Ranked among great mathematical scientists

[kartik1979]

Ranked among great mathematical scientists such as Archimedes, Kepler, and Newton, Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham, who was born in Iraq in 965 C.E., had experimented extensively with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and also the notion of science being based on experiment as well as on philosophical arguments.

A. al-Haytham, who was born in Iraq in 965 C.E., had experimented extensively with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and also the notion of science being based on experiment as well as

B. al-Haytham, born in Iraq in 965 C.E., experimented extensively with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and for the notion that science should be based on experiment as well as

C. al-Haytham, born in Iraq in 965 C.E., and who experimented extensively with light and vision, thereby laid the foundation for modern optics and also for the notion that science should be based on not only experiment but also

D. al-Haytham was born in Iraq in 965 C.E., and had experimented extensively with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and for the notion that science should be based on not only experiment but also

E. al-Haytham was born in Iraq in 965 C.E., experimenting extensively with light and vision and laying the foundation for modern optics and for the notion of science being based on experiment as well as



OA - B

I read in earlier in rons post that as well as should be followed by ingverb form

in this said question i wrongly applied it to the noun form after " as well as " but just wanted to ask when " as well as " is followed by noun is it acceptable or are there any conditions for it to be acceptable

[mikrodj]

IMO
as well as has two basic functions

it can be a "quasi-coordinator" almost like and. Example

he publishes as well as prints his own books

the other function is as adverbial or subordinating role
as well as printing the books, he publishes them

I think in option B as well as coordinates the two prepositional phrases

on experiment [arguments] as well as on philosophical arguments

Wait for an expert's opinion.

[RonPurewal]

I read in earlier in rons post that as well as should be followed by ingverb form

i did not say that; i said that it's acceptable to follow "as well as" with an -ing form. i.e., that is one possible construction (among several).

takeaway:
JUST BECAUSE ONE CONSTRUCTION IS CORRECT, DO NOT ASSUME THAT ALL ALTERNATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS ARE WRONG.

in general, you can use "as well as" to connect TWO PARALLEL ELEMENTS:
this food contains [i]corn oil AS WELL AS olive oil. (parallel nouns)
this ingredient can be found [i]in cakes AS WELL AS in crackers. (parallel prep. phrases)
etc.

[pandeyvineet24]

Hi Ron

I am reopening this thread. What is the main verb in B ? I think B has a series of modifiers.
Let me know where am i going wrong ?

thanks
Vineet

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron

I am reopening this thread. What is the main verb in B ? I think B has a series of modifiers.
Let me know where am i going wrong ?

thanks
Vineet

subject = Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham
verb = experimented
EVERYTHING following "laying" is one giant COMMA -ING type modifier.

[purduesr]

Hi Ron

I am reopening this thread. What is the main verb in B ? I think B has a series of modifiers.
Let me know where am i going wrong ?

thanks
Vineet

subject = Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham
verb = experimented
EVERYTHING following "laying" is one giant COMMA -ING type modifier.

Hi Ron-

in this post-> http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/industrialization-and-modern-methods-usage-of-while-and-but-t1871-15.html You mention that ,ING modifies the entire preceding clause, and that it is attributed to the subject of the preceding clause.

So what if the preceding clause does not have a subject as I believe is the case with choice B, where LAYING clause modified "experimented extensively with light and vision"??

B. al-Haytham, born in Iraq in 965 C.E., experimented extensively with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and for the notion that science should be based on experiment as well as


Thanks

[RonPurewal]

So what if the preceding clause does not have a subject as I believe is the case with choice B, where LAYING clause modified "experimented extensively with light and vision"??

impossible.
ALL clauses have subjects; in fact, the core definition of "clause" requires a subject and a verb.
if you isolate some sort of construction that does not have a subject, then that construction is not a clause.

B. al-Haytham, born in Iraq in 965 C.E., experimented extensively with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and for the notion that science should be based on experiment as well as

Thanks[/quote]

in the clause of which you speak, the action is "experimented ..." (as you correctly noted), and the subject is "al-Haytham". there is an intervening modifier between the subject and action, but that doesn't suddenly obviate the existence of the subject.

[patelbhavesh_09]

Ranked among great mathematical scientists such as Archimedes, Kepler, and Newton, Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham, who was born in Iraq in 965 C.E., had experimented extensively with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and also the notion of science being based on experiment as well as on philosophical arguments.

D. al-Haytham was born in Iraq in 965 C.E., and had experimented extensively with light and vision, laying the foundation for modern optics and for the notion that science should be based on not only experiment but also

Hi Rone,

What is wrong with D?
Is it only "based on not only" should be "based not only on" or some other mistake as well?

[RonPurewal]

What is wrong with D?
Is it only "based on not only" should be "based not only on" or some other mistake as well?

"not only ... but also ..." is a parallel construction; therefore, the two signals ("not only" and "but also") must be followed by similar constructions.
in choice (d), the second of these is followed by "on philosophical arguments", so it's inappropriate for "not only" to be followed only by "experiment"; in that instance, it should be "on experiment".

[vjsharma25]

What is wrong with D?
Is it only "based on not only" should be "based not only on" or some other mistake as well?

"not only ... but also ..." is a parallel construction; therefore, the two signals ("not only" and "but also") must be followed by similar constructions.
in choice (d), the second of these is followed by "on philosophical arguments", so it's inappropriate for "not only" to be followed only by "experiment"; in that instance, it should be "on experiment".

Isn't option "D" wrong for one more reason.
"al-Haytham was born in Iraq in 965 C.E., and had experimented extensively with light and vision"
These two ideas are presented in parallel structure but they should not be,because they are not equally emphatic. In parallel structures two ideas should have the same importance in my opinion.
Please confirm my understanding on this.

[RonPurewal]

These two ideas are presented in parallel structure but they should not be,because they are not equally emphatic. In parallel structures two ideas should have the same importance in my opinion.
Please confirm my understanding on this.

yes.
excellent!

[igordudchenko]

Dear Instructors,
Could you please provide some hints on how to handle such VERY long SC questions?

When I saw this monster, my first reaction was 'I cannot allow reading all answer choices'. So I noticed 'was born' vs 'born' and eliminated wordy answers. That left me with B and C options, a choice that was easy to make. The whole process took max 50 sec.

My concern, however, is that wordiness check shall come ONLY AFTER grammar check, i.e. first we need to ensure that all choices have correct spelling. In that particular example I was lucky to spot a right and concise answer, but it may not be the case in other examples.

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

Dear Instructors,
Could you please provide some hints on how to handle such VERY long SC questions?

well, you should basically address them in the same way you'd address shorter questions.

what can help is to have a "checklist" of MAJOR topics for which to look, in order, if you get stuck:
1) parallelism
2) pronouns
3) modifier placement
4) modifier meaning
5) SV agreement
these five, together, will solve more than half of all SC's; try not to get lost in the hundreds (maybe even thousands) of minor issues that only appear in 1 out of every 100+ problems.

DO NOT try to analyze everything at once. instead, find one thing at a time to look for, and look for it. if you don't find it, just look for something else.

first we need to ensure that all choices have correct spelling.

spelling?
the gmat doesn't test spelling.

[igordudchenko]

Sorry, I meant correct grammar, not correct spelling :)

Thank you very much for a strategy guidance!

[jnelson0612]

Great!