Soft Plaque

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Soft Plaque

by imskpwr » Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:26 am
Soft plaque is now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks, harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture than hard plaque

A) Soft plaque is now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks, harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture than hard plaque

B) Soft plaque is now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks, as opposed to hard plaque, harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden,unexpected rupture

C) Soft plaque is harder to detect and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque, now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks

D) Soft plaque, harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture than hard plaque, is now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks

E) Soft plaque, because it is harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture, is emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks, as opposed to hard plaque


I choose C because "Comma+ ing modifier" modifies the whole clause and logically true with the Grammatical Subject(soft plaque). I thought that "emerging as ...." shows the consequential action here.
Further, this option, most concisely, clears the issue at hand.


I think that this q is not a valid GMAT q.
If I am wrong, please provide any similar example from OG in which an option is ruled out on similar grounds.

[spoiler]Source: kaplan Quiz.
OA: D
[/spoiler]

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by alex.gellatly » Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:05 am
imskpwr wrote:
C) Soft plaque is harder to detect and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque, now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks
The problem with C is that we don't know what modifying phrase(in red) is modifying. In C, it looks like it is modifying hard plaque. This is not what we want to modify. We want to modify soft plaque, not the whole clause no hard plaque.

The only option which uses modifiers correctly is D

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by imskpwr » Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:44 am
alex.gellatly wrote:
imskpwr wrote:
C) Soft plaque is harder to detect and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque, now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks
The problem with C is that we don't know what modifying phrase(in red) is modifying. In C, it looks like it is modifying hard plaque. This is not what we want to modify. We want to modify soft plaque, not the whole clause no hard plaque.

The only option which uses modifiers correctly is D
"Coma + Ing" modifies the whole clause not the nearest noun(hard plaque). Further, It must be true with the "gramatical subj"(soft plaque).

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by avik.ch » Thu Jun 21, 2012 4:02 am
the major problem with C - "more vulnerable to rupture" while the original one indicates "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture". The meaning of the sentence cannot be changed - essence should be same.


Hope this helps !!

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by imskpwr » Thu Jun 21, 2012 4:26 am
avik.ch wrote:the major problem with C - "more vulnerable to rupture" while the original one indicates "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture". The meaning of the sentence cannot be changed - essence should be same.


Hope this helps !!
yup!

but, is it the ONLY reason to eliminate C ?

what is wrong with alex's reasoning? Even Mitch also wrote something similar in a post(I don't know why?).

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by alex.gellatly » Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:34 am
imskpwr wrote:
avik.ch wrote:the major problem with C - "more vulnerable to rupture" while the original one indicates "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture". The meaning of the sentence cannot be changed - essence should be same.


Hope this helps !!
yup!

but, is it the ONLY reason to eliminate C ?

what is wrong with alex's reasoning? Even Mitch also wrote something similar in a post(I don't know why?).
I think the problem is we want to modify soft plaque, not the whole clause

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by KapTeacherEli » Thu Jun 21, 2012 10:52 am
alex.gellatly has got it! "now emerging..." is grammatically modifying the entire clause "soft plaques is harder to detect...", but the actual phrase "emerging as the cause" can logically only describe the subject "soft plaque" itself. For the reason, (C) is incorrect.

Hope this helps!
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by imskpwr » Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:03 pm
KapTeacherEli wrote:alex.gellatly has got it! "now emerging..." is grammatically modifying the entire clause "soft plaques is harder to detect...", but the actual phrase "emerging as the cause" can logically only describe the subject "soft plaque" itself. For the reason, (C) is incorrect.

Hope this helps!
Thanks!

now i got my reasoning correct.
i thought it is modifying whole clause, but i forgot that this is not the intended meaning here.

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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:32 pm
imskpwr wrote:
avik.ch wrote:the major problem with C - "more vulnerable to rupture" while the original one indicates "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture". The meaning of the sentence cannot be changed - essence should be same.


Hope this helps !!
yup!

but, is it the ONLY reason to eliminate C ?

what is wrong with alex's reasoning? Even Mitch also wrote something similar in a post(I don't know why?).
C employs ELLIPSIS: the omission of words whose presence is understood:
Soft plaque is harder to detect than hard plaque [is hard to detect], now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks.
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is understood.
Thus, emerging seems to refer to HARD PLAQUE, the nearest preceding subject.
But the intended meaning is that SOFT PLAQUE is emerging as the cause of heart attacks.
Since C does not convey the intended meaning, eliminate C.
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by imskpwr » Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:30 pm
GMATGuruNY wrote:
imskpwr wrote:
avik.ch wrote:the major problem with C - "more vulnerable to rupture" while the original one indicates "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture". The meaning of the sentence cannot be changed - essence should be same.


Hope this helps !!
yup!

but, is it the ONLY reason to eliminate C ?


what is wrong with alex's reasoning? Even Mitch also wrote something similar in a post(I don't know why?).
C employs ELLIPSIS: the omission of words whose presence is understood:
Soft plaque is harder to detect than hard plaque [is hard to detect], now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks.
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is understood.
Thus, emerging seems to refer to HARD PLAQUE, the nearest preceding subject.
But the intended meaning is that SOFT PLAQUE is emerging as the cause of heart attacks.
Since C does not convey the intended meaning, eliminate C.
Awesome! Mitch sir,

To conclude all the reasoning from above, I can say that the problem with C is:

1) absence of non-ellipses, intended words: "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture".
This is essential to the meaning.

