Organic food industry GMAT Prep Question

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valleeny: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 59; Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 4:54 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 8 times

by valleeny » Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:45 am

The organic food industry has organized a successful grassroots campaign - using Web sites, public meetings, and also mass mailings - that have convinced the Department of Agriclture to change the proposed federal regulations for organically grown food.

(A) using Web sites, public meetings, and also mass mailings - that have convinced
(B) using Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - that has convinced
(C) by using Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - in convincing
(D) by the use of Web sites, public meetings, as well as mass mailings - that convinced
(E) which used Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - in convincing

Can I have the explanation here?

What is wrong with ... campaign, which used...

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:45 am

vijay_venky: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 173; Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:18 pm; Location: Hyderabad; Thanked: 12 times

by vijay_venky » Mon Jan 25, 2010 2:25 am

I think which used or the option E actually changes the intended meaning of the sentence.

the sentence tries to put forward all the characteristics of the meeting probably to give additional information not anything more. but the option E actually changes the intended meaning by making the characteristics responsible for the change in the proposal while the sentence tries to convey that the meeting itself is responsible for the change.

Please correct me if I am wrong

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sat Feb 27, 2010 3:15 am

valleeny wrote:The organic food industry has organized a successful grassroots campaign - using Web sites, public meetings, and also mass mailings - that have convinced the Department of Agriclture to change the proposed federal regulations for organically grown food.

(A) using Web sites, public meetings, and also mass mailings - that have convinced
(B) using Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - that has convinced
(C) by using Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - in convincing
(D) by the use of Web sites, public meetings, as well as mass mailings - that convinced
(E) which used Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - in convincing

Can I have the explanation here?

What is wrong with ... campaign, which used...

nothing is wrong with "which" at all. the problem with (e) lies in the incorrectly used modifier "in convincing".

--

* if you say "subject + clause + IN VERBing", then subject + clause must be an ACTUAL PART of the action of VERBing.
e.g.
i solved all the problems in OG12 in preparing for the GMAT.
--> notice that solving the problems IS ACTUALLY PART OF preparing for the test.

choice (e) fails here, since organizing the campaign (the main clause) is not ACTUALLY PART OF convincing the government.

--

this is one of two problems with choice (e).
the other is incorrect verb tense. "which used" (simple past tense) shouldn't be in a tense occurring prior to "has organized" (present perfect). this construction mistakenly suggests that the campaign "used X, Y, and Z" before it was even organized in the first place.

Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sat Feb 27, 2010 3:19 am

also, as long as we're on the topic of incorrectly used transitions, there's another one in choice (c).

* if you say "subject + clause + BY VERBing", then "by VERBing" must explain HOW the main clause occurred.
e.g.
i prepared for the test by reviewing takeaways on the MGMAT forums.
note that the boldface clause describes HOW i prepared for the test.

using this fact, choice (c) would mean that using websites, etc. was HOW the industry organized the campaign -- in other words, they used the websites and public meetings to organize the campaign in the first place. that's an incorrect meaning.
(the campaign ITSELF used these things; the correct modifier in (a) and (b) shows that relationship.)

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sat Feb 27, 2010 3:21 am

finally, the easiest way to kill (d) is to note that the construction "X, Y, as well as Z" simply doesn't exist.
the only way to properly string three items in a list is "X, Y, and Z".

--

another way to figure out that this is wrong is to realize that "as well as ..." is a MODIFIER, and thus can be stricken from the sentence without affecting the surrounding grammar.
that's problematic: if you strike "as well as mass mailings" from (d), you get remaining words that clearly don't work.

remember: "as well as" is NOT a replacement for "and".

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tanviet: Legendary Member; Posts: 1404; Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 6:55 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 18 times

by tanviet » Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:36 pm

I do not understand the difference among:

- The industry has organized a successful campaign - using Web sites - that has convinced the Department to change the regulations

-The industry has organized a successful campaign , using Web sites, that has convinced the Department to change the regulations

- The industry has organized a successful campaign - by using Web sites - that has convinced the Department to change the regulations

please, see the dash, comma and "by"

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sam2304: Legendary Member; Posts: 1239; Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2011 6:25 amFollowed by: 26 members; Thanked: 233 times; GMAT Score:680

by sam2304 » Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:07 pm

Comma and dashes are interchangeable at times. Please check the below links.

https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/dashes.asp
https://www.writersblock.ca/tips/monthtip/tipjun96.htm

As for the usage of by - its explained by Ron in the post above yours

* if you say "subject + clause + BY VERBing", then "by VERBing" must explain HOW the main clause occurred.
e.g.
i prepared for the test by reviewing takeaways on the MGMAT forums.
note that the boldface clause describes HOW i prepared for the test.

using this fact, choice (c) would mean that using websites, etc. was HOW the industry organized the campaign -- in other words, they used the websites and public meetings to organize the campaign in the first place. that's an incorrect meaning.
(the campaign ITSELF used these things; the correct modifier in (a) and (b) shows that relationship.)

