Guest Blogger: 河野太一のGMAT OG12解説 SC8

This is another post from Taichi Kono, author of two textbooks on TOEFL and one on TOEIC and a highly experienced TOEFL, TOEIC, and GMAT instructor. Most of his posts will be in Japanese. This post is on GMAT sentence correction. His other posts can be found here.
-Adam


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河野塾代表の河野太一です。年来の友人である Adam Markusさんのご厚意で、"The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition"の解説ブログの内容の一部をこちらにアップさせていただくことになりました。オリジナルは河野太一のGMAT OG12解説でご覧いただけます。なお、オリ ジナルのほうは予告なく内容を変更することがあり、ここに上げたものと相違があることがありますのでご了承ください。私のこれまでの記事やGMAT以外の 話題についてはこちらをご覧ください。


SC8
The ... big bang theory holdsがSVで、holdsの目的語となるthat節に下線。holdは「〜と考える、主張する」。

(A) 　まったく問題ない。 ten to twenty billion years agoも「100から200億年前」でOK。from A to Bを覚えている人は多いだろうが、このようにfromを伴わない表現もある。cf. Bacteria like anthrax are infective within two to three minutes of exposure. (Google)　「beganは過去形なのに、has beenは現在完了だからダメ」などという訳の分からない「時制の一致」を持ち出さないこと。「同一センテンス内の動詞の時制は同一でなければならない」 というルールは存在しない。beganは過去に起こったこと、has beenはそれ以来現在まで続いていることを示しているだけ。主節のholdsが、この文が「現在基準」であることを示しているから現在完了も問題ない。 ago（過去）やever since（現在完了）といった「時制インディケーター」も存在し、完璧。

(B)　「時制の一致」を拡大解 釈している人が引っかかってしまいそうな選択肢。「andの前後とも過去完了形で、時制が揃っている」という理由で選んではいけない。過去完了形は「過去 を基準としてそれ以前をふり返る」時制。(B)では主節のholdsが現在形、後ろは過去完了形となり、「過去」が存在しなくなる。どちらの過去完了形も 「基準なき過去完了」で、ダメ。

(C)　the beginning ... was an ... instantとなっており、実に不格好。「物事＝継続時間」という言い方は通常しない。cf. The meeting lasted (for) two hours./*The meeting was two hours.（*は不適切な表現）。関係代名詞thatが指すものも不明。もしan ... instantを指すのであれば、後ろの動詞has expandedと意味的につながらないし、時制もムチャクチャ。

(D)　 ＜hold O to be＞で「Oが〜であると考える」という表現があることはある。to have beenの形は本動詞とtoの後ろの動詞の時制がズレていることを示すための時制表現で、OK。しかし動詞がbe動詞では結局「物事＝継続時間」になって しまう。関係代名詞thatの先行詞も相変わらず不明。

(E)　＜hold O to do＞で「Oがdoすると考える」を意味する表現はない。しかもand以降のhas been expandingと形が揃わなくなるので、has been expandingは主節の動詞holdsと並列されていると考えざるを得なくなる。すると、The ... big bang theory has been expandingというつながりになってしまって、意味を成さない。ここで「本当に＜hold O to do＞はないのだろうか」などと考えてコーパスを調べるのは時間のムダ。「素直に＜hold that SV＞を使いなさいね」という、出題者からのメッセージと考えておこう。


-河野太一


河野塾で はTOEFL/IELTS/GMATの個人授業を提供しております。なかなかスコアが上がらずにお悩みの方、きめの細かい効果的な個人指導をお求めの方 は、ぜひinfo@konojuku.comまでお気軽にお問い合わせください。

GMAT Tip from Knewton: Speeding up your Reading Comprehension

My blog's sponsor and English language GMAT content provider has provided me with the following post on Reading Comprehension. If you have not done so, consider taking a free trial of Knewton GMAT.
-Adam 
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Speeding up your Reading Comprehension

Kalyan Dudala is one of Knewton's expert TAs, so he’s full of ideas that can supercharge your GMAT prep.

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Rocking the at Reading Comp section depends on two limiting factors: (1) The rate at which the information you’re reading enters your brain and (2) what your brain is able to do with that information. The latter, being able to act on information, is a composite skill that is acquired through years of learning.

Fortunately for test-takers, the first factor — your speed of reading — can be seriously increased with a few simple adjustments in technique. You can learn how to read faster as long as you’re willing to put in the practice. Here’s how to do it.

