Instructor pls advise - very unusual Question

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Studies show that young people with higher-than-average blood pressure and their families have a history of high blood pressure are more likely than others to develop a severe form of the condition
A. same
B. whose families have a history of high blood pressure
C. and a history of high blood pressure runs in the family
D. whose families have a history of high blood pressure running in them
E. with a history of high blood pressure running in their family

OA is B

If we agree with OA then the rule about noun modifiers touching the noun is violated!
I've only seen one instance of that happening in the entire OG.
Instructors --- please advise!
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by pnk » Thu Jun 17, 2010 2:57 pm
san2009 wrote:Studies show that young people with higher-than-average blood pressure and their families have a history of high blood pressure are more likely than others to develop a severe form of the condition
A. same
B. whose families have a history of high blood pressure
C. and a history of high blood pressure runs in the family
D. whose families have a history of high blood pressure running in them
E. with a history of high blood pressure running in their family

OA is B

If we agree with OA then the rule about noun modifiers touching the noun is violated!
I've only seen one instance of that happening in the entire OG.
Instructors --- please advise!
IMO - E; A/B/D - llel problem; C - runs not ok

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by Haaress » Thu Jun 17, 2010 3:46 pm
Studies show that young people with higher-than-average blood pressure and their families have a history of high blood pressure are more likely than others to develop a severe form of the condition
Is "AND" before the unline segment also underlined?

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by hardik.jadeja » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:56 pm
Haaress wrote:Studies show that young people with higher-than-average blood pressure and their families have a history of high blood pressure are more likely than others to develop a severe form of the condition
Is "AND" before the unline segment also underlined?
Here you go,

Studies show that young people with higher-than-average blood pressure and their families have a history of high blood pressure are more likely than others to develop a severe form of the condition.

A. and their families have a history of high blood pressure
B. whose families have a history of high blood pressure
C. and a history of high blood pressure runs in the family
D. whose families have a history of high blood pressure running in them
E. with a history of high blood pressure running in their family

OA B

Source - ETS paper test (test code no. 31 - question 9)

Here is my take on this..

A) "X and Y" parallelism not maintained.
B) Unusual construction but a contender.
C) "with a history of high blood pressure runs in the family" - Incorrect usage.
D) Unnecessary "running in them" at the end.
E) "with" is incorrectly modifying "blood pressure".

B may not look like a clear winner and perhaps may look grammatically incorrect, but if I had to bet on one option, it would be B.

The structure "Studies show that young people with higher-than-average blood pressure whose families have a history of high blood pressure.." does sound awkward though.

I think the pronoun "whose" is modifying "young people". The structure is looking awkward because of the presence of a prepositional phrase "with higher-than-average blood pressure" between "young people" and "whose". But i believe it works similar to how "that" in the following OG sentence refers to "market".

Out of America's fascination with all things antique has grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures that is bringing back the chaise lounge, the overstuffed sofa, and the claw-footed bathtub.

I would like to know from the experts - how would they rate this question as per GMAT standards?

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by Haaress » Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:38 pm
@hardik.jadeja....all I asked was whether the AND was also underlined.

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by hardik.jadeja » Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:45 pm
Haaress wrote:@hardik.jadeja....all I asked was whether the AND was also underlined.
Instead of writing a two different posts, I thought I'd express my opinion of the question in the same post. It is only meant for those who are interested in reading it. You can always skip it, you know!!!!

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