Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal

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Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there.

(A) Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there
(B) Baltic Sea sediments, where the growth of industrial activity is consistent with these findings
(C) Baltic Sea sediments, findings consistent with its growth of industrial activity
(D) sediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area
(E) sediments from the Baltic Sea, consistent with the growth of industrial activity there


OA: D

P.S: I got this one right but would like to know in the OA the part after the comma is a PHRASE, so how it could be correct grammatically in GMAT ?
@ Experts - could you please shed light on this SC ? (It seems a bit tricky!)

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Jun 12, 2015 5:27 am
anksm22 wrote:Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there.

(A) Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there
(B) Baltic Sea sediments, where the growth of industrial activity is consistent with these findings
(C) Baltic Sea sediments, findings consistent with its growth of industrial activity
(D) sediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area
(E) sediments from the Baltic Sea, consistent with the growth of industrial activity there
In A, which seems to refer to sediments, implying that SEDIMENTS are consistent with THE GROWTH -- an illogical comparison.
Eliminate A.

B: sediments, where the growth of industrial activity
Here, where seems to refer to sediments, implying that there is industrial activity in the SEDIMENTS -- a nonsensical meaning.
Eliminate B.

In C, its lacks a clear antecedent.
Eliminate C.

E: the Baltic Sea, consistent with the growth of industrial activity
Here, consistent seems to modify the Baltic Sea, implying that the BALTIC SEA is CONSISTENT with the growth of industrial activity -- an illogical comparison.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

OA: Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of ediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area.

Here, the phrase in red is a SUMMATIVE MODIFIER.
A summative modifier is composed of COMMA + ABSTRACT NOUN + OTHER WORDS.
The purpose of a summative modifier is to SUM UP the preceding clause.
In the OA, what scientists have observed is summed up as FINDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY IN THE AREA.
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by RBBmba@2014 » Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:41 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
anksm22 wrote:Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there.

(A) Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there
(B) Baltic Sea sediments, where the growth of industrial activity is consistent with these findings
(C) Baltic Sea sediments, findings consistent with its growth of industrial activity
(D) sediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area
(E) sediments from the Baltic Sea, consistent with the growth of industrial activity there
The correct answer is D.

OA: Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of ediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area.

Here, the phrase in red is a SUMMATIVE MODIFIER.
A summative modifier is composed of COMMA + ABSTRACT NOUN + OTHER WORDS.
The purpose of a summative modifier is to SUM UP the preceding clause.
In the OA, what scientists have observed is summed up as FINDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY IN THE AREA.
GMATGuruNY - a quick question on SUMMATIVE MODIFIER.

Could you please provide a few instances of such SUMMATIVE MODIFIER in some Official Questions ? Is it frequent on GMAT ?

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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Jun 14, 2015 6:10 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:
GMATGuruNY - a quick question on SUMMATIVE MODIFIER.

Could you please provide a few instances of such SUMMATIVE MODIFIER in some Official Questions ? Is it frequent on GMAT ?
Another official example:
Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
Here, the portion in red is a summative modifier, serving to SUM UP the preceding clause as an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

Summative modifiers on the GMAT are relatively rare.
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by RBBmba@2014 » Mon Jun 15, 2015 4:38 am
GMATGuruNY wrote: Another official example:
Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
Here, the portion in red is a summative modifier, serving to SUM UP the preceding clause as an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
GMATGuruNY wrote: OA: Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of ediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area.
@ GMATGuruNY - With reference to the above TWO quotes, I'd like to get a quick clarification on MODIFIER aspect.

In the example given by you, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions , the NOUN event has a MODIFIER "Relative Pronoun Clause beginning with that" . Right ?

But for the SC at hand, findings [THAT ARE] consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area - is the MODIFIER "Relative Pronoun Clause beginning with that" missing (re understood) here after the NOUN findings ? (Could here be any other way of MODIFIER usage ?)

Bottom-line is in both the above SCs, there is a MODIFIER "Relative Pronoun Clause beginning with that" after the NOUN. ONLY DIFFERENCE is in case of event , the MODIFIER is EXPLICIT and in case of findings , the MODIFIER is IMPLICIT.

Correct me please if wrong.

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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Jun 16, 2015 4:33 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:In the example given by you, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions , the NOUN event has a MODIFIER "Relative Pronoun Clause beginning with that" . Right ?

