Confusion: The driver took the people who had been waiting

[gkumar]

On Page 25 in the MGMAT SC guide, the second problem asks if one of the statements are better than the other or if none are clear.

A) The driver took the people for a ride who had been waiting.
B) The driver took the people who had been waiting for a ride
C) Both of the above are not clear

I chose B since A implies that the ride had been waiting, which doesn't make sense.
B makes sense to me because the driver picked up the people who had been waiting, whether be it for 2 minutes or 2 weeks.

Also, the 2 minutes or 2 weeks waiting period may or may not end at the point when the driver picked them up. For instance, they could be waiting for 2 minutes, and then they were immediately picked up. Or, firstly, they could be waiting for 2 minutes, secondly they did some other activity, and then thirdly they were picked up.

B has some ambiguity but B is clearly better than A. Why does MGMAT say C is correct when the answer explanation states the the change of meaning from A to be is JUSTIFIED (rather than UNJUSTIFIED to make C correct) and state C is correct rather than B?

Explanation on page 27: #2 (C). In the original sentence, the modifier who had been waiting does not clearly modify the people. It appears, illogically, to modify the closer noun (the ride). The second version moves "who had been waiting" next to "the people", thus making clear that it is the people who "had been waiting". This change of meaning is JUSTIFIED.

Shouldn't the answer be B given the above explanation? Or is it because of the ambiguity or some other explanation that causes the answer to be C?

[Ben Ku]

I think it's clear that the meaning of (A) is unclear: it seems that the "ride" had been waiting. So therefore moving "who had been waiting" next to "people" is JUSTIFIED, because it clears up the meaning: the "people" were the ones "who had been waiting."

However, not only did we move "who had been waiting" next to "people," but we also moved "for a ride" after "waiting." This move is UNJUSTIFIED because it becomes ambiguous what "for a ride" refers to.
- Did the driver take the people ... for a ride? (meaning the driver drove by the people and took them all for a ride) OR
- Did the driver take ... the people who were waiting for a ride? (meaning the driver only took those who were waiting for a ride. He didn't take the other people.)

So for (B), the placement of "who had been waiting" is logical. However, the placement of "for a ride" is not.

Therefore, (C) is correct: neither are clear.

[gkumar]

Hi Ben,

Thank you very much for an awesome reply. I did not realize that there would be an ambiguity from the placement of "for a ride". To clarify, the ambiguity lies between the following:
1) The driver took the people who were waiting (specifically) for a ride
2) The driver took the people who were waiting (perhaps to avoid the RAIN) for a ride

[esledge]

Well put, gkumar! That's exactly the difference.

[cumulonimbus]

Dear Experts,

Now I am confused about the explanation provided here, saying A and B are both wrong, hence C is the answer.
However in MGMAT 5 th edition on page 33, the answer to this question is marked as B.
I dont see any change in question or explanation provided, but the answer has been now changed to B, as per MGMAT.

[tim]

it's a typo. the answer is supposed to be C, as has been discussed here AND as the explanation in the book clearly indicates..

[tim]

keep your spam off our boards!

[EduardoJ96]

Experts,

On the book called "Sentence Correction 6th Edition", page 35, I can see this question (item #2).

Is the boldface version right or wrong? ("The driver took the people who have been waiting for a ride")

It seems to me that in this sentence it is not clear whether the people have been waiting for a ride, or whether the driver took the people for a ride.

If the boldface version is wrong, shouldn't the answer for this test be C instead of B?

Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm with you - I think whoever wrote the explanation was focusing only on the words that moved. The words that moved did move correctly / the move was justified. So just in that sense, the explanation is accurate.

However, that move created a different issue with the "for a ride" language. I'll submit this for a revision. The answer should be (C). In moving the initial modifier to correct the original error, the solution actually created a new ambiguity!

[EduardoJ96]

Thank you a lot, Stacey!

Cheers

[RonPurewal]

(:

[shravan.khare]

I think it's clear that the meaning of (A) is unclear: it seems that the "ride" had been waiting. So therefore moving "who had been waiting" next to "people" is JUSTIFIED, because it clears up the meaning: the "people" were the ones "who had been waiting."

However, not only did we move "who had been waiting" next to "people," but we also moved "for a ride" after "waiting." This move is UNJUSTIFIED ....

I am still not clear on A.

In the original sentence: The driver took the people for a ride who had been waiting.

I thought 'who had been waiting' cannot modify ride as 'who' is used here, and it should jump over this noun (i.e ride) and modify 'people'.
So effectievely what is conveyed is: The driver took the people ( for a ride) who had been waiting,

[RonPurewal]

if such a thing ever appears on the real exam, there will definitely be another answer choice with better placement of the modifier(s) in question.

[AZ679]

How do you feel about this version of this sentence:

(The driver took the people for a ride who had been waiting: Original sentence)

My version: The driver took for a ride the people who had been waiting

I feel one weakness in my version: the phrase 'for a ride' intervenes between 'took' and the object of the sentence, 'the people'. However, at least this sentence is not using passive voice.

is the weakness I have mentioned above problematic?

Thanks,

[tim]

As Ron and I always say, you should never try to write your own "correct" versions of SC sentences (despite the irony that these are called "sentence correction" questions), because (A) your sentence will often contain other mistakes the GMAT didn't even intend to test, and (B) the test doesn't require you to do this in the first place, so it's overkill. Don't do more work to solve these than you have to!

That said, your example is exactly how I would have written this sentence. Word for word.