Sentence Correction Practice Test 1

The correct response is (C). The original sentence is confusing and awkwardly worded for several reasons. First, “and not” is not the correct idiom to establish contrast; “instead of,” or “rather than,” are more appropriate idioms. Also, the word “as” can only be used to introduce a clause, not a phrase. Clauses include a subject and a verb. Therefore, “as” is not the best choice to introduce the prepositional phrase, “in campaign commercials.” “Rather than” is the correct idiom when we wish to indicate our preference. For example, “he chose to sing rather than play the violin”. “Instead of” is the appropriate idiom when we wish to indicate substitution. For example, “we ordered chicken instead of fish”. “As” is followed by a clause (with a subject, “campaign commercials,” and a verb, “do”). Note that “oversimplify” is understood in this verb and does not need to be repeated. The comparison in (C) is clear and complete.

The correct response is (C). The original sentence is confusing and awkwardly worded for several reasons. First, “and not” is not the correct idiom to establish contrast; “instead of,” “rather than,” or “unlike” are more appropriate idioms. Also, the word “as” can only be used to introduce a clause, not a phrase. Clauses include a subject and a verb. Therefore, “as” is not the best choice to introduce the prepositional phrase, “in campaign commercials.” “Rather than” is a correct idiom for comparison. “As” is followed by a clause (with a subject, “campaign commercials,” and a verb, “do”). (Note that “oversimplify” is understood in this verb and does not need to be stated.) The comparison is clear and complete.

The correct response is (C). This sentence needs the correct idiomatic expression to contrast two problems. The news anchor “distinguished between X (student rebellions) and Y (authentic political upheaval).” The clause that describes student rebellions (“which may…) should be as clear and concise as possible. The possessive “their” is awkward and should be omitted.

The correct response is (D). Faulty construction obscures the meaning of this sentence. The sentence begins with a subordinate clause, whose subject is “a building’s structure.” However, the subject of the main clause, “it,” appears to refer back to “structure.” However, a careful reading reveals that “it” is used two times: "it" is intended to refer to the “level of earthquake resistance” the first time and to the “building’s structure” the second time. The relationships between the two parts of the sentence must be clarified. Only (D) corrects this muddled meaning.

The correct response is (C). For clarity, a lengthy and confusing description like this one requires a relative clause, “the researcher’s theory that...” The subject-verb structure of the clause clearly identifies “the researcher’s theory” A series of phrases, on the other hand, provides neither the same clarity nor grammatical correctness.

The correct response is (B). It is difficult to identify the subject, “a market,” in this sentence because of the inverted word order. Be alert to incorrect verb number and tense. The plural verb “have grown” does not agree with “market,” a singular noun. “Market” is also the subject of the second verb, which should be “is bringing” rather than “are bringing.” The present progressive verb shows ongoing action, which is more appropriate than the present tense, “bring,” in this context.

The correct response is (D). The word “during” correctly sets up the meaning, while the participle “making” maintains parallelism.

If you chose (A), remember that “which” typically modifies the immediately preceding noun. This answer choice suggests that Hitler’s campaign was a singular strategic error that ultimately cost him the entire Eastern front, when in fact it was the decision to invade in the winter months that ultimately cost him the entire Eastern front. The use of the coordinating conjunction “and” creates an illogical meaning by assigning equal importance to the phrases “was a singular strategic error” and “that ultimately cost …” The second phrase should be subordinated. When we say something “was A and B”, we are implying that “A” and “B” are of equal importance. In this case, one thing led to another. Hitler made a singular strategic error that ultimately cost him the entire Eastern front. The correct choice should make this clear.

If you chose (B), remember that “which” typically refers to the immediately preceding noun. This answer choice illogically suggests that 1941-42 was a singular strategic error that ultimately cost Hitler the entire Eastern front.

If you chose (C), you correctly removed “which” from the sentence and switched the verb form to the participle “making,” however consider how the word “with” changes the meaning of the sentence. This answer choice incorrectly suggests that Hitler invaded Russia through the 1941-42 invasion of Eastern Europe.

If you chose (E), you correctly removed “which” and “that” from the original sentence. However, it is structurally awkward to have back-to-back modifying clauses before the subject (“Hitler”). Furthermore, this choice adjusts the meaning of the sentence to: “Hitler made a mistake.” Additionally, “made” and “costing” are not parallel, and we now have three modifying clauses instead of two. (D) is more precise.

(C) is the correct response. Though this choice may sound a bit wordy, it correctly compares the 2010 rate to the 2009 rate and correctly modifies the preceding clause. Sometimes on the GMAT, shorter is not always better!

If you chose (A), “fewer as” is an incorrect idiom. “Fewer” is a countable modifier. For example, we might say, “fewer hats” but not “fewer rates”. We can also say that the 2012 rate was higher/greater or lower/less than the 2011 rate.

If you chose (B), we’re comparing the 2012 rate to the 2011 rate. This choice compares the 2012 rate to the year 2011.

If you chose (D), “what it was” is ambiguous. It’s unclear what “it” refers to, and the overall the verbiage is clumsy. This choice also makes it sound like the 2012 rate was 2.7% of the 2011 rate.

If you chose (E), this choice has no obvious grammatical error, but it changes the meaning. The intended meaning is that the 2012 rate of crime was 2.7% less than the 2011 rate. This choice makes it sound like the 2012 rate was 2.7% of the 2011 rate.

The correct response is (B). This choice correctly uses the present-tense verb “allows” which agrees with the present-tense verb “are.” Additionally, it correctly places a comma before “which.”

If you chose (A), we need a comma before the word “which” to set it apart as a clear modifying phrase. The past tense verb “allowed” does not agree with the present tense verb “are” in the non-underlined portion of the second independent clause.

If you chose (C), no comma here before "which" means this choice is incorrect. We’ve also got a past perfect verb (“has allowed”) that conflicts with present tense “are” in the non-underlined portion of this sentence.

If you chose (D), remember the word “that” is restrictive meaning it is necessary to the meaning of the phrase, while "which" is not restrictive. The word “which” adds a sort of parenthetical note to a sentence.

If you chose (E), “water allowing” is unclear. We are missing a relative pronoun or a comma between “water” and “allowing.”

(D) is the correct response. We have the correct comparison in this choice, comparing the Inca to the Maya. In GMAT Sentence Correction, “such as” is used to introduce examples, while "like" indicates only similarity. But more importantly, we have an incorrect comparison. We cannot compare “the Temple” to “the Maya culture.” We can compare an Inca building to a Maya building or the Inca people to the Maya people, but we cannot “mix apples and oranges” in comparisons.

If you chose (C), this sentence is idiomatically correct, but still draws an incorrect comparison. We’re comparing the “Inca Temple” to the “Maya at Tikal.” If you chose this choice, remember to always re-read the entire sentence to make sure the changed underlined section makes sense with the non-underlined portion.

If you chose (E), “so with” is an awkward construction, and “like” should not be used to introduce an example.