The completion in 1925 of the Holland Tunnel, linking Manhattan with

I think it is C.

(A) Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, which permitted 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour and
(B) Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways and permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour, it
(C) Tunnel,linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways and permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour,
(D) Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, which permitted 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour and
(E) Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour,

Thanks,
GyM

Just adding in E, problem is that "was". this is not connected properly. Also permitting can modify linked as event is of 1925 and this thing is already done.

C is no doubt best answer.

The completion in 1925 of the Holland Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, which permitted 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour and was hailed as the decade’s $48 million engineering masterpiece.

(A) Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, which permitted 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour and
(B) Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways and permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour, it
(C) Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways and permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour,
(D) Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, which permitted 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour and
(E) Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour,

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1. Using of "which" after "highways" means that the first modifies the second.
"Which" can not modify "The completion in 1925 of the Holland Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways".
(But it has to be so, because it is logical. Completion of tunnel permitted 2000 cars to pass, not the highways)
It meanss, that A and D are out.
(Moreover: "and" after "hour" in A makes the sentence wrong. There is no clause in this case. We must not put "and" here.)

2. The problem same problem (no clause) is in B. Look at the sentence before ", it"
The completion in 1925 of the Holland Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways and permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour - there is no verb here - it is wrong.
was hailed as the decade’s $48 million engineering masterpiece - independent clause.
So B is out.

3. E is out too because of the same problem
The completion in 1925 of the Holland Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour was hailed as the decade’s $48 million engineering masterpiece.
"Linked" and then "was hiled" - it is not the sentence. No clause.

4. C is good.
linking, permitting - parallel. No problems with the clause.

daagh

Hello Sir,

Isn't c modifying the completion instead of the tunnel itself?

(A) Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, which permitted 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour and - PARALLELISM ISSUE, Linking and permitted
(B) Tunnel, linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways and permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour, it - USAGE OF IT is incorrect here. Also Parallelism issue "Linking" "And permitting"
(C) Tunnel,linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways and permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour, ting- CORRECT Perfect Parallelism "Linking" and "Permitting"
(D) Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, which permitted 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour and-INCORRECT due to usage of "which" and "and"
(E) Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways, permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour, - INCORRECT due to parallelism issue "Linked" and "Permitting"

Samak,
Yes. The comma + verbing linking is modifying the completion. If the comma were not there before the participle, then it would modify the tunnel.

Lets see why D and E are INORRECT -



Notice that in the correct option C we have the two verb-ing modifiers correctly modifying the tunnel. That is, the tunnel links the highways and permits cars to pass through. This makes complete sense and is logical. But in option D we have this meaning distorted. In D the completion itself does the linking and is not logical.
Also notice "which". It is referring to highways. That again is wrong.


Again here we have the meaning distorted. Its like the completion of the tunnel itself did the linking. Does that make complete sense? Compare it with C and see how precise and unambigous option C is.

Hi Experts
Kindly, explain why the option E is wrong? I could find 2 reasons but not sure whether any of them are correct?

Core of E: The completion in 1925 of the Holland Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey's highways, was hailed as the decade's....

1. Will it be right to say that the above core has two verbs (linked and "was hailed"), thereby it is not correct and requires a conjunction such as FANBOYS or a relative pronoun such as "that"?

2. Or the analysis that the second part (was hailed as the decade's....) is sentence fragment due to absence of a subject is right

I rejected C as "linking" is modifying the preceding clause action and the completion cannot link but the tunnel has to as would be suggested by E through usage of "linked".

Kindly, assist.

Your first explanation looks good! Stripping out some of the modifiers, (E) reads: "The completion of the Holland Tunnel linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways... was hailed as the decade’s $48 million engineering masterpiece." This is a nonsensical diaper fire: "The completion linked was hailed." Huh??

Also, (E) implies that the completion linked Manhattan with New Jersey's highways. But the completion itself didn't link anything -- the TUNNEL linked Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways.

I hope this helps!

GMATNinja
Thanks for the clarification!
But as you rightly pointed that E seems to say that completion linked, won't B or C when seen in isolation also seems to indicate the same. linking and permitting modifies the action of the preceding clause and applies to the subject....thereby completion seems to link and permit and not Tunnel even in options B and C...so how is C right?

