Conveyor Belt

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 777
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:02 am
Location: Mumbai, India
Thanked: 117 times
Followed by:47 members

Conveyor Belt

by komal » Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:22 am
The automotive conveyor-belt system, which Henry Ford modeled after an assembly-line technique introduced by Ransom Olds, reduced from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T.

(A) from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T

(8) the time being required to assemble a Model T, from a day and a half down to 93 minutes

(C) the time being required to assemble a Model T, a day and a half to 93 minutes

(D) the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes

(E) from a day and a half to 93 minutes, the time required for the assembling of a Model T

OA D

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1560
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:38 am
Thanked: 137 times
Followed by:5 members

by thephoenix » Thu Feb 11, 2010 1:53 am
komal wrote:The automotive conveyor-belt system, which Henry Ford modeled after an assembly-line technique introduced by Ransom Olds, reduced from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T.

original has modifier issue---> misplaced modifier...
reduced has to modify something........time



(A) from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T
Misplaced modifier

(8) the time being required to assemble a Model T, from a day and a half down to 93 minutes
passive

(C) the time being required to assemble a Model T, a day and a half to 93 minutes
passive

(D) the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes

(E) from a day and a half to 93 minutes, the time required for the assembling of a Model T
misplaced modifier

Legendary Member
Posts: 941
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:28 am
Thanked: 20 times
Followed by:1 members

by bhumika.k.shah » Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:46 am
Hope this helps :)
komal wrote:The automotive conveyor-belt system, which Henry Ford modeled after an assembly-line technique introduced by Ransom Olds, reduced from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T.

(A) from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T - reduced what ? the time -right! so it should be placed right next to reduced - Misplaced modifier.Modifier being the time here.

(8) the time being required to assemble a Model T, from a day and a half down to 93 minutes - being is almost always considered wrong and wordy and passive in GMAT . ELIMINATE

(C) the time being required to assemble a Model T, a day and a half to 93 minutes - being is almost always considered wrong and wordy and passive in GMAT . ELIMINATE

(D) the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes - time is reduced from ... to ... CORRECT

(E) from a day and a half to 93 minutes, the time required for the assembling of a Model T - reduced what ? the time -right! so it should be placed right next to reduced - Misplaced modifier.Modifier being the time here.

OA D

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 221
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:24 pm
Thanked: 2 times

by mgmt_gmat » Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:09 am
D is here.

We need to mention " the time' which is reduced from one day ... to .....

User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2011 9:28 am

by gaurav19 » Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:26 am
Just clear my doubt about option D...It states that the system reduced the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 min...My mind is confused about that model T is assembled from a day and a half to 93 min ...dangling modifier error ...

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 645
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:42 pm
Location: US
Thanked: 527 times
Followed by:227 members

by e-GMAT » Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:48 pm
Choice D:
The automotive conveyor-belt system, which Henry Ford modeled after an assembly-line technique introduced by Ransom Olds, reduced the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes

Hi Gaurav19,
The simplified version of this sentence is as follows:

'abc' system reduced the time required for 'def' from yy to zz.
or in more simplified terms:
'abc' system reduced the time from yy to zz.

Notice how "required for 'def'" is simply a verb-ed modifier that adds more information about the preceding noun - time. We need this information to understand time for "what" has been reduced.

The modifier "from yy to zz" actually modifies the verb - reduced. It describes the action - reduce. Verb modifiers are more flexible than noun modifiers. They need not be placed right next to the verb that they modify.

I hope this answers your doubt :) Let me know if you have any other concerns about this question.

PS: This concept is covered in detail in the following concepts in e-GMATSC course:
Modifiers - Types of Modifiers
Modifiers - Correcting Modifier Errors

User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 94
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:51 pm
Thanked: 24 times
Followed by:7 members
GMAT Score:750

by havok » Tue Apr 26, 2011 4:30 pm
(A) from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T

(B) the time being required to assemble a Model T, from a day and a half down to 93 minutes

(C) the time being required to assemble a Model T, a day and a half to 93 minutes

(D) the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes

(E) from a day and a half to 93 minutes, the time required for the assembling of a Model T

D.

Basically, the middle portion of the sentence is non-essential. You can read the beginning as:
"The automotive conveyor-belt system... reduced".

Going along with that, D becomes the clear answer, the system reduced "the time required".

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 1:13 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by abhicoolmax » Sun Aug 14, 2011 6:41 pm
e-GMAT wrote:Choice D:
The automotive conveyor-belt system, which Henry Ford modeled after an assembly-line technique introduced by Ransom Olds, reduced the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes

Hi Gaurav19,
The simplified version of this sentence is as follows:

'abc' system reduced the time required for 'def' from yy to zz.
or in more simplified terms:
'abc' system reduced the time from yy to zz.

