chenlongxiangyu wrote:
Hi,
For option (C), isn't there 2 interpretations of the meaning?
(C) that have depressed the wages of workers with few or no technical skills
Meaning: Economic shifts depressed the wages of worker with the help of few or no technical skills. Here "few or no technical skills" is considered a tool to depress.
(C) that have depressed the wages of workers with few or no technical skills
Meaning: Economic shifts depressed the wages of worker, who has few or no technical skills. Here "few or no technical skills" modifies the workers.
Whereas in option (E), the meaning is clear because "workers with few or no technical skills" becomes the subject of the clause. Though I know "in that" is an incorrect use, I am just wondering which problem is more prominent in such case.
English is complex enough that virtually any sentence can be interpreted in multiple ways if you're really determined to find alternate meanings. The question is whether there's any
reasonable ambiguity. Take the following example:
"Tim purchased the blue recliner with the gray footrest."
Now, it's technically true that because prepositional phrases can modify either nouns or actions, there are two ways we can understand this sentence:
1) "With the gray footrest" modifies the noun "the recliner." In other words, Tim purchased the recliner that was accompanied by a footrest.
or
2) "With the gray footrest" modifies the action "purchased." In other words, Tim used the footrest to purchase the recliner.
But no reasonable person would default to interpretation #2, right? Because there's only one reasonable interpretation, this sentence isn't actually ambiguous.
Same reasoning here. No reasonable reader would interpret (C) to mean that the economic shifts are using "few or no technical skills" to depress the wages of workers! So it must be true that "with few or no technical skills" is simply describing the workers.
Now look at (E):
Antipoverty initiatives have had to contend with two decades of economic shifts in that workers with few or no technical skills have wages that are depressed
"In that" means "because" or "in the sense that." But it's not logical to write that anti-poverty initiatives have had to contend with two decades of economic shifts
because low-skill workers have depressed wages! It's far more logical to have causality run the other way: economic shifts are causing a decrease in workers' wages. So it's true that (E) is not ambiguous, but its only plausible meaning is illogical, so it's out.
I hope that helps!