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Congress has enacted legislation

by patanjali.purpose » Tue May 08, 2012 10:41 pm
Congress has enacted legislation forbidding state and local governments from raising taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet for the next three years.

A) forbidding state and local governments from raising taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet for the next three years

B) that forbids state and local governments for the next three years from raising taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet

C) that for the next three years forbids state and local governments to raise taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet

D) forbidding for the next three years to state and local governments the raising of taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet

E) that forbids for the next three years state and local governments from raising taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet

MGMAT OA-C

Pls explain the correct/incorrect usage of prepositional phrase "for the next three years". in each of the options.

Idiom error is known - and therefore you can ignore for our discussion
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by patanjali.purpose » Sun May 13, 2012 1:34 am
patanjali.purpose wrote:Congress has enacted legislation forbidding state and local governments from raising taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet for the next three years.

A) forbidding state and local governments from raising taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet for the next three years

B) that forbids state and local governments for the next three years from raising taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet

C) that for the next three years forbids state and local governments to raise taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet

D) forbidding for the next three years to state and local governments the raising of taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet

E) that forbids for the next three years state and local governments from raising taxes on connections that link consumers to the Internet

MGMAT OA-C

Pls explain the correct/incorrect usage of prepositional phrase "for the next three years". in each of the options.

Idiom error is known - and therefore you can ignore for our discussion
I intend to learn an important concept about prepositional phrases - pls share your views/knowledge.

What does "for the next three years" modifies in A - does it modify IMMEDDIATE PRECEEDING NOUN ie INTERNET or IMMEDIATE PRECEEDING VERB ie LINK. Can we drop this choice because of the ambiguity with what does prep ph (for...years) modify?

Similarly can we say that in B - "for the next three years" can modify either FORBIDS or STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS and therefore ambiguous.

Such ambiguity is not there in C because "for the next three years" is sitting close to FORBIDS and not at all attached with (not near) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. Is this a correct interpretation?
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by sam2304 » Sun May 13, 2012 4:50 am
patanjali.purpose wrote: Idiom error is known - and therefore you can ignore for our discussion

I intend to learn an important concept about prepositional phrases - pls share your views/knowledge.

What does "for the next three years" modifies in A - does it modify IMMEDDIATE PRECEEDING NOUN ie INTERNET or IMMEDIATE PRECEEDING VERB ie LINK. Can we drop this choice because of the ambiguity with what does prep ph (for...years) modify?
Prepositional phrases are either adverbs or adjectives. There is no ambiguity here, it modifies the verb 'link'. Whenever prepositional phrases act as adverb it modifies the verb. Here it helps to answer the question "how long ?" - Adverb of time
Similarly can we say that in B - "for the next three years" can modify either FORBIDS or STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS and therefore ambiguous.
No, there is no ambiguity here as well. The prepositional phrase helps us to answer the same question above and act as an adverb modifying the verb 'forbids'.
Such ambiguity is not there in C because "for the next three years" is sitting close to FORBIDS and not at all attached with (not near) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. Is this a correct interpretation?
There is nothing wrong here as well as you say. Whenever prepositional phrases help describe a noun it modifies the noun similar to an adjective. Whenever prepositional phrases help us answer how, when, why, where - they modify the verb similar to an adverb. Hope this clears your doubts. :)
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by lunarpower » Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:20 am
ok, the first thing to understand about prepositional phrases is that they can modify either nouns or actions -- and that it's ok to have a sentence that requires the reader to use common sense to make that distinction.

for instance, both of the following sentences are correct:
i read the book on the table (in which "on the table" modifies the noun "book")
i read the book on the subway (in which "on the subway" modifies the action of reading the book, not the book itself)
there's no contradiction here, even though these sentences work differently from each other, because the meaning is absolutely clear in each case. also, each prepositional phrase is placed as close as possible to the thing that it's actually describing.
What does "for the next three years" modifies in A - does it modify IMMEDDIATE PRECEEDING NOUN ie INTERNET or IMMEDIATE PRECEEDING VERB ie LINK. Can we drop this choice because of the ambiguity with what does prep ph (for...years) modify?
in the context of this sentence, it should be clear (by common sense, not by some grammar rule) that "for the next three years" must describe some verb/action.

the issue, then, is whether that prep phrase is placed close enough to that verb/action.

the problem with choice (a) is that "for the next three years" appears to be describing the action "link consumers to the internet". that's the wrong thing for the modifier to describe.
There is nothing wrong here as well as you say. Whenever prepositional phrases help describe a noun it modifies the noun similar to an adjective. Whenever prepositional phrases help us answer how, when, why, where - they modify the verb similar to an adverb. Hope this clears your doubts. :)
this is a nice summary.
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by avik.ch » Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:39 pm
lunarpower wrote:for instance, both of the following sentences are correct:
i read the book on the table (in which "on the table" modifies the noun "book")
i read the book on the subway (in which "on the subway" modifies the action of reading the book, not the book itself)
there's no contradiction here, even though these sentences work differently from each other, because the meaning is absolutely clear in each case. also, each prepositional phrase is placed as close as possible to the thing that it's actually describing.
Hi Ron Sir,

In the above example :

I read the book on the table. -- why "on the table" is considered only an adjective and not an adverb of place ?

I understand that it is logical that one cannot read the book sitting "on" the table, but still its not completely impossible. I think that "on the table" can act both as an adjective or an adverb of place.
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by lunarpower » Sun Jul 01, 2012 4:28 am
avik.ch wrote:I understand that it is logical that one cannot read the book sitting "on" the table, but still its not completely impossible. I think that "on the table" can act both as an adjective or an adverb of place.
avik, one of the most important fundamentals for this exam -- especially on critical reasoning, but also in interpreting SC sentences -- is the ability to understand what is reasonable. this does not mean "anything that's not completely impossible"; this means "dictated by common sense and normal human intuition".
common sense dictates that people don't sit on tables and read books. by contrast, it's perfectly reasonable to refer to a book that is sitting on a table. so, the latter interpretation is THE interpretation. the former interpretation is incorrect, because it isn't reasonable.

if you are going to allow any interpretation that has any non-zero possibility, even if it flies in the face of common sense, then the verbal section of this exam is not going to be much fun for you.
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by mv12 » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:05 am
So answer should be B right?
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by bubbliiiiiiii » Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:30 am
Given the OA as C, I am trying to find out how B and C differ?

Can anyone please help?
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:55 am
bubbliiiiiiii wrote:Given the OA as C, I am trying to find out how B and C differ?

Can anyone please help?
B uses "forbid...from..." and C uses "forbid...to...". C is correct.
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