Sentence Correction

119. Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers,
significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
more than $100 billion a year.

(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business
of
(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business
(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of
(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business
(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business



OA B
But I still have a continual doubt. Lets write the correct answer

119. Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers,significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business more than $100 billion a year.

Shouldnt this be businesses , someone please explain

Source: 10th edition O.G

yeh i think it should be businesses...but then we have to choose the lesser evil out of the bunch ...which in this case is B

(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business
of --> Incorrect: are a cost to business is wordy compared to "cost business"
(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business correct
(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of Incorrect: "with business costs of is awkward and wordy "
(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business"significant in" seems wordy and awkward
(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business "significant in" seems wordy and awkward

What does which refer to? Effects

subgeeth wrote:What does which refer to? Effects

yes it should refer to effects because it is followed by "of" which is a MIDDLEMAN

business of sounds better than businesses of
here cost is discussed not type of businesses so B is correct

neoreaves wrote:

subgeeth wrote:What does which refer to? Effects

yes it should refer to effects because it is followed by "of" which is a MIDDLEMAN

I am not sure about Businesses .

But WHICH dose not refer to Effects but it refers to drug and alcohol abuse .

Please correct me if I am wrong .

rockeyb wrote:

neoreaves wrote:

subgeeth wrote:What does which refer to? Effects

yes it should refer to effects because it is followed by "of" which is a MIDDLEMAN

I am not sure about Businesses .

But WHICH dose not refer to Effects but it refers to drug and alcohol abuse .

Please correct me if I am wrong .

No !

I am pretty sure WHICH refers to Effects


think about "houses of Donal Trump is/are decorated by Alfred" ...

would we use is or are ? .....of is a MIDDLEMAN so we will use are here ....similarly which refers to effects

Please see the Ron explanation
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/exe ... t1651.html

I have following notes of Ron explanation of some other post. It will clear about which.
---------------------------
if you have "X of Y, which..."
then:
if Y works as the antecedent of "which", then "which" should stand for Y.
if Y doesn't work as the antecedent, but "X of Y" DOES work, then "which" can stand for "X of Y".

The GMAT tends to write sentences in which "which" or "who" stands for the ELIGIBLE noun / noun phrase that's closest to the comma.
By "eligible", I mean that the noun has to
* AGREE IN TERMS OF SINGULAR/PLURAL with the FOLLOWING VERB
* AGREE IN TERMS OF PERSON/THING (i.e., no "which" for people, no "who" for things)

here's an example:

The box of nails, which is on the counter, is to be used on this project.

In this case, "which" CANNOT refer to "nails", since the verb "is" is singular. Therefore, the nearest eligible noun is "box (of nails)". So, "which" unambiguously stands for that.

In our observation, the GMAT has been VERY good about this.
Whenever I have seen a "which"/"who" that refers to "X + preposition + Y" rather than just Y, it has ALWAYS been the case that X was singular and Y was plural (or X was plural and Y was singular), and the verb had a form that matched X and didn't match Y.
------------------------------------------

neoreaves wrote:
No !

I am pretty sure WHICH refers to Effects


think about "houses of Donal Trump is/are decorated by Alfred" ...

would we use is or are ? .....of is a MIDDLEMAN so we will use are here ....similarly which refers to effects

"houses of Donal Trump is/are decorated by Alfred"

Here the subject is HOUSES and hence the verb ARE and not IS .

This method is OK when you are trying to find subject verb agreement and you remove the -Of prepositional phrase that acts as a middle man between the subject and the verb .

In this complete phrase "significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse" can you tell me what is the subject , verb and why should you consider the -Of prepositional phrase as middle man .

But when it comes to WHICH . Specially Comma (,) + WHICH .

As per rule WHICH refers to the NOUN immediately preceding it and never to the entire clause .

The noun that immediately precedes WHICH is ABUSE but we need to consider it in context of the sentence hence it is "drug and alcohol abuse" and not only ABUSE .

i would suggest that instead of creating your own set of grammar rules ....as suggested by akhp77

Please see the Ron explanation
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/exe ... t1651.html

neoreaves wrote:i would suggest that instead of creating your own set of grammar rules ....as suggested by akhp77

Please see the Ron explanation
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/exe ... t1651.html

Well thanks for that looks like I am wrong once again today .

I am not creating my own rules just quoting from MGMAT SC book page 91 , chapter 6 .

Any ways thanks .

neoreaves wrote:i would suggest that instead of creating your own set of grammar rules ....as suggested by akhp77

Please see the Ron explanation
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/exe ... t1651.html

This link doesn't work any more. Would you please someone shed light on the word that "which" refers to?
Also I have another question: What is the role of "compounding" in this question? Is it a verb?

thanks alot