The Washington monument's defects in its supporting....

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 103
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:38 am
Location: India
Thanked: 7 times
Followed by:3 members
GMAT Score:730
Question picked up from MGMAT forum. No answers in that forum yet. Hence posting here.
Source - not sure. Author must have modified another similar question.

The Washington monument's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration have been corrected, according to the engineers at the National Museum of American History.

A) The Washington monument's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration
B) The Washington monument's defects in its supporting structure, leading to its deterioration
C) Leading to its deterioration, the Washington monument's defects in its supporting structure
D) The defects that the Washington monument had in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration
E) The defects in the supporting structure of the Washington monument which led to its deterioration

Seems like a typical modifier problem. Author claims OA is E, but that doesn't look right to me at all.
I personally went with D. I'll post my reasoning after a few replies.
Comments and rationale please!
Source: — Sentence Correction |

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 103
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:38 am
Location: India
Thanked: 7 times
Followed by:3 members
GMAT Score:730

by itheenigma » Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:41 am
Crap! :(
The more I look at all the options, the more I feel OA is the best among the lot.
I ruled out option E solely because of the modifier rule. I suppose that rule doesn't apply because of the absence of comma. Is it so?
Now, I'm getting the feeling all options can be seen from a pronoun ambiguity perspective than from a modifier angle.
Again, am I right in my approach?

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 57
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:54 am
Location: India
Thanked: 8 times
GMAT Score:640

by chetansharma » Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:14 am
itheenigma wrote:Crap! :(
The more I look at all the options, the more I feel OA is the best among the lot.
I ruled out option E solely because of the modifier rule. I suppose that rule doesn't apply because of the absence of comma. Is it so?
Now, I'm getting the feeling all options can be seen from a pronoun ambiguity perspective than from a modifier angle.
Again, am I right in my approach?
Hi itheenigma,
I am no expert in Verbal (at least not in sentence correction :wink: ) but I will try to explain.
'Which' when used as relative pronoun generally refers to the noun preceding to it. Here in the option E 'its' is clearly referring to the Washington monument. Also option E is more concise and qualifies for the best option among the given option. Hopefully i have answered your question. B-)

Comments and corrections are welcomed!!!

• Page 1 of 1