PASSIVE voice. Before I go further, let me offer two examples that will make things clearer as we go along: speaking person the -ing formspoken words the -ed form/list In this type of question, we always have two elements: a particple, which is either in the -ing or -ed forma noun that is modified by this participle/list So, using the previous examples, speaking modifies person and spoken modifies words . The next step is to realize that these participles all come from verbs-- speaking and spoken both come from the verb speak . Now, using these examples, and applying them to the rules I mentioned at the beginning, we will notice that if we made a sentence, person would be the subject of the verb speak and words would be the object of the verb speak . Using this procedure, we can figure out whether should use the -ing or -ed form of a participle that modifies a noun. And thats it!! Of course, this is easy when the vocab is easy, and we often get confused when we are using difficult vocab because we sometimes dont know whether something is the subject or the object of the verb, but this procedure that I have explained is the only sure way to get the right answer. 452 Erin (null) 985 2002-06-12 06:30:00 And ... 6. In 2001 George W. Bush, Jr., entered his first year office as President of the United States. In 2001 entered office of office Gotta have this preposition! as President I agree with the answer. But, I am still a little bit confused about the useage ofTheI thought it should be ....as the President of the Unites States.S.O.S !! Raghuveer. Another favorite TOEFL trick--we can omit the determiner with many titles/professions. For example, it is perfectly acceptable to say: Poet Maya Angelou is best known...She is chair of the foundation./list Make sense now? Erin TestMagic help you before your test? Please remember to post after your test. Please? Please? 452 Erin (null) 989 2002-06-12 10:58:00 Hi Erin, Its a bit tricky to answer these questions sometimes, but the main idea behind whether to choose the -ing form or the -ed form this: The -ing form is used for DOING the action, which means SUBJECT, which means ACTIVE voice. The -ed form is used for RECEIVING the action, which means OBJECT, which means PASSIVE voice. Before I go further, let me offer two examples that will make things clearer as we go along: speaking person the -ing form spoken words the -ed form In this type of question, we always have two elements: a particple, which is either in the -ing or -ed form a noun that is modified by this participle So, using the previous examples, speaking modifies person and spoken modifies words. The next step is to realize that these participles all come from verbs--speaking and spoken both come from the verb speak. Now, using these examples, and applying them to the rules I mentioned at the beginning, we will notice that if we made a sentence, person would be the subject of the verb speak and words would be the object of the verb speak. Using this procedure, we can figure out whether should use the -ing or -ed form of a participle that modifies a noun. And thats it!! Of course, this is easy when the vocab is easy, and we often get confused when we are using difficult vocab because we sometimes dont know whether something is the subject or the object of the verb, but this procedure that I have explained is the only sure way to get the right answer. Erin Yeah, I understood the underlying concept, and the approach you suggested to tackle such problems. But what is still fuzzy to me, is the meaning of this particular scentence...The architecture exhibited in the Empire State Building and conveying us an idea of the prevailing attitudes of the day is important for the historical and cultural value it represents .Let me make things simple for myself by reducing the scentence to its components. If I am right,... The scentences says ... Something1 and Something2 is important for Something3 . Is it? If so, can you please explain the Something2 thing? who is connveying the idea to us? And, is theitin Something3 referring to Something1 ? By the way, after reducing the scentence to this form, I got another doubt ... Isnt it that the scentence should read ... Something1 and Something2 are important for Something3. Please waste some more of your time to enlighten our dumb minds Raghuveer Edited by - raghuveerv on 2002 Jun 12 06:20:27 452 raghuveer_v (null) 1081 2002-06-19 00:09:00 hi raghuveer I had the same doubtThe architecture exhibited in the Empire State Building and conveying us an idea of the prevailing attitudes of the day is important for the historical and cultural value it represents .Let me make things simple for myself by reducing the scentence to its components. If I am right,... The scentences says ... Something1 and Something2 is important for Something3 . Is it? If so, can you please explain the Something2 thing? who is connveying the idea to us? And, is theitin Something3 referring to Something1 ? By the way, after reducing the scentence to this form, I got another doubt ... Isnt it that the scentence should read ... Something1 and Something2 are important for Something3. I feel the sentence good if we replace and with a comma. In that case it