Idioms Flashcards
access __
to
acclaimed __
as
on account __
of
account ___
for (when explaining something)
to (when receiving blame or credit)
Current political strategists often ______________________ in another party for inspiration
a) looked to the past campaigns of their counterparts
b) looked to past counterparts’ campaigns
c) look to the past campaigns of counterparts
d) are looking to counterparts’ past campaigns
e) look to their counterparts’ campaigns of the past
C
Current political strategists often:
a) looked
b) look
c) are looking
b
a) Although the management structure of the Dutch East India Company seems unlike that of any modern corporation, detailed analysis shows a plethora of similarities between the administration of this 17th-century chartered company and that of most large modern companies.
b) Despite the fact that the management structure of the Dutch East India Company seems unlike that of any modern corporation, detailed analysis shows a plethora of similarities to the administration of this 17th-century chartered company and most large modern companies.
c) Although being unlike that of any modern corporation, the Dutch East India Company reveals through detailed analysis a plethora of similarities to most large modern companies.
d) Although the Dutch East India Company has a management structure that seems unlike that of any modern corporation, a plethora of similarities are revealed between the administration of this 17th-century chartered company and that of most large modern companies through detailed analysis.
e) Despite having a management structure unlike that of any modern corporation, the Dutch East India Company reveals through detailed analysis a plethora of similarities to most large modern companies.
A
Note that (B), (C), and (E) all begin with wordy and/or awkward phrases—“Despite the fact that,” “Although being,” and “Despite having,” respectively. Awkward or wordy construction is almost always grounds for elimination on GMAT Sentence Correction questions.
TAKEAWAY: Don’t be afraid of (A). It appears as the correct answer in the same proportion as every other choice—one-fifth of the time. When the underlined text is very long, focus on elements that are ripe for GMAT errors and on pieces that are easy to compare between answer choices.
A common social problem in the workplace occurs ________________________ the trust of their former coworkers.
a) when workers accept supervisory positions, and it causes them to lose
b) by a worker accepting supervisory positions, which causes him to lose
c) when workers accept supervisory positions, and so lose
d) when a worker who accepts a supervisory position, thereby losing
e) if a worker accepts a supervisory position, he would lose
C
TAKEAWAY: The GMAT likes to test expressions that most people don’t read or write frequently—or even hear spoken frequently. The idioms involving so are testmaker favorites. Since so idioms sound funny, the testmakers hope that you will think the sentence is wrong. But so in this sentence means thus or therefore, and its use is perfectly acceptable.
Like the decline of a college graduate’s wage, ________________________ social welfare systems and other public programs.
a) high school graduates’ wages put pressure on
b) a high school graduate wage puts pressure on
c) that of high school graduates wages put pressure on
d) that of a high school graduate’s wage puts pressure on
e) that of a high school graduates’ wages is putting pressure on the
D because it’s parallel
Not A because this sentence compares “the decline” to “high school graduates’ wages,” which is illogical. “The decline” must be compared to another decline.
Thurgood Marshall, the first African American on the Supreme Court, is credited __________ an important role in beginning the de facto desegregation of America’s schools by successfully litigating the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education.
a) with having had
b) for its having
c) to have had
d) for having
e) in that it had
TAKEAWAY: When someone is being given credit for an achievement, the word credited must be followed by with to be correct on the GMAT.
"Credit" Idiom: - give credit for - to credit with (something or doing something) - credited as + Noun phrase credited with + Verb phrase credit X Rupees to Y’s account
For an in-house public relations department, the budget is often quite different from that of other departments, because operating expenditures are ______________________ most non-payroll office expenses.
a) low and payroll is high, as the corporation, rather than the department, absorbs
b) low and their payroll is high as they, rather than the corporation, absorb
c) low with higher payroll in the process of absorbing
d) low, as payroll is higher as the corporation, rather than the department, absorbs
e) low, but its payroll is higher in the corporation’s effort to absorb
A) TAKEAWAY: Don’t be tempted to overcorrect a sentence. If the original sentence contains no errors or awkward wording, (A) is the correct answer.
Within the global warming discussion, scientists still dispute ______ current estimation techniques are adequate to determine climate sensitivity—a measure of how responsive the temperature of the climate is to change
a) about whether
b) as to whether
c) whether
d) whether or not
e) if
C
A lawyer defending a doctor from malpractice charges easily avoids damages ____________ about proper medical procedures.
a) if there is a lack of some other doctor to testify
b) unless there will be another doctor to testify
c) without another doctor’s testimony
d) should there be no testimony from some other doctor
e) lacking another doctor to testify
C
Wait for
vs
Wait on
To ‘wait on’ someone means to serve someone. “The hotel staff waited on the couple at their wedding dinner.” To ‘wait for’ something or someone means we are expecting something to happen or we are waiting for someone. “I had to wait for the water to boil before I could use it to make a cup of tea.”
Which one is correct?
a) A scientist has determined that a recently discovered ancient Chinese weapon, buried since approximately 1300 B.C., is encrusted with silk, a fabric previously thought to have been invented 1,000 years later.
b) Buried since approximately 1300 B.C., an ancient Chinese weapon had been recently determined by a scientist to be encrusted with silk, a fabric previously thought to be invented 1,000 years later
c) A scientist has determined that a recently discovered ancient Chinese weapon is encrusted with silk, a fabric previously thought to have been invented 1,000 years later, after having been buried since approximately 1300 B.C.
d) After being buried since approximately 1300 B.C., a scientist has determined that a recently discovered ancient Chinese weapon is encrusted with silk, a fabric previously thought to have been invented 1,000 years later
e) A recently discovered ancient Chinese weapon, buried since approximately 1300 B.C., has been determined to be covered with silk by a scientist, a fabric previously thought to have been invented 1,000 years later
A
Step 1: The sentence has no salient errors as it stands. It makes sense, the subject and verb (“weapon” and “is”) are in agreement, and the verb tenses are fine.
Step 2: Skip.
Step 3: There is no obvious difference among the remaining choices, so let’s go through each. (B) features a few verb tense problems; it uses “had been determined” for no good reason, and it uses “to be invented” to describe an occurrence that took place in the past. (C) misplaces a modifier; “after having been buried” should modify the weapon, but the structure of this choice uses it to modify the fabric. Likewise, (D) uses the same modifier to describe the scientist. (E) is incorrect because the scientist did not cover the weapon with silk, and the scientist is not a fabric. This choice contains serious modification errors.
Choice (A) is correct.
