alimad wrote:
A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has concluded that
much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed comes from the incineration of wastes.
(A) much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed comes
(B) much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins that North Americans are exposed to come
(C) much of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and that North Americans are exposed to comes
(D) many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and North Americans are exposed to come
(E) many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed come
The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 10th Edition, 2003Practice QuestionQuestion No.: SC 34
Page: 658
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/30/business/hazard-of-dioxins-assailed-in-study.htmlMuch of the dioxins and furans to which Americans are exposed come from the burning of municipal and industrial wastes, according to the paper, which was written by Barry Commoner, director of the Queens College center, along with Thomas Webster and Karen Shapiro.
When to use a much v/s many. and should it be "exposed to" or just "exposed" ? A better explanation instead of just an answer letter would be preferred. Thanks
The sentence tells us that a report has concluded that much/many of the dioxins to which North Americans are exposed come from incineration of wastes. Also, that currently these dioxins are uncontrolled (unregulated).
We only need to focus on the noun clause beginning with ‘that’.
(A) much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed comes
(B) much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins that North Americans are exposed to come
(C) much of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and that North Americans are exposed to comesSince ‘dioxins’ is plural, we should use ‘many’.
…many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins … or … many of the dioxins …
Hence, options (A), (B) and (C) are not correct.
Since the subject is ‘many of the dioxins’ (plural), the verb should be ‘come,’ not ‘comes.’ Hence, options (A) and (C) are incorrect.
The relative clause beginning with ‘that’ gives us two additional data points about ‘many of the dioxins’ – they are currently uncontrolled and many Americans are exposed to them.
If the two points are joined together with an ‘and,’ we need to put them in a parallel structure or at least as parallel as possible.
For example, the following work:
… many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and quite dangerous come from ….
…many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and are quite dangerous come from...
They both explain two features of these dioxins.
However,
…many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and that are quite dangerous come from...
This is grammatically correct but here we are wondering whether we are talking about the same dioxins or two different types of dioxins – one that are currently uncontrolled and the other that are quite dangerous. Since ‘and’ is conjunctive (discussed in the module in ‘Connectors’ section), we are likely talking about the same dioxins and hence this could work too.
Now, let’s look at option (D):
(D) many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and North Americans are exposed to come…many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and North Americans are exposed to come from…
Here, we do not have parallel elements. The first underlined is ‘verb + modifier’ (‘many of the dioxins’ is the subject) and the second is ‘subject + verb + preposition’ (‘many of the dioxins’ is the object). Hence, we certainly need two separate that clauses.
…many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and that North Americans are exposed to come from…
Here we can say that the two ‘that’ clauses modify ‘many of the dioxins.’
Hence, as given, option (D) is not correct.
(E) many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed come
Option (E) is correct. Here, ‘currently uncontrolled’ pre-modifies dioxins so the issue of parallelism disappears. Also, the preposition ‘to’ is placed before ‘which’ making it more formal.
Answer (E)