Noun Modifier Question

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Noun Modifier Question

by jsockol » Tue May 22, 2012 3:17 pm
The following is from MGMAT Cat#5. I am interested in knowing why the noun modifier "a policy that would likely dissuade those parents" is appropriate. I understand why "which" is not correct but my initial thought is that this would be a run on sentence with the clause "a policy...". Can someone please provide the grammatical reasoning for why it is appropriate?

State lawmakers are considering a law allowing children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent with whom they will live, which will likely dissuade those parents from disciplining or punishing their children.

A) allowing children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent with whom they will live, which will likely dissuade those parents
B) that would allow children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent with whom they will live, a policy that would likely dissuade those parents
C) that would allow children of divorced parents as young as seven to choose the parent that they will live with, a policy that will likely dissuade their parents
D)allowing children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent who they will live with, likely dissuading those parents
E)that will allow children as young as seven with divorced parents to choose which parent with whom to live, a policy likely dissuading their parents
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue May 22, 2012 7:14 pm
A run-on sentence occurs when we have multiple independent clauses (with both a subject and a verb) connected improperly. Using an appositive phrase (like "a policy...") cannot create a run-on sentence because it is not an independent clause.
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by jsockol » Wed May 23, 2012 3:22 am
If that's the case though shouldn't it then touch the noun it is modifying. My interpretation was that this was "a law". The only thing I can think of going through my notes is that the phrase beginning with "allowing...live" is mission critical in that it gives "a law" its meaning which would allow the "a policy" clause to be offset. Is this the right way of thinking about this or would you suggest a different approach?

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by GMATGuruNY » Wed May 23, 2012 6:28 am
jsockol wrote:The following is from MGMAT Cat#5. I am interested in knowing why the noun modifier "a policy that would likely dissuade those parents" is appropriate. I understand why "which" is not correct but my initial thought is that this would be a run on sentence with the clause "a policy...". Can someone please provide the grammatical reasoning for why it is appropriate?
State lawmakers are considering a law that would allow children as young as seven whose parents are divorced to choose the parent with whom they will live, a policy that would likely dissuade those parents from disciplining or punishing their children.

The phrase in red is a SUMMATIVE MODIFIER. A summative modifier:

-- is a noun phrase that appears at the end of a sentence
-- serves to RENAME or SUMMARIZE the idea expressed in the preceding clause
-- adds new information about the idea expressed in the preceding clause
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by jsockol » Wed May 23, 2012 7:21 am
Thank you both. Very helpful

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by vikram4689 » Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:14 pm
Mitch,

In correct sentence, Is "would" used in Hypothetical sense ? can you please explain the meaning of this sentence
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