A career in the medical profession which requires an enormous inve

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


HIGHLIGHTS

• Exceptions to the modifier touch rule
-- the modifier touch rule says that a noun modifier ought to touch the noun that it describes
-- if two modifiers exist (such as "in the medical profession" and "which requires"), the essential one "trumps" the nonessential one.
The prepositional phrase cannot be placed elsewhere, so which must come after
-- it is common for WHICH and other modifiers to "reach behind" a prepositional phrase in order to get to the noun.

• COMMAS do not come between subjects and verbs without reason

The first comma eliminates D and E.

Correct: My friend Sam from Texas lived across the street.
Wrong: My friend Sam from Texas, lived across the street.
Wrong: My friend from Texas, lived across the street.

The moment that you see a fairly simple subject such as a career in the medical profession followed by a comma in the non-underlined portion of the sentence, get ready for a modifier, conjunction, dependent clause, or anything except its own verb.

• the causation words are okay except for "due to" (I keep expecting GMAC folks, who read these and other boards) to stop hammering this issue, but they do not.
-- because is the best causal connector in this case. as and since are okay.

THE PROMPT


When one subject (a career in medicine) is followed by two verbs (requires, cannot guarantee), we have a compound predicate (more than one verb phrase).

THE OPTIONS

• singular career does not match plural does
• Remember: a dependent clause such as which requires . . . does not change the singularity or plurality of the subject.
(The Ernest Hemingway question, HERE, explicitly tests that guideline.

• looks good: the subject is modified by a which-clause (something other than the verb must come after that comma) and singular career agrees with singular does

• requiring is an effective way to modify the noun career
• the sentence is a fragment, though—it lacks a verb.
--Requiring is not a working verb.

• the singular verb requires is correct, but it cannot be preceded by a comma
• I would not mark the pronoun IT as ambiguous, though your mileage may vary.
-- a pronoun is ambiguous if it has more than one logical referent
-- from context, I gather that the sentence highlights two negative parts of a career in the medical profession. It requires a lot and it promises little. The much bigger problem is the comma between subject and verb.

(E) A career in medicine, requires that an enormous investment of time and money be made and success cannot be guaranteed due to the competition[/quote]
• the comma before the verb requires is fatal
• requires that X be Y is fine, but the construction is cumbersome.
• "due to" is used incorrectly. Test it: substitute "caused by" for "due to."
When "cause by" works, "due to" is okay.

The correct answer is B

COMMENTS

lifeforhuskar , adityapopli , welcome to SC Butler.

Did you know that today is International Beer Day?

I wish I liked beer. It smells good sometimes.

This answer is pretty straightforwardly (B), but I sense resistance.

True, the word which should be as close as possible to what it modifies.
But "as close as possible" allows for exceptions.
Which can and often does modify the "main noun" in a prepositional phrase.

These answers are all very good.
I often give kudos for good reasoning even if it led you the wrong result.
Assuming that you read these responses , you won't make that mistake again.

bartk , I am bumping your post to Best Community Reply.

Everyone: nice work. Happy kudos.