Following the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger, investigators concluded that many key people employed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its contractors work an excessive amount of overtime that has the potential of causing errors in judgment.

(A) overtime that has the potential of causing
(B) overtime that has the potential to cause
(C) overtime that potentially can cause
(D) overtime, a practice that has the potential for causing
(E) overtime, a practice that can, potentially, cause
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Please elaborate

I got E also, but want to know what's wrong with D.
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'C' is wrong because it syas that 'Overtime' causes errors in the judgement. It is the practice of excessive working that causes errors in judgement.

IMO potential for is unidiomatic in D

IMO E

IMO B is correct option.
I think by Overtime we do not need to explicitly state that it is a practice.
We are making the sentence more wordy...any comments??
pls correct me...if i ma wrong..

OA pls..

Hey All,

There's been plenty of good discussion on this one, but just to put it all in one place, I'm stepping in. Also, lots of people mentioned concision on this one. There is not a single concision issue here. Concision is a SHOCKINGLY rare issue on the GMAT. Only fall back on it as a last resort.

300.Following the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger, investigators concluded that many key people employed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its contractors work an excessive amount of overtime that has the potential of causing errors in judgment.

(A) overtime that has the potential of causing
PROBLEM: The relative pronoun "that" is opening up a modifier on "overtime" which is problematic from a meaning perspective. What the sentence wants is for the modifier to modify "an excessive amount of overtime", but right now it reads as modifying "overtime". In other words, the sentence sounds like the contracts are working an excessive amount of a SPECIFIC (essential) kind of overtime, the kind that has the potential of causing errors in judgment. This is incorrect. Also, "of" is the wrong idiom with potential.

(B) overtime that has the potential to cause
PROBLEM: Same as above, though it fixed the idiom issue.

(C) overtime that potentially can cause
PROBLEM: Same as above. The adverb "potentially" is okay, though the placement is incorrect. We need to place it after "can" if we don't get any commas. Consider these examples: "He is potentially the greatest boxer of all time" is better than "He potentially is the greatest boxer of all time."

(D) overtime, a practice that has the potential for causing
PROBLEM: Now we are using an appositive modifier (modifying a noun with a noun "a practice..."), which is clearer. The "practice" is the entire phrase "work(ing) an excessive amount of overtime". Unfortunately, the idiom is correct after "potential" (should be "to").

(E) overtime, a practice that can, potentially, cause
ANSWER: People don't like picking things with too many commas. BUT COMMAS ARE GREAT! Commas are not bad or wordy. They are how we separate ideas in English. The more commas, often, the better. "potentially" is modifying "can cause", and we often set off modifiers with commas on either side.

Hope that helps!

-t
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Tommy Wallach | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | San Francisco

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Hi tommy ,
Please Consider the sentence that you have given as an example.
In
1)"He is potentially the greatest boxer of all time" is better than
2)"He potentially is the greatest boxer of all time."
In sentence 1, potentially is an adverb and needs to modify a verb .There is no verb after potentially in sentence 1
In sentence 2 potentially modifies "is" verb
So how can sentence 1 be better than sentence 2?
I must be missing something.Tommy can you resolve this issue
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Hey Munda,

I think the issue you're having is that a modifier should come before the thing it modifies, but this is actually the opposite of the case. Most modifiers come after. For example.

The man in the house. [in the house]
The man running from the law. [running from the law]
The dog, a purebred, is pretty. [a purebred]

See? In general, modifiers come AFTER the thing they modify. This isn't a hard and fast rule or anything (For example "By the time you read this, I'll be gone. [by the time you read this]", but it CERTAINLY doesn't make a sentence wrong if the adverbial modifier comes after the verb/adverb/adjective being modified.

-t
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Tommy Wallach | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | San Francisco

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Hey All,

2 issues. First Mainhoon's.

The problem is that it isn't overtime on its own that is causing problems, it's the practice of WORKING AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT of overtime. This is why we need to add the stuff about practice.

I was also asked a different question by PM, printed here:

With respect to the below sentences
1)"He is potentially the greatest boxer of all time" is better than
2)"He potentially is the greatest boxer of all time."

Can you please tell what is the adverb potentially modifying in sentence 1) and 2)

Really, it's modifying the same thing, but it's a question of how we say it. Consider an adjective use.

I have a green house.
I have a house green.

The second one is just wrong, because we don't write it that way. Technically, I suppose, it's still modifying the "house", but who cares? It's wrong. Sames goes with example 2 up above.

-t
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Tommy Wallach | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | San Francisco

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Hey Noburu,

Well, I'd agree with you, but there's no better choice. Remember, any issue relating to concision/redundancy should be the ABSOLUTE LAST thing you think about on the GMAT. Those issues are always secondary to GRAMMAR and even CLARITY.

-t
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Tommy Wallach | Manhattan GMAT Instructor | San Francisco

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