For the farmer who

[kramacha1979]

Gprep #2

For the farmer who takes care to keep them cool, providing them with high energy feed and milking them regularly,Holstein cows are producing an average of 2275 gallons of milk each year.

A. providing them with high energy feed and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing
B. providing them with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
C. provided with high energy feed, and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing
D. provided with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
E. provided with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, Holstein cows will produce

OA : E

Killed B,C and D for S-V agreement and parallelism issues..
In E how is to keep, provided and milked parallel ..

In A can we assume providing and milking is part of taking care to keep them cool ?

[RonPurewal]

Gprep #2

For the farmer who takes care to keep them cool, providing them with high energy feed and milking them regularly,Holstein cows are producing an average of 2275 gallons of milk each year.

A. providing them with high energy feed and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing
B. providing them with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
C. provided with high energy feed, and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing
D. provided with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
E. provided with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, Holstein cows will produce

OA : E

Killed B,C and D for S-V agreement and parallelism issues..
In E how is to keep, provided and milked parallel ..

In A can we assume providing and milking is part of taking care to keep them cool ?

heh. it looks like choice (a) is an "indian trap"
seriously, not a joke.
if there is a single biggest issue in the grammar of second-language english speakers who happen to hail from india or pakistan, that issue is the drastic overuse of the "are ...ing" construction. (native speakers of english will recognize "are producing" at once as awkward.)

another problem with part (a) is the modifier. although "providing... and milking..." is a grammatically acceptable modifier, it doesn't make any sense in context, since these are not two things that farmers do WHILE or AS A CONSEQUENCE OF keeping the cows cool. (if you're going to use comma + -ing, then one of these two should hold.)
see #124 (og 12th edition) or #127 (og 11th edition), correct answer, for a sentence in which such a modifier actually does make sense.

in choice E, the parallel structures are
cool
provided with...
and
milked regularly

(i would have guessed "keep them cool, provide them with..., and milk them..."—but that isn't there, of course. and that's why we shouldn't try to "edit" the sentences.)

--

note that you also can't say "THE holstein cows", unless you're referencing a particular, specific, known group of holstein cows (something that you clearly aren't doing). since you're talking about holstein cows in general, you don't use the article "the".
this is another thing well known, totally subconsciously, to native speakers of english; it's hard-won wisdom for non-native speakers.

[pmal04]

Hi Ron,
Can you please explain why choice D is wrong?
Thanks

[abhishekit]

Hi Ron,
Can you please explain why choice D is wrong?
Thanks

One simple reason that D is wrong is that it says 'cow' instead of plural. Initial part of sentence which is not underlined uses 'them' referring to cows. So cows have to be used.

[RonPurewal]

=One simple reason that D is wrong is that it says 'cow' instead of plural. Initial part of sentence which is not underlined uses 'them' referring to cows. So cows have to be used.

perfectly explained.

[vineet3183]

Gprep #2

For the farmer who takes care to keep them cool, providing them with high energy feed and milking them regularly,Holstein cows are producing an average of 2275 gallons of milk each year.

A. providing them with high energy feed and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing
B. providing them with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
C. provided with high energy feed, and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing
D. provided with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
E. provided with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, Holstein cows will produce

OA : E

Killed B,C and D for S-V agreement and parallelism issues..
In E how is to keep, provided and milked parallel ..

In A can we assume providing and milking is part of taking care to keep them cool ?

heh. it looks like choice (a) is an "indian trap"
seriously, not a joke.
if there is a single biggest issue in the grammar of second-language english speakers who happen to hail from india or pakistan, that issue is the drastic overuse of the "are ...ing" construction. (native speakers of english will recognize "are producing" at once as awkward.)

another problem with part (a) is the modifier. although "providing... and milking..." is a grammatically acceptable modifier, it doesn't make any sense in context, since these are not two things that farmers do WHILE or AS A CONSEQUENCE OF keeping the cows cool. (if you're going to use comma + -ing, then one of these two should hold.)
see #124 (og 12th edition) or #127 (og 11th edition), correct answer, for a sentence in which such a modifier actually does make sense.

in choice E, the parallel structures are
cool
provided with...
and
milked regularly

(i would have guessed "keep them cool, provide them with..., and milk them..."—but that isn't there, of course. and that's why we shouldn't try to "edit" the sentences.)

--

note that you also can't say "THE holstein cows", unless you're referencing a particular, specific, known group of holstein cows (something that you clearly aren't doing). since you're talking about holstein cows in general, you don't use the article "the".
this is another thing well known, totally subconsciously, to native speakers of english; it's hard-won wisdom for non-native speakers.

hi Ron ,
plz clarify
i want to know what is the role of modifier "providing"
how farmer is taking care of his cows to keep them cool --- by providing them with high-----

[cesar.rodriguez.blanco]

Hi Ron.
Can you explain why option A is wrong? I thought that this option is 100% grammatically correct....

[RonPurewal]

hi Ron ,
plz clarify
i want to know what is the role of modifier "providing"
how farmer is taking care of his cows to keep them cool --- by providing them with high-----

hi -
i addressed this in the post that you quoted.

in that post, i said that "providing..." would be grammatically acceptable, but that it WOULD NOT make sense in context.

