Sports Medicine Programs

[RonPurewal]

What I fail to understand is why "The Sports Medicine Programs" is considered plural? It could be one of the divisions of the complex. Note that "P" is in upper case in programs, why does it not mean that it is part of complex (such as a Unit or Division)?
I would have chosen E as correct ans if the P had been in lower case. Can someone throw some light on subject issue here?

the rule is simple -- if you see a plural form, you should assume that it is plural.

the only exceptions will be:
(a) exceptions that are extremely well known (e.g., it is considered general knowledge that "the United States" is a singular noun), or
(b) exceptions that have some sort of proof elsewhere in the sentence (e.g., if the non-underlined part of a sentence said "rhythm and blues is a type of music that...", then you would understand that "rhythm and blues" is singular even if you'd never heard that name before).

[justmailjames]

Hi Ron,
i have another question regarding my decision between parallel structure and meaning.
allow me to suppose that gear to/toward is exchangeable (http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/gear%5B2%5D), can choice C be interpreted as: both the performance and the preparation are under the purpose of what the programs are aiming to enhance?

compared with OA's structure (toward Ving and Ving), if choice C is interpreted with a lower level of parallel structure (to enhance X and Y), can it be correct?

(hope my first question does make some senses...pretty nervous...)

James

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,
i have another question regarding my decision between parallel structure and meaning.
allow me to suppose that gear to/toward is exchangeable (http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/gear%5B2%5D)

gmac sometimes makes weird decisions about idioms, so the only way to make that decision for sure is to wait for gmac to either (1) declare outright that the idiom is right or wrong, or (2) create a problem in which the version it considers wrong is the only error in some answer choice.

can choice C be interpreted as: both the performance and the preparation are under the purpose of what the programs are aiming to enhance?

hmmmm i see where you're coming from here. this interpretation doesn't seem to make as much sense to me, but it also doesn't seem ridiculous.

compared with OA's structure (toward Ving and Ving), if choice C is interpreted with a lower level of parallel structure (to enhance X and Y), can it be correct?

parallelism should be considered relative to other answer choices -- if you see "a lower level of parallelism", then don't pick it!

[RonPurewal]

i think we should postpone further discussion of this problem until someone verifies that it is actually from the GMAT PREP SOFTWARE. i am suspicious, especially as the problem comes up relatively few times in google searches.

[itheenigma]

Hi Ron,
I got this problem in my GMAT Prep today, so I can vouch for it. :)

I was hoping to get to know about the mistakes in (d).
I can see that (d) is wordy and awkward, but Stacey pointed out a parallelism issue with it. Can you please explain why it is wrong to have "are geared toward X and Y"?
I see no problem with the following - "All my life savings are geared toward post-retirement comfort and satisfaction"

[tim]

there is nothing wrong with "are geared toward X and Y"; that's why E is okay. D is the one with the parallelism issue (and the pronoun issue as well)..

[ranjeet1975]

there is nothing wrong with "are geared toward X and Y"; that's why E is okay. D is the one with the parallelism issue (and the pronoun issue as well)..

If "gear to" and "gear towards" both right, then why C is wrong.

Please clarify

[tim]

Where did anyone say that "gear to" is correct?

[alexcey]

Isn't Sports Medicine Programs a proper noun? For example:

Perfect Life Hotels is planning to organize a series of events in the upcoming year.

The only "hint" I can see in the sentence is the presence of "The" in from of Sports Medicine Programs.

[RonPurewal]

Isn't Sports Medicine Programs a proper noun? For example:

Perfect Life Hotels is planning to organize a series of events in the upcoming year.

The only "hint" I can see in the sentence is the presence of "The" in from of Sports Medicine Programs.

alex, i'll thank you to read the thread before commenting on it:
post54007.html#p54007

[zhongshanlh]

sorry but i am still confused about option C.

could we eliminate option C only because of "be geared to" is not idiomatic? is there anything else wrong in option C?

actually, i have search "gear" in the longman dictionary and found that "be geared to" is used in one of the examples:
The course curriculum is geared to span three years.

so i am highly doubtful about the explanation on why we should eliminate option C in previous posts.

please clarify me and thank you very much.

[tim]

longman dictionary does not make the rules, the GMAT does. please do not use outside sources to find grammar rules or examples, as they are only likely to lead you astray..

[aditya8062]

parallelism should be considered relative to other answer choices -- if you see "a lower level of parallelism", then don't pick it!

ron can u plz explain as how C is a lower level of parallism as compared to option E

also i assume that geared to /geared towards are not the decider to eliminate option C and i also find option C as parallel (at the moment i didnt get your inferior /superior parallel concept) .

so is it pronoun " their " that is ambigous in option C that is ruling it out .
but what perplexes me is the fact that many a times you have written that pronoun ambiguity should be last one to be considered .
infact i found C as parallel and terse !!

[Willy]

Option C is wrong because the programs can enhance performance of the athletes but they cannot enhance the preparation of the athletes. But option C says so.

[tim]

don't worry about a "lower level of parallelism" in this context. what's more important is what Willy said - that's a solid reason to eliminate C..