OG 2015

Question 1

HOWEVER MUCH UNITED STATES VOTERS MAY AGREE THAT that there is waste in government and that the government as a whole spends beyond its means, it is difficult to find broad support for a movement toward a minimal state.

Answer 1

Correct, THAT introduce two parallel subordinated clauses.

Question 2

The voluminous personal papers of Thomas Alva Edison reveal that his inventions typically SPRANG TO LIFE NOT IN A FLASH OF INSPIRATION BUT EVOLVED SLOWLY from previous works.

Answer 2

Incorrect - did not spring to life in a flash of inspiration but evolved slowly.

NOT…BUT… construction. words following NOT must be parallel in construction to the words following BUT. NOT should followed by a verb since BUT is followed by a verb.

Question 3

It is well known in the supermarket industry that how items are placed on shelves and THE FREQUENCY OF INVENTORY TURNOVER CAN BE crucial to profits.

Answer 3

Incorrect - how frequently the inventory turns over can be.

Parallelism; agreement. The first is HOW ITEMS ARE PLACED, the second should start with HOW.

Question 4

CONSUMERS MAY NOT THINK OF HOUSEHOLD CLEANING PRODUCTS TO BE hazardous substances, but many of them can be harmful to health, especially if they are used improperly.

Answer 4

Incorrect - HOUSEHOLD CLEANING PRODUCTS MAY NOT BE THOUGHT OF, BY CONSUMERS, AS.

Idiom - THINK OF x AS y. the use of to be is incorrect.

Question 5

In recent years cattle breeders have increasingly used crossbreeding, IN PART THAT THEIR STEERS SHOULD ACQUIRE CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS and partly because crossbreeding is said to provide hybrid vigor.

Answer 5

Incorrect - PARTLY TO ACQUIRE CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS IN THEIR STEERS.

Parallelism - TO ACQUIRE….. TO PROVIDE.

Question 6

OBTAINING AN INVESTMENT-GRADE RATING WILL KEEP THE COUNTY’S FUTURE BORROWING COSTS LOW, PROTECT its already-tattered image, and increase its ability to buy bond insurance.

Answer 6

Correct

Verb form; parallelism. WILL keep…. protect…. and increase. TO OBTAIN will suggests that obtaining an investment grade rating is an objective in and of itself, not a mean to achieve the desired benefits.

Question 7

According to some economists, the July decrease in unemployment SO THAT IT WAS THE LOWEST IN TWO YEARS suggests that the gradual improvement in the job market is continuing.

Answer 7

Incorrect - TO THE LOWEST LEVEL IN TWO YEARS.

idiom; rhetorical construction - DECREASE is used as a noun and cannot grammatically be modified by adverbial SO THAT.

Question 8

LIKE ROUSSEAU, TOLSTOI REBELLED against the unnatural complexity of human relations in modern society.

Answer 8

Correct.

Logical prediction; rhetorical construction. LIKE correctly compares two equal nouns, in this case, two writers. Comparison cannot be between a person and an event. (ex: like Rousseau, Tolstoi’s rebellion - wrong) When AS is used as conjunction, it should introduce clauses, not phrase or nouns.

Question 9

Lacking information about energy use, people tend to overestimate the amount of energy used by EQUIPMENT, SUCH AS LIGHTS, THAT ARE VISIBLE AND MUST BE TURNED ON AND OFF AND UNDERESTIMATE THAT used by unobtrusive equipment, such as water heaters.

Answer 9

Incorrect - VISIBLE EQUIPMENT, SUCH AS LIGHTS, THAT MUST BE TURNED ON AND OFF AND UNDERESTIMATE THAT.

parallelism, agreement - THAT ARE VISIBLE is not parallel with UNOBTRUSIVE. Two kinds of equipment are being contrasted, VISIBLE and UNOBTRUSIVE are parallel.

Question 10

POLIO, ALTHOUGH IT IS ERADICATED IN THE UNITED STATES, IT CONTINUES ELSEWHERE AND IS ABLE TO BE brought into the country by visitors.

