Harshgmat wrote:
The brain is something of a stimulus reduction system, a means to reduce, in order to comprehend, the nearly infinite amount of stimuli that reach the senses at any given moment.
I have a question here...
Why comma is required between
...comprehend,the nearly....
Can someone explain modifiers in the sentence and what is it modifying?
a)a means to reduce
b)the nearly infinite amount of stimuli that reach the senses at any given moment
daagh GMATNinja generis Harshgmat , this sentence is well-written and very complicated in grammar lingo. I can understand why you are curious about it!
I have never seen punctuation this sophisticated tested by GMAC in ANY
OG question.*
The commas before and after "in order to comprehend" are needed to indicate that we are shifting for a moment to insert a SEMI-parenthetical explanation.
A true "parenthetical aside": Professor Melnyk
, of course, laughed at the student's funny comment.
A true aside in the middle of an expression is always set off by two commas and
can be removed from the sentence without altering its meaning. The phrase "in order to comprehend" is a bit more than a parenthetical aside. Removing the phrase changes the meaning. But the phrase does interrupt.
Let's try the sentence without the commas.
The brain is something of a stimulus reduction system, a means to reduce in order to comprehend the nearly infinite number of stimuli that reach the senses at any given moment.
To reduce WHAT? Without a comma, we have no indication that "in order to comprehend" is an interruption (is a shift in THOUGHT and LOGIC). At that point, "to reduce" looks as if it has no direct object or a very elusive one.
Without a boatload of jargon and a sentence diagram, the best way to explain all the commas is this: if there is a distinct
shift in the sentence, thought process, or logic, use a comma.
The phrase "in order to comprehend" and its commas indicate that we are interrupting the flow of the sentence to explain
why the brain must first reduce the nearly infinite number of stimuli.
So we need a comma before and after "in order to comprehend":
1) to signal that the preceding verb "to reduce" is connected to the direct object "number," which immediately follows "comprehend"; and
2) to indicate that we are interrupting a verb phrase to explain WHY the brain needs to reduce the number of stimuli. That's a shift in thought.
Finally, the commas clarify meaning. The sentence is a bit unorthodox. Good prose often is unorthodox.
Are you confused by the meaning of the sentence?
Below is a very ugly version of the meaning of this sentence. Words in brackets indicate exactly that which the commas suggest without saying a word. I would rather read the sentence in the prompt (with the correct option B inserted).
MEANING:
The brain is [a type of] a stimulus reduction system.
[In other words, the brain is] a means to reduce the nearly infinite number of stimuli that reach the senses at any given moment.
[The brain functions as a means to reduce the number of stimuli] in order to comprehend [a then-manageable number of] the stimuli.Quote:
Can someone explain modifiers in the sentence and what is it modifying?
If I were to explain all the modifiers in this sentence, I would be writing for days.
The question doesn't test modifiers. It tests
-- countability: Stimuli can be counted. We can have an infinite NUMBER of stimuli.
Eliminate A, D, E
(C) the means of reducing for comprehending
--idiom: THE as a definite article in (C) ruins an otherwise idiomatic construction.
-- verbs: the verbs in this option make no sense. "Reducing" is a TRANSITIVE verb in participle form that needs an object. (Reducing WHAT?) "For comprehending" is not an object.
Eliminate C
Answer B
*Just to clear any concern that you or others may have -- punctuation this intricate would not be tested.