Many slower readers rely on ineffective reading processes such as subvocalization (reading softly/“in your mind”) and fixation (repetitive reading).

Subvocalization is a very common problem that severely restricts reading speed: it takes much longer to actually say a word than it does to simply “recognize” it and move on. The difficult bit, if you’re a subvocalizer, is forcing yourself to actually adopt an alternate method of reading.

Fixation is equally tricky. While repetition in reading may sometimes be merited or even necessary, in most cases it’s just an idle bad habit. Estimates in the speed-reading industry suggest that 33% of people habitually reread text. I, for one, find myself returning to parts of passages for all sorts of ridiculous reasons—including liking a particular word or turn of phrase. Savoring language is essential to enjoying the aesthetics of what you read, but it isn’t particularly well-suited to a standardized testing environment like the GMAT.

If any of the above problems sound familiar (or if you’re just curious), try some of these DIY approaches to improve your reading speed. With practice, you can develop a reading method that isn’t as time-consuming as your current one. Even modest improvements can have a large cumulative effect on your RC performance.

Simple speed reading exercises

While the following exercises utilize different methods, the underlying goal of each is the same: to increase your “eye span,” i.e. to force you to read more words at once than you normally would. The best readers are able to read entire sentences simultaneously and, more importantly, can process the information contained within them.

All of these exercises focus on raw speed, but don’t forget the all-important “comprehension” part of RC. The trick is to read as quickly as you can while still retaining the information in a passage.

1)      The Hand Trick

Place your palm flat against the reading surface with the first line of text to be read above the side of your hand. Now move your palm down the page at a regular speed and read the text that is exposed while keeping pace with the movement of your palm.

2)      The Finger Trick

Place your index finger (or mouse pointer) on the first group of words to be read. Now move your index finger horizontally in a discontinuous manner, “jumping” from point to point in a sentence. This forces you to read words in groups instead of individually.

3)      The “Card” Trick

This one works best with a 4×6 photograph. Place the photograph above the first line of text you are about to read. Then, begin moving the photograph down at a steady rate while attempting to read the text before the photograph descends over it. This forces you to pay attention the first time you read a given passage, since you will not have the opportunity to revisit it.

Want even more tips? Here are some very cool resources to improve reading speed. You can test your speed to start by following the link below. If you’re into serious speed, watch these five video lessons for more tips from the pros (they’ll use your tested speed as a baseline). After that, speed-reading comprehension is just a matter of practice.

Measure Your Reading Speed

http://www.bangor.ac.uk/~mas009/neurogym/exercises/speedread1.htm

Register Now for Free Online Graduate Admissions Summit

As a member of AIGAC, (the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants), we are excited to announce the first ever AIGAC Graduate Admissions Virtual Summit.  The AIGAC Summit, taking place on April 28, 2010, is a free, online event addressing many of the issues faced when putting together a graduate school application.

Admissions experts from around the world will be weighing in on topics including law school admissions, internationalizing the MBA experience, evaluating your candidacy for medical school, and joint-degree programs, amongst other subjects. The webinars, chats and articles will offer advice on writing compelling essays, self-assessment, interview preparation, TOEFL & GMAT strategies and re-applications; as well as specific tips for engineers, international students and Fulbright applications.

Where else can you benefit from the expertise of so many experts who collectively have 100+ years of experience? Thanks to the day-long format across multiple time zones, you can join in from your computer no matter where in the world you are.

Visit http://www.aigac.org/summit/2010/ to learn more about the AIGAC Graduate Admissions Virtual Summit.  You will need to register for each hour long event that you plan to attend; you may attend as many as you wish.  

I will be conducting a seminar on reapplication. 

Hope you can make it!


