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655-705 Level|   Idioms/Diction/Redundancy|   Subject Verb Agreement|                        
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co Updated on: 20 Dec 2018, 03:16
Originally posted by alimad on 12 Jun 2007, 12:15.
Last edited by Bunuel on 20 Dec 2018, 03:16, edited 4 times in total.
Renamed the topic and edited the question.
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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, 2003

Practice Question
Question No.: SC 34
Page: 658

Show Spoiler
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/30/business/hazard-of-dioxins-assailed-in-study.html

Much 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
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E
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 14 Apr 2013, 23:16
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alimad
27. 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


When to use a much v/s many. and should it be "exposed to" or just "exposed" ? A better explaination instead of just an answer letter would be preferred. Thanks
Show more

Tricky question.

Small tip to recognize countable vs uncountable.

If countable --> you will see Noun + "s", e.g. dioxins.
If uncountable --> NO "s", e.g. dioxin.


"Dioxins" here means different types of dioxin chemical.

Narrow down to D & E. No need to say E is much better.

Hope it helps.
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co Updated on: 19 Oct 2021, 03:57
Originally posted by egmat on 13 Apr 2016, 07:58.
Last edited by egmat on 19 Oct 2021, 03:57, edited 1 time in total.
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arunjay
Official Guide 2013 - Sentence Correction - Q#83

27. 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

I was able to arrive at the answer. But in the process I got some doubts:
1. of the currently uncontrolled dioxins ... comes -> here the subject dioxins lies inside the prepositional phrase
2. to which North Americans are -> here the subject North Americans lies inside the prepositional phrase

Usually we should not consider the subjects lying inside the prepositional phrase; however here we are considering. Kindly help to explain.
Show more



Hi Arun,

Thanks for posting your doubt here. :-)

1. In the correct answer choice E, the subject for the verb come is many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins. Essentially, the subject for this verb is many. Since many refers to more than one, it correctly takes plural verb come.

2. to which is not a typical prepositional phrase. Look at it this way. A relative pronoun modifier always starts a dependent clause. The relative pronoun modifier itself can be the subject of the DC it starts or can a have separate SV pair. In this particular choice, the relative pronoun modifier which starts a DC but does not act as the subject of the DC it starts. The subject of that DC is North Americans that correctly takes the verb are.

Hope this helps. :-)

Thanks
Shraddha
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 22 Nov 2021, 07:32
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
alimad
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

Show more

Concepts tested here: Subject-verb Agreement + Idioms + Redundancy/Awkwardness

A: Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb “comes” to refer to the plural noun “dioxins”. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the term “much” to refer to the countable noun “dioxins”; for a noun such as “dioxins”, the appropriate equivalent term is “many”.

B: Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the term “much” to refer to the countable noun “dioxins”; for a noun such as “dioxins”, the appropriate equivalent term is “many”.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb “comes” to refer to the plural noun “dioxins”. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the term “much” to refer to the countable noun “dioxins”; for a noun such as “dioxins”, the appropriate equivalent term is “many”. Additionally, Option C uses the needlessly wordy phrase “dioxins that are currently uncontrolled”, rendering it awkward and needlessly indirect.

D: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase “dioxins that are currently uncontrolled”, rendering it awkward and needlessly indirect.

E: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the plural verb “come” to refer to the plural verb “dioxins”. Further, Option C correctly uses the term “many” to refer to the countable noun “dioxins”. Additionally, Option E is free of all awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 23 Jan 2023, 01:30
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alimad
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, 2003

Practice Question
Question No.: SC 34
Page: 658

Show Spoiler
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/30/business/hazard-of-dioxins-assailed-in-study.html

Much 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
Show more


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 comes

Since ‘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)
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 12 Jun 2007, 12:46
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many is used for countable nouns

much is used for uncountable nouns

dioxins i think should be categorized as countable, hence i will eliminate answers with 'much' leaving me with D & E, between whom E is the better choice.
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 12 Jun 2007, 23:30
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alimad
27. 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


When to use a much v/s many. and should it be "exposed to" or just "exposed" ? A better explaination instead of just an answer letter would be preferred. Thanks
Show more



This is an easy one. There are 2 mistakes in the original question -
1. use of much or many. Dioxins are countable like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, etc. Therefore it should be many rather than much.