Answer 10

Incorrect - ALTHOUGH ERADICATED IN THE UNITED STATES, POLIO CONTINUES ELSEWHERE AND COULD BE.

Grammatical construction - the pronoun IT is ungrammatical because POLIO already occupies the subject position for the verbs CONTINUES and CAN BE BROUGHT.

Question 11

A recent study has found that within the past few years, many doctors HAD ELECTED EARLY RETIREMENT RATHER THAN FACE the threats of lawsuits and the rising costs of malpractice insurance.

Answer 11

Incorrect - HAVE ELECTED TO RETIRE EARLY RATHER THAN FACE.

Verb form; parallelism - present perfect tense HAVE ELECTED should be used since an action happened in the past and carried through present. HAVE CHOSE X RATHER THAN Y, X and Y must parallel. TO RETIRE and (TO) FACE is correct construction. TO does not need to be repeated. ELECTED must follow infinitive form TO RETIRE.

Question 12

Twenty-two feet long and 10 feet in diameter, the AM-1 is one of the many new SATELLITES THAT IS A PART OF 15 YEARS EFFORT OF SUBJECTING THE INTERACTIONS OF EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE, OCEANS, AND LAND SURFACES to detailed scrutiny from space.

Answer 12

Incorrect - SATELLITES THAT ARE PART OF A 15-YEAR EFFORT TO SUBJECT THE INTERACTIONS OF EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE, OCEANS, AND LAND SURFACES.

Rhetorical Construction - THAT refers to Satellites. It should be plural.

Question 13

Under high pressure and intense heat, graphite, the most stable form of pure carbon, changes into the substance commonly referred to as diamond and REMAINING THIS WAY WHETHER OR NOT the heat and pressure are removed.

Answer 13

Incorrect - REMAINS THUS EVEN WHEN.

Parallelism - REMAINS should be used since it parallels with CHANGES.

Question 14

Reporting that one of ITS MANY PROBLEMS HAD BEEN THE RECENT extended sales sump in women’s apparel, the seven-store retailer said it would start a three-month liquidation sale in all of its stores.

Answer 14

Correct.

Agreement, verb form - HAD BEEN is used correctly. Action is prior to simple past tense SAID.

Question 15

A patient accusing a doctor of malpractice will find it difficult to prove damage UNLESS THERE WILL BE ANOTHER DOCTOR TO TESTIFY about proper medical procedures.

Answer 15

Incorrect - WITHOUT ANOTHER DOCTOR’S TESTIMONY

Rhetorical construction - the construction Y WILL HAPPEN UNLESS X HAPPENS FIRST requires present tense following the UNLESS clause, rather than the future tense used here.

Question 16

The Gyrfalcon, an Arctic bird of prey, has survived a close brush with EXTINCTION; ITS NUMBERS ARE NOW FIVE TIMES GREATER THAN when the use of DDT was sharply restricted in the early 1970s.

Answer 16

Correct

Agreement; diction - GREATER THAN is used correctly. If use more than, it implies that there are now more numbers, rather than more gyrfalcon.

Question 17

While some academicians believe that business ethics should be integrated into every business course, others say that students will take ethics seriously ONLY IF IT WOULD BE TAUGHT AS A SEPARATELY REQUIRED COURSE.

Answer 17

incorrect - ONLY IF IT IS TAUGHT AS A SEPARATE, REQUIRED COURSE.

Rhetorical construction - Y will happen (main clause) only if X happens (subordinate clause). Subordinate clause should use present tense when main clause uses future tense. SEPARATE AND REQUIRED should be two adjective equally modify noun.

Question 18

Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of BALTIC SEA SEDIMENTS, WHICH ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY THERE.

Answer 18

incorrect - SEDIMENTS FROM THE BALTIC SEA, FINDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY IN THE AREA.

Rhetorical construction - WHICH seems to refer somewhat illogically to the SEDIMENTS. FINDINGS refer back to the scientists’ observation, and IN THE AREA provides a clear reference to the place in question.

