Sentence Correction

Fusion, the process through which the sun produces heat and light,has been studied by
scientists, some of whom have attempted to mimic the process in their laboratories by blasting
a container of liquid solvent with strong ultrasonic vibrations.
A Fusion, the process through which the sun produces heat and light, has been studied by
scientists,
B Fusion, the heat and light produced by the sun, has been studied by scientists,
C Fusion, the process through which heat and light are produced by the sun, has been studied
by scientists,
D Scientists have studied fusion, the process the sun uses to produce heat and light,
E Scientists have studied fusion, the process the sun uses to produce heat and light, and


Can someone please explain me why D is wrong


Fusion, the process through which the sun produces heat and light,has been studied by
scientists, some of whom have attempted to mimic the process in their laboratories by blasting
a container of liquid solvent with strong ultrasonic vibrations.


here some of whom refers to scientists, but if we remove the descriptive part between the commas

what does whom refer to . but in D it clearly refers to scientists ..


Please through some light if I am wrong

Generally speaking, we want modifiers to be as close as possible to the things they modify.

D reads like this: Scientists have studied fusion, the process the sun uses to produce heat and light, some of whom have attempted to mimic the process in their laboratories by blasting.

In this case, the modifier "some of whom" appears to be modifying "heat and light," and this is illogical.

In A, we have this:

Fusion, the process through which the sun produces heat and light,has been studied by scientists, some of whom have attempted to mimic the process in their laboratories by blasting a container of liquid solvent with strong ultrasonic vibrations.

Here the main clause is: Fusion has been studied by scientists. We have a modifier in "The process through which the sun produces heat and light." This correctly refers to "Fusion." And then we have the subgroup modifier "some of whom," which correctly refers to a subset of the scientists. The key is the proximity of the modifiers to the things they're modifying.

I just want to add something that could really be useful to you.

This is not just about some rule that says modifiers should be as close as possible to what they modify.

Be sure you notice one thing David said.

He said that in choice D the placement of the word scientists at the beginning of the sentence and the modifier toward the end of the sentence creates a sentence that conveys something illogical.

Seeing that kind of thing is often the key to getting a sentence correction question right. There are many many rules, and you may not know all of them, but if you can just assess the logic of the construction of a sentence you will often have enough information to choose the correct answer. For the most part logic is what underlies the rules anyway.

For instance, in this case modifiers need to be close to what they modify not because of some arbitrarily created rule. They need to be close to what they modify because that's the logical place to put them. That's how one can tell what they modify.

Hello Guys,

Apologies if i missed it, what is the correct answer here

I am going with A here because it seems the best but "which" is suppose to modify the preceding noun next to it and it has not been directly placed next to Fusion??

Tmoni26 wrote:Hello Guys,

Apologies if i missed it, what is the correct answer here

I am going with A here because it seems the best but "which" is suppose to modify the preceding noun next to it and it has not been directly placed next to Fusion??

A is the OA.

Which does not refer to fusion. Which is a component of the phrase that modifies fusion, the process through which... and it refers to the process.

Have to be careful doing these. There are many nuances to language and to optimal sentence structure. So simple rules are often not sufficient for or may not be applicable in assessing the validity of a construction.

This is a common source of confusion: 'which' will touch the noun or noun phrase it modifies when it is the subject of a relative clause. This is the scenario we're accustomed to. For example: "the game, which starts at 6pm on Sunday, promises to be very entertaining." "Which' modifies 'game.' Easy enough.

But 'which' can also be an object, often of a prepositional phrase. Consider: "I watched the online lesson, the point of which was to reinforce the concepts I'd learned in class." Here, 'which' is the object of a prepositional phrase, and in this case, it won't touch the noun it modifies.

Tmoni26 wrote:Hello Guys,

Apologies if i missed it, what is the correct answer here

I am going with A here because it seems the best but "which" is suppose to modify the preceding noun next to it and it has not been directly placed next to Fusion??

COMMA + which + SINGULAR VERB must refer to the nearest preceding SINGULAR noun.
More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
Here, COMMA + which holds (comma + which + SINGULAR verb) serves to refer to Lake Baikal (the nearest preceding singular noun).

COMMA + which + PLURAL VERB must refer to the nearest preceding PLURAL noun.
Unlike most severance packages, which require workers to stay until their last scheduled day to collect, workers at the automobile company are eligible for its severance package even if they find a new job before they are terminated.
Here, COMMA + which require (comma + which + PLURAL verb) serves to refer to severance packages (the nearest preceding singular noun).

In most cases, the referent for COMMA + which will immediately precede the comma.
But sometimes the referent for COMMA + which will appear EARLIER IN THE SENTENCE.
Emily Dickinson's LETTERS to Susan Huntington Dickinson, which WERE written over a period beginning a few years before Susan's marriage to Emily's brother and ending shortly before Emily's death in 1886, outnumber her letters to anyone else.
Here, COMMA + which were written (COMMA + which + PLURAL verb) correctly serves to refer to letters) (the nearest preceding plural noun).

A different construction:
NOUN + PREPOSITION + which.
Here, the referent for which will generally be the NOUN PRECEDING THE PREPOSITION.
Declining values for farm equipment and land, THE COLLATERAL against WHICH farmers borrow to get through the harvest season, are going to force many lenders to tighten or deny credit this spring.
Here, the referent for which is THE COLLATERAL (the noun preceding the preposition against).
Conveyed meaning:
Farmers borrow AGAINST THE COLLATERAL.

Answer choice A in the SC above:
Fusion, THE PROCESS through WHICH the sun produces heat and light, has been studied by scientists.
Here, the referent for which is the THE PROCESS (the noun preceding the preposition through).
Conveyed meaning:
The sun produces heat and light THROUGH THE PROCESS.

For those interested in seeing another GMATPrep question that tests this concept:

The electronics company has unveiled what it claims to be the world's smallest network digital camcorder, the length of which is that of a handheld computer, and it weighs less than 11 ounces.

(A) to be the world's smallest network digital camcorder, the length of which is that of a handheld computer, and it weighs
(B) to be the smallest network digital camcorder in the world, which is as long as a handheld computer, weighing
(C) is the smallest network digital camcorder in the world, which is as long as a handheld computer, and it weighs
(D) is the world's smallest network digital camcorder, which is as long as a handheld computer and weighs
(E) is the world's smallest network digital camcorder, the length of which is that of a handheld computer, weighing