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misplaced modifier but very hard

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misplaced modifier but very hard

by tanviet » Sun Nov 23, 2008 5:20 am
During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1992 down to its nadir in 1993

a,

b, during the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1992 to its nadir in 1993

c,
d,
e, During the Great Depression, industrial output fell from its peak in 1992 to its nadir in 1993 by nearly fifty percent

Why E is wrong? pls, help.
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Re: misplaced modifier but very hard

by iamcste » Sun Nov 23, 2008 6:33 am
duongthang wrote:During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1992 down to its nadir in 1993

a,

b, during the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1992 to its nadir in 1993

c,
d,
e, During the Great Depression, industrial output fell from its peak in 1992 to its nadir in 1993 by nearly fifty percent

Why E is wrong? pls, help.
The difference that you can see is the placement of the "prepositional phrase" -"By nearly fifty %". This is the symptom of Misplaced modifier category.Ask the wh tpye question ( what, How, where, etc)In this case "what fell" could be the best question. what failed b nearly 50%--ans is"Industrial output" Modifying phrase should be kept close to the subject it modifies unles its an adverbial modifier..In A, phrase correctly modifies "Industial output"
In E, phrase doesnt modify Industrial output

Also, nearly an adverb should modify verb "fell"

Hence, clearly, B

Note: Pls post full questions as few novice user may also like to eliminate and come to 2 statments ,as you did
Last edited by iamcste on Sun Nov 23, 2008 6:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by mals24 » Sun Nov 23, 2008 6:40 am
Agree with iamcste regarding modifier. The modifier should be as close as possible to the subject it modifies.

But disagree with the answer. The answer should be B. In A, fell and down is redundant. (unless you meant B as the answer :) ).

Btw dint the great depression occur in 1929!!! :?
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by iamcste » Sun Nov 23, 2008 6:53 am
mals24 wrote:Agree with iamcste regarding modifier. The modifier should be as close as possible to the subject it modifies.

But disagree with the answer. The answer should be B. In A, fell and down is redundant. (unless you meant B as the answer :) ).

Btw dint the great depression occur in 1929!!! :?
ya, I meant B as our friend has put only 2 stmts and I dont have this qtn to see A
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by tanviet » Sun Nov 23, 2008 6:46 pm
I still do not understand

phrase"from... to..." also modify "fell" so why it should place behide
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by raunekk » Mon Nov 24, 2008 12:56 am
one more reason is that...

"fell" and "down" together in the same sentence is redundant

along with the appropriate modifying phrase the idiom should be "fell from X to Y"

thanks..

i hope this helps
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by Karen » Sat Nov 29, 2008 6:44 pm
This is a tricky one to explain. You're right that there are two modifiers, but one is describing something that is a more intrinsic part of the action. "It fell by 50%" -- the 50% only makes sense in the context of this action of falling; in other words, it became 50% as big as it was in the beginning. So the phrase "by 50%" should stay close to the verb because it won't make any sense if it isn't interpreted in the context of falling. In other words, "It fell by 50%" makes sense, but "It fell... and then there's some other stuff... and then blah-blah... by 50%" isn't going to be understandable to the reader.

The other modifier is just describing the beginning and end points in terms that are external to the action of falling -- the highest and lowest historical point and the years in question. So it doesn't need to stick so close to the verb, because it's describing something more external to the action than "by 50%" is. If you put "by 50%" at the end, it's very confusing -- it sounds as if *maybe* it means that it fell halfway to its nadir, but mostly it just doesn't make sense.

This is related to the way that English speakers say "A big wooden table" but not "A wooden big table" (though this never gets tested on the GMAT, but it may help convey the concept). "wooden" is what the table *is* -- it's made of wood -- so the word has to appear close to the noun 'table'. A table is only "big" by comparison with other tables -- an external assessment -- so 'big' appears farther away from the word 'table'. "falling by 50%" is what the industrial output *did*; the fact that this took it from its height to its nadir is more of an external assessment of what this meant historically.
Karen van Hoek, PhD
Verbal Specialist

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