-Adam
アダム

Guest Blogger: 河野太一のGMAT OG12解説 SC7

This is another post from Taichi Kono, author of two textbooks on TOEFL and one on TOEIC and a highly experienced TOEFL, TOEIC, and GMAT instructor. Most of his posts will be in Japanese. This post is on GMAT sentence correction. His other posts can be found here.
-Adam


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

河野塾代表の河野太一です。年来の友人である Adam Markusさんのご厚意で、"The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition"の解説ブログの内容の一部をこちらにアップさせていただくことになりました。オリジナルは河野太一のGMAT OG12解説でご覧いただけます。なお、オリ ジナルのほうは予告なく内容を変更することがあり、ここに上げたものと相違があることがありますのでご了承ください。私のこれまでの記事やGMAT以外の 話題についてはこちらをご覧ください。


SC7
As SV, SVという構造の後ろにもうひとつSVを付けろと言われている。

(A)　後ろに付くSVには接続詞ないしはその類が必要。(A) では関係代名詞の省略が想定できる。であれば関係代名詞の後ろは不完全、つまり名詞が1つ欠けていなければならない。ここで名詞が入りうるのは concededの後ろ。するとconcedeが自動詞か他動詞かが問題になる。自動詞であればconcedeの後ろに名詞の不足はないことになり、関係 代名詞の省略という想定は成り立たない。結論から言うとconcedeは自動詞も他動詞もあり。英語には自動詞他動詞どちらの用法も持っている動詞が多 く、判断に迷った時は前後の意味から推測せざるを得ない場合もある。concedeを「譲歩する」と覚えていれば、the mass market salesとto rivalsから、「ライバルに譲った売上」→「ライバルに負けて取られた売上」と理解できるだろう。すなわちconcedeが他動詞で、後ろには目的語 が抜けており、その目的語の役割は省略された関係代名詞が果たすと想定され、文法上問題なし。しかしこの選択肢、そもそもtheyがマズイ。theyが指 すものは意味的にthe companyであろうから、数が合わない。As節ではitsで受けているので、数の違反は一層明らか。

(B) 　(B)もtheyがダメ。previouslyの位置も気になる。would have doneは「〜したであろう」と、現在から過去をふり返って推測する語法（いわゆる「仮定法」）。その「推測」部分（であろう）は助動詞wouldが担当 するので、「過去には〜したであろう」と言いたければwouldに副詞句を隣接させるのがよい。したがって(A)の修飾位置は良い。(B)だと previouslyがto rivalsにかかってしまい、「過去にはライバルたちに譲ったが、今は別の人たちに譲っている」かのような誤解を与える。要は「修飾語被修飾語近接ルー ル」違反。theirも数の呼応違反。

(C)　in the pastがwouldの前に出ているが、wouldに隣接しているのでOK。受動態も、能動態のほうが良いだろうが、意味は通じているので取りあえず通 過。previouslyがin the pastと重なっており、redundantでアウト。

(D)　previouslyとin the pastがやはりredundant。ただしin the pastは位置的に、名詞rivalsを後置修飾している可能性もある。するとwouldを修飾しないのでredundantではなくなるが、「過去のラ イバルに譲っていた」となってしまい、「じゃあ今のライバルには譲り続けているの？」という疑問が湧く。どちらにしてもダメ。

(E)　こ れまでの問題点をすべて解決しており、問題なし。


-河野太一


河野塾で はTOEFL/IELTS/GMATの個人授業を提供しております。なかなかスコアが上がらずにお悩みの方、きめの細かい効果的な個人指導をお求めの方 は、ぜひinfo@konojuku.comまでお気軽にお問い合わせください。

Money: Ask for it!

Imagine a situation where you have been admitted to three graduate schools (MBA, MPP, MPA, MS, MA, PhD, LL.M, or anything else) for Fall 2010 and the programs are offering you the following scholarship packages:
School A, your top choice, has offered you nothing.
School B, your second choice, has offered you a 50% tuition waiver.

School C, your third choice, has offered you free tuition.

Assume that the total cost for tuition and living expenses at the three schools is the same. Assume your criteria for ranking these schools is based on some combination of your overall sense of fit, program rank, program reputation (brand value),  expected post-degree starting salary, and location.  Assume you actually either have the money or can obtain loans to go to attend any of these schools. Finally, assume that you have just received all three offers.  What is the next thing to do?

ASK SCHOOL A FOR MONEY!

The worst situation is that School A can  say that they are unable to offer you any money.  They can't withdraw their offer of admission, so without being rude, just politely explain your situation and ask them for money. Don't lie about what Schools B and C are offering you and be willing to give School A the details.  School A might not offer you anything and you might very well decide to go there anyway, but it never hurts to ask.

The above suggestion is based on observing what some of my clients do. They don't always succeed at getting more scholarship money, but often they do.  I am not professional negotiator, so I can't tell you the best way to actually negotiate, but I can tell you that it never hurts to ask.

-Adam