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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 29 Jul 2022, 23:34
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Understood, just one follow-up question.

Had it been that other options have more glaring error, we would have selected B. Or B will ALWAYS be wrong
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No, B is always wrong on this question. The idea that any wrong answer on the GMAT could be right absent other options is a mistake. This is not a test of shades of gray. The wrong answers are all truly broken. They're not just "good but there's something better out there."

B is a legitimately wrong answer here. The "After passing through a red giant stage" prepositional phrase is probably fine, since prepositional phrases don't have to modify what they're next to. However, the participle phrase "depending on its mass" creates significant ambiguity since it is placed next to both "a red giant stage" and "a star." Ambiguity is an error, so this is incorrect. To pile on just a bit more, I'm not totally convinced that either the red giant stage or the star itself (nor even the final clause as a whole) "depend[s] on mass," so this may be not only ambiguous but outright illogical as well. D kills the modifier to avoid the error.
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 30 Jul 2022, 08:14
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Understood, just one follow-up question.

Had it been that other options have more glaring error, we would have selected B. Or B will ALWAYS be wrong

No, B is always wrong on this question. The idea that any wrong answer on the GMAT could be right absent other options is a mistake. This is not a test of shades of gray. The wrong answers are all truly broken. They're not just "good but there's something better out there."

B is a legitimately wrong answer here. The "After passing through a red giant stage" prepositional phrase is probably fine, since prepositional phrases don't have to modify what they're next to. However, the participle phrase "depending on its mass" creates significant ambiguity since it is placed next to both "a red giant stage" and "a star." Ambiguity is an error, so this is incorrect. To pile on just a bit more, I'm not totally convinced that either the red giant stage or the star itself (nor even the final clause as a whole) "depend[s] on mass," so this may be not only ambiguous but outright illogical as well. D kills the modifier to avoid the error.
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AnthonyRitz. Also, looping EMPOWERgmatRichC

One last question please

In the following sentence :

At a recently discovered site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle.

As per the comment of GMATNinja "when a sentence begins with a prepositional phrase, as this one does, the phrase will describe an action. In other words, something happened "at a recently discovered site." According to this sentence, at this site the patterns of light and shadow were used to figure out some aspects of the positions of the sun and the moon."

Here it seems GMATNinja, has removed the non-essential (phrase between two commas), to check whether the modifier is correct.
Won't the concept we discussed apply in this sentence as well?

Link of the complete question : https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-site-once- ... 05833.html
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 30 Jul 2022, 08:24
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Rickooreo
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Rickooreo
AnthonyRitz

Understood, just one follow-up question.

Had it been that other options have more glaring error, we would have selected B. Or B will ALWAYS be wrong

No, B is always wrong on this question. The idea that any wrong answer on the GMAT could be right absent other options is a mistake. This is not a test of shades of gray. The wrong answers are all truly broken. They're not just "good but there's something better out there."

B is a legitimately wrong answer here. The "After passing through a red giant stage" prepositional phrase is probably fine, since prepositional phrases don't have to modify what they're next to. However, the participle phrase "depending on its mass" creates significant ambiguity since it is placed next to both "a red giant stage" and "a star." Ambiguity is an error, so this is incorrect. To pile on just a bit more, I'm not totally convinced that either the red giant stage or the star itself (nor even the final clause as a whole) "depend[s] on mass," so this may be not only ambiguous but outright illogical as well. D kills the modifier to avoid the error.

AnthonyRitz. Also, looping EMPOWERgmatRichC

One last question please

In the following sentence :

At a recently discovered site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico, patterns of light and shadow were employed to establish the precise limits of the positions of the Sun and Moon over a nineteen-year cycle.

As per the comment of GMATNinja "when a sentence begins with a prepositional phrase, as this one does, the phrase will describe an action. In other words, something happened "at a recently discovered site." According to this sentence, at this site the patterns of light and shadow were used to figure out some aspects of the positions of the sun and the moon."

Here it seems GMATNinja, has removed the non-essential (phrase between two commas), to check whether the modifier is correct.
Won't the concept we discussed apply in this sentence as well?

Link of the complete question : https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-site-once- ... 05833.html
Show more

As I noted above, a prepositional phrase generally does not have to modify what it's next to. So it doesn't matter if there's another modifier in the way in this case. But trying to build that into a general rule about skipping nonessential modifiers is a recipe for disaster, since most other modifiers do have to modify what they're next to.

But also, in Anasazi sentence, the appositive phrase "ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico" describes "Anasazi," which is part of the initial prepositional phrase "At a recently discovered site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi." So actually the appositive phrase is contained within the prepositional phrase. Therefore the full prepositional phrase "At a recently discovered site once used as an observatory by the Anasazi, ancient pueblo dwellers of New Mexico," is directly adjacent to the independent clause that it modifies.

As I read it, GMATNinja is not making any claim here that a nonessential modifier is "not to be considered while checking modifier[s]."
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 07 Aug 2022, 03:04
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"I understand why all answer choices are wrong but can some experts be so kind and please allaborate why we use "whether" in this case?
From what I've understood is that the use of wheter is restricted to yes / no occurences, such as "Could you tell me wheter you come by or not" -> answer choice yes or no.

