Sentence Correction

Q:In good years, the patchwork of green fields that surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them in the area just for the season.


A. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them

B. surrounds the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of whom are

C. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of who are

D. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustle with farm workers, many of which

E. surrounds the San Joaquin Valley town bustles coz with farm workers, many are

[spoiler]IMO: B
while eliminating the options: down to A nd B, now the thing is whether whom to be used here or them??
didn't get the use of them here..pls explain[/spoiler]

Please underline the questions !!

heymayank08 wrote:Q:In good years, the patchwork of green fields that surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them in the area just for the season.

A. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them

B. surrounds the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of whom are

C. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of who are

D. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustle with farm workers, many of which

E. surrounds the San Joaquin Valley town bustles coz with farm workers, many are

IMO B.

A - them in A can refer to both fields and workers
C - many of who are - wrong, workers are object of the sentence.
D - which is not used with people
E - awkward

Q:In good years, the patchwork of green fields that surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them in the area just for the season.


A. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them

B. surrounds the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of whom are

C. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of who are

D. surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustle with farm workers, many of which

E. surrounds the San Joaquin Valley town bustles coz with farm workers, many are

we need plural surround, Hence B/E out. we need bustles singular to agree with patchwork. D is out.
C is incorrect because using verb "are" results in comma splice. Also usage of "who" is incorrect.

Hence A.

killer1387 wrote: we need plural surround, Hence B/E out. we need bustles singular to agree with patchwork. D is out.
C is incorrect because using verb "are" results in comma splice. Also usage of "who" is incorrect.

The patchwork of green fields that surrounds - I guess the verb surround should be singular here.

sam2304 wrote:

killer1387 wrote: we need plural surround, Hence B/E out. we need bustles singular to agree with patchwork. D is out.
C is incorrect because using verb "are" results in comma splice. Also usage of "who" is incorrect.

The patchwork of green fields that surrounds - I guess the verb surround should be singular here.

In good years, the patchwork of green fields that surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them in the area just for the season.

"that" modifies green fields hence will take plural after "that"[/u]

killer1387 wrote: In good years, the patchwork of green fields that surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them in the area just for the season.

"that" modifies green fields hence will take plural after "that"[/u]

Patchwork is the subject of the sentence mate and of green fields is a prepositional phrase, 'that' usually modifies the main subject and not the object of prepositional phrase.

I searched through the forum and got this link.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/many-of-them ... t8979.html

Check for Stuart's explanation. Hope this helps !!

sam2304 wrote:

killer1387 wrote: In good years, the patchwork of green fields that surround the San Joaquin Valley town bustles with farm workers, many of them in the area just for the season.

"that" modifies green fields hence will take plural after "that"[/u]

Patchwork is the subject of the sentence mate and of green fields is a prepositional phrase, 'that' usually modifies the main subject and not the object of prepositional phrase.

'surround the valley' modifies green fields and hence would adopt with green fields.

anyways OA??

thanks for the link, now i am confused..
Okay Ron has pointed Its unreliable question.

@sam2304
I am wondering how the usage of "are" is justified in Option B. Doesnt it create commasplice??

killer1387 wrote:thanks for the link, now i am confused..
Okay Ron has pointed Its unreliable question.

I am confused as well because of its authenticity. Check the below link for Bob's explanation as well. Hope it clears our doubts. So we are not supposed to worry about the verb surround after all as both are right. And whatever you said about that modifying green fields is also right

https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentenc ... -town.html

@sam2304
I am wondering how the usage of "are" is justified in Option B. Doesnt it create commasplice??

Nope. Why do you say so ? Can you be a bit more elaborate ? 'many of whom are ...' is a relative clause modifying farm workers.

I mean :
the part of sentence indicated below doesnt need a verb. With a verb its a standalone separated by a comma and hence comma splice.

many of whom are in the area just for the season.

where am i going wrong?

killer1387 wrote:I mean :
the part of sentence indicated below doesnt need a verb. With a verb its a standalone separated by a comma and hence comma splice.

many of whom are in the area just for the season.

where am i going wrong?

Not all clauses are independent ones. Relative clauses have a subject and a verb, but it cannot stand on its own to give proper meaning.

I spoke to my friend, who explained the problem. - 'who explained the problem' is a relative clause with a subject and a verb but is dependent on the main clause to give meaning. The same applies in our problem. They are known as non defining relative clauses. I believe you know all these and you are simply overlooking the problem.

Check this for more info.

https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/ ... auses.html

So, finally in brief we can summarize:
The issue here is of unambiguous pronoun in the subgroup modifier relative clause.

Bob's explanation for the debatable question clarifies to some extent. Anyhow I feel these debatable types wont appear in GMAT.

cheerz..!!