2)"Soft plaque is harder to detect than hard plaque[is hard to detect]".
because "than" is used as a comparison marker, it is a Coordinating Conjunction here.

A coordinating conjunction joins two independent clauses(of equal importance). This justifies the reason for ellipsis.

Since "ing" phrase is near to "Hard plaque[is hard to detect]", "ing" phrase modifies "hard plaque".
This meaning is totally bizarre.
This looks a pretty strong ground for elimination.

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:45 pm
imskpwr wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
imskpwr wrote:
avik.ch wrote:the major problem with C - "more vulnerable to rupture" while the original one indicates "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture". The meaning of the sentence cannot be changed - essence should be same.


Hope this helps !!
yup!

but, is it the ONLY reason to eliminate C ?


what is wrong with alex's reasoning? Even Mitch also wrote something similar in a post(I don't know why?).
C employs ELLIPSIS: the omission of words whose presence is understood:
Soft plaque is harder to detect than hard plaque [is hard to detect], now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks.
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is understood.
Thus, emerging seems to refer to HARD PLAQUE, the nearest preceding subject.
But the intended meaning is that SOFT PLAQUE is emerging as the cause of heart attacks.
Since C does not convey the intended meaning, eliminate C.
Awesome! Mitch sir,

To conclude all the reasoning from above, I can say that the problem with C is:

1) absence of non-ellipses, intended words: "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture".
This is essential to the meaning.

2)"Soft plaque is harder to detect than hard plaque[is hard to detect]".
because "than" is used as a comparison marker, it is a Coordinating Conjunction here.

A coordinating conjunction joins two independent clauses(of equal importance). This justifies the reason for ellipsis.

Since "ing" phrase is near to "Hard plaque[is hard to detect]", "ing" phrase modifies "hard plaque".
This meaning is totally bizarre.
This looks a pretty strong ground for elimination.
The other issue is meaning.
Soft plaque is harder to detect, now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks.
COMMA + VERBing implies an action happening AT THE SAME TIME as the preceding action and as a RESULT of the preceding action.
The preceding verb here expresses a GENERAL TRUTH: soft plaque IS HARDER TO DETECT.
The VERBing here expresses an action happening NOW: soft plaque is NOW EMERGING as the cause of heart attacks.
Thus, the two verbs are not contemporaneous: one is ALWAYS true, the other is happening only NOW.
Further, soft plaque is not EMERGING because it IS HARDER TO DETECT: the VERBing here is not the result of the preceding action.
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by imskpwr » Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:59 pm
GMATGuruNY wrote:
imskpwr wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
imskpwr wrote:
avik.ch wrote:the major problem with C - "more vulnerable to rupture" while the original one indicates "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture". The meaning of the sentence cannot be changed - essence should be same.


Hope this helps !!
yup!

but, is it the ONLY reason to eliminate C ?


what is wrong with alex's reasoning? Even Mitch also wrote something similar in a post(I don't know why?).
C employs ELLIPSIS: the omission of words whose presence is understood:
Soft plaque is harder to detect than hard plaque [is hard to detect], now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks.
The words in brackets are omitted, but their presence is understood.
Thus, emerging seems to refer to HARD PLAQUE, the nearest preceding subject.
But the intended meaning is that SOFT PLAQUE is emerging as the cause of heart attacks.
Since C does not convey the intended meaning, eliminate C.
Awesome! Mitch sir,

To conclude all the reasoning from above, I can say that the problem with C is:

1) absence of non-ellipses, intended words: "more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture".
This is essential to the meaning.

2)"Soft plaque is harder to detect than hard plaque[is hard to detect]".
because "than" is used as a comparison marker, it is a Coordinating Conjunction here.

A coordinating conjunction joins two independent clauses(of equal importance). This justifies the reason for ellipsis.

Since "ing" phrase is near to "Hard plaque[is hard to detect]", "ing" phrase modifies "hard plaque".
This meaning is totally bizarre.
This looks a pretty strong ground for elimination.
The other issue is meaning.
Soft plaque is harder to detect, now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks.
COMMA + VERBing implies an action happening AT THE SAME TIME as the preceding action and as a RESULT of the preceding action.
The preceding verb here expresses a GENERAL TRUTH: soft plaque IS HARDER TO DETECT.
The VERBing here expresses an action happening NOW: soft plaque is NOW EMERGING as the cause of heart attacks.
Thus, the two verbs are not contemporaneous: one is ALWAYS true, the other is happening only NOW.
Further, soft plaque is not EMERGING because it IS HARDER TO DETECT: the VERBing here is not the result of the preceding action.
Taking my words back about the authenticity of this q, I feel this is a very good q.
It taught me something NEW.

Thanks Mitch sir for being so supportive.

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by GMAT Kolaveri » Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:43 pm
This is simple one if you get the meaning/structure of this question.

X, modifier, is emerging .....

[harder to detect and more vulnerable to sudden, unexpected rupture than hard plaque] is a modifier and is placed in the right place. Also C uses the correct form of comparison.
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by mv12 » Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:42 am
D it is.

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by spartacus1412 » Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:09 pm
A very general query..

Soft plaque is harder to detect and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque, now emerging as the cause of up to eighty percent of heart attacks.



how does this translate to harder to detect[than hard plaque] and more vulnerable to rupture than hard plaque.

in my opinion, the sentence carries a wrong meaning.the phrase "than hard plague " is associated with "more vulnerable to rupture" and not with "harder to detect".

Please clarify.
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