tricky modifier sc

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bblast: Legendary Member; Posts: 1077; Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 amFollowed by: 33 members; Thanked: 118 times; GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:10 am

In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.
(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen

IN the previous forum(2 yrs old) the OA was discussed as D.

I strongly disagree.

Can anyone highlight ?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:10 am

shovan85: Community Manager; Posts: 991; Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:19 amFollowed by: 24 members; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 146 times

by shovan85 » Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:39 am

bblast wrote:In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.
(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen

Can you please let me know which part leads you to the disagreement with OA? i have highlighted the options because of which they are wrong.

If the problem is Easy Respect it, if the problem is tough Attack it

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bblast: Legendary Member; Posts: 1077; Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 amFollowed by: 33 members; Thanked: 118 times; GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:50 am

we are saying shatters and falls for :

as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material

but is this stem not plural ???

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shovan85: Community Manager; Posts: 991; Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:19 amFollowed by: 24 members; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 146 times

by shovan85 » Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:20 am

bblast wrote:we are saying shatters and falls for :

as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material

but is this stem not plural ???

as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material

Hmm!! the Verb is singular as it means 20% of the A and B type of material

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Target2009: Legendary Member; Posts: 574; Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:47 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Location: USA; Thanked: 29 times

by Target2009 » Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:08 pm

I got it as D, just for tense and S-V agreement

In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.

So we need Present tense as we will using this procedure & Subject ( material) is singular here so we would need singular verb.

(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell [Past tense]
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall [plural]
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall [future tense]
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls [correct - present & singular]
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen [ Present perfect]

That was my way to find D as Ans. Other can share there approaches.

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bblast: Legendary Member; Posts: 1077; Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 amFollowed by: 33 members; Thanked: 118 times; GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:49 pm

ok, agreed to shovan and target 2009,

but what about :

In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls to the ground.

if material is the subject--shatters and falls is correct but then why are we saying-"the most nutritious parts of the plant"

I think I need to ignore the modifier between the commmas altogether ?
In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material,the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls to the ground.

aha i think i got this one now ? please confirm

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bblast: Legendary Member; Posts: 1077; Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 amFollowed by: 33 members; Thanked: 118 times; GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Fri Jan 07, 2011 8:52 pm

one more doubt from sahil's notes, similiar one,
please quote and help.

for SVA sahil says :

In laws of motion, there is a condition and its converse regarding bodies at rest and in motion. Incorrect

In laws of motion, there are a condition and its converse regarding bodies at rest and bodies in motion. correct

how ?

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Target2009: Legendary Member; Posts: 574; Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:47 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Location: USA; Thanked: 29 times

by Target2009 » Fri Jan 07, 2011 10:23 pm

For you Que: Yes you need to ignore modifier phrase separated by commas in order to analyze S-V agree.

the most nutritious parts of the plant - modifying - material

Regarding Shahil's note .. I need to re check what it is trying to convey.

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anshumishra: Legendary Member; Posts: 543; Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:01 pmFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 147 times

by anshumishra » Sun Jan 09, 2011 5:40 pm

bblast wrote:one more doubt from sahil's notes, similiar one,
please quote and help.

for SVA sahil says :

In laws of motion, there is a condition and its converse regarding bodies at rest and in motion. Incorrect

In laws of motion, there are a condition and its converse regarding bodies at rest and bodies in motion. correct

how ?

In laws of motion, there are X [spoiler](a condition)[/spoiler] and Y [spoiler](its converse regarding bodies at rest and bodies in motion). [/spoiler]

It is an example of inverted subject/verb. Invert it to read as ->
"a condition and its converse are there in Newtonian laws of motion"

Thanks
Anshu

(Every mistake is a lesson learned )

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Jim@Grockit: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:07 pmFollowed by: 45 members; Location: Madison, WI; Thanked: 162 times; GMAT Score:760

by Jim@Grockit » Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:12 pm

I would have understood "20 percent" as the subject of "falls" rather than "material."

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bblast: Legendary Member; Posts: 1077; Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 amFollowed by: 33 members; Thanked: 118 times; GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:37 pm

Jim@Grockit wrote:I would have understood "20 percent" as the subject of "falls" rather than "material."

makes sense Jim.

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monge1980: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 52; Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:24 am; Thanked: 2 times; GMAT Score:590

by monge1980 » Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:15 am

bblast wrote:ok, agreed to shovan and target 2009,

but what about :

In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls to the ground.

if material is the subject--shatters and falls is correct but then why are we saying-"the most nutritious parts of the plant"

I think I need to ignore the modifier between the commmas altogether ?
In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material,the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls to the ground.

aha i think i got this one now ? please confirm

Sorry dudes, but I am not convinced about the explanations given in this post.

I am still confused about the answer D), which is the credited answer. Indeed, albeit someone says that we need to ignore the modifier between the commes, I need to understand whether the modifier between the commas is correct. What "the most nutritious parts of the plant" is modifying? If the subject is materia [singular], the modifier between the comma cannot modify material. In the other hands, leaf and small-stem are adjective of material, therefore the modifier between the comma cannot modify an adjective ... still confused

Please argue ...

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