Getting defeated is just a temporary notion, giving it up is what makes it permanent.
https://gmatandbeyond.blogspot.in/

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GmatKiss: Legendary Member; Posts: 2789; Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 amFollowed by: 43 members; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 206 times; GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:26 am

The organic food industry has organized a successful grassroots campaign - using Web sites, public meetings, and also mass mailings - that have convinced the Department of Agriculture to change the proposed federal regulations for organically grown food.

(A) using Web sites, public meetings, and also mass mailings - that have convinced
(B) using Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - that has convinced
(C) by using Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - in convincing
(D) by the use of Web sites, public meetings, as well as mass mailings - that convinced
(E) which used Web sites, public meetings, and mass mailings - in convincing

IMO: B, what is the OA?

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cocowu: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2014 7:40 pm

by cocowu » Fri Jul 25, 2014 4:56 am

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Aman Ahuja: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 37; Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 10:40 am; Thanked: 1 times

by Aman Ahuja » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:13 am

Hi Ron
You said "the campaign ITSELF used these things; the correct modifier in (a) and (b) shows that relationship"
but Dash grammatically behaves like a Comma , so shouldn't this modifier behave like a "comma + -ing" modifier and shouldn't industry be the agent of the action "using websites ,public meetings and mass mailings"
Thanks in advance

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:42 pm

Aman Ahuja wrote:Hi Ron
You said "the campaign ITSELF used these things; the correct modifier in (a) and (b) shows that relationship"
but Dash grammatically behaves like a Comma , so shouldn't this modifier behave like a "comma + -ing" modifier and shouldn't industry be the agent of the action "using websites ,public meetings and mass mailings"
Thanks in advance

Two things.

1/
In general, you shouldn't think of "using" as an __ing form.

Like "including", "using" is allowed more latitude than other words spelled with __ing. In fact, it's used more like a preposition (e.g., "with") than like a typical __ing form.
For instance, check out #13 in the OG 13th edition SC chapter. In that problem, "using" is used exactly like "with". (If it were interpreted as a typical __ing modifier, it would be problematic: it would suggest that the walls themselves were actively using building materials!)

2/
While it's true that the dashes work like commas in this context, dashes can substitute for almost any piece of punctuation.
You may already know this; just wanted to make sure.

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Aman Ahuja: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 37; Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 10:40 am; Thanked: 1 times

by Aman Ahuja » Wed Sep 03, 2014 11:50 am

Hi Ron
Thank you for your wonderful explanations.
I have two questions:
1) Are there any more notable -ing forms(such as including and using) that do not follow the conventional comma+-ing modifier constructions
2)If we have a construction like
Subject+verb-(dash)Verbing modifier
will this work like a typical comma+-ing modifier
Ps:I didn't know that fact about dashes .I guess I learn something new everyday
Thanks for increasing my knowledge

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:04 pm

Aman Ahuja wrote:Hi Ron
Thank you for your wonderful explanations.
I have two questions:
1) Are there any more notable -ing forms(such as including and using) that do not follow the conventional comma+-ing modifier constructions

No one is going to be able to answer this kind of question, because this isn't how the human brain stores information.

Think of a word, from your own first language, that is "exceptional" in some way. Now, ask yourself the same type of question ("What are the other words that act like this?")
You may be able to think of some examples, but, clearly, you won't be able to come up with an exhaustive list.

--

In this case, I can't think of any others right away. But that doesn't guarantee the non-existence of others.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:05 pm

2)If we have a construction like
Subject+verb-(dash)Verbing modifier
will this work like a typical comma+-ing modifier
Ps:I didn't know that fact about dashes .I guess I learn something new everyday
Thanks for increasing my knowledge :)

Probably.

As always, context matters.

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Aman Ahuja: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 37; Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 10:40 am; Thanked: 1 times

by Aman Ahuja » Sat Sep 06, 2014 9:56 pm

Thank you Ron...

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