sc 'whose/which'

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beingAndNothing: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 59; Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:35 am; Thanked: 1 times

by beingAndNothing » Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:03 pm

This is a question from the Princeton Review.

Many of America's political allies have demanded that the United States
repeal the Helms-Burton law of 1996, tightening the embargo on all Cuban
products and, according to opponents of it, violating several international
agreements.

1) tightening the embargo on all Cuban products and, according to opponents of it, violating

2) whose tightening the embargo on all Cuban products violates, according to opponents of it,

3) which tightens the embargo on all Cuban products and which, according to opponents of it, violates

4)embargo's tightening by the Helms-Burton law of 1996 on all Cuban products and the violating, according to opponents of it, of

5)tightening the embargo of the Helms-Burton law of 1996 on all Cuban products and, according to its opponents, violating

OA is 3

I chose (2) because I thought the tightening violates the international treaties. The explanation in the book says that whose should be used for persons. But my understanding is that whose can be used as a possessive pronoun for which or who. Also, does the placement of the modifier 'according to its' before or after 'violates' makes a difference.

thanks.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:03 pm

camitava: Legendary Member; Posts: 645; Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:37 amFollowed by: 5 members; Location: India; Thanked: 34 times

by camitava » Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:44 pm

beingAndNothing, I will go for C. Look in the Qs, they are talking about the Helms-Burton law of 1996. Its true that we generally use WHOSE to indicate person/ animal/ living substance. Now the Qs wants to say that America repeals the Helms-Burton law of 1996 which tightens the embargo on all Cuban products. According to opponents, this also violates several international agreements. R u getting me? I mean what u understood from the Qs, its not that. So the best option to chose is C.

Correct me If I am wrong

Regards,

Amitava

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sujaysolanki: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 214; Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:30 am; Thanked: 15 times

by sujaysolanki » Thu Dec 27, 2007 12:31 am

Just to add to what camitava has said ..the other way of looking at it is that

which here is acthing an essential clause that cannot be omitted in the sentence ...the only option that has it is C and besides that the concept being tested here is parallelism is only present in C and E ..but E does not use which so can be knocked off ..

Hope this helps

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beingAndNothing: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 59; Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 10:35 am; Thanked: 1 times

by beingAndNothing » Thu Dec 27, 2007 9:27 am

camitava and sujay:

thanks.

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specialk1975: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 26; Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:30 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by specialk1975 » Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:55 am

Just look at the phrase "Helms-Burton law". Yes it is named after 2 people, but it is actually referencing the law, not the people, so "which" would appropriate.

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Danielle: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 215; Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:59 pmFollowed by: 3 members; Location: Mississippi; Thanked: 21 times

by Danielle » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:02 pm

Okay, when you look at this one, you can tell that the whole "tightening...and violating" underlined phrase is meant to describe the Helms-Burton law. But that is not what it is actually doing in the example sentence. The example sentence actually reads that America's political allies are doing the "tightening and violating". This is incorrect. The sentence needs a which/that/who restrictive clause word to differentiate the clause from the sentence and refer to the Helms-Burton law, which is the subject of the phrase. Right away you can eliminate 1, 4, and 5. (Or A, D and E).

Now it's a matter of picking the right word. It can't be B because whose can't refer to a law, even if it's named after it's Senate creators. That leaves C. C also doesn't have any grammatical errors, so it's the best answer.

Verbal Tutor

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