SC: By merging its two publishing divisions, the

[Tadashi]

Hi Ron & Tim,
I still have question about B & D.
Would you please elaborate why they are wrong.

In my opinion, in structure NOUN1+PREP.+NOUN2+WHICH, which can modify either the noun1 or noun2.
eg.a decline in the shark population, which includes -> which can either modify the decline or the population.

So, I want to know how to rule out B & D.

Thanks,
Tadashi.

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron & Tim,
I still have question about B & D.
Would you please elaborate why they are wrong.

In my opinion, in structure NOUN1+PREP.+NOUN2+WHICH, which can modify either the noun1 or noun2.
eg.a decline in the shark population, which includes -> which can either modify the decline or the population.

So, I want to know how to rule out B & D.

Thanks,
Tadashi.

As with other issues of PLACEMENT"”i.e., any time chunks of words are shuffled around to different places in the sentence"”you need to make a relative judgment.

This modifier might not be incorrect in an absolute sense, for the reason you've written here, but the placement of the noun being modifier is objectively inferior to that in the correct answer.

In other words, if you see objectively better placement"”here, a choice that places "market" directly before "which ranges...""”then go ahead and eliminate the choices with inferior placement.

[FanPurewal]

hi instructors

i read through this tread again and again and again, but i still can not find how to eliminate the answer A B C D by picking the errors.

can someone please tell me the errors in each choice?

thank you in advance!

[RonPurewal]

hi instructors

i read through this tread again and again and again, but i still can not find how to eliminate the answer A B C D by picking the errors.

can someone please tell me the errors in each choice?

thank you in advance!

You need to ask specific questions. It's not OK to ask for a complete answer key to the problem.

• What do you already understand in the problem?
• What do you already understand from the previous discussion in this thread? (There are currently 33 posts, so there must be at least a few things)
• What don't you understand?
• Which specific constructions (in which answer choice(s)) are giving you trouble? What do/don't you understand about them?
Etc.

Thanks.

[rustom.hakimiyan]

What are the differences between B and E? OA is E

By merging its two publishing divisions, the company will increase their share of the country's $21 billion book market from 6 percent to 10 percent, a market ranging from obscure textbooks to mass-market paperbacks.
A. their share of the country's $21 billion book market from 6 percent to 10 percent, a market ranging

E. to 10 percent from 6 percent its share of the country's $21 billion book market, which ranges

Hi Instructors,

Two questions: I had narrowed it down to A and E but picked E.

What is wrong with A? I believe that both of the modifiers after the comma -- ",a market ranging" and ",which ranges" work in this case.

1) Is option A out because of "their" referring to a "company"?

2) Is there a preferred placement between choice A and E, assuming everything else was equal? What I mean by that is, for the options below, I was under the assumption that we need to put -- WHAT we "increase" next to the verb. Meaning, we increase *the share* from x to y is preferred vs. we increase from x to y the share.

A) ...will increase their share from x to y
E) ...will increase to x from y its share

3) I thought that the correct idiom was FROM x TO y, not TO x FROM y. Since this is in the correct answer, i'm obviously wrong regarding this idiom. Can you please confirm?


Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

What is wrong with A? I believe that both of the modifiers after the comma -- ",a market ranging" and ",which ranges" work in this case.

the modifier in (a) doesn't work. that modifier has to follow "book market" or "market for books".
"10 percent" is not a market.

[RonPurewal]

1) Is option A out because of "their" referring to a "company"?

this is another mistake with that choice, yes.

[RonPurewal]

2) Is there a preferred placement between choice A and E, assuming everything else was equal? What I mean by that is, for the options below, I was under the assumption that we need to put -- WHAT we "increase" next to the verb. Meaning, we increase *the share* from x to y is preferred vs. we increase from x to y the share.

A) ...will increase their share from x to y
E) ...will increase to x from y its share

basically, here's the deal with stuff like this:
• all of this stuff has to go after "increase"
• when one of the elements is really long, the "usual" order can be inverted in order to place the long thing at the end.

e.g.,
I dedicated a song to my father (normal order)
I dedicated to my father a song ("weird" order, but not wrong)

but...
I dedicated a song describing many of the times we had spent together as a child to my father (this sentence is absolutely impossible to understand on the first read)
I dedicated to my father a song describing many of the times we had spent together as a child (good, easily readable sentence)

since this is a style issue--it's an issue of easy readability, rather than an issue of right and wrong--it's not tested on this exam.
there's only one thing you have to know: the inverted order isn't wrong. don't eliminate it.
you will NEVER have to decide on this issue yourself.

[RonPurewal]

most importantly--

as usual, nuances and/or style issues are distractions. there WILL be easier eliminations.

as noted in the preceding posts, there are two solid--and straightforward--reasons to kill choice A (the pronoun and the modifier). the inversion of all these things is just there to distract you from those.

[RonPurewal]

3) I thought that the correct idiom was FROM x TO y, not TO x FROM y. Since this is in the correct answer, i'm obviously wrong regarding this idiom. Can you please confirm?


Thanks!

there's no definite order of these pieces.

i would bet a large amount of money that, on planet earth, you'd recognize both "i went to seattle from denver" and "i went from denver to seattle" as legitimate sentences.

[rustom.hakimiyan]

Thanks Ron. Cleared a lot of my doubts.

[RonPurewal]

sure.

[jingchaow805]

You've been around this forum long enough to know that you cannot make a claim that B's construction is legit without backing it up with a problem number. :) Please show me a GMAT question where a "which" following a comma doesn't refer to the closest inanimate noun preceding the comma. Until then, I would caution everyone to disregard the post you've just made and instead refer to my post above, where I explain that B is in fact grammatically wrong because it uses "which" incorrectly.

From the bark of the paper birch tree the Menomini crafted a canoe about twenty feet long and two feet wide, with small ribs and rails of cedar, which could carry four persons or eight hundred pounds of baggage yet was so light that a person could easily portage it around impeding rapids.

In this example, "cedar" is inanimate, and the number agrees. but still "which" seems to modify "canoe" rather than"cedar".
Anybody can explain it? Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

what's the source of that sentence? it certainly doesn't seem to be from gmac.

(if you take out "which" and put "that" in its place, you have a legitimate modifier.)

[go760orgohome]

Ah yes, I apologize for oversimplifying the rule before. I should not have said "inanimate". Instead, let's use the more accurate term Ron and I have used many times on the forum: "eligible". An eligible noun is one that is not only inanimate but also agrees in number. So in this case we rule out "Nixon" for not being inanimate AND we rule out "impeachment" for disagreeing in number with the "which were", and we are left with "hearings".

Thanks for posting this example so I could clarify things.

Hi Tim,

Would you mind take a look at SC 106 (I understand I can't post OG question) In the offical answer, emission is inanimated and agrees in number with verb can and thus is "eligible" according to criterias mentioned above. But in this OG question, "which" skipped emission to modify technique. Therefore, in our example, I guess we can make a case to say that which can skip counrty to modify market because "in the country" is just a prepositional phrases that modifies "market" IF there isn't a choice like E that solves this ambiguity?

Please let me know if I misunderstood anything. It's quite frustrating to learn some "golden" SC rules and only to find out there is exception to it.

Thanks in advance for your help!