Tax on water bill

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mgmt_gmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 221; Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:24 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by mgmt_gmat » Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:21 am

The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that

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komal: Legendary Member; Posts: 777; Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:02 amFollowed by: 47 members; Location: Mumbai, India; Thanked: 117 times

by komal » Sat Feb 13, 2010 8:52 pm

mgmt_gmat wrote:The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that

my pick is A

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money9111: Legendary Member; Posts: 2109; Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:25 pmFollowed by: 79 members; Location: New Jersey; Thanked: 109 times; GMAT Score:640

by money9111 » Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:41 pm

im going with B

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shah_a: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:50 am

by shah_a » Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:28 am

i m going wd A

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kstv: Legendary Member; Posts: 610; Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:33 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 47 times

by kstv » Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:59 am

The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects whose cost will raise water bills so high that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.

D seems fine

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mohit11: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 293; Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:08 amFollowed by: 5 members; Location: India; Thanked: 36 times; GMAT Score:730

by mohit11 » Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:59 am

Slightly confused between A and D.

But i'll pick D. D seems succinct and conveys the intended meaning

The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that - "whose cost" is more succinct than "the cost of which"
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that - Changes the intended meaning.
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so - Changes the intended meaning.
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that , "so high that" is more succinct than "high enough so that"

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reply2spg: Legendary Member; Posts: 1261; Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:46 am; Thanked: 27 times; GMAT Score:570

by reply2spg » Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:09 pm

IMO 'high enough' is always redundant. I am not very much sure though. I always try to eliminate this option. Therefore, I eliminated A, C and E. B changes the meaning. Therefore, D is good.

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tomada: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 406; Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:36 amFollowed by: 4 members; Location: Syracuse, NY; Thanked: 23 times; GMAT Score:740

by tomada » Thu Mar 18, 2010 12:31 pm

The word "proposed" implies that these projects will be implemented in the future, if at all. On that basis, I narrowed my list of possible choices to 'D' and 'E', because only these choices contain "will raise", which also refers to the future. Choice 'D' contains "so high that even...", while choice 'E' contains "high enough so that even". Between the two, I felt that choice 'D' was less awkward.

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thephoenix: Legendary Member; Posts: 1560; Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:38 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 137 times

by thephoenix » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:00 pm

I am confused b/n B and D ,

pls give some concrete explanation for the correct ans.......

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by [email protected] » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:16 pm

thephoenix wrote:I am confused b/n B and D ,

pls give some concrete explanation for the correct ans.......

B. at a cost raising water bills so high that

This option changes the intended meaning very subtly. So does option C. They implies that the proposal's cost raised the water bills rather than the projects'.

Option D is clear in that sense. 'Whose' clearly points to the projects.

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nervesofsteel: Legendary Member; Posts: 594; Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:51 pm; Thanked: 12 times

by nervesofsteel » Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:44 am

mgmt_gmat wrote:The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that

A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that<- high enough so that is unidiomatic
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that < correct IMO
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:19 am

mgmt_gmat wrote:The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that

here are a few angles from which you can attack this problem.

1) VERB TENSE
the treatment and conservation projects described in the sentence have been proposed. the implication, then, is that these projects have not yet been implemented; therefore, any verb describing the effects of the projects must appear in the future tense.
this observation will eliminate (a), (b), and (c), each of which implies that the cost is already raising water bills in the present, or has already raised those bills.
(A and C literally contain the present tense, while B contains a -ING modifier that automatically adopts the tense of the main clause -- in this case, the present perfect.)

2) REDUNDANCY
you can't use both "enough" and "so" in the same description; each of these alone is sufficient to articulate the desired meaning.
this observation is enough to eliminate (a), (c), and (e).

3) "WHICH", OR OTHER MODIFIERS CONTAINING "WHICH", MUST BE PRECEDED BY A COMMA
(c) contains an instance of "which" that is not preceded by a comma -- instant elimination.
the same goes for "each of which", "from which", "of which", etc. -- so we can also eliminate (a), since "the cost of which" falls into the same category.

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:19 am

... so, just to be explicit, the correct answer to the problem is (d).

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gmatmachoman: Legendary Member; Posts: 2326; Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:54 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 173 times; GMAT Score:710

by gmatmachoman » Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:34 am

mgmt_gmat wrote:The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that

@Ron,

I see A to be a Run -On sentence. Am i right?

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lunarpower: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 3380; Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:20 amFollowed by: 1535 members; Thanked: 2256 times; GMAT Score:800

by lunarpower » Sun Mar 21, 2010 3:51 am

gmatmachoman wrote:
mgmt_gmat wrote:The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that
@Ron,

I see A to be a Run -On sentence. Am i right?

nope. that says "the cost of which", a construction that works in the same way as "which" itself -- i.e., it creates a subordinate clause.

analogy:

i have four dogs, each of them weighs over 100 pounds
--> this is a run-on sentence, since "each of them weighs over 100 pounds" is an independent clause by itself.

i have four dogs, each of which weighs over 100 pounds
--> this is a perfectly good sentence.

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