Sentence Correction (SC) Practice Questions - 2 | Mock Test series for GMAT Classic Edition PDF Download

(C) is the correct response. It’s illogical to say “the sun and stars” are “man-made.” The list must be adjusted so that the meaning of this last phrase is clearly different from the preceding items.

Only choice (C) correctly lists the two conditions by which the earlier mariners could find their way: 1) by employing man-made tools, or 2) by reading the sun and stars. The word “could” correctly matches the earlier conditional “if.” Remember “the sun and stars” cannot be logically included in a list with other “man-made” tools, since they are not “man-made”!

(E) is the correct response. This one correctly contains a verb parallel to the “are” in “portable computers are” phrase. It also accurately uses “that” as a restrictive pronoun to join a required piece of information to the more general referent (“cell phones that permit”).

(B) is the correct response. The sentence begins with an opening modifier, but “many ‘Roswellians’” cannot be described as “based on….accounts” since people cannot logically be based on accounts. We must adjust the first-half of the sentence to correctly describe human beings. In choice (B), the verb “having examined” correctly modifies “Roswellians”.

The correct response is (B). “More” is the comparative form, and is only correct when used between two items. Since there are “over 1000” species, we should use the superlative “most.” In the original sentence, the phrase “which is” creates an unnecessary relative clause.

Answer choice (E) is not correct. We use the modal verb "can" to make general statements about what is possible. We use "could" to show that something is possible in the future, but not certain. The sentence should say “it’s proven the honey produced from its pollen can be poisonous,” not “it’s proven the honey produced from its pollen could be poisonous.” In addition, we use “probably” to indicate that something is highly likely. We use “possibly” to indicate that the chances of something happening are not zero. Since the original sentence uses “probably”, we should stick with “probably”. In general, we should stick with the meaning conveyed in the original answer choice unless the original answer choice is illogical.

The correct response is (A). There’s a nice parallelism in the original sentence with “known THAT…and THAT.”

If you chose (B), here we’re missing the parallelism for the second clause. There are two things that were “known.”

If you chose (C), the addition of the word “also” is wordy and not needed. Additionally, changing “as” to “like” changes the meaning of the sentence. The sentence is not drawing a comparison.

If you chose (D), the pronoun “them” is plural and cannot be used to refer to the singular antecedent “electro-magnet.”

If you chose (E), “and also known” is not parallel with the relative clause at the beginning of the sentence. The GMAT often uses the parallel construction: VERB + “THAT”….and THAT…

(E) is the correct response. There is a contrasting comparison between “big-bank financiers” and “micro-loan financiers.” This is the only choice in which their forms are logically similar, and the comparison is clear.

If you chose (A), we cannot compare “policies” to “financiers.” Remember, a correct comparison sets things against things and people against people. Look for a choice that compares the financiers at the big-banks to the micro-loan financiers. Remember, we are comparing the financiers at big-banks (who presumably finance standard loans) to those who finance micro-loans, not the people who finance the POLICIES of the big-banks, which in itself is unclear.

If you chose (A), the word second verb “adding” is not parallel with the initial verb “chose.” We’re looking for another simple past tense verb to make the sentence correct.

If you chose (B), “adding” is not parallel with the earlier verb “chose” and the phrase “as well as” is wordy. In order to use the idiom “as well as” in this context, we would need to omit the verb “adding.”

If you chose (C), the conjunction “and” and the word “additionally” are redundant. That is, the meaning of one is inherently contained in the other. Look for a more concise choice.

(D) is the correct response. The conjunction “yet” provides the correct meaning by contrasting with the phrase “mostly” in the first-half of the sentence. More importantly, “added” is parallel with “chose.”

If you chose (E), we’d need an article in front of “addition” for this sentence to be grammatically correct, but more importantly changing the verb to a noun doesn’t allow the two halves of the sentence to be parallel.

If you chose (A), since “body’s” is in its possessive form, what follows must be a noun, not a verb “trying.”

If you chose (B), you may have been swayed by the parallelism of “face” and “deal” but remember that the possessive “body’s” must be followed by a noun. The “body” cannot possess a progressive verb. Furthermore, “deal with” and “face” convey the same meaning.

(C) is the correct response. This choice provides a noun for the possessive “body’s” and eliminates the redundancy created by the use of both “deal with” and “face” in the original sentence.

If you chose (D), while “attempt” provides a correct possessive noun for “body’s” the phrase “attempt to try to deal” is unnecessarily wordy and redundant.

If you chose (E), “attempt to try and deal” is unnecessarily redundant. Remember that “to attempt” and “to try” are synonyms.

The correct response is (D). The subject of the sentence is the plural “caves” and so the predicate verb should be the plural “were.” The second verb in the sentence, “is”, doesn’t match “caves” either and should be changed to “are” since the estimation is happening in the present-tense.

In the original sentence, there is a confusing meaning. The heritage site wasn’t discovered. The caves were discovered, which is not clear in this version of the sentence. Additionally, “estimated at” is the incorrect idiom, although the question doesn’t hinge on knowing this idiom.

The correct response is (C). The main issue with the sentence as written is that it is wordy and has an unclear meaning. There is a cause-and-effect meaning here that needs to be elucidated. Answer choice (C) does that using the word “because.” Answer choice (C) also makes it clear that the uplift occurred under the crust of the Earth about a billion years ago.

Answer choice (B) is incorrect. “Which” generally refers to the immediately preceding noun. Answer choice (B) illogically suggests that the earth occurred about a billion years ago.