massi2884 wrote:Last spring a Colorado health department survey of 72 playgrounds in private child-care centers found unsafe conditions in 95 percent of them and they ranged from splinters to equipment near collapse.
(A) unsafe conditions in 95 percent of them and they ranged
(B) conditions in 95 percent were unsafe and ranging
(C) the ranging of unsafe conditions in 95 percent of them to be
(D) that 95 percent had unsafe conditions ranging
(E) that 95 percent of them had conditions that were unsafe; the range was
[spoiler]OA is D Can you please explain why D is right and E is wrong?[/spoiler]
Thanks.
First of all, (E) is wordy --- notice it's the longest answer, and very seldom will the longest of the five answer choices be the correct choice. "For example, "conditions that were unsafe" is a very roundabout way to say "unsafe conditions." Furthermore, the word "range" is ambiguous --- if I just heard...
Last spring a Colorado health department survey of 72 playgrounds in private child-care centers found that 95 percent of them had conditions that were unsafe; the range was ...
... I would have no idea where that sentence is going. The range could be the geographic range, the variation in child-care centers, etc. When we hear the conclusion "from splinters to equipment near collapse", then we can put together --- oh, they mean the range of unsafe conditions. The trouble is: we have to work that out on our own using logic, because the grammar doesn't make it immediately clear. Any time that the grammar isn't clear, and you have to work things out using logic instead of grammar, that's not a strong sentence. That's why (E) is wrong.
Meanwhile, (D) is perfectly correct.
Last spring a Colorado health department survey of 72 playgrounds in private child-care centers found that 95 percent had unsafe conditions ranging from splinters to equipment near collapse.
First of all, it's short and compact -- in fact, it's the shortest of the five answer. The shortest of the five answers won't always be the correct one, but on the GMAT, when an answer choice of short, it's an immediate vote of confidence.
The sentence ... "
Last spring a Colorado health department survey of 72 playgrounds in private child-care centers found that 95 percent had unsafe conditions." ... is very clear and grammatically correct. The subject is "survey", the verb is "found", and the direct object is a noun clause: "that 95 percent had unsafe conditions." What (D) does is add the remaining information as a participial phrase modifying the final word "conditions." This participial phrase "
ranging from splinters to equipment near collapse" tells us what kinds of conditions, and it obeys the Modifier Touch Rule because it touches the noun "conditions."
Does all that make sense?
Here's a video you may find helpful.
https://gmat.magoosh.com/lessons/615-modifiers-i
Magoosh has 200+ lesson videos, which will give you all the content & strategy you will need for the GMAT.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Mike