2. come/comes - Since it is plural is is come rather than comes.

Hence Answer is E.
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 19 May 2008, 08:03
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Well competition is between B and E. Now who knows whether dioxins are countable or not.
So, I would look into the context of the sentence to see what makes sense!

Here the sentence clearly suggesting the count of dioxins not the amount of it/them. So 'many' would make more sense.
E.

(E) A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has concluded that many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed come the incineration of wastes.
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 22 Mar 2009, 18:38
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I need help to understand why D is wrong...
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co Updated on: 23 Mar 2009, 07:37
Originally posted by pleonasm on 22 Mar 2009, 20:15.
Last edited by pleonasm on 23 Mar 2009, 07:37, edited 1 time in total.
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bigfernhead
I need help to understand why D is wrong...
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many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and North Americans are exposed to come

North americans are exposed -> to what? This is not clear, because North americans are exposed to is an independent clause.
Option E corrects this by clearly eliminating the independent clause and bringing in the infinitive and the pronoun.

Also dioxins that are uncontrolled is wordy as compared to 'uncontrolled dioxins'.

Hope this helps,
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 04 May 2009, 11:16
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Friends, IMO Choice E has a split infinitive, where "to" and the verb "exposed" are split. According to manhattan SC guide, this is an error. D has teh reference issue of "to". Also is too wordy. A and B might be having a few errors but one of them is subject verb agreement. IMO B is the correct ans...
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 04 Jun 2009, 02:27
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trainspotting
Friends, IMO Choice E has a split infinitive, where "to" and the verb "exposed" are split. According to manhattan SC guide, this is an error. D has teh reference issue of "to". Also is too wordy. A and B might be having a few errors but one of them is subject verb agreement. IMO B is the correct ans...
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split infinites occurs when you place a word between the "to" and the base verb. For example: "to really like."

What you need to keep in mind is that it's considered clumsy when you keep the "to" at the end of the sentence. For example, it is better to say "to which he was accustomed" than "he was accustomed to." This is also true for any prepositins.

Using the relative pronoun "which" doesn't interfer in interupting the split infinitive. That is why option E is correct.
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 15 Jun 2009, 16:41
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(A) much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed comes – using ‘’comes’’ here is wrong since dioxins are plural.-
(B) much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins that North Americans are exposed to come [color=#0000FF]– I am agree with the idea that mentions We can say much of the dioxin presents in the air.
here we are taking about dioxin level.. "dioxin" --> uncountable
many of dioxins present in the air.
--> dixoins -- countable.[/color]

(C) much of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and that North Americans are exposed to comes comes – using ‘’comes’’ here is wrong since dioxins are plural.-

(D) many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and North Americans are exposed to come – it is wrong because of two reasons . 1)It distors paralelism , it should be many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and that North Americans are exposed inserting that here will eliminate the problem of North americans are exposed -> to what?- 2) using ‘’that are’’ makes the sentence too wordy’’

(E) many of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed come
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 10 Nov 2011, 06:09
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Hi

A very subtle example comes to my mind to explain this.

Most people might know that 'water' is made up of chemicals/elements. What are those? Hydrogen and Oxygen specifically speaking (assuming that water considered here has not been polluted with other chemicals :) ). Can we count these chemicals in water? Yes, we can definitely count the number of chemicals present in water. These are 2 in number (hydrogen and oxygen).

Similarly, the statement mentions that Americans are exposed to dioxins, which are some sort of chemicals, primarily when exposed to incinerated wastes. So, we can definitely count the chemicals (for e.g. methane, sulphur dioxide, etc) or dioxins present in these incinerated wastes.

Hope this explains your query. :)

Cheers!
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 03 Jun 2013, 18:32
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I am still not convinced because with that logic, even coffee would be countable as coffee has a chemical composition making it countable, which is not the case.
Am I missing something ?

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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 24 Sep 2013, 07:34
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Hi,

I know that this question has been discussed in this forum before, but I could not find the answer to my question.

