{"id":8066,"date":"2015-02-17T17:29:35","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T17:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/?p=7578"},"modified":"2019-08-30T16:42:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T16:42:57","slug":"gre-text-completion-sentence-equivalence-little-grammar-world-good-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/blog\/gre-text-completion-sentence-equivalence-little-grammar-world-good-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"GRE Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence: A Little Grammar Does a World of Good (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2-17-GrammarPtII\"So, in my last post<\/a>, I discussed finding the core sentence, using punctuation to help us break a sentence into manageable chunks.\u00a0 We looked at two sentences; I\u2019ve re-copied one of them below.<\/p>\n

The director\u2019s commercially-motivated attempts to (i)_______ the imperatives of the mass marketplace were (ii)_______, as evidenced by the critical acclaim but low attendance garnered by his film.<\/p>\n

We focused on how the comma breaks the sentence in half: one half is the actual core sentence, and the other half describes how the director\u2019s attempts were critically, but not commercially, successful.<\/p>\n

This time, let\u2019s dive into what\u2019s happening with that first blank, and now I\u2019ll give you the answer options:<\/p>\n

sequester<\/p>\n

obey<\/p>\n

secure.<\/p>\n

Many, many students in my classes choose \u2018secure\u2019, and that really puzzled me.\u00a0 If a class doesn\u2019t know the answer, there\u2019s usually a fairly even division among the choices.\u00a0 What I saw wasn\u2019t students guessing; they thought they had the correct choice in \u2018secure\u2019.\u00a0 Somehow, the third option was a trap.\u00a0 How?<\/p>\n

I have a theory: \u2018secure\u2019 is a trap because students link the first blank to the wrong element, the wrong target.\u00a0 I think<\/em> many students link that first blank to the word \u2018marketplace\u2019, and then think about how someone would want to \u2018secure\u2019 a \u2018market\u2019 for a product (in this case, a film).
\n<\/p>\n

This is where a quick analysis of \u2018internal\u2019 descriptors (as opposed to \u2018external\u2019 descriptors, which is what I consider the stuff after the comma) can keep us sane in TC and SE.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

An external descriptor just sort of describes an entire idea: not the director, or the attempt, or the marketplace \u2013 just what the attempt was<\/em>.\u00a0 However, the phrase \u2018of the mass marketplace\u2019 is a specific, internal descriptor; this means a general idea of what\u2019s described isn\u2019t enough.\u00a0 We need the exact word.\u00a0 What<\/em> of the mass marketplace?\u00a0 \u2018The imperatives\u2019.\u00a0 So the \u2018marketplace\u2019 describes which imperatives we are discussing, and our blank\u2019s true target is the word \u2018imperatives\u2019.<\/p>\n

Well, an imperative is a command.\u00a0 What would work as a fill-in for what we could do to a command?\u00a0 You can give commands, or follow commands \u2013 and if these are the commands of the mass marketplace, the market is giving the commands, and director is trying to follow them.\u00a0 We need a word like \u2018obey\u2019; the director\u2019s attempts to obey the commands of the mass marketplace.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at another example, this time from the 5lb. Book of GRE Practice Problems<\/a>.<\/p>\n

82.\u00a0 Debates over free will have always focused on the extent to which humans may be said to be fully (i) _________ their actions.\u00a0 Dr. Wegner in his article deliberately and artfully (ii) ________ the traditional talking points of the controversy, instead asking a tangential, though possibly more (iii) _________, question: What effect does a person\u2019s belief in free will have on his or her well-being?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to focus on the second blank.\u00a0 The options are<\/p>\n

mitigates<\/p>\n

eschews<\/p>\n

contradicts.<\/p>\n

This is, in my opinion, another instance when clear analysis of internal descriptors can help.\u00a0 Does the blank target \u2018talking points\u2019 or \u2018controversy\u2019?\u00a0 \u2018Of the controversy\u2019 describes \u2018talking points\u2019, not our blank.\u00a0 So our target is \u2018talking points\u2019.\u00a0 Why do I find this interesting?\u00a0 Well, one could conceivably mitigate a controversy, but how would one mitigate talking points?\u00a0 \u2018Mitigates\u2019 is an option for the wrong target<\/em>.\u00a0 Stay away!!!<\/p>\n

As for which of the remaining two choices is correct, look at the portion after the comma: if Wegner \u2018instead [asks] a tangential \u2026 question\u2019, I would say he avoids those talking points.\u00a0 Eschews<\/em> is then the best option.<\/p>\n

So, in summary: watch out for internal descriptors!\u00a0 Make sure you know exactly what\u2019s described, because these can be appealing trap targets!<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

[1] I\u2019m trying to avoid a discussion of specific grammar terms, such as appositive, prepositional phrase, or gerund.\u00a0 In my opinion, that\u2019s too MUCH grammar!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, in my last post, I discussed finding the core sentence, using punctuation to help us break a sentence into manageable chunks.\u00a0 We looked at two sentences; I\u2019ve re-copied one of them below. The director\u2019s commercially-motivated attempts to (i)_______ the imperatives of the mass marketplace were (ii)_______, as evidenced by the critical acclaim but low […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,22,12],"tags":[1362338,133,160,188,192,275,304,305,327],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gre-strategies","category-sentence-equivalence","category-verbal","tag-grad-school","tag-gre","tag-gre-problem","tag-gre-verbal","tag-gre-vocabulary","tag-reading-comp-2","tag-study","tag-study-tips","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12521,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8066\/revisions\/12521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8066"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}