GMAT Sentence Correction 1-10

I will be posting few sentence correction questions in a day daily, the explanation and correct answer to each question will be posted by me at the end of each day, hope this would help all those who are preparing for Gmat.

1. A “calendar stick” carved centuries ago by the Winnebago tribe may provide the first evidence that the North American Indians have developed advanced full-year calendars basing them on systematic astronomical observation.

(A) that the North American Indians have developed advanced full-year calendars basing them
(B) of the North American Indians who have developed advanced full-year calendars and based them
(C) of the development of advanced full-year calendars by North American Indians, basing them
(D) of the North American Indians and their development of advanced full-year calendars based
(E) that the North American Indians developed advanced full-year calendars based

2. A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.

(A) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump
(B) reduced the phosphate amount that municipalities had been dumping
(C) reduces the phosphate amount municipalities have been allowed to dump
(D) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump
(E) reduces the amount of phosphates allowed for dumping by municipalities

3. A collection of 38 poems by Phillis Wheatley, a slave, was published in the 1770’s, the first book by a Black woman and it was only the second published by an American woman.

(A) it was only the second published by an American woman
(B) it was only the second that an American woman published
(C) the second one only published by an American woman
(D) the second one only that an American woman published
(E) only the second published by an American woman

4. A common disability in test pilots is hearing impairment, a consequence of sitting too close to large jet engines for long periods of time.

(A) a consequence of sitting too close to large jet engines for long periods of time
(B) a consequence from sitting for long periods of time too near to large jet engines
(C) a consequence which resulted from sitting too close to large jet engines for long periods of time
(D) damaged from sitting too near to large jet engines for long periods of time
(E) damaged because they sat too close to large jet engines for long periods of time

5. A controversial figure throughout most of his public life, the Black leader Marcus Garvey advocated that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom.

(A) that some Blacks return to Africa, the land that, to him, symbolized the possibility of freedom
(B) that some Blacks return to the African land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him
(C) that some Blacks return to Africa which was the land which symbolized the possibility of freedom to him
(D) some Black’s returning to Africa which was the land that to him symbolized the possibility of freedom
(E) some Black’s return to the land symbolizing the possibility of freedom to him, Africa

6. A fire in an enclosed space burns with the aid of reflected radiation that preheats the fuel, making ignition much easier and flames spreading more quickly.

(A) flames spreading
(B) flame spreads
(C) flames are caused to spread
(D) causing flames to spread
(E) causing spreading of the flames

7. A firm that specializes in the analysis of handwriting claims from a one-page writing sample that it can assess more than three hundred personality traits, including enthusiasm, imagination, and ambition.

(A) from a one-page writing sample that it can assess
(B) from a one-page writing sample it has the ability of assessing
(C) the ability, from a one-page writing sample, of assessing
(D) to be able, from a one-page writing sample, to assess
(E) being able to assess, from a one-page writing sample,

8. A huge flying reptile that died out with the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago, the Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of 36 feet, believed to be the largest flying creature the world has ever seen.

(A) believed to be
(B) and that is believed to be
(C) and it is believed to have been
(D) which was, it is believed,
(E) which is believed to be

9. A Labor Department study states that the numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase in the past decade and accounted for more than sixty-two percent of the total growth in the civilian work force.

(A) numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase
(B) numbers of women employed outside the home grew more than thirty-five percent
(C) numbers of women employed outside the home were raised by more than thirty-five percent
(D) number of women employed outside the home increased by more than thirty-five percent
(E) number of women employed outside the home was raised by more than a thirty-five percent increase

10. A large rise in the number of housing starts in the coming year should boost new construction dollars by several billion dollars, making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago.

(A) making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(B) and make the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(C) making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than it was five years ago
(D) to make the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than five years ago
(E) in making the construction industry’s economic health much more robust than it as five years ago

Answers

1.) E is the best choice as it only maintains parallelism -- carved... developed....based

2.) OA - D.
Since the dumping continued after the date of the agreement, the past perfect verb had been allowed in choice A is incorrect. The verb should instead be the present are allowed(if the agreement remained in effect when the sentence was written) or the past were allowed(if the agreement was no longer in effect when the sentence was written). B changes the meaning of the sentence by stating that – the amount of phosphate that municipalities were dumping whereas stem only talks about the limit and not whether they were up to the limit.C, E use wrong tense reduces, should be the past tense reduced. Further allowed for dumping in E is unidiomatic. Also the phrase amount of phosphate is clear and idiomatically correct, whereas phosphate amount is not idiomatic

3). The best choice is E, Here parallelism has to be maintained between two nouns and not two sentences, thus options A and B are ruled out.Also in choices A and B use of it denotes redundancy. This leaves us with C, D, and E. Choices C and D are wordy, also according to the grammar rule one should put only as close as possible to the word it is suppose to modify.Further choice D is depicting incorrect placing of active and passive voice constructions in the sentence.

4). A is the best choice.

5). A is the best answer. D, E are ruled out because of use of apostrophe which is changing the expression to noun form. Option B is unclear and suffers from ambiguity and in option C the referent of which is not clear.

6). D is the best choice.

7). D is the best answer. It correctly uses an infinitive to connect the verb "claims" with the firm's assertion : claims to be able .....to assess....All of the other choices use ungrammatical or unclear constructions after claims. Choices A and B present clauses that should be introduced by "claims that". In A, placing that after sample rather than after claims produces the unintended statement that the claim itself is made on the basis of a single one - page writing sample.Also in B, the ability of assessing is unidiomatic.Choice C repeats this second fault and uses the unidiomatic claims the ability.Choice E uses the ungrammatical claims being able to assess.

8). C is the best choice.
A - incorrect - participial phrase is incorrectly referring to 36 feet. Further wrongly suggests that Quetzalcoatlus still exists though the real meaning conveyed here is that it is still considered the largest flying creature (present perfect)
B - incorrect - "that" is modifying "a wingspan", instead of modifying "Quetzalcoatlus".
D, E - incorrect - "which" modifying "a wingspan", instead of modifying "Quetzalcoatlus"

9). D is the best choice.Because a count of women employed outside the home at any given time will be expressed by a single number, the use of the plural noun numbers in choices A, B, and C is illogical. In A, the phrase grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase is redundant and wordy, since the sense of increase is implicit in the verb grew. In C and E, the passive verb forms were raised and was raised are inappropriate because there is no identifiable agent responsible for the raising of the number of women employed. In choice E, was raised by ... increase is redundant. Choice D, which presents the comparison logically and idiomatically, is the best answer.

10). C is the best answer.Wrong comparison - health to five years ago eliminate option A, B, and D .In option E in making is not necessary, thus making it unnecessarily wordy.