On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime punish

[RonPurewal]

The fact that the law was passed in 1993 wasn't responsible for the change. (You can't dump "in 1993" when you consider this meaning; it's an essential part of the statement.)

[Suapplle]

The fact that the law was passed in 1993 wasn't responsible for the change. (You can't dump "in 1993" when you consider this meaning; it's an essential part of the statement.)

thanks for your reply, Ron, sorry, I do not understand why the law passed in 1993 was not responsible for the change, I think that the law passed, so this change happened, please correct me, thanks!

[RonPurewal]

"In 1993" is an essential part of that construction. You can't ignore it.

The construction thus implies that passing in 1993 was the cause of the effect described"”i.e., that the law wouldn't have had the same effect if it had passed in a different year.
Nonsense.

[xiaolanjingheleaf]

Can we also eliminate "C" because the first part of the sentence is a fragment that has a subject ("law") followed by two modifiers?

Ron, I understand what you mean, but could it be possible that the opening modifier is an absolute phrase, just like what the boldface part functions in this sentence:

Sound can travel through water for enormous distances, its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperature sand densities.

Since I doubt if absolute phrase can used to show reasons, I found a sentence on the website that:

There being no taxis, we had to walk.

I wonder if GMAT think this sentence is correct.

Thank you!

[RonPurewal]

Can we also eliminate "C" because the first part of the sentence is a fragment that has a subject ("law") followed by two modifiers?

Ron, I understand what you mean, but could it be possible that the opening modifier is an absolute phrase, just like what the boldface part functions in this sentence:

Sound can travel through water for enormous distances, its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperature sand densities.

If you interpret C that way, you're saying that immigrants are "a law". Not workable.

[RonPurewal]

Since I doubt if absolute phrase can used to show reasons, I found a sentence on the website that:

There being no taxis, we had to walk.

"The website" = which website?

This sentence is incorrect.

If you use noun + __ing before a sentence as a modifier, the noun must describe something that belongs to the following subject.
E.g., Arms flailing, Sharon screamed for help. (The arms are Sharon's.)
You'll often see a possessive in front here, just for clarity (Her arms flailing, ...)

[xiaolanjingheleaf]

Since I doubt if absolute phrase can used to show reasons, I found a sentence on the website that:

There being no taxis, we had to walk.

"The website" = which website?

This sentence is incorrect.

If you use noun + __ing before a sentence as a modifier, the noun must describe something that belongs to the following subject.
E.g., Arms flailing, Sharon screamed for help. (The arms are Sharon's.)
You'll often see a possessive in front here, just for clarity (Her arms flailing, ...)

I found the sentence on a local website explaining "absolute phrase". I am not sure if GMAT accept that. Thanks for your help! it is much clear now.

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

[Suapplle]

"In 1993" is an essential part of that construction. You can't ignore it.

The construction thus implies that passing in 1993 was the cause of the effect described"”i.e., that the law wouldn't have had the same effect if it had passed in a different year.
Nonsense.

got it, thank you Ron ^_^

[RonPurewal]

Sure.

[BernardK777]

Why is "it" not an issue in the sentence? Is "making it" a special construction that does not require "it" to have an antecedent? Thanks

[tim]

All five answer choices refer to "making it", meaning that if this pronoun is problematic then there is no correct answer. Conclusion: there is nothing wrong with this pronoun and, more importantly, no reason to consider it at all.

[jingjiaol257]

Dear Manhattan instructor,
I have a small question about the choice A.
===================
If I changed the choice A to 'On account of a law passed in 1993, making it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a US citizen to hold...'

Is it acceptable??

In my opinion, it's OK. 'making it a crime punishable by imprisonment for a US citizen to hold.....bla bla ' works as a adv. modifier which modifies the action.

Please confirm,thanks!

There's still a problem with comma + "making". Remember that, when comma+ing follows an action, it describes that action (not just a noun).
So, "a law passed in 1993, making it ..." implies that being passed in 1993 caused the law to have this effect.

Also, I'm not sure whether GMAC would ever condone the use of "on account of", which seems too vague and/or informal for this kind of language.

hi ron
i still can not understand your explanation very well after reading several times.
1."when comma+ing follows an action, it describes that action (not just a noun)."
I think the "passed" is past participle and comma+ing cannot modify participle.Am i wrong?
2.If comma+ing can modify the participle, then i have another question.In my opinion, "being passed in 1993[/i] caused the law to have this effect."is the meaning author want to tell us.So i think the usage of "making" in choice A is good.Why do you eliminate choice A?
Thanks!!

[RonPurewal]

1."when comma+ing follows an action, it describes that action (not just a noun)."
I think the "passed" is past participle and comma+ing cannot modify participle.Am i wrong?

I don't know the terminology ("participle") here, so I can't help you with that.

But, I chose my words very carefully there. I didn't write "verb"; I wrote "action".

The "comma + __ing" modifier can describe preceding verbs, of course. But it can also describe things that aren't actually verbs, but that (a) are derived from verbs and (b) describe actions.

[RonPurewal]

e.g.,

The boy threw a ball across the court, hoping that it would sink miraculously into the basket.

The sports photographer took a famous picture of a boy throwing a ball across the court, hoping that it would sink miraculously into the basket.

Both of these work in exactly the same way. "Throwing" technically isn't a verb, but it's still an action and can still be modified by "comma + __ing". (If this is what a "participle" is, then, yes.)