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OG2017 Using study groups managed by the principal popular o

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by richachampion » Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:58 pm

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Using study groups managed by the principal popular organizations and political parties, the Swedish public was informed by the government about energy and nuclear power.


A) the Swedish public was informed by the government about energy and nuclear power
B) the government informed the Swedish public about energy and nuclear power
C) energy and nuclear power information was given to the Swedish public by the government
D) information about energy and nuclear power was given to the Swedish public by the government
E) the public of Sweden was given energy and nuclear power information by the government

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by dustystormy » Sun Jul 31, 2016 11:02 pm
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by rohitiimc88 » Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:34 am
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by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:05 pm
This questions is testing the use of opening MODIFIERS.

When a sentence begins with a present participle such as "using," that participial phrase must modify the SUBJECT of the independent clause following the comma. This is a very common SC structure on the GMAT: an opening modifier that is not underlined, and an underlined portion that being right after the comma.

"Using study groups managed by the principal popular organizations and political parties..."
So who is using study groups? Logically it should be the government, not the public. Think about rearranging the sentence: "the government informed the public... by using study groups." It does not make sense to say "the public was informed by the government... by using study groups."

The only answer that has a logical subject is B.

A) the Swedish public was informed by the government about energy and nuclear power
The public isn't using study groups to *be* informed by the government. The government is using them to inform.

B) the government informed the Swedish public about energy and nuclear power
Correct.

C) energy and nuclear power information was given to the Swedish public by the government
"Information" doesn't use study groups.

D) information about energy and nuclear power was given to the Swedish public by the government
Same issue as in C.

E) the public of Sweden was given energy and nuclear power information by the government
Same issue as in A.
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by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Dec 19, 2017 1:08 pm
For similar problems testing opening modifiers, see:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/spanish-arma ... tml#775935
https://www.beatthegmat.com/comparison-t ... tml#774779
https://www.beatthegmat.com/found-only-i ... tml#771683
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a-d-391-t289046.html#765473
https://www.beatthegmat.com/og-17-t293414.html#793606
https://www.beatthegmat.com/to-screen-wo ... tml#739634
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Harvard Graduate School of Education
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by [email protected] » Wed Mar 13, 2019 1:20 pm
Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that deals with modifiers! Let's start by taking a quick look at each option, and highlight the major differences between them in orange:

Using study groups managed by the principal popular organizations and political parties, the Swedish public was informed by the government about energy and nuclear power.

(A) the Swedish public was informed by the government about energy and nuclear power
(B) the government informed the Swedish public about energy and nuclear power
(C) energy and nuclear power information was given to the Swedish public by the government
(D) information about energy and nuclear power was given to the Swedish public by the government
(E) the public of Sweden was given energy and nuclear power information by the government

Whenever we see options that are all drastically different from one another, we have to ask: what's the bigger picture? For this question, it's clear that we're dealing with modifiers because the modifier isn't underlined, but the rest of the sentence is.

The most common mistake that writers make concerning modifiers is placement. Modifiers should immediately precede or follow what they're modifying. So, let's take a closer look at each option, and ask ourselves:

WHO/WHAT used study groups managed by the principal popular organizations and political parties?

It makes the most sense to say the government used study groups, and then told the public about their findings! Let's see which options place the government directly next to the modifier:

(A) the Swedish public was informed by the government about energy and nuclear power
(B) the government informed the Swedish public about energy and nuclear power
(C) energy and nuclear power information was given to the Swedish public by the government
(D) information about energy and nuclear power was given to the Swedish public by the government
(E) the public of Sweden was given energy and nuclear power information by the government

It's clear that the only option that places the modifier and antecedent next to each other is option B, which is the correct choice! If you can identify the grammar concept you need to focus on, sometimes you can find the correct option rather quickly!


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