But for the SC at hand, findings [THAT ARE] consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area - is the MODIFIER "Relative Pronoun Clause beginning with that" missing (re understood) here after the NOUN findings ? (Could here be any other way of MODIFIER usage ?)

Bottom-line is in both the above SCs, there is a MODIFIER "Relative Pronoun Clause beginning with that" after the NOUN. ONLY DIFFERENCE is in case of event , the MODIFIER is EXPLICIT and in case of findings , the MODIFIER is IMPLICIT.
This line of reasoning seems fine.
The structure of a summative modifier is as follows:
COMMA + ABSTRACT NOUN + ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER.
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by RBBmba@2014 » Wed Jun 17, 2015 7:58 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
RBBmba@2014 wrote: But for the SC at hand, findings [THAT ARE] consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area - is the MODIFIER "Relative Pronoun Clause beginning with that" missing (re understood) here after the NOUN findings ?
.
.
.
Bottom-line is in both the above SCs, there is a MODIFIER "Relative Pronoun Clause beginning with that" after the NOUN. ONLY DIFFERENCE is in case of event , the MODIFIER is EXPLICIT and in case of findings , the MODIFIER is IMPLICIT.
This line of reasoning seems fine.
The structure of a summative modifier is as follows:
COMMA + ABSTRACT NOUN + ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER.
@ GMATGuruNY - could you please provide any OTHER Official questions in which such usage (re MODIFIER is IMPLICIT as it's in the SC containing findings) of ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER is visible ?

How often we can expect such IMPLICIT usage on GMAT ?

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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:43 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote: @ GMATGuruNY - could you please provide any OTHER Official questions in which such usage (re MODIFIER is IMPLICIT as it's in the SC containing findings) of ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER is visible ?

How often we can expect such IMPLICIT usage on GMAT ?
It is VERY common for that to be omitted when an essential noun modifier follows a noun.
Examples in the OG13:
the many pieces he had started
miniature eyes called ommatidia
a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage
the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people.

The red portions above are all essential noun modifiers NOT preceded by that.
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by RBBmba@2014 » Thu Oct 29, 2015 5:52 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
RBBmba@2014 wrote: @ GMATGuruNY - could you please provide any OTHER Official questions in which such usage (re MODIFIER is IMPLICIT as it's in the SC containing findings) of ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER is visible ?

How often we can expect such IMPLICIT usage on GMAT ?
It is VERY common for that to be omitted when an essential noun modifier follows a noun.
Examples in the OG13:
the many pieces he had started
miniature eyes called ommatidia
a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage
the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people.

The red portions above are all essential noun modifiers NOT preceded by that.
Hi Mitch - a quick question on how we can understand/determine WHEN IMPLICIT usage (as it's in the SC containing findings consistent with its growth...) of ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER is EXACTLY correct ?

Because in CONTRAST to your above examples,in the following Official SC THAT is NOT omitted although an essential noun modifier follows a noun. So, is there ANY WAY to understand when THAT is to be dropped and doing so won't be an issue ?

Would it be possible for you to shed some light on these aspects ?
GMATGuruNY wrote: Another official example:
Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

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by RBBmba@2014 » Wed Nov 18, 2015 6:40 am
Hi GMATGuruNY,
Could you please share your feedback on my concerns (in the IMMEDIATE above post) on your previous quotes ?

Look forward to your reply. Much thanks in advance!

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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Nov 18, 2015 2:26 pm
RBBmba@2014 wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
RBBmba@2014 wrote: @ GMATGuruNY - could you please provide any OTHER Official questions in which such usage (re MODIFIER is IMPLICIT as it's in the SC containing findings) of ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER is visible ?

How often we can expect such IMPLICIT usage on GMAT ?
It is VERY common for that to be omitted when an essential noun modifier follows a noun.
Examples in the OG13:
the many pieces he had started
miniature eyes called ommatidia
a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage
the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people.

The red portions above are all essential noun modifiers NOT preceded by that.
Hi Mitch - a quick question on how we can understand/determine WHEN IMPLICIT usage (as it's in the SC containing findings consistent with its growth...) of ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER is EXACTLY correct ?

Because in CONTRAST to your above examples,in the following Official SC THAT is NOT omitted although an essential noun modifier follows a noun. So, is there ANY WAY to understand when THAT is to be dropped and doing so won't be an issue ?

