Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine

My answer would be B

According to Manhattan Gmat Sc VAN pattern Adverb is preferred here, thats why Significantly is correct. So D/E is out of the equation.
I thought A and C are redundant so I guess it is B
Please correct me If I am wrong
Thank you

IMO B.

Clues:
1. A is wrong as "which already are a cost to business of" is incorrect usage.
2. the effects of drug and alcohol abuse [plural] - COST is required. So, C and E out.
3. D is wrong because initial non-underlined part "the use....is growing" which indicates it requires an adverb to indicate the emphasis and also u can see ", and already costing business" part in the end which add another clause rather than a modified form.

ok i will try. 'which' does refer to a noun immideately preceding it is the genreal rule. but when we use 'of' we are attributing a misssion critical modifier to the subject.
correct: an ice sheet covers 80% of the surface area of greenland, which is an area roughly the size of alaska.

here the 'of clause' is essential to define the 80%. it is as if u r attributing a quality to the subject. something similar to using a possesive case. some thing like 'the strength of hercules' and 'hercule's strength'. both can be referred to by using 'which'. if u do observe, in many questions you can not use posseisive case and the 'of' clause together because it cause redudancy.

micheal's musuc is as famous as rehman's. correct
micheal's music is as famous as that of rehman. correct
micheal's music is as famous as that of reham's. incorrect

Answer: B.
'Significantly' vs 'significant' ---> 'significantly' is correct. Eliminates D and E.
A is incorrect because it leaves us confused as to which holds a value of 'more than $100 billion a year' - is it the business? or is it the compounding costs of substance abuse?
C is incorrect as well because it changes the meaning of the statement.

Would you please someone explain the reference of "which" in this question?
According to Manhattan SC book,page 91, I though "which" always refers to the noun immediately preceding it. So here "which" should refer to abuse.
Can someone tell me what I'm missing here?

Thank you:)

Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year.

(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of >>> Wrong. Too wordy
(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business >>> Correct. Concise. "The effects" is plural + "cost" --> Correct
(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of >>> Wrong. the use of "with" is unclear.
(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business >>> Wrong. parallel structure is wrong.
(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business >>> Wrong . parallel structure is wrong.

So, B is the best.

Choice B, the best answer, uses clear and concise phrasing to state that it is the effects of drug and alcohol abuse that already cost business the sum mentioned.

In A, to business is awkwardly and confusingly inserted between cost and the propositional phrase that modifies it, and are already a cost to business is wordy and awkward compared to cost business.

In C, already with business costs of is awkward and unclear, failing to specify that those prior effects generate the cost.

Choices D and E produce faulty constructions with the phrase significant in compounding, which cannot grammatically modify the verb form is growing.

Answer: B.

If you ask yourself how is it growing rapidly? The answer should be by significantly compounding something. So, we need the adverb "significantly". " Which" modifies "effects" and since "effects" is plural the verb is " cost". Hence, the only possible answer is B.

Hi,

Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year.

(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of

(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business

(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of

(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business

(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business

In this sentence I do not understand why (E) is necessary wrong : In my opinion it should mean the following :

Executive say that the use of crack is growing AND already costs ...

"significantly [...] abuse" is just a modifier of "workers" and it is set into commas since is not essential.

Could you please explain what is wrong in this approach ?

Many thanks in advance for your kind help,

Comma + present participle modifier does not refer to the noun it touches, but the entire previous clause or the subject of the previous clause.

Here, the present participle modifier " significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse" refers to the entire clause "the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers" ( the modifier indicates the effect of growing use of crack and cocaine).

In E, the modifier "significant...." is an adjective modifier and hence should ideally touch the noun it refers - this modifier wrongly refers to "workers". Hence E is wrong.

119. Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers,
significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
more than $100 billion a year.

(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business
(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of
(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business
(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business

while significantly is modifying the clause before comma,and which is refering to the alcohol abuse.The acohol abuse has caused the business to suffer a loss of 100 billion.

Option B correctly provides correct meaning and references and is the correct answer.

119. Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers,
significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
more than $100 billion a year.

(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
a cost to business of ?
wrong.
(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business
Clear meaning and proper modifiers.
(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of
already with business costs of- wrong construction.

(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business
wrong construction.

(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business
wrong construction.

Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year.

(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of

Meaning error : 'Drug & alcohol abuse are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year'
'of' phrase incorrectly modifies business & changes meaning.

(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business

Correct : drug and alcohol abuse cost business some X amount

(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of

Incorrect

(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business

"Significant" adjective can not modify verb 'the use' : incorrect

(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business

"Significant" adjective can not modify verb 'the use' : incorrect

Imp. To Understand


Participle Modifiers
"..Cocaine usage is growing among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug abuse.."
Underlined part is a participle modifier which is describing the result of the clause before comma.
The word "significantly" is a adverb modifying the "compounding the effects...".


Noun Modifiers
"..Cocaine usage is growing among workers, significant in compounding the effects of drug abuse.."
Underlined word is a noun modifier which is modifying "workers"; A noun modifier modifies immediately preceding noun, not the the preceding clause.

egmat seek clarication here.

1) how does significantly as adverb modified far of verb "use" and not follow touch principle.

2) shouldn't the clause "significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse" act as appositive and hence leave which (noun modifier) without a comma and considered as unacceptable. Which should ideally modify the nearby entities of main clause rather than appositive clause.

Please help me to clear my doubts.

B. significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business
- B is the correct answer.

D changes the meaning of the sentence.

significant after the comma incorrectly modifies workers creating ambiguity.

Sent from my Lenovo K53a48 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

******************
(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of (What are a cost to business??? Meaning)

(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business

(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of (effects-costs Subject-Verb Disagreement)

(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business

(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business (effects-costs Subject-Verb Disagreement)