Sentence Correction

New items developed for automobiles in the 1997 model year included a safer air bag , which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire.

A. inflated, and making.
B. Inflated, so that it could make.
C. Inflated and made.
D. Inflated and make.
E. Inflated to make.

OA: Debated

Guys, this is a very confusing one. It has been discussed several time, but no concrete solution has been found.

Experts, please discuss on this one.

Thanks.

The origin of the sentence is:

New items now being developed for the 1997 model year include a nonsmoking (it has nothing to do with cigarettes) bag, which eliminates the possibility that a burst of smoke will appear when the bag inflates and make an already terrified passenger think the car is on fire. Also in the works are door-panel bags that inflate during side collisions.

IMO A.

Experts, please explain.

Hello experts, please help.

gmat_perfect wrote:Hello experts, please help.

Why dont you send this link as Private Message to an Expert ?

IMO C. Parallelism required here.

A> There is a coordinating conjunction "and" before "making". So the sentence will read like "air bag , which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire". ",and" construction requires independent clause, which is lacking here. Also, the meaning of the sentence changes.

B> B is having the similar problem. When removing the non-essential phrase "which, unlike... Inflated,", "it" has either no pronoun reference or pronoun agreement issue.

C> which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated and made an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire. So the construction "eliminiated... and made..." changes the meaning here.

D> which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag Inflated and make an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire. So construction "appear ...and make" conveys clear message.

E> which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated to make an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire. It is basically saying tht the inflation ( and not smoke) makes an already terrified passenger think that the car was on fire.

New items developed for automobiles in the 1997 Model year included safer air bag, which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire.

A. inflated, and making
B. inflated, so that it could make
C. inflated and made
D. inflated and make
E. inflated to make

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
A: a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making
Here, making lacks a preceding parallel form.
Eliminate A.

In B, it is not crystal clear whether it serves to refer to a burst of smoke or to the bag.
Eliminate B.

C: the bag inflated and made an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire
Here, the implication is that the BAG made the passenger think the car was on fire.
The intended meaning is that A BURST OF SMOKE would make the passenger think the car was on fire.
Eliminate C.

Generally, an infinitive modifier serves to express the INTENT of the preceding subject.
E: the bag inflated to make an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire
Here, the usage of to make implies that the bag INTENDED to make the passenger think the car was on fire -- a nonsensical meaning.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

is this an official question???? i have this question in my question bank and the OA given is Op D

Some people claim that its from GMAT-prep, i didn't find this question on GMAT-prep so far...

vishalj wrote:A> There is a coordinating conjunction "and" before "making". So the sentence will read like "air bag , which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire". ",and" construction requires independent clause, which is lacking here. Also, the meaning of the sentence changes.

B> B is having the similar problem. When removing the non-essential phrase "which, unlike... Inflated,", "it" has either no pronoun reference or pronoun agreement issue.

C> which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated and made an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire. So the construction "eliminiated... and made..." changes the meaning here.

D> which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag Inflated and make an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire. So construction "appear ...and make" conveys clear message.

E> which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated to make an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire. It is basically saying tht the inflation ( and not smoke) makes an already terrified passenger think that the car was on fire.

Knewton

GMATGuruNY wrote:

gmat_perfect wrote:New items developed for automobiles in the 1997 model year included a safer air bag , which, unlike previous air bags, eliminated the possibility that a burst of smoke would appear when the bag inflated, and making an already terrified passenger think the car was on fire.

A. inflated, and making.
B. Inflated, so that it could make.
C. Inflated and made.
D. Inflated and make.
E. Inflated to make.

OA: Debated

In A, would appear and making are not parallel. Eliminate A
In B, the pronoun it is ambiguous. Eliminate B.
Answer C incorrectly implies that the safer air bag...made an already terrified passenger think that the car was on fire. Eliminate C.

In D, the parallel structure would appear...and make implies a series of two distinct actions. Since the intended meaning seems to be that these two actions happened at the same time, D should say the following: the smoke would appear when the bag inflated, making an already terrified passenger think that the car was on fire. Eliminate D.

In E, it is unclear what is being modified by the infinitive to make. Its placement in the sentence implies that the bag inflated in order to scare the passenger. The intended meaning of the sentence is that the burst of smoke would scare the passenger. Eliminate E.

I don't see a correct answer here. What is the source of this question?

Its from Knewton I guess...

If there be an answer for this question. it's C.

I will go with C for the time being.

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