V01-23

I feel city is metaphorical location and where is not preferred.
Also OE says that whose is not correct here.
can someone explain?

"whose" is the possessive form of a relative pronoun ("who" is the subjective form). Possessive implies ownership - specifically the noun before owns whatever is after the "whose." "The dog whose tail is wagging is happy to see you." The dog owns the wagging tail. Would it make sense to say that the city "owns" stagnating economic growth? Not exactly - so don't use "whose" here. Eliminate B and D.

A and C have two main differences: the comma (or absence thereof) and "stagnated" vs. "stagnant. This is where I don't like this question much, because I don't think the real GMAT would have these two choices together.

First, A uses a comma after city, so it's telling us that the stuff after city is a nonessential modifier. C doesn't use the comma, so it's saying that the stuff after city is an essential modifier. You can write this either way; it just depends what the sentence is trying to say. Judgment call - and we're supposed to go with the original meaning when there are two possible meanings. So go with nonessential. And as soon as you realize that, the problem is over, because only A preserves the original meaning. Not GMAT-like.

Second, "stagnated" is too obviously wrong. This isn't an idiom issue - they're just making up a word that might be a more common non-native speaker mistake (because the general rule for present perfect is has/have been + past participle, the most common form of which ends in -ed).

Hi

What do you mean by a "metaphorical location"?

I am going to go ahead and post Stacy's thoughts on this one which makes the confusion between whose and where clearer.

The pronoun where can be used to modify a noun place, such as area, site, country or Nevada. Where cannot modify a “metaphorical” place, such as condition, situation, case, circumstances, or arrangement.
In these cases, use in which rather than where.
Wrong: We had an arrangement WHERE he cooked and I cleaned.
Right: We had an arrangement IN WHICH he cooked and I cleaned.
The pronoun when can be used to modify a noun event or time, such as period, age, 1987, or decade. In these circumstances, you can also use in which instead of when.

The announced relocation of the hospital has been welcome news for the city, where economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years.

A. city, where economic growth has been stagnant
B. city whose economic growth has been stagnant
C. city where economic growth has been stagnated
D. city, whose economic growth as been stagnated
E. city, the site of stagnated economic growth

"whose" is the possessive form of a relative pronoun ("who" is the subjective form). Possessive implies ownership - specifically the noun before owns whatever is after the "whose." "The dog whose tail is wagging is happy to see you." The dog owns the wagging tail. Would it make sense to say that the city "owns" stagnating economic growth? Not exactly - so don't use "whose" here. Eliminate B and D.

A and C have two main differences: the comma (or absence thereof) and "stagnated" vs. "stagnant. This is where I don't like this question much, because I don't think the real GMAT would have these two choices together.

First, A uses a comma after city, so it's telling us that the stuff after city is a nonessential modifier. C doesn't use the comma, so it's saying that the stuff after city is an essential modifier. You can write this either way; it just depends what the sentence is trying to say. Judgment call - and we're supposed to go with the original meaning when there are two possible meanings. So go with nonessential. And as soon as you realize that, the problem is over, because only A preserves the original meaning. Not GMAT-like.

Second, "stagnated" is too obviously wrong. This isn't an idiom issue - they're just making up a word that might be a more common non-native speaker mistake (because the general rule for present perfect is has/have been + past participle, the most common form of which ends in -ed).

Hi

I have gone through the explanation and the above posts, but i still feel that B is the correct answer. Here is my reasoning for the same.

Original Sentence

The announced relocation of the hospital has been welcome news for the city, where economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years.

if the above sentence is slightly modified as below:

The hospital has been relocated to the city, where economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years.

In the above sentence the city is aptly functioning as a location, where is correct to refer to the location.

Substituting the original sentence with option choice B

The announced relocation of the hospital has been welcome news for the city whose economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years.

I don't think so that city is functioning as a location in the above sentence. "whose economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years" is a relative pronoun modifier and correctly modifies the city.

I agree with the above post by Nevernevergiveup

"I felt since city did not specify any particular place whose presence has been assumed, it may be metaphorical place according below info from MGMAT SC book.

Quote:
The pronoun where can be used to modify a noun place, such as area, site, country or Nevada. Where cannot modify a “metaphorical” place, such as condition, situation, case, circumstances, or arrangement.
In these cases, use in which rather than where.
Wrong: We had an arrangement WHERE he cooked and I cleaned.
Right: We had an arrangement IN WHICH he cooked and I cleaned.
"

egmat, Experts kindly clarify.

Thanks
Sahil