A) two of them with two thirds of its area
B) two thirds of their area being in two of them
C) and its area is two thirds in two islands
D) two of them have two thirds of its area
E) which have two thirds of its area in two of them
One stop grammar collections from the web for my review before the exam day i.e. 30th July 2009
(A) by suggesting reducing software prices to decrease the incentive for pirating, and still others by calling
(B) by suggesting the reduction of software prices to decrease the incentive for pirating, and still others call
(C) suggest the reduction of software prices for decreasing the incentive for pirating, and still others call
(D) suggest the reduction of software prices to decrease the incentive for pirating, and still others by calling
(E) suggest reducing software prices to decrease the incentive for pirating, and still others are calling
E is the best choice - maintains parallelism - While some propose to combat widespread illegal copying of computer programs by attempting to change people's attitudes toward pirating, others suggest reducing software prices to decrease the incentive for pirating, and still others are calling for the prosecution of those who copy software illegally.
A, B - lack parallelism - ...some propose....others by suggesting
C - incorrect - unidiomatic - for decreasing - correct idiom to decrease
D - incorrect - lack parallelism - ...some propose...others suggest.....others bycalling
Source: http://gmatsentencecorrection.blogspot.com/search/label/Like%20vs%20such%20as
Now I'm worried that I've scared you off, but it's easy to remember the difference between mass nouns and count nouns.
A count noun is just something you can count. I'm looking at my desk and I see books, pens, and M&M's. I can count all those things, so they are count nouns and the right word to use is fewer. I should eat fewer M&M's.
Mass nouns are just things that you can't count individually. Again, on my desk I see tape and clutter. These things can't be counted individually, so the right word to use is less. If I had less clutter, my desk would be cleaner. Another clue is that you don't make mass nouns plural: I would never say I have clutters on my desk or that I need more tapes to hold my book covers together.
Sometimes it isn't obvious if something is a mass noun or a count noun because some words can be used in different ways. For example, coffeecan refer to either a mass of liquid or a cup of liquid. If you're responsible for filling the coffee decanter at a wedding, and you're getting carried away, your boss might ask you to make less coffee. But if you're a waiter serving cups of coffee to the tables, and the crowd is waning, your boss might tell you to bring out fewer coffees next time. She means cups of coffee, but it's common to hear that shortened to just coffee as in “Bring me a coffee, please.” Remember that I said mass nouns (like coffee) can't be made plural? In this example, I've made a mass noun plural, but in the process I transformed it into a count noun. So the rule still holds.
Furniture is another tricky word; it isn't immediately obvious whether it is a mass noun or a count noun. If I think of a furniture store, I think of lots of individual pieces of furniture, but furniture is a collective name for a mass of stuff. You could say, “Look at all those couches,” but you would never say, “Look at all those furnitures.” Furniture is a mass noun. Therefore, you'd say, “We need less furniture in this dance hall. Can we have fewer chairs?”
There are exceptions to these rules; for example, it is customary to use the word less to describe time, money, and distance (2, 3). For example, you could say, “That wedding reception lasted less than two hours. I hope they paid the band less than $400.” So keep in mind that time, money, and distance are different, but if you stick with the quick and dirty tip that less is for mass nouns and fewer is for count nouns, you'll be right most of the time.
There are two ways that I remember when to use less and when to usefewer.
First, I think of the classic example of the grocery store express lane. Most of the signs for these lanes read, “10 items or less,” and that's just wrong. The signs should read, “10 items or fewer,” because items are individual, countable things. Between hearing people complain about the signs and seeing the signs every week or so, it sticks in my head that it should be fewer items. And when I stand in line and count the 15 items that belong to the person in front of me in the 10-items-or-fewer lane, I'm strongly reinforcing the idea that items are countable.
Second, I have a memory trick, and I've even had a cartoon drawn up so that you can see into my imagination. I think of Aardvark sitting by a lake. He's fishing. The water is low in the lake this year, so there is less water in the lake. Less and lake both begin with the letter l. There is less water in the lake. Squiggly is worried about dinner. Aardvark usually catches four fish, but what if there are only three? “We'll have fewer fish for dinner,” Squiggly thinks to himself fretfully. Fewer and fish both start with the letter f, and Squiggly is counting fish in his head. We'll have fewer fish for dinner.
Source: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/less-versus-fewer.aspx
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it. The appositive can be a short or long combination of words. Look at these examples:
The insect, a cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large cockroach with hairy legs, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large, hairy-legged cockroach that has spied my bowl of oatmeal, is crawling across the kitchen table.
Here are more examples:
During the dinner conversation, Clifford, the messiest eater at the table, spewed mashed potatoes like an erupting volcano.
My 286 computer, a modern-day dinosaur, chews floppy disks as noisily as my brother does peanut brittle.
Genette's bedroom desk, the biggest disaster area in the house, is a collection of overdue library books, dirty plates, computer components, old mail, cat hair, and empty potato chip bags.
Reliable, Diane's eleven-year-old beagle, chews holes in the living room carpeting as if he were still a puppy.
The important point to remember is that a nonessential appositive is always separated from the rest of the sentence with comma(s).
When the appositive begins the sentence, it looks like this:
A hot-tempered tennis player, Robbie charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
When the appositive interrupts the sentence, it looks like this:
Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player, charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
And when the appositive ends the sentence, it looks like this:
Upset by the bad call, the crowd cheered Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player who charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
Source: http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/appositive.htm
Definition. - A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Pronouns can be in one of three cases: Subject, Object, or Possessive.
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To be able to choose pronouns correctly, you must learn to identify clauses. A clause is a group of words containing a verb and subject.
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Source: http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/pronoun.asp
Rule 5 example:
777). The man was always aware, sometimes proudly and sometimes resentfully, that he was a small-town Midwesterner who was thrust into a world that was dominated by wealthier, better-educated, and more polished people than him.
(A) who was thrust into a world that was dominated by wealthier, better-educated, and more polished people than him
(B) who had been thrust into a world that was dominated by more wealthy, educated, and polished people than him
(C) who had been thrust into a world dominated by wealthier, better-educated, and people more polished than he was
(D) thrust into a world dominated by more wealthy, educated, and polished people than him
(E) thrust into a world dominated by wealthier, better-educated, and more polished people than he