Recognizing Sentences That Contain No Errors - GMAT Verbal

Card 0 of 1072

Question

Few ever took the typically jovial boy seriously, which made it hard for him to be understood in the moment.

Answer

The sentence is actually perfectly correct as it is written, and needs no changes to be made correct. Additionally, all the other answer choices are either incorrect grammatically or change the meaning of the sentence.

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Question

The young boy, tired from the long trip, immediately went to sleep when he arrived at his grandparent's house.

Answer

The phrase "tired from the long trip" is an interrupting phrase, a clause that is unnecessary to the structure of the sentence but gives crucial information. All such clauses need to be set off by commas, making the sentence correct as written.

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Question

The most disappointing element of the art exhibit was its inability to attain the painter's most well known works.

Answer

The sentence is perfectly correct as written, and needs no changes to improve it. Further, all of the answer choices that do change the sentence make it incorrect grammatically.

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Question

Among other critiques, Martin Luther attacked the Catholic Church for the sale of indulgences, the practice of allowing congregants to purchase expiation for their sins.

Answer

The original sentence, which contains an appositive noun phrase, is best. The other options lead to illogical statements or sentence fragments.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Children frequently want toys they have seen advertised on their favorite television shows.

Answer

The underlined portion of the sentence, while slightly awkwardly worded, is perfectly correct grammatically. All of the other answer choices have either an incorrect verb tense or a construction that muddles the meaning of the sentence.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.

The law prevented both active wiretapping and snooping.

Answer

The key word in the sentence is "both." This indicates that the underlined portion holds two items, "active wiretapping" and "snooping." Thus, the use of "and" appropriately separates the two items, and no punctuation is necessary.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Rivers were once the key transportation method in civilization, but the paving of roads created concrete rivers across land masses.

Answer

The underlined portion of the sentence features a gerund, a present verb form that can be used as a noun. Thus, the phrase "the paving of roads" can appropriately be a subject in the phrase, and the sentence is correct as written.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.

You and I will be the ones to go into the room first.

Answer

The appropriate use of the pronouns "you" and "I" together as the subject of the sentence is in the sentence as it is written. The correct answer is to leave it as "You and I."

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Question

The identity of the killer remained a mystery for the next fifty years.

Answer

The "identity of the killer" was unknown a while, so the use of the preposition "for" is correct, as it indicates the length of time was fully taken by the mystery of the killer's identity. The sentence is correct as written.

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Question

Hungry and tired, the group stopped under the tree by the river bank for the night.

Answer

The underlined phrase, although slightly awkward and over worded, is actually perfectly grammatically correct. As none of the "corrected" answer choices are grammatically correct, the unchanged form of the underlined portion is the correct answer.

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Question

The massive effort to clean up the mess from the storm was a months long process.

Answer

While the underlined section of the sentence is rather wordy, and not perfectly stated, it is absolutely grammatically correct. More importantly, none of the other answer choices are grammatically correct. The best choice is to leave it as written.

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Question

No one will come to our defense but ourselves in our time of need.

Answer

The use of "ourselves" is actually correct in the sentence, as it refers to the previous use of "our" in the phrase "our defense;" therefore, the correct answer is to keep the word as "ourselves."

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Question

Keeping track of the different machinations of the politician was a difficult job for the reporters assigned to the beat.

Answer

Although the sentence as written is a little too wordy, and could be slightly simplified, there is nothing inherently wrong grammatically. Overall, the best choice among the answers is to leave the sentence as written.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Zany performers can make audiences laugh without having to be as clever as serious performers.

Answer

Although slightly awkward, the underlined portion is grammatically correct. The comparison needs to have both uses of the word "as," and to describe distinctly the quality being compared and what is being compared.

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Question

Forcing the issue, the students brought up the teacher's overly long assignments.

Answer

The underlined section of the sentence is a dependent clause, meaning it defines the rest of the sentence, but is not able to stand alone. The phrase "Forcing the issue" is correct in its usage.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

Although I had not wanted to attend the jazz concert, I was soon covered in goose bumps as I listened to the beautiful music.

Answer

The sentence is best in its original form.

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Question

Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.

When you do research on the Internet, it is imperative that you evaluate each site; you must consider the date of the information, the reliability of the author, and the accuracy of the facts.

Answer

No change. This is the most concise, most correct answer.

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Question

Bethany simply could not believe it when she was asked to join the city council; she had been waiting for an opportunity like this for years.

Answer

The sentence is best in its original form. This is a question testing your ability to make the right word choice. "Council" means committee.

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Question

More recently, the trend reversed itself to come back to the original position.

Answer

The underlined portion is correct as is. While the sentence is somewhat awkwardly worded, the underlined portion is gramatically correct, and there is little that other answer choices do to improve the sentence.

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Question

Judged from a distance, the mountain looked smaller than it really was.

Answer

The initial sentence is correct. Only judged conveys the proper comparison in as few words as possible.

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