Question 19

Under a provision of the Constitution that WAS NEVER APPLIED, CONGRESS HAS BEEN REQUIRED TO CALL A CONVENTION FOR CONSIDERING POSSIBLE AMENDMENTS TO THE DOCUMENT WHEN FORMALLY ASKED TO DO IT by the legislatures of two-thirds of the states.

Answer 19

Incorrect - HAS NEVER BEEN APPLIED, CONGRESS IS REQUIRED TO CALL A CONVENTION TO CONSIDER POSSIBLE AMENDMENTS TO THE DOCUMENT WHEN FORMALLY ASKED TO DO SO.

Verb form; idiom - the use of present perfect HAS BEEN REQUIRED following WAS NEVER APPLIED makes the time sequence unclear at best. the correct idiom is CALL…TO CONSIDER,. the more standard expression TO DO SO more clearly and correctly refers to what Congress must do.

Question 20

Geologists believe that the warning signs for a major earthquake may include sudden fluctuations in local seismic activity, tilting and other deformations of the Earth’s crust, CHANGING THE MEASURED STRAIN ACROSS A FAULT ZONE AND VARYING the electrical properties of underground rocks.

Answer 20

Incorrect - CHANGES IN THE MEASURED STRAIN ACROSS A FAULT ZONE, AND VARIATIONS IN.

parallelism - this sentence uses 4 phrases to describe warning sighs for an earthquake. tilting in this case is used as a noun just as DEFORMATION AND FLUCTUATIONS.

Question 21

Downzoning, zoning that typically results in the reduction of housing density, allows for more open space in areas where LITTLE WATER OR SERVICES EXIST.

Answer 21

Incorrect - THERE ARE FEW SERVICES AND LITTLE AVAILABLE WATER.

Diction, agreement - Use AMOUNT, LESS, LITTLE, MUCH for non-countable nouns. Use NUMBER, FEWER, MANY, MORE for countable nouns.

Question 22

The computer company’s present troubles are a result of technological stagnation, marketing missteps, and managerial blunders SO THAT SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO REVISE CORPORATE STRATEGIES HAVE FAILED TO CORRECT IT.

Answer 22

Incorrect - THAT SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO REVISE CORPORATE STRATEGIES HAVE FAILED TO CORRECT.

agreement, rhetorical - SO typically indicates a consequence. No consequence is given. IT has no function.

Question 23

According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation of the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, about EQUIVALENT TO THE ENROLLMENT OF the nation’s four-year colleges and universities.

Answer 23

Incorrect - AS MANY AS ARE ENROLLED IN

Diction - EQUAL is generally used for uncountable quantities. People is countable. original sentence mistakenly compares PEOPLE to ENROLLMENT.

Question 24

Clouds are formed from the evaporation of the oceans’ water that is warmed by the sun and rises high into the atmosphere, condensing in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust. (whole sentence is underlined)

Answer 24

Warmed by the sun, ocean water evaporates, rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust to form clouds.

Rhetorical construction - the original sentence provides no sense of steps. The sequence in new sentence is clear. The main subject is OCEAN WATER.

Question 25

The commission proposed THAT FUNDING FOR THE PARK’S DEVELOPMENT, WHICH COULD BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC EARLY NEXT YEAR, IS obtained through a local bond issue.

Answer 25

Incorrect - THAT FUNDING FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE PARK, WHICH COULD BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC EARLY NEXT YEAR, BE

verb form - Subjunctive BE is required. not the infinitive TO BE when verb such as PROPOSE, RECOMMEND, or REQUEST is used.

Question 26

Seismologists studying the earthquake that struck northern California in October 1989 are still investigating some of its mysteries: the unexpected power of the seismic waves, THE UPWARD THRUST THAT THREW ONE MAN STRAIGHT INTO THE AIR, AND THE STRANGE ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS DETECTED HOURS BEFORE THE TEMBLOR.

Answer 26

Correct -

Parallelism - Each of the three elements begins with an article (the), the modifier, and a noun.

Question 27

Two new studies indicate that many people become obese more DUE TO THE FACT THAT THEIR BODIES BURN CALORIES TOO SLOWLY THAN OVEREATING.

