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chaitanya.mehrotra: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 184; Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:57 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 1 times; GMAT Score:700

by chaitanya.mehrotra » Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:15 pm

Can somebody explain the approach to this question ?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:15 pm

kevincanspain: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 613; Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:17 amFollowed by: 64 members; Location: madrid; Thanked: 171 times; GMAT Score:790

by kevincanspain » Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:26 pm

The first thing to do is to read the orginal sentence for meaning: what is 'harder to detect' referring to? What is the main idea of the sentence?

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jonathan123456: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 96; Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 8:46 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by jonathan123456 » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:25 pm

IMO D. Is OA D as marked?

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chaitanya.mehrotra: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 184; Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:57 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 1 times; GMAT Score:700

by chaitanya.mehrotra » Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:21 pm

Yes D is OA

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gmat25: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 189; Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:57 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 17 times

by gmat25 » Thu Jul 21, 2011 6:06 am

kevincanspain wrote:The first thing to do is to read the orginal sentence for meaning: what is 'harder to detect' referring to? What is the main idea of the sentence?

Why Op C is wrong???? the comparison in first part is correct and "emerging" (COMMA + ING) i believe correctly modifying Soft plaque.

Moreover, In Op D, can u please suggest if it correct to place a COMMA between Sudden and unexpected....this COMMA is unnecessarily creating confusion. I think AND should be placed between these two words rather than a COMMA.

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chaitanya.mehrotra: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 184; Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:57 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 1 times; GMAT Score:700

by chaitanya.mehrotra » Thu Jul 21, 2011 10:16 am

I have a query: In option C, if we remove now -> emerging will act as modifier and modify Subject + Verb ( Soft plaque is). Then the meaning is alright.

WIll option C be correct if remove "Now"
-> Soft plaque is harder to detect and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque, emerging as the cause of up to 80% of heart attacks.

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aspirant2011: Legendary Member; Posts: 1574; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:52 amFollowed by: 13 members; Thanked: 88 times

by aspirant2011 » Thu Jul 21, 2011 10:24 am

i think in C the modifier "now emerging as the cause of upto 80% of heart attacks" tends to wrongly modify hard plaque instead of soft plaque and therefore option C is wrong............

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Fri Jul 22, 2011 7:04 am

Soft plaque is now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks, harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture than hard plaque

A) Soft plaque is now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks, harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture than hard plaque

B) Soft plaque is now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks, as opposed to hard plaque, harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden,unexpected rupture

C) Soft plaque is harder to detect and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque, now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks

D) Soft plaque, harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture than hard plaque, is now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks

E) Soft plaque, because it is harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture, is emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks, as opposed to hard plaque

I shall post the answer after a few comments

Thanks

In A, harder to detect incorrectly modifies eighty percent of heart attacks. Eliminate A.

In B, harder to detect seems to modify hard plaque. The intended meaning of the sentence is that soft plaque is harder to detect. Eliminate B.

In E, as opposed to hard plaque should be placed closer to the element being opposed (soft plaque). Eliminate E.

In C, it is unclear whether now emerging modifies soft plaque or hard plaque. Generally, a present participle (such as emerging) preceded by a comma refers to the subject of the preceding clause. C is confusing because the comparison in the preceding clause-- soft plaque [is] harder to detect...than [is] hard plaque -- implies two potential subjects: hard plaque and soft plaque. Many readers will assume that emerging refers to hard plaque, since it is the closer of the two preceding subjects. The intended meaning of the sentence, however, is that emerging refers to soft plaque. Since it must be clear what a modifier is modifying, eliminate C.

The correct answer is D.

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gmat25: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 189; Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 6:57 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 17 times

by gmat25 » Fri Jul 22, 2011 8:44 am

Hi Mitch,

Thanks a lot for your post. But i have one more doubt.

Generally, a present participle (such as emerging) preceded by a comma refers to the subject of the preceding clause. C is confusing because the comparison in the preceding clause-- soft plaque [is] harder to detect...than [is] hard plaque -- implies two potential subjects:

First time i have seen such thing here that when in a clause we compare two items then we have two potential subjects and that's why as u said its unclear what that -ing participle is referring to. Thanks, i learned a new concept here.

Doubt:---->

In Op D, can u please suggest if it correct to place a COMMA between Sudden and unexpected....this COMMA is unnecessarily creating confusion. I think AND should be placed between these two words rather than a COMMA.

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:33 am

gmat25 wrote:Hi Mitch,

Thanks a lot for your post. But i have one more doubt.

Generally, a present participle (such as emerging) preceded by a comma refers to the subject of the preceding clause. C is confusing because the comparison in the preceding clause-- soft plaque [is] harder to detect...than [is] hard plaque -- implies two potential subjects:
First time i have seen such thing here that when in a clause we compare two items then we have two potential subjects and that's why as u said its unclear what that -ing participle is referring to. Thanks, i learned a new concept here.

Doubt:---->

In Op D, can u please suggest if it correct to place a COMMA between Sudden and unexpected....this COMMA is unnecessarily creating confusion. I think AND should be placed between these two words rather than a COMMA.

It is quite common to insert a comma between two adjectives modifying the same noun:

Mary was a happy, wealthy woman.
The handsome, smiling stranger entered the room.
In an instant, the two were swept away by a magical, all-consuming passion.

Punctuation issues are rarely addressed on the GMAT. Consider a punctuation issue only if it presents a clear, grammatical error or a change in meaning. Whether to insert a comma or and between sudden and unexpected is an issue not of grammar or meaning but of style.

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gmatjeet: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 102; Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 7:10 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 8 times; GMAT Score:690

by gmatjeet » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:37 am

chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:I have a query: In option C, if we remove now -> emerging will act as modifier and modify Subject + Verb ( Soft plaque is). Then the meaning is alright.

WIll option C be correct if remove "Now"
-> Soft plaque is harder to detect and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque, emerging as the cause of up to 80% of heart attacks.

Can someone answer this question please. I understand why C is wrong in the original sentence. But the quoted sentence seems to be right as per me.

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Sat Jul 30, 2011 1:45 pm

gmatjeet wrote:
chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:I have a query: In option C, if we remove now -> emerging will act as modifier and modify Subject + Verb ( Soft plaque is). Then the meaning is alright.

WIll option C be correct if remove "Now"
-> Soft plaque is harder to detect and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque, emerging as the cause of up to 80% of heart attacks.
Can someone answer this question please. I understand why C is wrong in the original sentence. But the quoted sentence seems to be right as per me.

Removing now helps, but some readers might still wonder whether emerging refers to soft plaque or to hard plaque, since both are subjects in the previous part of the sentence (soft plaque is harder to detect than hard plaque [is]).

There is another error in C. A present participle (such as emerging) expresses contemporaneous action (one action taking place at the same time as another action). The two actions in C, however, are not contemporaneous: soft plaque is harder to detect is an ongoing event, whereas emerging is an action happening only during a particular period of time. Since the two time frames are different, the present participle emerging is inappropriate.

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