Here is the question stem and choice which is followed by my doubt.

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.

Choice d : many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and North Americans are exposed to come

OG explanation for why this choice is wrong is that 'that' is missing in the clause 'North America are exposed to'. I thought that this is the right choice thinking that ellipses is playing a role here and that 'that' from the previous clause can be applied in the 'North America are exposed to' clause, but I guess my understanding of ellipses is wrong. Could you please help me understand why the concept of ellipses cannot be applied here?

Thanks and Regards,
A B
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 24 Sep 2013, 10:25
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Hi,

Here is option D in full (with amendment

A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has concluded that many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and that North Americans are exposed to come from the incineration of wastes.

Your question is why we need the extra 'that'

I would say 2 things:
1) Keep reading more in English - to a native speaker this is obvious, and the more you get used to constructions like this the easier it will be for you

2) Gramatically the reason you need this, is because you need to be specific in exaplaning what N.Americans are exposed to. As it stands, the previous 'that' is just too distant to be in use.

Hope that helps

James
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 24 Sep 2013, 11:05
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abm03
Hi,

I know that this question has been discussed in this forum before, but I could not find the answer to my question.

Here is the question stem and choice which is followed by my doubt.

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.

Choice d : many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled and North Americans are exposed to come

OG explanation for why this choice is wrong is that 'that' is missing in the clause 'North America are exposed to'. I thought that this is the right choice thinking that ellipses is playing a role here and that 'that' from the previous clause can be applied in the 'North America are exposed to' clause, but I guess my understanding of ellipses is wrong. Could you please help me understand why the concept of ellipses cannot be applied here?

Thanks and Regards,
A B
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Hi abm03

I'm happy to help.

D needs a "that" before "North Americans are exposed to come" because of "AND" <== a parallel marker. Technically, elements in the sentence must maintain parallel structure.

Let see another example:
I want to retire to a place WHERE I can relax AND I pay low taxes

Is the sentence correct? Nope, without "WHERE" before "I pay low taxes" --> the sentence could be read I want to retire......and I pay low taxes <== Clearly, it distorts the meaning.
Source: MGMAT - Sentence Correction.

Back to your question.
D) many of the dioxins that are currently uncontrolled AND North Americans are exposed to come

Without "that" before "North Americans...." --> the sentence could be read many of the dioxins are currently uncontrolled...and North Americans are exposed to (to what?). Keep in mind, "AND" makes the sentence parallel --> the first and second clause are parallel by nature. ==> Wrong.
That's why we need a second that to make a sub-clause maintains it own parallel structure: many of the dioxins [that are uncontrolled....and that North Americans are exposed] come from the incineration of wastes.

Hope it helps.
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 26 Sep 2013, 07:30
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Hi AB,

Thanks for posting this question here. :-)

Yes, it is correct that we need to repeat "that" before every entity to make them parallel to each other if "that" appears before the first entity in the list.

There is also meaning change in Choice D. Without "that" "North Americans...", the choice becomes incorrect because this entity fails to connect with the previous entity in the list and appears to be hanging without even suggesting what North Americans are expose to. This leads to an ungrammatical construction.

Also, the original sentence says that “much of the currently uncontrolled dioxins to which North Americans are exposed”. This means that North Americans are exposed to currently uncontrolled dioxins that come from incineration. There is a relationship between the uncontrolled dioxins and North Americans. They are exposed to the same dioxins that are uncontrolled. This relation is better shown by the expression "to which North Americans are exposed" than the parallel structure employed in Choice D.

Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
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A report by the American Academy for the Advancement of Science has co 28 Oct 2014, 07:40
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NR91
I am still not convinced because with that logic, even coffee would be countable as coffee has a chemical composition making it countable, which is not the case.
Am I missing something ?
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"Coffee," as in "the substance you drink to wake up in the morning," is not countable. However, "coffees," as in "the various things you drink in the morning including espresso, Sumatra, breakfast blend, Dunkaccino," are countable. The second case is a little awkward (types of coffee is more natural) and is unlikely to be on the GMAT, but it's grammatically and logically correct.

Hope this helps!
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