Boomerang - Impulse shopping

[RonPurewal]

D. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in for a
basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

1. Is the usage "with a basketball only" correct? I felt it should have been "with only a basketball and not XYZ".

officially correct answers are correct!
do not question officially correct answers!
far too many students on this forum make the mistake of questioning the correct answers; to do so is to waste your time and effort.

"is this correct?" is never a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers -- the answer is always yes.
"is this wrong?" / "is this X type of error?" is never a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers -- the answer is always no.

instead, the questions you should be asking about correct official answers, if you don't understand them, are:
"why is this correct?"
"how does this work?"
"what understanding am i lacking that i need to understand this choice?"

this is a small, but hugely significant, change to your way of thinking.
you will find it much easier to understand the format, style, and conventions of the official problems if you retire the idea that they might be wrong.

[1310599185]

hey, ron,i know official answer is correct, but i am still confused about the usage of those in this sentence.
from Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction 5th, page 70.
"on the GMAT, do not use this or these in place of nouns. a sentence such as this is great is unacceptably vague on the GMAT. also, do not use that or those in place of nouns, unless you modify that or those to make them New Copies. Instead, use it, they, or them."

pls, help!

[jlucero]

hey, ron,i know official answer is correct, but i am still confused about the usage of those in this sentence.
from Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction 5th, page 70.
"on the GMAT, do not use this or these in place of nouns. a sentence such as this is great is unacceptably vague on the GMAT. also, do not use that or those in place of nouns, unless you modify that or those to make them New Copies. Instead, use it, they, or them."

pls, help!

Here's an earlier post on when it's appropriate to use that/those:

post47588.html#p47588

[bodhisattwabiswas]

By the way, does not the meaning of "Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, xxxxxxxxxx" differ from that of "Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike those in department stores, xxxxxxxxxx"?
the first one means same shoppers shop differently when they visit two different stores; and the 2nd one means both stores have exclusive group of shoppers, who always shop differently. And is not the first meaning intended in the sentence?
I may be wrong...in that case, please correct me.

[RonPurewal]

By the way, does not the meaning of "Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, xxxxxxxxxx" differ from that of "Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike those in department stores, xxxxxxxxxx"?
the first one means same shoppers shop differently when they visit two different stores; and the 2nd one means both stores have exclusive group of shoppers, who always shop differently. And is not the first meaning intended in the sentence?
I may be wrong...in that case, please correct me.

1/
"Unlike in xxxx" is not a viable construction, so this is a non-issue. ("Like" and "unlike" must be followed by nouns.)

2/
You don't have to preserve the meaning of the original sentence; you just have to avoid farfetched, absurd, or nonsense meanings.
If there different answer choices with different reasonable meanings, then any of those meanings is fine.

[bodhisattwabiswas]

You don't have to preserve the meaning of the original sentence; you just have to avoid farfetched, absurd, or nonsense meanings.
If there different answer choices with different reasonable meanings, then any of those meanings is fine.

thanks a lot...I always thought that the meaning of the original sentence has to be preserved as far as possible...thhanks for the clarification

[RonPurewal]

Nope. If you switched choice A with any of the other choices, the answer would remain the same.

[eggpain24]

Hi，Ron
I find some additional errors in choice A，please clarify

in choice A

I construe “ not buying” as a “comma+ving” explaining “shopper do very little impulse shopping”

therefore，“but they leave” should have been parallel to “not buying” since it is also part of an explanation（it should serve as a modifier rather than a sentence）

also，there should be another split between “basketball only” vs. "only a basketball"

the former one refers to the meaning: I only get basketball, not volleyball or sth. else

the latter one refers to the meaning: I get only one basketball, not two or three

please correct me if I am wrong, thank you !

[thanghnvn]

[quote="singh.ashutosh"]Source - GMATPrep

Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only.
A. in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only
B. in department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not also buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

D. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

one question, pls, answer,

He learn gmat in France as in America

the above is correct.
why the pattern in A and B, "unlike in department store" is incorrect.

my answer is that

there must be a noun following "like/unlike" because the two thing compared must be different.

in the sentence
he learn gmat in France as in America
we compare the same thing at different place. this pattern is correct. but the patten "like/unlike +preposition" never exist in English.

is my thinking correct ?

hard and fast rule. LIKE+PREPOSITION never exists.

in A and B, "like in department store" show the same persons. this make no sense.

[thanghnvn]

[quote="singh.ashutosh"]Source - GMATPrep

Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only.
A. in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only
B. in department stores, shop impulsively very little; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not also buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

D. those in department stores, do very little impulse shopping; someone who comes in for a basketball will leave with a basketball only and not buy a pair of skis and a boomerang as well

one question, pls, answer,

He learn gmat in France as in America

the above is correct.
why the pattern in A and B, "unlike in department store" is incorrect.

my answer is that

there must be a noun following "like/unlike" because the two thing compared must be different.

in the sentence
he learn gmat in France as in America
we compare the same thing at different place. this pattern is correct. but the patten "like/unlike +preposition" never exist in English.

is my thinking correct ?

hard and fast rule. LIKE+PREPOSITION never exists.

in A and B, "like in department store" show the same persons. this make no sense.

[RonPurewal]

“but they leave” should have been parallel to “not buying” since it is also part of an explanation（it should serve as a modifier rather than a sentence）

Yes.

[RonPurewal]

also，there should be another split between “basketball only” vs. "only a basketball"

the former one refers to the meaning: I only get basketball, not volleyball or sth. else

This is just a distraction.

As long as "only" is next to "a basketball", that's good enough for this exam. There's no real difference in meaning; the decision of whether to place "only" before or after "a basketball" is mostly a style issue—i.e., beyond what is tested on this exam.

[RonPurewal]

there must be a noun following "like/unlike" ...

LIKE+PREPOSITION never exists.

This part is correct. Your whole line of reasoning isn't 100% accurate, but that ^^ is the only thing you really need to know here.

[gbyhats]

Hi Dear Manhattan Instructors :)

Speaking of choice A, is there anything wrong with not buying?

(I copy&paste the entire sentence below)

Shoppers in sporting goods stores, unlike in department stores, do very little impulse shopping, not buying a pair of skis and a boomerang when they come in for a basketball, but they leave with a basketball only.

--

I don't know whether I should consider "not buying" as a "comma + VERBing" modifier?

--

Is "comma + not + VERBing" a legit modifier?

e.g.
--> Finally, he decided not to come with me, not making me happy.

As far as I can recall, I never see an correct answer adds a "not" between "comma" and "VERBing"

[RonPurewal]

nah. not necessarily an error.

Until he was incarcerated for fraud, Smith openly flouted the law, not paying any taxes for more than ten years.
(perfectly respectable sentence)