Sentence Correction

126. The use of lie detectors is based on the assumption
that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual
(that, in turn, create unconscious physiological
responses.)


(A) that, in turn, create unconscious physiological
responses
(B) that creates unconscious physiological
responses in turn
(C) creating, in turn, unconscious physiological
responses
(D) to create, in turn, physiological responses that
are unconscious
(E) who creates unconscious physiological
responses in turn

My answer is C.Correct answer is A.

reason i chose to go with parallelism.

answer says that creating must preceded by comma.Is it true for all parallelism cases ?

It cant go by paralellism because "lying" is a noun and "creating" is a verb.. they have to be logically parallel.

Also verb-ing modifies the preceding noun when it is without a comma.

Regards,
Dom.

src_saurav wrote:The use of lie detectors is based on the assumption that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual that, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses.

(A) that, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses
(8) that creates unconscious physiological responses in turn
(C) creating, in turn, unconscious physiological responses
(D) to create, in turn, physiological responses that are unconscious
(E) who creates unconscious physiological responses in turn

B: an individual that...creates unconscious physiological responses
C: an individual creating...unconscious physiological responses
E: an individual who...creates unconscious physiological responses
In each of these options, the modifier in red implies that AN INDIVIDUAL CREATES/IS CREATING unconscious physiological responses in himself.
This meaning is nonsensical.
An individual cannot create UNCONSCIOUS physiological responses in himself.
The physiological responses are deemed UNCONSCIOUS because an individual is UNAWARE of them.
The intended meaning is that EMOTIONAL REACTIONS CREATE unconscious physiological responses IN AN INDIVIDUAL.
Eliminate B, C and E.

D: lying produces emotional reactions...to create unconscious physiological responses
Here, the modifier in red implies that lying INTENDS to create unconscious physiological responses when it produces emotional reactions.
Not the intended meaning.
Lying cannot have an intent.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is A.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

src_saurav wrote:The use of lie detectors is based on the assumption that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual that, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses.

(A) that, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses
(8) that creates unconscious physiological responses in turn
(C) creating, in turn, unconscious physiological responses
(D) to create, in turn, physiological responses that are unconscious
(E) who creates unconscious physiological responses in turn

B: an individual that...creates unconscious physiological responses
C: an individual creating...unconscious physiological responses
E: an individual who...creates unconscious physiological responses
In each of these options, the modifier in red implies that AN INDIVIDUAL CREATES/IS CREATING unconscious physiological responses in himself.
This meaning is nonsensical.
An individual cannot create UNCONSCIOUS physiological responses in himself.
The physiological responses are deemed UNCONSCIOUS because an individual is UNAWARE of them.
The intended meaning is that EMOTIONAL REACTIONS CREATE unconscious physiological responses IN AN INDIVIDUAL.
Eliminate B, C and E.

D: lying produces emotional reactions...to create unconscious physiological responses
Here, the modifier in red implies that lying INTENDS to create unconscious physiological responses when it produces emotional reactions.
Not the intended meaning.
Lying cannot have an intent.
Eliminate D.

The correct answer is A.

Mitch - in the OA, the immediate preceded NOUN of that here is an individual . So, how that CORRECTLY refers to emotional reactions, BUT NOT to an individual ?

Can you please clarify ?

P.S: It seems that the PLURAL Verb CREATE forces that to point to PLURAL Noun emotional reactions and as that can't modify any PERSON, hence it points to the head of the prepositional NOUN PHRASE - emotional reactions.

Hi Mitch - could you please help clarify my concerns in the IMMEDIATE above post ?

Look forward to your feedback. Much thanks in advance!

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Mitch - in the OA, the immediate preceded NOUN of that here is an individual . So, how that CORRECTLY refers to emotional reactions, BUT NOT to an individual ?

Can you please clarify ?

The referent for that + PLURAL VERB must be a PLURAL NOUN.
In the OA, the referent for that create (that + PLURAL VERB) cannot be individual (singular).
As a result, it is clear that the intended the referent for that create is emotional reactions (the nearest preceding plural noun).
Note:
As the OA illustrates, a that-modifier does NOT have to touch the noun that it serves to modify.

P.S: It seems that the PLURAL Verb CREATE forces that to point to PLURAL Noun emotional reactions and as that can't modify any PERSON, hence it points to the head of the prepositional NOUN PHRASE - emotional reactions.

Correct.
To date, the GMAT has not used a that-modifier to refer to a PERSON -- another reason to conclude that the intended referent for that-create must be emotional reactions (the nearest preceding non-person noun).

Hi Mitch,

If 'that' refers to 'reactions' (based on the context we can clearly see that it does), shouldnt the right word to use is 'those' instead of 'that'. Don't we write 'those reactions' instead of 'that reactions' What am I missing here?

Nina1987 wrote:Hi Mitch,

If 'that' refers to 'reactions' (based on the context we can clearly see that it does), shouldnt the right word to use is 'those' instead of 'that'. Do we write 'those reactions' instead of 'that reactions' What am I missing here?

When that serves to express a COMPARISON, it must refer to a SINGULAR ANTECEDENT.
The policy of Country X is different from that of Country Y.
Here, that serves to compare the policy of Country X to the policy of Country Y.
Thus, the referent for that -- the policy -- is singular.

When that serves to MODIFY A NOUN, its referent may be SINGULAR OR PLURAL.
Lying produces an emotional reaction that creates unconscious physiological responses.
Here, that correctly serves to refer to an emotional reaction (singular).
Lying produces emotional reactions that create unconscious physiological responses.
Here, that correctly serves to refer to emotional reactions (plural).