From Kaplan Book : Modifier 'that'

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satansanti: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:00 am

by satansanti » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:07 am

This question is from Kaplan book.

Several consumer protection agencies have filed suit, seeking to bar distributors from advertising treatments for baldness that brings no discernible improvement and may even result in potential harm.

the answer of the question is

that bring no discernible improvement and may even prove harmful.

From Manhattan SC, this is wrong. Because we should use that to refer to the noun preceding it.

So I wonder whether we can use this sentence.

Thank you for your ans

))

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:07 am

GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Wed Jan 14, 2015 10:04 am

satansanti wrote:This question is from Kaplan book.

Several consumer protection agencies have filed suit, seeking to bar distributors from advertising treatments for baldness that brings no discernible improvement and may even result in potential harm.

the answer of the question is

that bring no discernible improvement and may even prove harmful.

From Manhattan SC, this is wrong. Because we should use that to refer to the noun preceding it.

So I wonder whether we can use this sentence.

Thank you for your ans ))

A that-modifier does not have to touch what it modifies.
Our primary concern is CLARITY:
As long as the referent for the that-modifier is crystal clear, there can be a bit of distance between the that-modifier and its referent.
Several consumer protection agencies have filed suit, seeking to bar distributors from advertising TREATMENTS for baldness that BRING no discernible improvement.
Here, that bring (that + PLURAL VERB) clearly refers to treatments (the nearest preceding plural noun).
Since the referent for the that-modifier is crystal clear, the sentence is correct.

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satansanti: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:00 am

by satansanti » Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:43 pm

Thank you very much

I have to be careful with each topic in SC. Because I read the content that contains 'which' modifier and I thought that for 'which' it is the same with 'that' in terms of position and how it refers to noun as modifier.

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DavidG@VeritasPrep: Legendary Member; Posts: 2663; Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:25 amFollowed by: 128 members; Location: Boston, MA; Thanked: 1153 times; GMAT Score:770

by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Sun Jan 25, 2015 5:16 pm

Hi, Satansanti.

Another way to think about how 'that' functions in a sentence is to see that it can modify a noun or a noun phrase. For example, I can write "The bowl that is on the table seems to be broken." 'That' modifies the noun 'bowl.' So far so good. But I could toss in a prepositional modifier after bowl: "The bowl of bananas that is on the table seems to be broken." Now 'that' modifies a full noun phrase, "bowl of bananas." So, if you want, you can still think of 'that' as touching what it modifies. It's just touching a noun phrase instead of a noun in isolation. To put it more broadly, it's perfectly acceptable to have a construction like [Noun + Prepositional modifier] next to 'that.' The same would be true for 'which,' though 'which,' because it's non-restrictive, would follow a comma.

(To see this rule in action, check out #29 in the Official Guide.) https://gmatclub.com/forum/emily-dickins ... 10142.html

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