gmat prep 1

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gmat prep 1

by jainrahul1985 » Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:08 am
A study of food resources in the North Pacific between 1989 and 1996 revealed that creatures of the seabed were suffering from dwindling food supplies, possibly resulting from increasing sea surface temperatures during the same period.

(A) that creatures of the seabed were suffering from dwindling food supplies, possibly resulting from increasing
(B) that creatures of the seabed were suffering because food supplies were dwindling, possibly as a result of an increase in
(C) that creatures of the seabed were suffering because of food supplies, which were dwindling possibly as a result of increasing
(D) creatures of the seabed that were suffering from food supplies that were dwindling, possibly resulting from an increase in
(E) creatures of the seabed that were suffering because food supplies were dwindling, which possibly resulted from increasing

OA B

Why is A wrong
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by e-GMAT » Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:46 am
Choice A is incorrect because of two things: idiom error and meaning error.

1: Idiom: "suffering from dwindling food supplies" is incorrect. From our common understanding of English, it is correct to say that "he suffers from a disease". We do not say "he suffers from hectic life style". We say "he suffers from exertion caused by his hectic life style". Thus, on similar lines, in this sentence saying "creatures suffered from dwindling food supplies" is incorrect. It should be as Choice B indicates, " creatures were suffering because food supplies were dwindling.

2: Meaning: The sentence indicates that creatures suffered because of dwindling food supplies. Now notice the verb-ing modifier - resulting from increasing sea surface temperature. This modifier is separated with a comma, and hence modifies the preceding clause or the action of suffering. Thus, it modifies or provides reason for why creature were suffering from decreasing food supplies - because of increasing sea temperatures. Now this does not make sense. Essentially - creatures suffered because of dwindling food supplies. We already know the reason for the suffering. Thus, this modification is incorrect.

Ideally as in Choice B, "increasing sea surface temperatures" should be the reason for why the food supplies dwindled.

To summarize, choice A conveys an illogical meaning. But from the different parts of this sentence, we were able to infer the correct meaning and choice B clearly communicates that meaning.

Thanks,

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by lunarpower » Wed Aug 10, 2011 12:56 am
Why is A wrong
(a) states that the creatures were suffering from the food supplies themselves. this is illogical; even if they are dwindling, food supplies themselves are not an ailment. (i believe this is the point that e-gmat is getting at, above.)

also, it's an incorrect use of "comma + -ing" -- remember that those modifiers should ideally modify the preceding clause and be relevant to the subject of that clause.
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by vikram4689 » Fri Nov 02, 2012 8:19 pm
lunarpower wrote:also, it's an incorrect use of "comma + -ing" -- remember that those modifiers should ideally modify the preceding clause and be relevant to the subject of that clause.
i believe you are talking about "resulting from" in option a). doesn't this view contrasts with your earlier post https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/pos ... tml#p10569 in which you mentioned that "resulting from" after comma is inherently incorrect
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by lunarpower » Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:46 am
vikram4689 wrote:doesn't this view contrasts with your earlier post
nope. the post you linked contains a general observation; this post, here, contains the reason why that observation is likely to be valid.
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by vikram4689 » Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:02 am
lunarpower wrote: nope. the post you linked contains a general observation; this post, here, contains the reason why that observation is likely to be valid.
sorry i didn't understand. you are saying that the post i link is valid i.e. comma+'resulting from' is incorrect. but in above post, you are saying comma+'resulting from' is modifying previous clause.

please note that my point is not regarding "comma+verb-ing" modifier in general. my concern is that we should eliminate a) solely on the basis of this post i.e. comma+'resulting from' is wrong https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/pos ... tml#p10569
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by lunarpower » Sat Nov 17, 2012 7:30 am
vikram4689 wrote:
lunarpower wrote: nope. the post you linked contains a general observation; this post, here, contains the reason why that observation is likely to be valid.
sorry i didn't understand. you are saying that the post i link is valid i.e. comma+'resulting from' is incorrect. but in above post, you are saying comma+'resulting from' is modifying previous clause.
i don't have much insight here, beyond what i wrote in the post above, so i'll try to write the same idea in different words.

basically, comma + "resulting from" doesn't work, in these examples, because it doesn't properly describe the preceding clause.

more generally, upon some reflection, i wasn't able to come up with any instance in which that modifier could sensibly modify the preceding clause, so i advised people to avoid it in general.
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