Faulty voting equipment, confusing ballots, voter error, adn 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 th e100 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 Stated 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 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.

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.





I have questions regarding E.

1. Does "had not been" located betweeen 4 million and of the 100 million have a problem?

Since counting the votes happened before the new study estimated and counting is done when the new study estimated, I thought that using past perfect tense was appropriate.

am I wrong?

2. Is not using "that" after estimated ok?

Hi,
Usage of past perfect tense “had not been counted” is certainly incorrect here. We use past perfect tense when two events took place in the past and we need to establish the sequence, conveying which of the two actions in the past took place first.

In this sentence, there are two verbs. One is present perfect “has estimated” and the other is the pat perfect tense. Since one action has taken place very recently, we cannot say that it took place in the past. The timeline of these two events are not the same. Election took place in 2000 while the study has been conducted very recently. Hence, there is no need to show which event took place earlier as it is very evident from the sentence. Hence, use of pat perfect tense “had not been counted” is incorrect. This is certainly a deterministic error to eliminate Choice

Answering your second question, I would say that presence of “that” after estimated would have certainly made the comprehension easier. However, absence of that does not make the sentence incorrect.

Also note that coma + verb-ing modifier always modifies the entire preceding clause. But in this choice, there is no clause before “citing”. There is just a noun phrase that makes the usage of coma + citing incorrect. This is again a deterministic error to eliminate Choice E.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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This is a question of misplaced modifiers. Many of the wrong answers can be eliminated by spotting the faulty modification. (E), however, is a problem of verb tense, not of modification. Let's take a close look:


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 election did not estimate, the study did.


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. ANSWER

Study is being correctly modified. The verb tense of present perfect mixed with simple past is correct.


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.

Dangling modifier at the beginning. 'Citing...' must modify the study.


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.

Here the 'in estimating' is stylistically off, as it is very far from the subject it applies to, 'a new study.' There are also some less obvious errors in verb tense. The votes cast should be in the past perfect tense, 'had not been cast' because this event happened before the counting.


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.

'Has estimated' is mixing present perfect tenses with the past perfect, 'had not been.' Either use past and past perfect or present and present perfect.

Hope that helps .
_________________

Christopher Lele
Magoosh Test Prep

MEANING: There is a study that has cited X,Y, and Z problems at polling places. The study estimated that they did not count 4 million blah blah

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.
It is the study that estimated and not the presidential election. OUT!

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 position of 4 million to 6 million... is wrongly modifying polling places... OUT!

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.
had not (PAST PERFECT) is not necessary usage.. no need to emphasize one past over another past event... OUT!

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.
same problem as D.. OUT!

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.

"Citing faulty voting equipment..." modifies a new study... This is CORRECT. A new study has estimated that.... were not counted. Simple and no unnecessary PAST PERFECT TENSE usage...