Sentence Correction

mathrupradeep wrote:Regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, the fight over the speed limit continues in our legislatures and on our freeways.

A. Regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, the fight over the speed limit continues in our legislatures and on our freeways.
B. Regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, the speed limit continues to be fought over in our legislatures and on our freeways.
C. Regarded by opponents as ineffective meddling and by supporters as the conservation of life and energy, the speed limit continues to be fought over in our legislatures and on our freeways.
D. The fight over the speed limit, regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, continues in our legislatures and on our freeways.
E. The fight over the speed limit, a measure regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy, continues in our legislatures and on our freeways.


Hi,

Can someone help me understand why Option D is wrong?

In option D. The modifier is placed next to the speed limit. So how does it make it wrong?
Even in option E the modifier is placed to speed limit. So why D is wrong?

Please help me...

aditya8062 wrote:ilyana what difference does it make if i say that speed limit is meddlesome than if i say speed limit as a measure is meddlesome ?--->"speed limit" can be meddlesome !!
i think E is better than D for the reason that there is an iota of doubt in D
D says: The fight over the speed limit, regarded by opponents......--->"regarded" is verb-ed adjective that can refer to "fight" as well as to "speed limit"
this ambiguity is removed when we look at option E
E says :The fight over the speed limit, a measure regarded by opponents.... -->measure must refer to "speed limit"

DanaJ wrote:So the OA here is E!

@uwhusky: just stumbled upon it in the Beat The GMAT Practice Questions... While I don't have a specific set of questions with modifiers, I have seen quite a few in this resource, especially one really tough one with Italians and Slavs... If I find it again, I'll post it!

Anyway, here's my take on this question:

So the way it's structured right now, the modifier is incorrectly placed (as many of you have noticed). It's not the "fight over the speed limit" that's meddlesome or a conserver of life and energy, it's the speed limit itself. We need to find the answer choice that correctly attaches the modifier ("Regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy") to its correct noun ("speed limit"). This way, we can eliminate A for sure. D is also wrong because of the same reason: incorrectly placed modifier.

C is wrong because there's no parallelism between "ineffective meddling" (verb) and "the conservation of life and energy" (noun). Also, the use of "the" in bold is unnecessary. "The" suggests that the speed limit is "the one and only" (to quote a song ) saver of energy and life, which is obviously not the case - I can think of a million other things that can save more lives and energy

Now, you guys have successfully narrowed it down to B and E... E is better here because of the use of the passive voice in B. In general, you should avoid the passive voice in the GMAT, because it's considered wordy. "To be fought over" is also pretty vague - who fights over it? The official explanation also cites "a pile-up of prepositions" in "to be fought over in".[/quoteB

So the answer is E right? Why are the others still say it's B? Need clarification about the final answer in here.

DanaJ wrote:So the OA here is E!

@uwhusky: just stumbled upon it in the Beat The GMAT Practice Questions... While I don't have a specific set of questions with modifiers, I have seen quite a few in this resource, especially one really tough one with Italians and Slavs... If I find it again, I'll post it!

Anyway, here's my take on this question:

So the way it's structured right now, the modifier is incorrectly placed (as many of you have noticed). It's not the "fight over the speed limit" that's meddlesome or a conserver of life and energy, it's the speed limit itself. We need to find the answer choice that correctly attaches the modifier ("Regarded by opponents as ineffective and meddlesome and by supporters as a conserver of life and energy") to its correct noun ("speed limit"). This way, we can eliminate A for sure. D is also wrong because of the same reason: incorrectly placed modifier.

C is wrong because there's no parallelism between "ineffective meddling" (verb) and "the conservation of life and energy" (noun). Also, the use of "the" in bold is unnecessary. "The" suggests that the speed limit is "the one and only" (to quote a song ) saver of energy and life, which is obviously not the case - I can think of a million other things that can save more lives and energy

Now, you guys have successfully narrowed it down to B and E... E is better here because of the use of the passive voice in B. In general, you should avoid the passive voice in the GMAT, because it's considered wordy. "To be fought over" is also pretty vague - who fights over it? The official explanation also cites "a pile-up of prepositions" in "to be fought over in".[/quoteB

So the answer is E right? Why are the others still say it's B? Need clarification about the final answer in here.