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2000 US Prez elections - SC

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2000 US Prez elections - SC

by aj5105 » Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:25 pm
Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places have been cited by a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, which estimated that they did not count 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast.

A. Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places have been cited by a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, which estimated that they did not count 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast.
B. Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election has estimated that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted.
C. Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted in the 2000 United States presidential election, a new study estimates.
D. A new study has cited faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places in estimating that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes that were cast had not been counted in the 2000 United States presidential election.
E. A new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, has estimated 4 million to 6 million votes had not been counted of the 100 million votes cast.
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by logitech » Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:38 pm
RPurewal wrote:
Simon wrote:a.) Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places have been cited by a new study of the 2000 United Stated presidential election, which estimated that they did not count 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast.
the "which" is suboptimal here, because it may also be taken to modify the election itself. i'm not sure, though, whether the gmat would label it as outright wrong.
by far the most grievous error in this choice is "they", which doesn't refer to anything. it's also among the easiest things to spot, too; basically, you should keep a close eye on ANY pronoun that you see in a sentence.
b.) Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at pollingplaces, a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election has estimated that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted.
correct answer.
the initial subject-less modifier modifies the immediately following noun (a new study), as required.
there are no pronoun problems.
c.) Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted in the 2000 United States presidential election, a new study estimates.
the initial modifier doesn't have a subject, so it is attributed to the immediately following noun. unfortunately, in this case the immediately following noun is "4m to 6m of the ... votes", which makes no sense.
the placement of "cast" vis-à-vis "in the election" also doesn't make sense here; those two are dissociated from each other. the wording of the sentence seems to imply that the votes were simply "cast" - not in this or that election, but just "cast" - and that they simply "weren't counted in the 2000 election". the literal interpretation is that the votes may still have counted in some other election.

analogy:
many of the drinks at the party were not consumed --> nobody drank them, ever.
many of the drinks were not consumed at the party --> they may have been consumed later.
same problem.
d.) A new study has cited faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places in estimating that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes that were cast had not been counted in the 2000 United States presidential election.
the biggest problem is the relative placement of "cast" vis-à-vis "in the election", described in detail for choice (c) above.
"that were" is also wordy and can be removed without consequence.
e.) A new study of the 2000 United States presidential election, citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, has estimated 4 million to 6 million votes had not been counted of the 100 million votes cast.
when a subject phrase contains a prepositional modifier, you can't insert the verb between the noun and the modifier. at best it's nonsensical (as in this example), and at worst it changes the meaning of the sentence:
my friend from florida came to the bar --> he's originally from florida
my friend came to the bar from florida --> 3000 miles is a long, long way to go for some beers.

ergo, you can't divorce "4m to 6m votes" from "of the 100m votes cast".
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by ronniecoleman » Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:20 am
Yup has to go with B

Thanks Logitech for the link!
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by amitabhprasad » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:23 am
Thanks for the details Logitech.
I selected "B", but looking at explanation, I think it was just fluke.
Excellent reasoning. Wondering if you have any more pearls as the one above !!!
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by maihuna » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:42 am
The sentence has following noticeble stuff:
Use of which: it currently refers to either of election(preceding noun or the whole clause)
Sentence structure that requires un-necessary have...

B. Citing faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, and problems at polling places, a new study of the 2000 United States presidential election has estimated that 4 million to 6 million of the 100 million votes cast were not counted.

stands out from given choices that putted modifiers nicely so as to get rid of which, and fix the sentence issue, has cited is ok as this is an ongoing discussion about that study...
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