indicates that something1 and something2 are the same which is important for something3 The architecture exhibited in the empire state building ,conveying us an idea of the prevailing attitudes of the day,is important for the historical and cultural value it presents Erin please answer if it is good this way. madhavi 452 madhavi (null) 1086 2002-06-19 18:41:00 But what is still fuzzy to me, is the meaning of this particular scentence ... BTW, Ive noticed your idiosyncratic spelling of sentence for many dozens of posts... At first I thought it was a typo agoof, but now Im starting to wonder whether its a mistake.The architecture exhibited in the Empire State Building and conveying us an idea of the prevailing attitudes of the day is important for the historical and cultural value it represents .Let me make things simple for myself by reducing the scentence to its components. If I am right,... The scentences says ... Something1 and Something2 is important for Something3 . Is it? No. The main subject of the sentence is architecture . The trick here is thatexhibitedandconveyingboth modifyarchitecture.Both of these words can be seen as reduced adjective clauses: The architecture that is exhibited in the Empire State Building and that conveys us an idea of the prevailing attitudes of the day is important for the historical and cultural value it represents. Please waste some more of your time to enlighten our dumb minds Nobody is dumb here. We are all just sharing our knowledge!! imghttp://www.gifart.com/images/smilie.gifwidth60px Raghuveer Nice rollover Raghuveer! I hope this helps, but please let me know if not!! And dont be afraid tobumpthe topic if need be!! Erin TestMagic help you before your test? Please remember to post after your test. Please? Please? 452 Erin (null) 1095 2002-06-20 03:23:00 Atlast, I now understand the meaning of the sentence . Thanks. And thanks for correcting my 20-year old mistake. The meaning is okay, but again, a little doubt ...... architecture that is exhibited in the Empire State Building ...suggests passive voice. where as ......and that conveys us an idea of the prevailing attitudes of the day ...suggests active voice. Can these be combined so? Raghuveer 452 raghuveer_v (null) 1097 2002-06-20 03:49:00 Yes! Its perfectly fine to join active and passive voice with a conjunction in other words, it is correct parallel structure to use these together. A lot of people think otherwise thats why I wrote this question this way. In my mind, I think of this asparallel structure doesntgo that deep.Ive used this explanation with some of my students, but I didnt see thatflashof understanding that crosses somebodys face when theyve understood, so I dont generally use this explanation. So, have we exhausted all the TOEFL aspects of this question yet?? BTW, Ive been thinking for a bit aboutconveying us.I think Im going to change this toconveying to usin my book. Erin TestMagic help you before your test? Please remember to post after your test. Please? Please? 452 Erin (null) 1098 2002-06-20 03:52:00 One more thing, before I forget. I meant to comment on your new rollover, but this post has the button you made, not the rollover. Anyway, nice rollover in your later posts!! Erin TestMagic help you before your test? Please remember to post after your test. Please? Please? 452 Erin (null) 1100 2002-06-20 04:15:00 Thanks for all your explanation, advice and comments, Erin. Id also like to make a small request to you ... I use a lot of constructs in my language, without being completely sure whether they are correct. If you see anything wrong in my post, even though its not what I am asking about, please correct me. Id appreciate. For example I wrote ... Can these be combined so? Can a sentence be written so ? you can move this to a new post if you wish ... here is the rollover you liked ... Raghuveer 452 raghuveer_v (null) 1101 2002-06-20 04:21:00 And, as a gesture of reciprocation, let me point out a mistake in your post : footnote: TestMagic help you before your test? Correct would be either ... Did TestMagic help you before your test? or Had TestMagic helped you before your test? Isnt it, Erin? Raghuveer. 452 raghuveer_v (null) 1105 2002-06-20 05:30:00 Believe you me, I thought that I might confuse people if I wrote TestMagic help you before your test? but the truth is that it is normal and acceptable spoken English. I thought that some people might think it was wrong, and that perhaps someone like you would even ask me, at which point Id give the simple explanation that Im about to give you. The reason is that we often drop thedopart of a question in spoken English. Thats it! Anyway, I decided to write it thus so that others might notice it, think about it, become accustomed to it, and perhaps even learn it!! Erin TestMagic help you before your test? Please remember to post after your test. Please? Please? 452 Erin (null) 1106 2002-06-20 06:17:00 Sorry for continuing this loooong topic with different questions, but ... If we take the questionDid you give him the money?and dropDid, we getyou give hime the money?which sounds awkward, atleast to my non-native ears. I feel it should beyou gave him the money?Isnt it so Raghuveer. 452 raghuveer_v (null)