[RonPurewal]

hi cesar -

Hi Ron.
Can you explain why option A is wrong? I thought that this option is 100% grammatically correct....

did you read the thread?
i know it's a long thread, but you should make sure to check it out.

there are two paragraphs explaining why (a) is wrong in this post:
post26342.html#p26342
(this link is to the same thread you're currently reading, but it links to that post)

[Nishant.Chandra]

Gprep #2

For the farmer who takes care to keep them cool, providing them with high energy feed and milking them regularly,Holstein cows are producing an average of 2275 gallons of milk each year.

A. providing them with high energy feed and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing
B. providing them with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
C. provided with high energy feed, and milking them regularly, Holstein cows are producing
D. provided with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, the Holstein cow produces
E. provided with high energy feed ,and milked regularly, Holstein cows will produce

OA : E

Killed B,C and D for S-V agreement and parallelism issues..
In E how is to keep, provided and milked parallel ..

In A can we assume providing and milking is part of taking care to keep them cool ?

heh. it looks like choice (a) is an "indian trap"
seriously, not a joke.
if there is a single biggest issue in the grammar of second-language english speakers who happen to hail from india or pakistan, that issue is the drastic overuse of the "are ...ing" construction. (native speakers of english will recognize "are producing" at once as awkward.)

another problem with part (a) is the modifier. although "providing... and milking..." is a grammatically acceptable modifier, it doesn't make any sense in context, since these are not two things that farmers do WHILE or AS A CONSEQUENCE OF keeping the cows cool. (if you're going to use comma + -ing, then one of these two should hold.)
see #124 (og 12th edition) or #127 (og 11th edition), correct answer, for a sentence in which such a modifier actually does make sense.

in choice E, the parallel structures are
cool
provided with...
and
milked regularly

(i would have guessed "keep them cool, provide them with..., and milk them..."—but that isn't there, of course. and that's why we shouldn't try to "edit" the sentences.)

--

note that you also can't say "THE holstein cows", unless you're referencing a particular, specific, known group of holstein cows (something that you clearly aren't doing). since you're talking about holstein cows in general, you don't use the article "the".
this is another thing well known, totally subconsciously, to native speakers of english; it's hard-won wisdom for non-native speakers.

First:

Ron can you please elaborate on why "are producing" in answer choices A and C acts as a trap. I thought that "are producing" in this example acts as present progressive verb (i.e. emphasizing the ongoing nature of action). On the other hand answer choice E changes the meaning by using future tense construction will produce.

By no means I am questioning your wisdom, but I want to know what is the take away from this. Do we consider (to be) + VERBing constructions wrong on GMAT?

Second:

You have said "since you're talking about holstein cows in general, you don't use the article "the"." However, the OA E does use "the" before Holstein cows.

"The" is used to refer to something already cited in the sentence or to refer to something specific rather than general. In the OA choice E does not fulfill either of the two criteria yet it uses "the". Please Explain?

[RonPurewal]

First:

Ron can you please elaborate on why "are producing" in answer choices A and C acts as a trap. I thought that "are producing" in this example acts as present progressive verb (i.e. emphasizing the ongoing nature of action). On the other hand answer choice E changes the meaning by using future tense construction will produce.

By no means I am questioning your wisdom, but I want to know what is the take away from this. Do we consider (to be) + VERBing constructions wrong on GMAT?

no. in fact, you're correct that "are VERBing" emphasizes the ongoing nature of an action; it specifically emphasizes that an action is taking place, right now, as we speak.
... and that is precisely not what this sentence is doing.
this sentence is meant to make a general statement about holstein cows - to state an eternal truth. for that, the present tense is used.

ex: "cows eat grass" --> a statement about what cows do in general
"cows are eating grass" --> inappropriate, unless i'm literally watching cows eat grass while i'm writing.

--

in any case, it's much easier to eliminate (a) on the grounds that the COMMA -ING modifier is inappropriate.

Second:

You have said "since you're talking about holstein cows in general, you don't use the article "the"." However, the OA E does use "the" before Holstein cows.

"The" is used to refer to something already cited in the sentence or to refer to something specific rather than general. In the OA choice E does not fulfill either of the two criteria yet it uses "the". Please Explain?

nice catch. the problem was transcribed incorrectly; choice (e) should NOT have "the" in that place.
i'll go back and edit it out of those choices. thanks!

[arzanr]

If you remove the first modifier clause and read the rest of the sentence by itself the correct answer will become obvious.

Provided with high-energy feed, and milked regularly, Holstein cows will produce...

[RonPurewal]

If you remove the first modifier clause and read the rest of the sentence by itself the correct answer will become obvious.

Provided with high-energy feed, and milked regularly, Holstein cows will produce...

this actually works in this case, but it's pure coincidence/luck -- the words you are removing, in this instance, are not actually a modifier. in fact, they do not even constitute a complete clause or phrase!

[aliassad]

In Beatrix Potter question # 105 from OG 12, the use of a pronoun in a modifier was disallowed for the noun in the main clause. Ron's explanation for that question is given in the link below:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/doubt-regard ... 60-15.html

In this official question , them is referencing cows. Can someone help me to reconcile the two explanations?


Thanks in advance.

[vijay19839]

Ron

I was reading two separate threads on this same question..

Below is the discussion where Stacey says that we can remove the first Modifier and then we try to make Provided and Milked Parallel...

sc-forum-q-t615.html

Thanks
Vijay

If you remove the first modifier clause and read the rest of the sentence by itself the correct answer will become obvious.

Provided with high-energy feed, and milked regularly, Holstein cows will produce...

this actually works in this case, but it's pure coincidence/luck -- the words you are removing, in this instance, are not actually a modifier. in fact, they do not even constitute a complete clause or phrase!