Would it be possible for you to shed some light on these aspects ?
GMATGuruNY wrote: Another official example:
Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
Generally, an essential noun modifier will begin with that only when necessary.
the many pieces he had started
miniature eyes called ommatidia
a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage
the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people.

In these examples, the essential modifiers in red omit that because its usage is not necessary.

Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
Here, it is not possible to omit the two usages of that.
The result would be the following:
Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event caused the plant and animal extinctions mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
The resulting sentence is nonsensical.
Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by RBBmba@2014 » Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:19 am
GMATGuruNY wrote: It is VERY common for that to be omitted when an essential noun modifier follows a noun.
Examples in the OG13:
the many pieces he had started
miniature eyes called ommatidia
a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage
the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people.

The red portions above are all essential noun modifiers NOT preceded by that.
GMATGuruNY wrote:Generally, a non-essential noun modifier will begin with that only when necessary.
the many pieces he had started
miniature eyes called ommatidia
a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage
the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people.

In these examples, the non-essential modifiers in red omit that because its usage is not necessary.
Hi Mitch,
I'm kind of lost here...In your FIRST quote you've mentioned that these Examples are of ESSENTIAL noun modifiers following a noun. Whereas, in your SECOND quote you've mentioned that these Examples are of NON-ESSENTIAL noun modifiers!!

So, my questions are -

(1) Which one of your above TWO quotes is CORRECT ? And how we can identify which are ESSENTIAL and which are NON-ESSENTIAL noun modifiers ? Please shed some light.

(2) How we can understand/determine WHEN IMPLICIT usage of THAT (as it's in the SC containing findings consistent with its growth...) in an ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER is EXACTLY correct ?

(3) Is there ANY WAY to understand when THAT is to be dropped and doing so won't be an issue ?

Kindly help!
GMATGuruNY wrote:Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
Here, it is not possible to omit the two usages of that.
The result would be following:
Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event caused the plant and animal extinctions mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
The resulting sentence is nonsensical.
Yes,ABSOLUTELY.

Just a quick question - if THAT is dropped ONLY after EVENT then will the modified sentence be okay ?

Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event caused the plant and animal extinctions THAT mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:58 am
RBBmba@2014 wrote:In your FIRST quote you've mentioned that these Examples are of ESSENTIAL noun modifiers following a noun. Whereas, in your SECOND quote you've mentioned that these Examples are of NON-ESSENTIAL noun modifiers!!
Good catch.
All of the modifiers discussed in my post above are ESSENTIAL noun modifiers.
The term non-essential was used inadvertently.
I've amended the post accordingly.
How we can understand/determine WHEN IMPLICIT usage of THAT (as it's in the SC containing findings consistent with its growth...) in an ESSENTIAL NOUN MODIFIER is EXACTLY correct ?

(3) Is there ANY WAY to understand when THAT is to be dropped and doing so won't be an issue ?
Generally, an essential noun modifier will begin with that only when necessary.
To determine whether the usage of that is required, read the sentence both with that and without it.
If the meaning is crystal clear without the usage of that -- and no grammatical rules are broken -- then the usage of that is unnecessary.

OA:
Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area.
Case 2:
Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments, findings THAT ARE consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area.

In Case 2, the inclusion of that are serves no grammatical or semantic purpose.
The OA -- which omits that are -- conveys the same meaning, breaks no grammatical rules, and is more concise.
For this reason, the omission of that are in the OA should not be considered an error.
Quite the opposite -- the omission of that are IMPROVES the sentence by making it more concise.
Just a quick question - if THAT is dropped ONLY after EVENT then will the modified sentence be okay ?

Sixty-five million years ago an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, an event caused the plant and animal extinctions THAT mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
Not viable.
Here, a comma incorrectly serves to connect two independent clauses (an asteroid slammed into North America and an event caused the plant and animal distinctions).
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by RBBmba@2014 » Thu Nov 19, 2015 10:04 am
Thanks Mitch.

Can you please shed some light that how we should distinguish between ESSENTIAL noun modifiers and NON-ESSENTIAL noun modifiers ?

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Nov 20, 2015 3:25 pm
RBBmba@2014 wrote:Thanks Mitch.

Can you please shed some light that how we should distinguish between ESSENTIAL noun modifiers and NON-ESSENTIAL noun modifiers ?
Generally:
An adjective that touches the modified noun or begins with that is an ESSENTIAL noun modifier.
An adjective that does NOT touch the modified noun or begin with that is a NON-ESSENTIAL noun modifier.
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