A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.
(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

Whenever you see an entire sentence highlighted like this, and each option is organized very differently, there is one grammar issue you can typically count on to be the problem:

MODIFIERS!

We need to make sure that modifier phrases, such as "after passing through a red giant stage" and "depending on its mass" are organized clearly and convey the correct meaning. Let's see how each option handles this:

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

This is INCORRECT because the phrase "depending on mass" is supposed to modify "star," and not "a red giant stage." It's not 100% clear to readers what that phrase should modify because it's in the wrong place. Let's rule this one out.

(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

This is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, the phrase "depending on its mass" should only refer to "a star," but this placement makes it ambiguous. It could modify either "a star" or " a red giant stage." Second, the pronoun "its" is unclear - is it referring back to "a red giant stage" or "a star?" It's unclear, so let's rule this one out too.

(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

This is INCORRECT because "a star's mass" doesn't pass through a red giant stage - a star does. The pronoun "it" is also too vague - it's not clear if "it" is referring to "a red giant stage" or "a star's mass." Either way, it would be wrong anyway. The modifier and antecedent don't make logical sense, so let's rule this one out also.

(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

This is OKAY for now. By rewriting it a little, we've gotten rid of the "determined by mass" modifier altogether - so we don't have to worry about that. The modifier "after passing through the red giant stage" is located directly after its antecedent "a star," which is clear and logical. Let's keep this one for now.

(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

This one is INCORRECT because "the mass of a star" doesn't pass through the red giant stage - the star itself does. Since this doesn't make logical sense as written, let's rule this one out.


There you have it - option D is our correct choice! The modifiers and antecedents are logical and located clearly to show the intended meaning.


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