Thanks for you reply but 1st thing linked is not necessary a verb it can be ed modifier and If linking is a modifier then permitting can't be parallel to this as we have two modifiers ing and ed if we use both ing then one became modifier and other became verb please refer to this example it will help you what i am saying:- https://gmatclub.com/forum/scientists-h ... -9394.html

Sorry, I'm probably way too late to solve any of the doubts for rishabhmishra or MAnkur, but I'll post some thoughts anyway, just in case they help somebody.

In choice (E), "linked" is definitely a verb, not a modifier. Sure, "linked" can function as a modifier, i.e.: "Manhattan and New Jersey, linked together by various bridges and tunnels, share a common transportation agency."

But in choice (E), what does "linked" modify? The completion? The Holland Tunnel? Neither of those would make any sense. There is no question that "linked" is a verb here, since it's an action performed by the subject "completion." The completion linked the two states.

And that leads to the issues mentioned by MAnkur (discussed in this post).


Great point! In (C), "linking" and "permitting" do both modify "the completion in 1925 of the Holland Tunnel" (which, by the way, is not a clause, since it doesn't have a verb). So I may have jumped the gun in adding that point to the explanation of (E). The important thing in choice (E), as you said, is that "the completion linked was hailed" cannot be right. The point about the "completion" doing the "linking" was an afterthought, but, in retrospect, not an accurate one.

Before the tunnel was completed, the two things were not linked. After the completion, they were linked. So there is nothing wrong with suggesting that the "completion" linked the two things.

(Also: I see that I used the expression "nonsensical diaper fire" in an earlier post. That's unfortunate. Apologies for the grisly image.)

Thanks for keeping us on our toes!

Dear AnthonyRitz GMATNinja GMATGuruNY MartyTargetTestPrep AjiteshArun,

I have some questions on the correct option:

Q1. Is the subject "the COMPLETION in 1925 of the Holland Tunnel" the doer for COMMA + V-ING modifier "linking Manhattan with New Jersey’s highways and permitting 2,000 cars to pass through each tube every hour"?

Q2. How does the subject of this sentence make sense with the main verb? (i.e. how can COMPLETION be hailed as masterpiece? Shouldn't it be the tunnel itself that was engineering masterpiece?)

According to the OE in the 2020 Verbal Review:
The complex phrase linking...hour modifies the Holland Tunnel and functions parenthetically.
This explanation suggests the following:
After a noun phrase, COMMA + VERBing may serve as a nonessential modifier referring to the immediately preceding noun.



According to the OE in the 2020 Verbal Review:
The sentence reports that the completion of the Holland Tunnel was hailed as an engineering masterpiece.
It is pointless to debate the logic of this meaning.
The OA to an official SC is -- by definition -- correct.
Regardless, the other options are clearly wrong, leaving C as the best answer.

Dear RonPurewal DmitryFarber ccooley,

Does explanation by RonPurewal kind of contradicts the OA and OE? (https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... 81-75.html)

Hmm, I'd argue that neither approach is quite right. First, noun modifiers do not ALWAYS have to skip over a preceding modifier to modify the main noun. But more importantly, a ", + -ing" modifier is usually an adverbial modifier. It would be odd to use ", linking" as a noun modifier when we could just use "which linked." I'd argue that in this case we're saying it's the completion of the tunnel that linked the two places, and this adverbial modifier is providing the background for the main clause that the completion was considered an engineering masterpiece. All in all, this question and explanation are not the GMAT's finest hour--how can completion be a masterpiece?--but I think we can still reasonably interpret the modifier as an adverbial, and if we DID read it as a noun modifier, we could certainly apply it to the Holland Tunnel.

As for Ron's example, I'd say that "arriving at the courthouse" 100% does not modify father, but rather modifies "was." It's the father's action, so it is perfectly clear who arrived at the courthouse, but this is not a noun modifier.

great explanation
most of the time we see "comma +doing' is adverbial modifier. this case is the same. "linking and.. permitting" still work as adverbial modifier.
if it work as noun modifier, we do not need "comma".

comma+do-ed can work as noun modifier or adverbial modifier. but comma+doing always work as adverbial modifier.