Tuesday, June 29, 2004

to sympathize with OR for sympathizing with

By showing that South Africa does not have a free market and is in fact a kind of collectivist welfare state for Whites only, Sowell argues that American conservatives have no valid ideological grounds to be in sympathy with the Pretoria regime.

(A) to be in sympathy with
(B) to sympathize with
(C) for sympathizing with
(D) that they should sympathize with
(E) that they should have sympathy for

Here POE helped me get down to A or C as the answer, but which one?

One suggestion on the forum was that the differnece is in the tense and that simple past should be preferred over past perfect. This means B is preferred over C as the answer.

But there are people who think C is correct. I fail to understand why...

Good day yesterday

I had a nice day yesterday, as far as GMAT prep is concerned. I started and completed the Arguments (CR) section of the PR Verbal Workbook. I liked the way they explain stuff. I also took the sample quesitons it had. Out of 17, I got 4 wrong, one of which was a very silly mistake. One of them had shades of gray that I was unable to resolve properly. The rest (two) are doubts and I shall try looking for some explanation on gmatclub.com

I also started with the RC section. I plan to complete it and move forward from there. I think it also has one for AWA that I would have to cover.

Lets hope for the best.

Monday, June 28, 2004

No posting for long time

This is bad, really bad. With a huge target in mind, I should be
studying atleast 2-3 hrs daily. but what I am doing is almost nothing.
I did not study for 2 days after I strated this log. Then on the
weekends I did osme studies, but nothing cloes to the mark, forget
about being up to it.

I did find a few things over the weekend. I went through the Princeton
Reivew Verbal Workout. Great book. Just that it needs to be given its
due time and that one needs to follow it properly. I read the SC
portion and the 'Berrer Reading' section. I shall complete the CR
section tonight.

In the SC section, oine good thing I found out was the difference
between a clause and a phrase. And the fact the misplaced modified
error rule applies only ot phrases and not to clauses.

To repeat here, a clause has both asubject and a verb. A phrase lacks
either of them. Because of this difference, a clause can stand by
itself (is a complete statement in itself) but a phrase cannot.

I also took the 22 sample SC questions the book had. I got only 11 of
them right. Of them 2-3 were silly mistakes. I did not read the
options tht clearly to be able to choose the right ones. 2-3 more were
the 'hard' ones (the book said so) and it described why the options I
thought were correct were infact wrong. Then 2 more were incorrect
idioms ones. I thought the "so...as" is not a proper idiom, but
"so...as to" infact is a valid idiom. I need to visit the list of
idioms also today.

I hope I do well in the CR section today. Its not a real difficult
section. But who knows?

Monday, June 21, 2004

Kick starting blog

This place has been created for me to keep a log of the errors I make and
some basics so that I can revise easily for my GMAT

Kickstarting logs

This place has been created for me to keep a log of the errors I make
and some basics so that I cna revise easily for my GMAT

Adverbs

Adverbs: (From my own notes )

Adverb modifies the verb like adjective does to a noun. These words modify verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
Example - He runs fast. ( "fast" modifies verb "runs" )
- He drove a very fast car. ( "fast" is an adjective to noun "car". "very" is an adverb to adjective "fast" )

1. When specifying location or time, the most specific adverbs come first.
Example : He meets him at 2:30 PM(1) every tuesday(2) of the month(3)
People drive cars very fast on highways(1) of NewJersey(2) USA(3)

2. Adverb should be closer to the phrase it really modifies.

Example - My father works in Cleaveland at a bakery. ( Looks like Cleaveland is at a bakery ) - Wrong

My father works at a bakery in Cleaveland

3. To show emphasis an adverb can be placed in the begining of a sentence.
Example - She usually takes a short walk after lunch.
this can also be writen as
Usually she takes a short walk after lunch.

4. Adverbs have the following order of usage in a sentence.

Manner, Place, Frequency, Time, Purpose (MPFTP)

Example - He swims fast(manner) in the left lane(place) everyday(frequency) to stay in shape(purpose)