Bacteria

GmatKiss wrote:Less detrimental than the effects of bacterial transformation is the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding, decay of wood, and other undesirable alterations of substances.

(A) is the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding
(B) are the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding
(C) is the effects of bacterial deterioration, which include spoilage of food, metals corroding
(D) are the effects of bacterial deterioration, which includes spoilage of food, corrosion of metals
(E) are the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, corrosion of metals

What is wrong with D

Nothing. D and E are both internally correct, E slightly more concise which is why it's probably the right answer.

(D) are the effects of bacterial deterioration, which includes spoilage of food, corrosion of metals

which refers to effects(plural) and therefore the verb includes(singular) is incorrect .

when we have a mission critical OF modifier : X of Y , which
which refers to X .

E is right as Colon is used to link lists where the items contain commas to avoid confusion between list items

Geva@MasterGMAT wrote:

GmatKiss wrote:Less detrimental than the effects of bacterial transformation is the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding, decay of wood, and other undesirable alterations of substances.

(A) is the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding
(B) are the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding
(C) is the effects of bacterial deterioration, which include spoilage of food, metals corroding
(D) are the effects of bacterial deterioration, which includes spoilage of food, corrosion of metals
(E) are the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, corrosion of metals

What is wrong with D

Nothing. D and E are both internally correct, E slightly more concise which is why it's probably the right answer.

Hi,

Is D eliminated for being wordy?

TIA,
GK

[quote="786"](D) are the effects of bacterial deterioration, which includes spoilage of food, corrosion of metals

which refers to effects(plural) and therefore the verb includes(singular) is incorrect .

when we have a mission critical OF modifier : X of Y , which
which refers to X .[/quote]

Is it really so? 'which' normally refers to the preceding noun/pronoun.

Please shed some light on it.

GmatKiss wrote: Hi,

Is D eliminated for being wordy?

TIA,
GK

Think as explained correctly the subject "effects of Bacterial deterioration" is plural and hence cannot be clubbed with a singular verb "includes". Thus D stands eliminated.
Apologies if you already spotted it.

GmatKiss wrote:Less detrimental than the effects of bacterial transformation is the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding, decay of wood, and other undesirable alterations of substances.

(A) is the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding
(B) are the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, metals corroding
(C) is the effects of bacterial deterioration, which include spoilage of food, metals corroding
(D) are the effects of bacterial deterioration, which includes spoilage of food, corrosion of metals
(E) are the effects of bacterial deterioration: spoilage of food, corrosion of metals

What is wrong with D

In order to represent the list of items we basically use colon and colon can be replaced by namely........

786 wrote:(D) are the effects of bacterial deterioration, which includes spoilage of food, corrosion of metals

which refers to effects(plural) and therefore the verb includes(singular) is incorrect .

when we have a mission critical OF modifier : X of Y , which
which refers to X .

The leader of the Cahona silverback Gorillas, which are usually distrustful of strangers, is actually a small but clever Ourang Outang.

The subject of the main clause is the singular X "the leader", and correctly agrees with a singular verb "is".

However, the relative clause beginning with "which" modifies the noun directly before it - in this case the "Cahona silverback Gorillas". This is a Plural noun, and thus agrees with a plural verb "are".

The same thing happens D: the relative clause beginning with which modifies the singular noun "bacterial deterioration", so the singular verb "includes" is grammatically correct. I agree that logically, it makes more sense for the effects of deterioration to include spoilage of food, corrosion of metals, decay, etc. than for the deterioaration itself to include these phenomena - another point in favor of E instead of D, besides conciseness. But grammatically, there's no real SVA problem with D.


I agree that logically it makes more sen