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这道题我错选了E，把before按作adv用法，所以一直不思其解。在GMAT Club上看到了关键的两条解释，搬运过来供需要的小伙伴参考
1.On "before" vs. "previously," notice a subtle difference. The word "previously' is 100% an adverb and nothing but an adverb: its usage is perfectly unambiguous. By contrast, the word "before" can be used either as an adverb (as it is used in these answer choices in this problem) or as a subordinate conjunction or as a preposition.
eg1. He came to the house to visit me, but before, I had left to go to the store. = adverb use of "before"
eg2. Before he came to the house to visit me, I already had left to go to the store. = subordinate conjunction use of "before"
eg3. Before his arrival at the house looking for me, I already had left to go to the store = preposition use of "before"
In this problem, the word "before" is intended in its adverb usage, but it creates ambiguity because it could be understood as preposition:
(C) ... but, before stopping the train, [who?] required 5 hand breakers operating over a distance of 1,500 feet
That opening phrase "before stopping the train" is likely to be understood as a prepositional phrase, and when we get to the verb, we realize, "wait, we need a subject!" We have to go back and re-interpret the word "before" as a adverb and the gerund "stopping" as the subject. This is a very subtle point. Any piece of writing that creates the expectation of one sort of reading and then jarringly forces us to adapt another reading is rhetorically awkward. Good writing fulfills our grammatical expectations in a way that allows the meaning to unfold. That's a problem with "before" in this context.
2. This is the hardest, especially for folks for whom English is not a native language---the subtle differences between closely related words. Here, "but" and "whereas" are both contrast words: that is there similarity. The difference lies in the connotation, the quality of the contrast. The word "but" is a 180-degree completely turn around. The word "whereas" is softer, suggesting comparison and connection as well as contrast. I don't know if you have an experience with improv theater: the word "but" is many ways is equivalent to a kind of "no," whereas the word "whereas" is more equivalent to "yes and" (in improv theaters, actors are told to avoid the word "but" and make use of "yes and," to keep the flow of the dialogue going).
个人感觉时态反而是比较少考到的一个点。
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发表于 2017-10-26 23:08:38
