A March 2000 Census Bureau survey showed that Mexico accounted for mor

Question

A March 2000 Census Bureau survey showed that Mexico accounted for more than a quarter of all foreign-born residents of the United States, the largest share for any country to contribute since 1890, when about 30 percent of the country’s foreign-born population was from Germany.

(E) having the largest share to have been contributed by any country

(A) the largest share for any country to contribute

(B) the largest share that any country has contributed

(C) which makes it the largest share for any country to contribute

(D) having the largest share to be contributed by any country

(E) having the largest share to have been contributed by any country

LogicGuru1 · Accepted Answer

A March 2000 Census Bureau survey showed that Mexico accounted for more than a quarter of all foreign-born residents of the United States, the largest share for any country to contribute since 1890, when about 30 percent of the country’s foreign-born population was from Germany.

(E) having the largest share to have been contributed by any country

A. the largest share for any country to contribute
B. the largest share that any country has contributed 
C. which makes it the largest share for any country to contribute
D. having the largest share to be contributed by any country
E. having the largest share to have been contributed by any country

The entire clause "A March 2000 Census Bureau survey showed that Mexico accounted for more than a quarter of all foreign-born residents of the United States, the largest share for any country to contribute" is modified by the adjective modifier "SINCE 1980".

SINCE has 3 important properties that should be remembered:-
1)  SINCE  is an adjective of time. It shows "from what time the action started". 
2) SINCE  captures all time -"from the past to the current moment"
3) SINCE  implies that the action is currently going on. 
 
  Because SINCE indicates ongoing action in the current time (PRESENT TENSE) it will always use "is/has/have"

Knowing this rule can help one to reach the correct answer in less than 10 seconds
THE ANSWER BECOMES EASY PEASY "B".

B. the largest share that any country     has     contributed 
No other option except B contains the correct linking verb "has".

sayantanc2k · Answer

The underlined portion is an absolute phrase modifier. An absolute phrase modifier modifies an entire clause in some way and has the structure  noun / noun phrase + noun modifier .

Here,

Absolute phrase modifier: the largest share that any country has contributed since 1980. (noun = the largest share, noun modifier = that any country has contributed since 1980).

The above absolute phrase modifier modifies the clause "Mexico accounted for more than a quarter of all foreign-born residents of the United States".

Please let me know if you still have doubt.

Divyadisha · Answer

'Since/ for' generally requires past perfect tense

A. the largest share for any country to contribute.  'for' is not right. It implies that something is there for mexico 
B. the largest share that any country has contributed.  Correct choice. We need sentence in present perfect tense.  
C. which makes it the largest share for any country to contribute.  'Which' modifies USA. 
D. having the largest share to be contributed by any country.  -ing form modifies the previous sentence. Flipping the sentence shows that 'having' modifies 'A March 2000 Census Bureau survey' and that is not correct 
E. having the largest share to have been contributed by any country  -ing form modifies the previous sentence. Flipping the sentence shows that 'having' modifies 'A March 2000 Census Bureau survey' and that is not correct

kripalkavi · Answer

A)the largest share for any country to contribute  - need past tense. WRONG 

B)the largest share that any country has contributed  - CORRECT. 

C)which makes it the largest share for any country to contribute  - need past tense, pronoun problem, modifier problem. WRONG 

D)having the largest share to be contributed by any country  - modifier problem. WRONG 

E)having the largest share to have been contributed by any country  - modifier problem. WRONG

PiyushK · Answer

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/dou ... t8489.html
Ron said "Option B is the correct answer to this problem."
"actually, the only acceptable tense for a clause modified by "since..." is the present perfect."

I hope no doubt left on OA etc.

rakaisraka · Answer

Hi Experts, In option B - Isn't the underlined portion a IC? It has subject largest share that and Verb Has... Im little confused.

sdlife · Answer

Hello Expert,

I have gone through the posts for this answer but I am having a hard time understanding what's wrong with answer choice A. I understand all other choices but still don't have clarity on the issues with A. Thank you!

YT

sayantanc2k · Answer

The preposition "for" is wrong. The share is not for the country (to contribute). The share is something that was contributed by the country. Hence "share" should be the object of the verb contribute.

It is for you to contribute : this statement implies that someone kept it for you, so that you may contribute it.

pulkitaggi · Answer

Hi  daagh  sir, 
I have doubt-
If a sentence for example- Susan: " My daughter has been dancing everyday since 2001", is quoted by someone else the sentence becomes  susan said that her daughter   had /  has   been dancing everyday since 2001.

Doubt A) - which one is correct, has or had? ( Because the actual question on this thread is from  gmat verbal review 2017 question number 203 . And the answer key explanation says both are correct)-This is a doubt related sequences of tenses in which we generally shift the action in past. But be if the action is still true can the action be presented in present perfect?

Doubt B)  If any both had and has is correct, but we are unaware of the fact is the situation still valid or not ( example- I am not aware is susan daughter still dancing everyday), is there any rule which states that we use HAS>>HAD?

daagh · Answer

pulkitaggi

Doubt 1. It may please be remembered that if you use either a past perfect tense (including past perfect progressive) or past tense, then the action is already completed. On the contrary, if there is an iota of doubt whether the action is extended until at least today, then present perfect is required, even if there are two different tenses to describe two-time lines like as in Susan's daughter's case. Had danced or had been dancing are all wrong since the dancing has been occurring since 2001 until today.

