crackgmat750 wrote:
Yes OA is C. Obviously all other choices are incorrect. There are no close calls..but my concern is that in C, doesnt "four times as many as" immediately after comma seem to modify pupils rather than microrcomputer as desired by the meaning of sentence? What am I missing? What grammatical subtlelety is here.. can anybody elaborate with more examples? I know paul is on a vacation..
This is something that I got from the Princeton Review Verbal Workout (downloaded from
https://64168.com/bbs)
The misplaced modifier rule applies to phrases, but not to clauses.
Fo the benefit of others (and to save my own time), I'm copy-pasting the OCRs version of the relevant text from the Workbook here
Most misplaced modifiers come down to making sure that the opening phrase, followed by a comma, modifies the subject of the sentence. There is a possible solution to other problems, however, that don't occur very often on the GMAT. As the Grammar Glossary will tell you, there is a fundamental difference between a phrase and a clause: A clause contains a subject and a verb, and a phrase lacks either a subject or a verb.
Clause: Although he looked for his glasses for hours,
Phrase: Having looked for his glasses for houfs,
See the difference? If you take away Although from the clause, you have a complete sentence: He lookedfor his glassesfor hours. The phrase, however, has no chance to stand by itself as a complete sentence. The misplaced modifier rule applies to phrases, but not to clauses. Therefore:
You can change a misplaced modifier into a legal sentence by changing a phrase into a clause.
Here's an example:
Wrong: While leaving the bank, Evelyn's purse was stolen.
Right: As she was leaving the bank, Evelyn's purse was stolen.
The opening phrase is now a clause (with the subject she and the verb was), so it's okay.
HTH