GWD的一道SC，大家快来讨论~

nokidding

T-9-Q13.
       987-184 E
Building large new hospitals in the bistate area would constitute a wasteful use of resources, on the basis of avoidance of duplicated facilities alone.

A.              on the basis of avoidance of duplicated facilities alone

B.               on the grounds of avoiding duplicated facilities alone

C.              solely in that duplicated facilities should be avoide

D.              while the duplication of facilities should be avoided

E.               if only because the duplication of facilities should be avoided

答案：E

在别的帖子看到说E选项是虚拟语气，但是根据Manhattan的语法，if从句是不能有should的，这应该不是虚拟吧？求NN指点！

if only because 和 only if 总是分不清。。

nokidding

谢谢大家

lavenderwu

This is an odd one. Curious as to the original source (before 1000).

Sentence core:
Building X ...
wyw1018 发表于 2013-1-18 20:50

    impressive~but I think the problem is very subtle

zdytiffany

T-9-Q13.
       987-184 E
Building large new hospitals in the bistate area would constitute a was ...
nokidding 发表于 2013-1-18 07:25

if only because和if only不一样~
if only because字典上解释（摘自朗文当代）：used to give a reason for something, although you think it is not a good one
　Media studies is regarded as a more exciting subject, if only because it's new.
这里的should不是虚拟，而是表示应该~

wyw1018

This is an odd one. Curious as to the original source (before 1000).

Sentence core:
Building X would constitute a wasteful use of Y, (modifier).

Meaning:
Building X would be wasteful, at the very least because of one particular reason. (It's not the only reason, but it's a large enough reason that it is sufficient all by itself as a reason not to build.

C changes the meaning - it indicates that the duplicated facilities thing is the ONLY reason why it would be wasteful, but that's not the original meaning. Eliminate.

D also changes the meaning. The modifier is supposed to be a reason why building is wasteful. The use of "while" here seems to be introducing a new general piece of info, not providing that piece of info as a reason not to build.

A's modifier has multiple prepositional phrases in a row. That's often a warning sign on this test - the GMAT writers generally prefer to avoid 3+ prepositional phrases in a row.

The placement of the word "alone" also is a bit problematic. Logically, we know they're trying to say "for this reason alone" but just that word alone could also be interpreted to mean "facilities alone" - as in, facilities by themselves, with nothing else around them. Finally, the "alone" part of the meaning here is a key part of what ties the main clause to this modifier: X is wasteful, and one reason for this is Y. So it would be better to have the "alone" language between the two - if we have that as an option in one of the choices.

B has many of the same problems as A. But take a look at E. It moves the "alone" meaning (but changed to "if only because") to the beginning of the modifier. And it make the remaining meaning very clear. Why is this wasteful? At the very least, because duplication should be avoided.

Building X would constitute a wasteful use of Y, if only because Z.

So my pick would be E.