Answer 27

Incorrect - BECAUSE THEIR BODIES BURN CALORIES TOO SLOWLY THAN BECAUSE THEY EAT TOO MUCH.

parallelism - DUE TO THE FACT is wordy, because is better choice to introduce two elements.

Question 28

Floating in the waters of the equatorial pacific, an array of buoys collects and transmits data on long-term interactions between the ocean and the ATMOSPHERE THAT AFFECTS global climate.

Answer 28

incorrect - ATMOSPHERE, INTERACTIONS THAT AFFECT

Grammatical construction, agreement - THAT after atmosphere illogically suggests that there are many atmospheres to differentiate from. The correct answer is an appositive, a terminal noun phrase restating the kind of data being collected and providing additional information about it.

Question 29

After the Civil war, contemporaries of Harriet TUMAN’S MAINTAINED THAT SHE HAS all of the qualities of a great leader; coolness in the face of danger, an excellent sense of strategy, and an ability to plan in minute detail.

Answer 29

Incorrect - TUBMAN MAINTAINED THAT SHE HAD

Idiom, verb form - it is correct to write Tubman’s or OF Tubman; it is incorrect to write OF Tubman’s. MAINTAINED and HAD describe actions that were completed in the past and occurred at about the same time.

Question 30

Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, WHICH CAUSING PLANT AND ANIMAL EXTINCTIONS, MARKS the end of the geologic era known as the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

Answer 30

Incorrect - AN EVENT THAT CAUSED THE PLANT AND ANIMAL EXTINCTIONS THAT MARK.

agreement - WHICH is ambiguous, (refers to North America), MARKS should be MARK because THAT refers to EXTINCTIONS.

Question 31

As business grows more complex, students MAJORING IN SPECIALIZED AREAS LIKE THOSE OF FINANCE AND MARKETING HAVE BEEN BECOMING INCREASINGLY successful in the job market.

Answer 31

Incorrect - WHO MAJORING SUCH SPECIALIZED AREAS AS FINANCE AND MARKETING ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE.

Verb tense: AS BUSINESS GROWS uses the present tense describe an ongoing situation. The present perfect progressive HAVE BEEN BECOMING is incorrect. the preferred way to introduce the examples is with phrase SUCH AS, rather than LIKE, which suggests a comparison.

Question 32

Bluegrass musician Bill Monroe, whose repertory, views on musical collaboration, and vocal style WERE INFLUENTIAL ON GENERATIONS OF BLUEGRASS ARTISTS, WAS ALSO AN INSPIRATION TO MANY MUSICIANS, THAT INCLUDED ELVIS PRESLEY AND JERRY GARCIA, WHOSE MUSIC DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY FROM his own.

Answer 32

Incorrect - INFLUENCED GENERATIONS OF BLUEGRASS ARTISTS, ALSO INSPIRED MANY MUSICIANS, INCLUDING ELVIS PRESLEY AND JERRY GARCIA, WHOSE MUSIC DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY FROM

Agreement, rhetorical construction - WERE AN INFLUENCE ON is wordy and not idiomatic. INFLUENCED and INSPIRED are more precise.

Question 33

Sound can travel through water for enormous distances, PREVENTED FROM DISSIPATING ITS ACOUSTIC ENERGY AS A RESULT OF boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperatures and densities.

Answer 33

Incorrect - ITS ACOUSTIC ENERGY PREVENTED FROM DISSIPATING BY

logical, rhetorical construction - because DISSIPATING is a intransitive verb, ACOUSTIC ENERGY cannot be its object. The corrected sentence - ACOUSTIC ENERGY is effectively modified by the participial PREVENTED FROM DISSIPATING…

Question 34

The nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius in two letters to the historian Tacitus. (whole sentence is highlighted)

Answer 34

Incorrect - In two letters to the historian Tacitus, the nephew of Pliny the Elder wrote the only eyewitness account of the great eruption of Vesuvius.

logical, rhetorical construction - the challenge in this sentence lies in the correct placement of a prepositional phrase IN TWO LETTERS TO THE HISTORIAN TACITUS. it should be placed in the beginning of the sentence.

