Shazi1711 wrote:The steel industry has changed radically over the last two decades, as large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel once conducted operations from mining at one end of the process to shipping at the other have greatly downsized, or in some cases shut down altogether.

A. as large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel
B. as large, integrated companies, such as Bethlehem Steel, that
C. with large, integrated companies, such as Bethlehem Steel, that
D. while large, integrated companies, such as Bethlehem Steel, that
E. and large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel

OA : B

[spoiler]Not able to understand why we need a 'that' here and what according to experts is the generic takeaway from this SC ?[/spoiler]

Consider a simple sentence: Dave, who once taught the GRE, now focuses on the GMAT. The structure of the sentence is SUBJECT, MODIFIER (relative clause), PREDICATE. "Who," like "that" is a relative pronoun, and indicates that we're introducing a modifier. Look what happens to the sentence of we remove the comma and "who." Dave once taught the GRE now focuses on the GMAT. Your ear can probably pick up on a problem: if we remove "who," the verb "taught" is no longer part of a modifier - it's an action performed by Dave. So now we have two actions - "taught" and "focuses" - performed by the same subject, and no conjunction linking them.

Same issue here. In the correct answer we have: large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel, that once conducted operations from mining at one end of the process to shipping at the other have greatly downsized. The part in red is a relative clause modifying "large, integrated companies." The core clause is large, integrated companies have greatly downsized.

If we remove "that" we no longer have a relative clause modifying "Large, integrated companies." Instead, we have: large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel once conducted operations from mining at one end of the process to shipping at the other have greatly downsized. Now "large, integrated companies" seem to be performing two actions (in red) but there is no conjunction linking these two actions. The core clause would be: large, integrated companies once conducted operations have greatly downsized. Clearly, that's no good.

Shazi1711 wrote:The steel industry has changed radically over the last two decades, as large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel once conducted operations from mining at one end of the process to shipping at the other have greatly downsized, or in some cases shut down altogether.

A. as large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel
B. as large, integrated companies, such as Bethlehem Steel, that
C. with large, integrated companies, such as Bethlehem Steel, that
D. while large, integrated companies, such as Bethlehem Steel, that
E. and large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel

OA : B

[spoiler]Not able to understand why we need a 'that' here and what according to experts is the generic takeaway from this SC ?[/spoiler]

Consider a simple sentence: Dave, who once taught the GRE, now focuses on the GMAT. The structure of the sentence is SUBJECT, MODIFIER (relative clause), PREDICATE. "Who," like "that" is a relative pronoun, and indicates that we're introducing a modifier. Look what happens to the sentence of we remove the comma and "who." Dave once taught the GRE now focuses on the GMAT. Your ear can probably pick up on a problem: if we remove "who," the verb "taught" is no longer part of a modifier - it's an action performed by Dave. So now we have two actions - "taught" and "focuses" - performed by the same subject, and no conjunction linking them.

Same issue here. In the correct answer we have: large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel, that once conducted operations from mining at one end of the process to shipping at the other have greatly downsized. The part in red is a relative clause modifying "large, integrated companies." The core clause is large, integrated companies have greatly downsized.

If we remove "that" we no longer have a relative clause modifying "Large, integrated companies." Instead, we have: large, integrated companies such as Bethlehem Steel once conducted operations from mining at one end of the process to shipping at the other have greatly downsized. Now "large, integrated companies" seem to be performing two actions (in red) but there is no conjunction linking these two actions. The core clause would be: large, integrated companies once conducted operations have greatly downsized. Clearly, that's no good.