Notice how "required for 'def'" is simply a verb-ed modifier that adds more information about the preceding noun - time. We need this information to understand time for "what" has been reduced.

The modifier "from yy to zz" actually modifies the verb - reduced. It describes the action - reduce. Verb modifiers are more flexible than noun modifiers. They need not be placed right next to the verb that they modify.

I hope this answers your doubt :) Let me know if you have any other concerns about this question.

PS: This concept is covered in detail in the following concepts in e-GMATSC course:
Modifiers - Types of Modifiers
Modifiers - Correcting Modifier Errors
What is wrong with saying (these are NOT the options, yet curious):
- The automotive conveyor-belt system, which Henry Ford modeled after an assembly-line technique introduced by Ransom Olds, reduced the required time to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes

I don't see any difference in meaning in these 2. In 1st case, "required to assemble" modifies "time", and, in 2nd case, "required" acts as an adjective modifier of "time" and "to assemble" acts as a propositional phrase modifier of "time".

Now in 1st case, are "required" and "to assemble" 2 different modifiers modifying "time" separately? OR is "required" a modifier of the propositional phrase "to assemble" - does that mean "to assemble" is a noun phrase? I think totally confused as to what is modifying what :p

Moreover, according to the OG explanation, the verb must be immediately followed by the direct object. Is there ANY instance when this might not be case? Can a prepositional phrase ever sit between the verb it modifies and the direct object?

GMAT Instructor
Posts: 181
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 2:27 pm
Followed by:8 members

by [email protected] » Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:41 am
Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that focuses concise writing! Let's start by looking at the original question, and then highlighting any major differences between the options:

The automotive conveyor-belt system, which Henry Ford modeled after an assembly-line technique introduced by Ransom Olds, reduced from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T.

(A) from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T
(B) the time being required to assemble a Model T, from a day and a half down to 93 minutes
(C) the time being required to assemble a Model T, a day and a half to 93 minutes
(D) the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes
(E) from a day and a half to 93 minutes, the time required for the assembling of a Model T

After a quick glance over the options, we can see that there are a few major issues we can focus on:

1. The order of phrases in orange and purple (conciseness/clarity)
2. Wordiness/word choice/punctuation in each phrase


Let's start with #1 on our list: the order of phrases. If we look at the original sentence in its entirety, we can see a pretty big clue:

The automotive conveyor-belt system, which Henry Ford modeled after an assembly-line technique introduced by Ransom Olds, reduced from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T.

In English, it's best to structure sentences in the following order:

SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT

In this sentence, the subject is "The automotive conveyor-belt system," and the verb is "reduced." To determine what the object of the sentence is, we must ask ourselves, "WHAT was reduced?" The time required to assemble a Model T! Let's see which options do this correctly or not:

(A) from a day and a half to 93 minutes the required time of assembling a Model T
(B) the time being required to assemble a Model T, from a day and a half down to 93 minutes
(C) the time being required to assemble a Model T, a day and a half to 93 minutes
(D) the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes
(E) from a day and a half to 93 minutes, the time required for the assembling of a Model T

We can eliminate options A & E because they don't put the object of the sentence directly after the verb, which makes them confusing to readers!

Now that we're left with only 3 options, let's take a closer look at each option. We need to focus on concise wording, clear meaning, and any punctuation problems:

(B) the time being required to assemble a Model T, from a day and a half down to 93 minutes

This option is INCORRECT for a few reasons. First, adding "being" isn't necessary. In fact, it might confuse readers into thinking that a person determines how long it takes to assemble a Model T, rather than the efficiency of the machine used to build them. It's also not necessary to say "from X down to Y" here - just say "from X to Y." It's more concise and means the same thing!

(C) the time being required to assemble a Model T, a day and a half to 93 minutes

This is INCORRECT because it also uses the added "being," which isn't necessary. The comma between "Model T" and "a day" also creates a comma splice, which is a big no-no on the GMAT!

(D) the time required to assemble a Model T from a day and a half to 93 minutes

This is CORRECT! It uses concise wording (required instead of being required), there is no comma splice before "from," and it uses the proper structure for "from X to Y."

There you have it - option D is the correct choice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 110
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:19 pm
Followed by:1 members

by vietnam47 » Sat Aug 17, 2019 6:55 am
there are many pattern for noun modifier. noun modifier can do its job in many idioms
time required to assemble
time of assembling
time for assembling
all of these are correct, I think.

so, we have to remember that noun modifier can appear in many idioms.
knowing this point help us not focus on the different things, all of them correct.