SC: Faulty voting euipment, confusing ballots, voter error,

[RonPurewal]

also, the correct choice B doesn't place "2000 united stated presidential election" next to "cast", though B places it next to "a new study".

Choice B, unlike choice D, specifies "a study of the 2000 election""”implying that the study was limited to the 2000 election.
In this context, it would be redundant to mention that the votes were cast in that election.

[Khush]

Hi Ron,
Do you mean to say that (D) may mean that 100 million votes cast may be total number of votes cast in several years and that some of these 100 million votes were not counted in year 2000, but may have been counted in some other year?

this is a difficult meaning difference(between B and D) indeed.

Any difficulty here arises from "mental set""”i.e., you already have a meaning in mind, so it's harder than usual to read correctly any choice that actually means something else.

I bet that, if I give you an unrelated sentence with the same construction, you'll understand the correct meaning immediately.

Only 40 of the 500 participants in Smith's survey had never taken a vacation in California.
--> Smith did a survey, to which 500 people responded. Of those 500 people, 460 had taken at least one vacation in California.
We have no idea where the people were from.

I bet you read that sentence correctly. Now, compare it to choice D, and you'll see the issue.

Hi Ron,

yes i got the meaning of the above mentioned sentence. but i still can't see any issue with the sentence. i can see that you have replaced "total number of votes cast" with "total number of participants in Smith's survey" and "votes were not counted in 2000 election" with "no vacation in California".

Nevertheless, after reading the choice D again i get that
"100 million votes" seems to be a generalized term (i.e. we don't know whether these votes were cast in any specific year or are a summation of the # of votes in several years) , whereas the original meaning of the sentence is "100 million votes CAST in 2000 election".

am i thinking right, Ron?

Now, i can see another issue with choice D: use of past progressive tense.

[Khush]

also, the correct choice B doesn't place "2000 united stated presidential election" next to "cast", though B places it next to "a new study".

Choice B, unlike choice D, specifies "a study of the 2000 election""”implying that the study was limited to the 2000 election.
In this context, it would be redundant to mention that the votes were cast in that election.

got it...

[RonPurewal]

got it...

Excellent.

[Khush]

Ron,
please see my query in the previous quote.

[RonPurewal]

Ron,
please see my query in the previous quote.

Could you repeat the question? Sorry; there are several questions here.

The "Smith's survey" example is a correct sentence. That's the point"”you'll immediately derive the correct meaning from it.
The sentence in the answer choice is incorrect because it's structured like the "Smith" example but NOT intended to work the same way.

[Khush]

I can't see any issue in choice D other than the use of "past progressive" tense and the weird phrase "in estimating that".

I think you are talking about some other meaning issue here, but i just can't realize that.

[RonPurewal]

The above is my best attempt to explain the meaning issue. If it still doesn't make sense, the best response is to leave the problem for a while and perhaps come back to it later. These kinds of things have a way of becoming "a-ha! moments" later, even if they don't make sense immediately.

[RonPurewal]

I can't see any issue in choice D other than the use of "past progressive" tense and the weird phrase "in estimating that".

The tense sequence in choice D is also problematic. The juxtaposition of "were cast" and "had not been counted" seems to suggest that votes were counted before they were cast!

As usual, I'm not sure of the terminology here.
I seem to remember that "progressive" has something to do with __ing forms; if that's true, then you're using the wrong tense label here.
Still, terminology is irrelevant anyway; all that matters is that you're able to recognize and use the constructions correctly.

[RonPurewal]

Also"”There's nothing weird about "in estimating..."
E.g., Highway department officials assumed an average of 2 people per vehicle in estimating that 70,000 people commute on Highway 2 daily.
Perfectly respectable sentence.

[Khush]

The above is my best attempt to explain the meaning issue. If it still doesn't make sense, the best response is to leave the problem for a while and perhaps come back to it later. These kinds of things have a way of becoming "a-ha! moments" later, even if they don't make sense immediately.

I think you are right Ron!

I have indeed spent enough time after this question. must take a break and come back to it later.

[Khush]

I can't see any issue in choice D other than the use of "past progressive" tense and the weird phrase "in estimating that".

The tense sequence in choice D is also problematic. The juxtaposition of "were cast" and "had not been counted" seems to suggest that votes were counted before they were cast!

As usual, I'm not sure of the terminology here.
I seem to remember that "progressive" has something to do with __ing forms; if that's true, then you're using the wrong tense label here.
Still, terminology is irrelevant anyway; all that matters is that you're able to recognize and use the constructions correctly.

i mean "past perfect tense" , not "progressive tense".
sorry about that.

[Khush]

Also"”There's nothing weird about "in estimating..."
E.g., Highway department officials assumed an average of 2 people per vehicle in estimating that 70,000 people commute on Highway 2 daily.
Perfectly respectable sentence.

i see.

but what is the role played by this phrase, if this is not a prepositional phrase (i think prepositions are followed by Nouns) ?

don't know whether i have missed to notice this usage in the official SC questions.

[RonPurewal]

That "__ing" is a noun.

Translating poetry is difficult.
In translating poetry, one must be mindful of its literal meaning, its figurative significance, and its cultural symbolism.
"Translating" is a noun in both sentences.

[Khush]

That "__ing" is a noun.

Translating poetry is difficult.
In translating poetry, one must be mindful of its literal meaning, its figurative significance, and its cultural symbolism.
"Translating" is a noun in both sentences.

Makes sense!

Thank You Ron !!