Sentence Correction

New items developed for automobiles in the 1997 model year included a safer air bag, which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire.
A. inflated, and making
B. inflated, so that it could make
C. inflated and made
D. inflated and make
E. inflated to make


This question had been discussed earlier...some people say that OA is D some say OA is E
I'm convinced that Op E is not the OA and OA has to be Op D, but still can anyone suggest, Why MAKE NOT MADE in Op C....MADE is the past participle....SMOKE WOULD APPEAR...SMOKE MADE...M is missing something...please clear...???

IMO as the sentence contains would base form of the verb shud be used, which is make.

IMO C.

Doesnt E convey wrong meaning ? "to make " implies intention .

Burst of smoke would appear and make is the parallel core of the clause..

Jim@Grockit wrote:Burst of smoke would appear and make is the parallel core of the clause..

Thanks Jim,

I missed this point...Would Appear...

Thanks a lot

Best Regards
Atul

GMATGURU says E
https://www.beatthegmat.com/inflated-and ... 68874.html
2 other experts say D
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a-good-sc-ne ... 65616.html

Though I agree with GMATGURU .

Can couple of more experts like STUART or RON confirm the answer ?

jainrahul1985 wrote:GMATGURU says E
https://www.beatthegmat.com/inflated-and ... 68874.html
2 other experts say D
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a-good-sc-ne ... 65616.html

Though I agree with GMATGURU .

Can couple of more experts like STUART or RON confirm the answer ?

I think they're all bad - what's the source? If it's 1000 SC, then let me stop you right there - don't do those questions, they're riddled with errors and inconsistencies.

If I were constructing the sentence, I'd say:

...eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, making an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire.

Until someone confirms that this is an actual GMAT question, I refuse to vote for one of the 5 choices given!

I received a PM asking me to comment.

New items developed for automobiles in the 1997 Model year included safer air bag, which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire.

A. inflated, and making
B. inflated, so that it could make
C. inflated and made
D. inflated and make
E. inflated to make

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
A: a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making
Here, making lacks a preceding parallel form.
Eliminate A.

In B, it is not crystal clear whether it serves to refer to a burst of smoke or to the bag.
Eliminate B.

C: the bag inflated and made an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire
Here, the implication is that the BAG made the passenger think the car was on fire.
The intended meaning is that A BURST OF SMOKE would make the passenger think the car was on fire.
Eliminate C.

Generally, an infinitive modifier serves to express the INTENT of the preceding subject.
E: the bag inflated to make an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire
Here, the usage of to make implies that the bag INTENDED to make the passenger think the car was on fire -- a nonsensical meaning.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

lunarpower wrote:i agree that this problem is non-official, but it's not horrible.

GMATGuruNY wrote:The problem with D is that the parallel structure would appear...and make implies a series of two distinct actions.

i don't necessarily agree with this.
cf. og11 #78, which contains the following construction:
Visitors to the park have often looked up into the leafy canopy and seen...

this is not a series of two distinct actions, but it's connected with "and".

I'm not quite sure that the two situations are analagous.

The following would feel a bit awkward:

Visitors to the park have often looked up into the leafy canopy, seeing monkeys sleeping on the branches....

That the visitors have often seen the monkeys seems too important to place in a modifying phrase. The sentence would be left with only one main action (looked up), which doesn't really convey the point of the sentence. To convey the intended meaning of the sentence, the two actions (have looked up and seen) need to be kept distinct.

The following, however, feels correct:

A burst of smoke would appear, making an already terrified passenger think...

Granted, the version above benefits from the omission of when the bag inflated, the inclusion of which would make it unclear whether making is modifying burst or bag.

Given a choice between a parallel structure (a burst of smoke would appear...and make) and the structure suggested above (a burst of smoke would appear, making), I strongly suspect that the GMAT would prefer the latter.

Consider OG12 #47, in which answer choice E is incorrect:

Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests...,and brought to 34 the number...

Whereas answer choice A is the OA:

Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests...,bringing to 34 the number...

While the use of brought in E creates a punctuation issue, I think that the primary error in E is that the two actions (left and brought) are not distinct.

lunarpower wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: Regardless, it should be noted that in OG12 #47, answer choice E is incorrect:

Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests...,and brought to 34 the number...

Whereas answer choice A is the OA:

Five fledgling sea eagles left their nests...,bringing to 34 the number...

While the use of brought in E creates a punctuation issue, I think that the primary error in E is that the two actions (left and brought) are not distinct.

the primary issue with answer choice (e) in that problem isn't the "and" construction itself; it's the incorrect relationship between subject and verb that is created by that construction.
specifically, that choice (e) contains the construction "left ... and brought", which requires "five fledgling sea eagles" to be the subject of both verbs.
this is not problematic in the case of the first verb (because the sea eagles are really the ones that left), but it is problematic in the case of the second -- because the sea eagles themselves did not bring up the number; rather, their act of leaving the nest did.
therefore, the verb "brought" can't be expressed in such a way that "five fledgling sea eagles" is its subject, as that would be an incorrect meaning; it has been expressed as a modifier that modifies the action of leaving the nest, because that's the only way the sentence makes sense.

Perhaps, but I don't quite agree with this analysis. I would argue that the eagles did in fact bring the number to 34; they accomplished this action when they left their nests. The purpose of the present participle bringing is to indicate that the two actions were contemporaneous.

Stuart/GmatGuru/Ron :

Is this a bad question to practice or do we really have correct answer for this ?

Ron : if you are saying Answer should be B , then how to eliminate rest of the options . I am totally confused now .