Sentence Correction

Responding to the public's fascination with-and sometimes undue alarm over-possible threats from asteroids, a scale developed by astronomers rates the likelihood that a particular asteroid or comet may collide with Earth.

A. a scale developed by astronomers rates the likelihood that a particular asteroid or comet may
B. a scale that astronomers have developed rates how likely it is for a particular asteroid or comet to
C. astronomers have developed a scale to rate how likely a particular asteroid or comet will be to
D. astronomers have developed a scale for rating the likelihood that a particular asteroid or comet will
E. astronomers have developed a scale that rates the likelihood of a particular asteroid or comet that may.

I have seen many forums discuss this, but no one has provided a clear distinction b/w choice C and D. Ron Purewal picked D. While other experts picked C.

[spoiler]What is the difference between C and D?[/spoiler]

Hey..How can it be C/D? .. My count was on E.. can we change may to will ?

kooladitya01 - we cannot eliminate answer choices based on this small change. In fact E is the answer choice that has the flawed meaning!! "a scale that rates the likelihood of a particular asteroid or comet that may collide with Earth." The logical meaning here is that the scale is designed to rate the likelihood of the asteroid or comet colliding with the Earth. The placement of the word "that" in choice E distorts the logical meaning to instead say that the scale is rating the likelihood of a there being an asteroid or comet, not that the asteroid or comet, which is already identified, would strike the Earth.

I know that answer Choice A uses the word "may" but let me say two things here.

1) "may" vs "will" seems to be more of a style choice or a factual choice. You are not concerned with either of those choices on most GMAT questions. If I use the sentence "You may score over 700 on the GMAT." or the sentence "You will score over 700 on the GMAT." these are both logical meanings and are both acceptable. So I would save any decision between these two words for the very last possible distinction - this is where style choices belong, when you have no other way to choose between two answers.

2) I continue my campaign to make it known that choice A is not special and just because choice A says "may" it does not mean that the other choice have to. This may be one of the two or three biggest misconceptions about sentence correction. Here are two extensively researched postings I have written on this subject.

This is the Original article that details every question in the Official Guide 12th edition that discusses meaning.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-truth-ab ... tml#342304

And this one provides extensive clarification of "Logical Meaning" - which we do take into account - versus Original Meaning" - which we do not.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/expert-opini ... 01140.html

As to the actual question - put me in for answer choice D. This choice seems to have an advantage of clarity over Choice C.

D says, "...astronomers have developed a scale for rating the likelihood that a particular asteroid or comet will collide with Earth." It is very clear that the scale is intended "for rating the likelihood" this is correct as the scale is rating a noun. This is logical, clear, and precise. Like saying that the scale is intended for giving someone's "weight" or "height."

Choice C says, "astronomers have developed a scale to rate how likely a particular asteroid or comet will be to collide with Earth." There are a couple of problems here. The ending of the underlined portion "will be to" does not fit well with the non underlined "collide with Earth. "How likely a... comet will be to collide with Earth" is not very clear and is lacking rhetorically as well.

Also, as I discussed above, D is clearer as to what is rated. In this case the scale is said to rate "how likely a particular asteroid...will be to collide" This lacks the clear meaning found in D.

I have not read any of the other forum discussions and I do not have the Official Answer, but on the test I would select D. Now I may go and read the logic offered by others who chose C...

Hi David,

Even I thought C should be wrong because of the way the ending part is constructed.

Can you provide your thoughts on option C if it was changed in the following way

C) astronomers have developed a scale to rate how likely a particular asteroid or comet will
D) astronomers have developed a scale for rating the likelihood that a particular asteroid or comet will

In this case, I am assuming that C should be a better choice, the reason being, "to rate" is simpler and should be preferable over "for rating". Please suggest.

Thanks,
HK

The way that you have worded C is not quite correct.

If you had said, "astronomers have developed a scale to rate how likely IT IS THAT a particular asteroid or comet will collide with Earth" then you would have said it better.

The way you worded it "to rate how likely a particular asteroid or comet will collide with Earth" does not work. Because "likely" is not something that can be measured. If you said "to rate how hard a comet will collide with Earth" that will work better because "hard" or "amount of force" is something that can be measured.

Hey David,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I thought that, here, the scale is used to rate the probability of a comet/asteroid to collide with earth rather than force with which it will impact. I understand that you have stated the "force" just as an example. Please correct me if I have got the intended meaning of the original sentence wrong.

Also, I guess it is the confusion that surrounds "Likely" and "Likelihood". I just learnt that "Likelihood" implies the probability => mathematical number which can be counted whereas "Likely" is a possibility or credibility. This only indicates whether the event will happen qualitatively and not quantitatively.

Please correct me if I got any of it wrong.

Thanks,
HK.

Yes - force was just an example you are correct. That would not work here as the logical meaning is not force but probability.

You are exactly right that "likelihood" is a noun and is a mathematical probability. Whereas "likely" is not a noun and cannot be measured. That's it exactly.

in C, "will be to collide..." is correct or not

pls, help. Thank you.

Thanks David, for the lenghty explanation.

(D)..scale for rating ..is concise