RBBmba@2014 wrote:GMATGuruNY wrote:C: The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, a part of a deal making it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.
The portion in red is composed of COMMA + ABSTRACT NOUN + OTHER WORDS.
Here, the abstract noun (part) can logically refer to the nearest preceding noun ($950 million), since it is possible that $950 million is PART OF A DEAL.
For this reason, the portion in red may NOT serve as a summative modifier.
Hi GMATGuruNY,
In Option C, why can't we consider that "
$950 million" and "
a part of a deal" are APPOSITIVES ?
It must be crystal clear what a modifier is modifying.
C: T
he computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, a part of a deal making it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.
Here, the intended referent for the modifier in red is unclear.
Case 1: $950 million is
a part of a deal
Case 2: the color-printing division is
a part of a deal
Case 3: the entire preceding event -- that the computer company will purchase the color-printing division for $950 million -- is
a part of a deal.
You are proposing Case 1 as the intended meaning.
An earlier poster suggested Case 3 as the intended meaning.
Case 2 is also a logical interpretation.
Since the intended referent for the modifier in red is unclear, the structure in C is not viable.
And isn't Verb-ing modifier "making" is CONTEMPORANEOUS with the MAIN Verb (will purchase) in C ?
The main verb of the sentence is
has announced.
Since the main verb is in a form of the present tense -- specifically, the present perfect -- a reader might construe that the acting of
making is also happening in the present.
The intended sequence is that the computer company will become the largest manufacturer not in the present but in the FUTURE, after the deal has been finalized.
The OA makes the intended sequence crystal clear by employing a future tense verb (
will make) rather than a VERBing modifier (
making):
The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million as part of a deal that WILL MAKE it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.
As a result, the OA is clearly preferable to C.
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