问道TN-13的语法题，google都木有找到解释啊！求baby姐姐各路NN

DUKB24

Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and the processes that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity.
(A) that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity
(B) of producing and understanding it have revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity
(C) by which it is produced and understood has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity
(D) by which it is produced and understood have revealed great complexity rather than underlying simplicity
(E) by which one produces and understands it have revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity

可是A中produce后缺少宾语啊！如果认为与make共用it作其宾语，我认为是不可以的。因为it后面还有understandable，要共用，这个understandable总得也要共用吧？但意思是荒谬的。我认为A是错的，当时模考我选了C
但是仔细一想，
C选项的逻辑意思是错误的the language is understood by process
但是我还是找不出选A的理由

babybearmm

My take on this question:
(We are already down to A and C)


Split #1. "the processes that produce ..."  VS.  "the processes by which it is produced ..."


(1) "the processes that produce ..." is logically sound


Ask yourself: does it make sense to say "the processes produce the language" and "the processes make it understandable"?


Well, I ask this question because this question is important to consider. Only if the answer is "yes", the usage of "the processes that produce ..." is justified.
An example from Ron:
INCORRECT: The restaurant that we ate last Friday was crowded.  
(This sentence literally says that "we ate the restaurant" -oh my gosh!!!!)
CORRECT: The restaurant at which we ate last Friday was crowded.


I mentioned the above example because I want to say: when we use essential noun modifier "something that bla bla", we should make sure it is EITHER:
(a) "something" is the subject or object of the "that clause"

OR
(b) "something" is this kind of words: finding, opinion, belief, suggestion, etc. and "that bla bla" is to explain "something" in a clause.                    --However, this situation does not apply here.


So, back to this question, the answer is "yes".
"the processes" can be the subject.    i.e. we can say "the processes produce the language"
Therefore, the usage in A is justified.


(2) potential ambiguity in "the processes by which it is produced"


Consider the following two sentences. Does each of these two sentences make logical sense?
(a) Ancient Chinese produced the language by this process.
(b) This process produced the language.


As we discussed above, (b) makes logical sense.
Look at (a). It also makes sense, right? Using some process, people can produce a language.


So what I mean is:
if you, as a reader, see a sentence written as "the processes by which the language is produced", you may have two logically sound interpretations:
(a) some people (or nationality or whatever) produced the language by the processes
(b) the processes produced the language
So you CANNOT tell who/what produced the language!


--Let me extend beyond this question.
I hear a lot of people say "GMAT prefers active voice to passive voice". Even a GMAT instructor says this in explaining this question. (http://www.beatthegmat.com/nature-of-language-t91077-15.html)
But I want to say: BE CAREFUL!!! Do not AUTOMATICALLY choose the active voice answer choice.
We should understand WHY the particular voice is preferred in the GIVEN situation.
This example illustrates the potential ambiguity embedded in the passive voice. In fact, MGMAT SC Guide has a wonderful example:
INCORRECT: The dealer was asked to sell a painting by Picasso.
Is it "a painting by Picasso" or "the dealer was asked by Picasso"? Ambiguous!
If you change the sentence to active voice, saying "The boss asked the dealer to sell a painting by Picasso." then the ambiguity issue is perfectly resolved.
See? Same logic applies here. "the processes by which it is produced" is ambiguous.

Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and the processes that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity.
(A) that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity
(B) of producing and understanding it have revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity
(C) by which it is produced and understood has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity
(D) by which it is produced and understood have revealed great complexity rather than underlying simplicity
(E) by which one produces and understands it have revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity

可是A中produce后缺少宾语啊！如果认为与make共用it作其宾语，我认为是不可以的。因为it后面还有understandable，要共用，这个understandable总得也要共用吧？但意思是荒谬的。我认为A是错的，当时模考我选了C
但是仔细一想，
C选项的逻辑意思是错误的the language is understood by process
但是我还是找不出选A的理由

-- by 会员 DUKB24 (2012/5/31 22:31:39)

linlanjun1993

baby姐的解释太精辟了哈，赞一个！
语感还是要多多培养~~

DUKB24

睡前顶一个

晨依Jacqueline

我不会。。。我猜的是produce后面的it省略了……
不应该是共用。。。
我主要是来帮高富帅顶一下帖子的

bb1447

understandable为什么总得也要共用？？

babybearmm

Split #2. "has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity" VS. "has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity"


意思上有区别哦，可能对我们non-native speakers来说不大容易发现。以下是我的感觉，不太100%确认，不过还是比较有把握的。


想象一个“寻宝”游戏吧，比如主持人让你在一间屋子里寻找一颗珍珠，结果你找到目标了，主持人说“恭喜你找到了！” 但你失望地发现：目标并不是“珍珠”，而是以假乱真的黄豆你可以说：
I have found a bean instead of a pearl.
好，回顾一下这句话的逻辑：你本来以为你将要找到a pearl，你的目标也是a pearl，结果当你历尽千辛万苦之后，你unexpectedly发现——
找到的目标居然不是a pearl而是a bean ("a bean instead of a pearl")


再换一个情景哈。现在新的游戏开始，主持人对你说：“这间屋子里有一颗珍珠和一颗黄豆，你的任务是找到它俩”
你使劲儿找啊找......时间到啦！你只找到了a bean，没有找到a pearl. 你说：
I have found not a pearl but a bean.
好了，这句话的逻辑，就是parallelism，相当于以下两个意思的叠加：
(a) I have not found a pearl.
AND
(b) I have found a bean.
那么，到底是否房间里确实存在a pearl呢？你不能回答，你只能说你没有找到而已。


Back to this question.
(C)的意思，就是我刚才的第2个场景。"has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity" 就说"underlying simplicity"完全可能是存在的（是"underlying"），只是那研究has not revealed.
这显然不是作者的本意。作者的本意是"instead of".

Research during the past several decades on the nature of language and the processes that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity.
(A) that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity
(B) of producing and understanding it have revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity
(C) by which it is produced and understood has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity
(D) by which it is produced and understood have revealed great complexity rather than underlying simplicity
(E) by which one produces and understands it have revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity

可是A中produce后缺少宾语啊！如果认为与make共用it作其宾语，我认为是不可以的。因为it后面还有understandable，要共用，这个understandable总得也要共用吧？但意思是荒谬的。我认为A是错的，当时模考我选了C
但是仔细一想，
C选项的逻辑意思是错误的the language is understood by process
但是我还是找不出选A的理由

-- by 会员 DUKB24 (2012/5/31 22:31:39)

DUKB24

baby姐姐的第二解释好精确！服了！懂了，谢谢姐姐

晨依Jacqueline

baby姐姐好细心~~赞！
哎呀以后高富帅发帖我必须来顶呀 收获多多

DUKB24

baby姐姐好细心~~赞！
哎呀以后高富帅发帖我必须来顶呀 收获多多

-- by 会员 晨依Jacqueline (2012/6/1 23:33:34)

晨依一顶baby姐姐就来了哈哈