disruptions

[thephoenix]

Experts are working to undertand why the disruptions, which occurred an hour before the blackout reached its peak, were not contained, allowing a cascade of power system shutdowns stretching from Michigan to New Yourk City and into Canada.

A. were not contained, allowing

B. was not contained, allowing

C. were not contained, which allowed

D. were not contained to allow

E. were not contained, a failure that allowed

[Osirus@VeritasPrep]

I would choose A

A- Correct

B- disruptions is plural so you need the plural "were" rather than the singular "was"

C- "which" can only modify the word that immediately proceeds it.

D- the use of the infinitive "to allow" is incorrect

E- I could be wrong but I think you need a gerund here to modify an entire clause

[reply2spg]

what is the source....(other than Gmat club)

[gmatmachoman]

Experts are working to undertand why the disruptions, which occurred an hour before the blackout reached its peak, were not contained, allowing a cascade of power system shutdowns stretching from Michigan to New Yourk City and into Canada.

A. were not contained, allowing

B. was not contained, allowing

C. were not contained, which allowed

D. were not contained to allow

E. were not contained, a failure that allowed

Phenox,I see whole lot of issues in the Sentence construction.....Culd u let us the source?

[thephoenix]

Experts are working to undertand why the disruptions, which occurred an hour before the blackout reached its peak, were not contained, allowing a cascade of power system shutdowns stretching from Michigan to New Yourk City and into Canada.

A. were not contained, allowing

B. was not contained, allowing

C. were not contained, which allowed

D. were not contained to allow

E. were not contained, a failure that allowed

Phenox,I see whole lot of issues in the Sentence construction.....Culd u let us the source?

reply2spg Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:16 am

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what is the source....(other than Gmat club)

the source mentioned in gmat club is ARCO
here is the OA and OE posted by one of their forum member

OA = E.

OE (ARCO CAT1): The correct answer is (E). The problem with the original sentence is that "allowing" needs to modify something, but there is no word to which it is connected. The reader is, therefore, left wondering what it is that allowed the cascade of shutdowns. The answer is "a failure", but that word doesn't appear in the original sentence.

(E) Corrects this omission.

(B) Is wrong because "was" fails to agree with the plural "disruptions".

(C) Suffers from the same weakness as the original. The relative pronoun "which" needs to refer to a noun, but there is no "failure" or similar word in the original to be the antecedent.

(D) Makes the error in the original more noticeable.

well i also went for E for some gud reasons ........
i guess ARCO is a reliable source

[mohit11]

Experts are working to understand why the disruptions, which occurred an hour before the blackout reached its peak, were not contained, allowing a cascade of power system shutdowns stretching from Michigan to New Yourk City and into Canada.

A. were not contained, allowing - Allowing is present particle, however, the sentence is in simple past tense, hence we should not use allowing. Tempting answer choice, further, who allowed what? E answers this question

B. was not contained, allowing - Disruptions is plural. so we need were and not was , Eliminate B.

C. were not contained, which allowed - Which modifies contained, which is incorrect. Eliminate C

D. were not contained to allow- It alters the meaning, also, if you remove the modifier "which occurred...", the sentence does not make sense . Eliminate D

E. were not contained, a failure that allowed - Correct.