spokesman

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GmatKiss: Legendary Member; Posts: 2789; Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 amFollowed by: 43 members; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 206 times; GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Sat May 19, 2012 8:29 am

A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy, who was 86, died from leukemia recently in Palm Beach, Florida.

A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy, who was 86,
Curt Gowdy, a spokesman for the organization, who was 86,
A spokesman for the organization, who was 86, says that Curt Gowdy
A spokesman for the organization had said Curt Gowdy, who was 86,
A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy, who was 86, had

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat May 19, 2012 8:29 am

hailmanyu: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 15; Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 8:57 pm

by hailmanyu » Sun May 20, 2012 5:30 am

Answer : A)

A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy, who was 86,
Curt Gowdy, a spokesman for the organization, who was 86,
(Curt Gowdy is modified incorrectly)
A spokesman for the organization, who was 86, says that Curt Gowdy
(Spokesman is modified incorrectly)
A spokesman for the organization had said Curt Gowdy, who was 86,
(had said and was are not related. If past perfect is used, the simple past must be related to it)
A spokesman for the organization says that Curt Gowdy, who was 86, had
(same reason as D )

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sachindia: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 258; Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:39 amFollowed by: 3 members; Location: Bengaluru, India; Thanked: 6 times; GMAT Score:640

by sachindia » Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:02 am

What is wrong with B?

It changes the meaning of the original sentence but I believe it is grammatically correct.

who does refer to Curt Gowdy as 'who' cant refer to the organization..

Regards,
Sach

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ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:18 am

sachindia wrote:What is wrong with B?

It changes the meaning of the original sentence but I believe it is grammatically correct.

who does refer to Curt Gowdy as 'who' cant refer to the organization..

Sachindia, you've answered your own question! You're right, B is grammatically correct. So is C! Once you're eliminated the grammatically incorrect answer choices (D and E, because they use unnecessarily complex verb tenses), you must then look to the meaning. Any of these 3 - A, B, or C - could be correct depending on the context. If that's the case, you must default to the original meaning of the sentence, which would be A.

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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sachindia: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 258; Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:39 amFollowed by: 3 members; Location: Bengaluru, India; Thanked: 6 times; GMAT Score:640

by sachindia » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:25 am

Thanks Ceilidh,

Manhattan CAT's explanation says:
(C) This choice also has a modification error that changes the original meaning. Here, the relative clause, "who was 86," describes the spokesman instead of Curt Gowdy. Relative clauses refer to the noun immediately before them.

I guess this explanation is wrong.. 'who was 86' describes Curt who is the spokesman in this sentence..

Regards,
Sach

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ceilidh.erickson: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2095; Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pmFollowed by: 247 members; Thanked: 1443 times

by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:47 am

In B, both "a spokesman" and the "who" clause are modifying Curt - he was the spokesman, and he was 86. Noun modifiers modify the noun that preceded them.

In C, though, the "who" clause is just modifying the spokesman - that's the noun preceding it. The spokesman is 86, and he said that Curt died. So Curt is not the one being modified, and he's not the spokesman - the spokesman said something about him, so it's clear that they're two different people. The answer explanation given is actually correct.

Does that help?

Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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sachindia: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 258; Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:39 amFollowed by: 3 members; Location: Bengaluru, India; Thanked: 6 times; GMAT Score:640

by sachindia » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:52 am

Thanks ..
I actually copied the explanation for C instead of B in my earlier post.. The following is what I wanted to mention from Manhattan CAT Explanation..

(B) This choice has a modification error that changes the original meaning. Curt Gowdy was not the spokesman but in this choice the modifying phrase "a spokesman for the organization" refers to him. Modifying phrases must be next to the noun that they modify.

You are right but the above is wrong I believe.

Regards,
Sach

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