Question 35

BEING A UNITED STATES CITIZEN SINCE 1988 AND BORN IN CALCUTTA IN 1940, AUTHOR BHARATI MUKHERJEE HAS lived in England and Canada, and first came to the United States in 1961 to study at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Answer 35

Incorrect - BORN IN CALCUTTA IN 1940, AUTHOR BHARATI MUKHERJEE BECAME A UNITED STATES CITIZEN IN 1988, SHE HAS

verb form - The correct sentence shows the sequence of events is logical. each of clause is independent.

Question 36

IN THE 1980S THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS THE LARGEST SINGLE PROVIDER OF DAY CARE FOR CHILDREN, OFFERING child care, health, and educational services to hundreds of thousands of children from poor households and which supported private day-care facilities through child-care tax credits, state block grants, and tax breaks for employers who subsidized day-care services.

Answer 36

Incorrect - iN THE 1980S THE LARGEST SINGLE PROVIDER OF DAY CARE FOR CHILDREN WAS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, WHICH OFFERED

Parallelism - WHICH OFFERED parallels with second example WHICH SUPPORTED.

Question 37

In addition to having more protein than wheat does, THE PROTEIN IN RICE IS HIGHER QUALITY THAN THAT IN WHEAT, with more of the amino acids essential to human diet.

Answer 37

Correct -

we need THAT since it is refer to protein.

Question 38

The voluminous personal papers of Thomas Alva Edison reveal that his invention typically SPRANG TO LIFE NOT IN A FLASH OF INSPIRATION BUT EVOLVED SLOWLY from previous works.

Answer 38

The voluminous personal papers of Thomas Alva Edison reveal that his invention typically DID NOT SPRING TO LIFE IN A FLASH OF INSPIRATION BUT EVOLVED SLOWLY from previous works.

Not x but y structure. x & y needs to be parallel.

Question 39

In June of 1987, the bridge of Trinquetetaille, Vincent Van Gogh’s view of an iron bridge over the RHONE SOLD FOR $20.2 MILLION AND IT WAS the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.

Answer 39

In June of 1987, the bridge of Trinquetetaille, Vincent Van Gogh’s view of an iron bridge over the RHONE, SOLD FOR $20.2 MILLION, the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.

“Sold for $20.2M” serves as a modifier. Remainder sentence is describing the price. if we leave “was”, it would refer to the painting itself.

Question 40

In the minds of many people living in England, BEFORE AUSTRALIA WAS AUSTRALIA IT WAS THE ANTIPODES, the opposite pole to civilization.

a. Australia was what was that antipodes
b. Australia was what had been known as the antipodes.

Answer 40

Correct - it clearly refers to Australia.

Note: two verbs can’t be in one sentence.

Question 41

While Jackie was a Brooklyn Dudger, his courage in the face of physical threats and verbal attacks was not UNLIKE THAT OF ROSA PARKS, WHO REFUSED to move to the back of a bus.

Answer 41

Correct.

Unlike and that is used correct. Unlike to compare noun (courage) and that is referring to courage.

Question 42

Our legacy of Madison Avenue’s recent campaign to appeal to people over fifty years old and over is THE REALIZATION THAT WAS A PERSON AGES, THEIR concerns change as well.

Answer 42

THE REALIZATION THAT AS PEOPLE AGE, THEIR

realization should be used - “Legacy is the realization.” as signal on-going. when - specific time.

Question 43

In 1923, THE SUPREME COURT DECLARED A MINIMUM WAGE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND ruling that it was a form of price-fixing and, as such, an abridgment of the right of contract.

Answer 43

Idiom:
declare x y or
x was declared y

No use “as” or “to be” similar to Consider.

Correction: - the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a minimum wage for women and children in the District of Columbia.

Question 44

MARCONI’S CONCEPTION OF THE RADIO WAS AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE TELEPHONE, A TOOL FOR PRIVATE CONVERSATION; INSTEAD, IT IS precisely the opposite, a tool for communicating with a large, public audience.

Answer 44

Marconi conceived of the radio as a tool for private conversation that could substitute for the telephone; instead, it has become

Idiom:
Conceived as (not to be)