Zollege is here for to help you!!
Need Counselling
GMAT logo

With Surface Temperatures Estimated at Minus 230 Degrees Fahrenheit GMAT Sentence Correction

Overview es 2Overview en 2RegistrationExam PatternPreparation TipsPractice PaperResultCut offmock testNews

Question: With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit, Jupiter's moon Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom.

(A) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with
(B) Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, its
(C) Europa has long been considered as far too cold to support life and has
(D) Europa, long considered as far too cold to support life, and its
(E) Europa, long considered to be far too cold to support life, and to have

Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
The following arguments could be used to defend the suggested language change:

  • Parallelism
  • Considering two separate truths
  • Modifiers

The intended core meaning of this sentence is that Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life. Since its 60 square miles of water are thought to be frozen from top to bottom.The word "considered" does not require conjunction or a helping word/phrase. “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun. And the similar word "regarded" must be followed by the conjunction "as"; correct usages: Jack is “considered a maths genius” or Jack is “regarded as a maths genius”.

Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, its- Correct. This answer choice acts upon the subject noun "Jupiter's moon Europa" with the active verb "has long been considered" to form a complete thought, leading to a complete sentence. Further, Option B uses the phrase "its 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom". Conveying the intended meaning - that Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life since its 60 square miles of water are thought to be frozen from top to bottom. Additionally, Option B correctly and idiomatically uses the word "considered" without any helping words or phrases.

Let’s see the available options.

Option A
Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and with- Incorrect. The sentence formed by this answer choice uses the phrase "and with 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life since its 60 square miles of water are thought to be frozen from top to bottom.

Option C
Europa has long been considered as far too cold to support life and has- Incorrect. The sentence formed by this answer choice uses the phrase "and has 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life, and as a separate action, it has 60 square miles of water thought to be frozen from top to bottom; the intended meaning is that Europa has long been considered far too cold to support life since its 60 square miles of water are thought to be frozen from top to bottom. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "considered as"; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun.

Option D
Europa, long considered as far too cold to support life, and its- Incorrect. This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; "considered" is a past participle acting as a modifier, and "thought" is a modifier that is part of a dependent clause, so there is no active verb to act upon the subject "Jupiter's moon Europa". Further, Option D incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "considered as"; remember, the word "considered" does not require a conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun.

Option E
Europa, long considered to be far too cold to support life, and to have- Incorrect. This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; "considered" is a past participle acting as a modifier, and "to have" is an infinitive verb phrase, so there is no active verb to act upon the subject "Jupiter's moon Europa". Further, Option E incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "considered to" and "considered...to have"; remember, the word "considered" does not require conjunction or a helping word/phrase; “consider/considered” is always followed directly by the noun.

“With surface temperatures estimated at minus 230 degrees Fahrenheit”- is a GMAT sentence correction question. These sorts of questions come up with grammatical errors in the underlined part of the sentence. The candidates need to select the correct statement given in the options. The GMAT sentence correction section demands good skills in grammar since the candidate has to identify common grammatical errors. GMAT sentence correction is a part of GMAT verbal.

Suggested GMAT Sentence Correction Samples

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

Ask your question