Doubt 2. example- I am not aware is Susan daughter still dancing every day) -- Is this your second sentence? 
 --- All the tenses are is present tense are used properly. So, where is the confusion?

BillyZ · Answer

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/07/us/foreign-born-in-us-at-record-high.html

Foreign Born in U.S. at Record High  
By JANNY SCOTTFEB. 7, 2002

The number of foreign-born residents and children of immigrants in the United States has reached the highest level in history, according to a Census Bureau report released yesterday. It found that the number had leapt to 56 million from 34 million in the last three decades.

Mexico accounted for more than a quarter of all the foreign-born residents, the bureau's analysis of data from its March 2000 Current Population Survey showed. That share is the largest any country has held since the 1890 census, when about 30 percent of the country's foreign-born population was from Germany.

aniket16c · Answer

I have a doubt in the use of "Having": 
According to my understanding, "comma + verb-ing" modifies the main action verb of preceding clause. So in this case the verb that is being modified is "showed".
Is this logic correct?
The point of confusion is, whether the "verb-ing" modifies main verb or preceding verb?
If the latter is true, then the "Verb-ing" will modify "accounted", justifying the use of "having".

Thank you for your help.

GMATNinja · Answer

Good question!

In both (D) and (E) "having" follows two clauses: 1) "A March 2000 Census Bureau survey showed" and 2) "Mexico accounted for more than a quarter of all foreign-born residents of the United States." But "having the largest share" doesn't make sense as modifier for either clause! Clearly, the 2000 Census doesn't have a share of people, and Mexico doesn't doesn't have them either - the whole point of the sentence is that the people have  left  Mexico.

The takeaway: while I wouldn't recommend making any generalizations about what to do when a "verb-ing" modifier follows more than one clause, if we use logic and clarity as our guide, we can see that in this case, "having" is definitely wrong in (D) and (E). (And we should see this as a good thing - it's a lot easier to use logic and context to evaluate answer choices than to recall thousands of esoteric rules.)

I hope that helps!

PAVANIJOSHI374 · Answer

Hi,

I have a problem in understand how is option E incorrect.
The -ing modifier is correctly modifying the correctly modifying the part " accounted for more than a quarter", thus explaining the "how" component associated with such -ing modifiers.
Also the correct verb-present perfect is used.
Is it incorrect due to the use of passive form of writing, which is not the case correct option B, which is also more concise and direct.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

GMATNinja · Answer

There are a pair of related problems with (E). Here it is again:

For starters, it's not 100% clear what, exactly, the modifier "having the largest share..." is trying to describe. The closest noun is "United States", but that doesn't make sense. It's not modifying the entire previous clause, or the subject of the previous clause, because it doesn't make sense to say that the Census Bureau survey has a large share of the foreign-born population.

My point is that you have to stare at it for a little while to realize that the modifier beginning with "having the largest share..." must logically describe Mexico, which is buried in the middle of the clause. That's not WRONG, exactly, but it's really not clear. And (B) is crystal-clear, and avoids that problem entirely.

The second problem is that if "having the largest share..." tells us how "Mexico accounted for more than a quarter of all foreign-born residents of the United States," then it would imply that Mexico HAS the largest share of all foreign-born residents  of the United States . But we are talking about people that LEFT Mexico! Mexico cannot  have  a large share of people who have left Mexico.

Choice (B) is simpler and clearer and avoids this meaning issue.

I hope that helps!

rohitchayal · Answer

GMATNinja  
I know that after a verb act as a reset, a subordinate conjunction and after a noun that acts as a relative clause

Here's an option for the above question

having the largest share to be contributed by any country

Since a subject is responsible for the comma+ing action here what we think should be responsible for the comma+ing action? Census Bureau or Mexico?

Should the translation be

Census Board have the largest share to be contributed by any country  or

Mexico has the largest share to be contributed by any country?

GMATNinja · Answer

We attempted to address this question in  this post  and  this post .

The key idea was that "the 2000 Census doesn't  have  a share of people, and Mexico doesn't doesn't  have  them either - the whole point of the sentence is that the people have left Mexico." It doesn't make sense for the Census Board or Mexico to  have  a share of people.

Check out those posts and let us know if you still have questions!

nivi2084 · Answer

I had chosen option D as the right answer . Have understood from the explanations above as to why is it wrong.

But I am still not understanding as to why is B the correct option ?

Isnt stating "the largest share that any country has contributed " modifying United states ? Why are we still selecting option B ?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  nivi2084 ,  the largest share that any country has contributed  is actually used as (what's called) an  absolute phrase . Absolute phrases are quite  flexible  in what they modify.

For example:

Jack gets $500 per month, an allowance that is considerably more than what his friends get.

Again,  an allowance that is considerably more...  is an  absolute modifier , modifying $500 (and  not   month ).

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  Absolute phrase , its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

A March 2000 Census Bureau survey showed that Mexico accounted for mor

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A March 2000 Census Bureau survey showed that Mexico accounted for mor

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