"The" issue

[Richa]

Public-access cable television was created in the 1970s as a means to derive public benefit from the laying of private television cables on public land.

from the laying of private television cables on public land

from laying private television cables on the public land

by the laying of private television cables on the public's land

from private television cables being laid on public land

by laying private television cables on land that was public


Why is the "The" in front of laying acceptable which is gernund and had no previous feference where as "the" the in fron of public land not.

The original sentence contains the correct idiom "to derive X from Y," where X and Y are both nouns. In this sentence, the noun phrase "the laying of private television" is used correctly after the preposition "from."

(A) CORRECT. This choice is correct as it repeats the original sentence.


B was wrong because "The public land" is not idiomatic, because there is no previous reference to a particular section of public land; the wording should be "public land." Incidentally, although the phrase "from laying private television cables" may sound preferable to the phrase "from THE laying OF private television cables" in the original sentence, there is actually no grammatical reason to prefer one or the other in this context; both are gerund phrases (in which an "ing" form is used as a noun).

(C) The correct idiom is "to derive X from Y," not "to derive X by Y." Moreover, "the

[esledge]

"the" in front of "laying" is optional: OK with, OK without, as laying is a gerund (noun) either way.

However, the GMAT sometimes puts "the" in front of a gerund, just to clarify that it should be interpreted as such. -ing words are multipurpose, but you can only put "the" or "a" in front of nouns.

On the other hand, "public land" is clearly a noun, so the presence of "the" would only add meaning if we wanted to indicate some particular public land. The sentence means public land in general, so no "the."

[ahistegt]

I chose B on this when doing my CAT.

Emily, are we tested on articles on official GMAT?

[Ves]

Also, what is wrong with D. Is it just the clumsy construction - "cables being laid on."

Thanks

[esledge]

chose B on this when doing my CAT.

Emily, are we tested on articles on official GMAT?

Not really... they get used, obviously, but articles are rarely the only relevant issue.

Here are some cases where the article is relevant:
(1) Singular vs. Plural: the number = singular, a number = plural.
(2) Parallelism: "The cat, dog, and the rabbit were adopted from the animal shelter." has poor parallelism, because the 1st and 3rd items have an article but the 2nd doesn't. Either "The cat, dog, and rabbit were adopted..." or "The cat, the dog, and the rabbit were adopted..." would be preferred.
(3) "the" or "a" placed in front of an -ing word to clarify noun intent, eliminating confusion about whether -ing should be read as a noun or a participle.

This question split hairs a little by focusing on the slight meaning difference implied by "the" vs. no article. In such a case, when chosing meaning from two reasonable possibilities, the tie would go to the original sentence.

Also, what is wrong with D. Is it just the clumsy construction - "cables being laid on."

Yes, that's it. Beware of "being" on the GMAT.

[sachdeva_noor]

hi,

i recently joined mgmat preperation. i had marked this perticular ques correct on my exam.

But my line of reasoning was different from that explained here.

Between A) & B),

i agree with the reasoning that "the public land" is not preferable to "public land", although i had missed this point.

But, following explanation appears in this thread,


Incidentally, although the phrase "from laying private television cables" may sound preferable to the phrase "from THE laying OF private television cables" in the original sentence, there is actually no grammatical reason to prefer one or the other in this context; both are gerund phrases (in which an "ing" form is used as a noun).

As per the MGMAT SC Guide,

The laying of cable --- complex gerund
laying cable --- simple gerund
"benefit" --- action noun
derive X from Y, here X and Y need to be parallel.

and as per mgmat book, only complex gerund can be parallel to an action noun, where as simple gerund can not be parallel to an action noun.

So, i think the statement written above that "from laying private television cables" may sound preferable to the phrase "from THE laying OF private television cables" is not correct.


Please clarify on this...i love MGMAT SC guide, and believe everything i wrote here is correct.

[mschwrtz]

Hey sachdeva_noor, glad you're enjoying the texts. The rule you mention doesn't apply here because the gerund in question isn't parallel to anything in any form of the sentence. What did you take to be its parallel element?

[divineacclivity]

Hi,

"from the laying of" sounded awkward but this is the OA. So, I'd like to know if both complex and simple gerunds are almost always replaceable until either causes parallelism issue ofcouse?

XYZ got benefited from the laying of private television cables on public land
XYZ got benefited from laying private television cables on public land

thanks in advance

[tim]

not sure exactly what you're asking, but your two examples are both probably fine if that's what you want to know..