Why do we say "Whether X compresses itself into A, B or C?"
I've never seen this structure, any help is appreciated! "


I made the same mistake twice so I had to dig into this. It turns out that it is ok to use "or" after "whether" in order to mention actual choices that are a part of what is unknown. For example, I don't know whether she is left-handed or right-handed.
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 16 Jan 2023, 01:19
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ExpertsGlobal5 avigutman how can this be a confusion- comma verb ing cn only modify prev clause so why are we confused about ti referring to star vs giant? THat is not even a question

ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

noboru
A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.


Choice A: In Option A, we see a case of distorted meaning, arising from the incorrect placement of a modifier; as the modifying phrase "depending on mass" follows the noun "red giant stage", it appears to modify the "red giant stage" rather than modifying "the star". Thus, the sentence conveys that the star's post-compression form is dependent on its mass during the red star stage, rather than its original mass as a star. Therefore, Option A is incorrect.

Choice B: In Option B, the phrase “depending on its mass” is found between two commas; this placement is a major error, as this phrase conveys information critical to the meaning of the sentence. And only extraneous information can be placed between two commas. Thus, Option B is incorrect.

Choice C: In Option C, the modifying phrase "After passing through a red giant stage" incorrectly modifies the noun "a star's mass". As per the intended meaning of the sentence, the star is supposed to pass through a red giant stage. However, as per this construction “a star’s mass” will pass through the red giant stage. Thus, Option C alters the meaning of the sentence; therefore, it is incorrect.

Choice D: In Option D, the phrase "after passing through the red giant stage" correctly modifies the noun "star". Moreover, this option correctly conveys the meaning of the sentence, after passing through a red giant stage, a star will compress itself a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole, and which of these three it shall become depends on the star's mass.

Choice E: Option E repeats the same error as Option C.; the phrase "after passing through the red giant stage" modifies "The mass of the star". Thus, Option E is incorrect.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of “Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of “Extra Information between Two Commas on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 16 Jan 2023, 08:00
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ExpertsGlobal5 avigutman how can this be a confusion- comma verb ing cn only modify prev clause so why are we confused about ti referring to star vs giant? THat is not even a question

ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

noboru
A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.


Choice A: In Option A, we see a case of distorted meaning, arising from the incorrect placement of a modifier; as the modifying phrase "depending on mass" follows the noun "red giant stage", it appears to modify the "red giant stage" rather than modifying "the star". Thus, the sentence conveys that the star's post-compression form is dependent on its mass during the red star stage, rather than its original mass as a star. Therefore, Option A is incorrect.

Choice B: In Option B, the phrase “depending on its mass” is found between two commas; this placement is a major error, as this phrase conveys information critical to the meaning of the sentence. And only extraneous information can be placed between two commas. Thus, Option B is incorrect.

Choice C: In Option C, the modifying phrase "After passing through a red giant stage" incorrectly modifies the noun "a star's mass". As per the intended meaning of the sentence, the star is supposed to pass through a red giant stage. However, as per this construction “a star’s mass” will pass through the red giant stage. Thus, Option C alters the meaning of the sentence; therefore, it is incorrect.

Choice D: In Option D, the phrase "after passing through the red giant stage" correctly modifies the noun "star". Moreover, this option correctly conveys the meaning of the sentence, after passing through a red giant stage, a star will compress itself a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole, and which of these three it shall become depends on the star's mass.

Choice E: Option E repeats the same error as Option C.; the phrase "after passing through the red giant stage" modifies "The mass of the star". Thus, Option E is incorrect.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of “Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of “Extra Information between Two Commas on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Hello Elite097,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, what we meant to convey here is that the placement of the modifier "depending on mass" in Option A leads to an ambiguity of meaning.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 16 Jan 2023, 09:38
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ExpertsGlobal5 of course i Know that. Point is why is the confusion regarding the 'noun' which it is modifying? Shouldnt it be something to do with the clause? Do you agree with the same or not and in that light can you provide a correct explanation based on this instead?

ExpertsGlobal5
ExpertsGlobal5 avigutman how can this be a confusion- comma verb ing cn only modify prev clause so why are we confused about ti referring to star vs giant? THat is not even a question

ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

noboru
A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.


Choice A: In Option A, we see a case of distorted meaning, arising from the incorrect placement of a modifier; as the modifying phrase "depending on mass" follows the noun "red giant stage", it appears to modify the "red giant stage" rather than modifying "the star". Thus, the sentence conveys that the star's post-compression form is dependent on its mass during the red star stage, rather than its original mass as a star. Therefore, Option A is incorrect.

Choice B: In Option B, the phrase “depending on its mass” is found between two commas; this placement is a major error, as this phrase conveys information critical to the meaning of the sentence. And only extraneous information can be placed between two commas. Thus, Option B is incorrect.

Choice C: In Option C, the modifying phrase "After passing through a red giant stage" incorrectly modifies the noun "a star's mass". As per the intended meaning of the sentence, the star is supposed to pass through a red giant stage. However, as per this construction “a star’s mass” will pass through the red giant stage. Thus, Option C alters the meaning of the sentence; therefore, it is incorrect.

Choice D: In Option D, the phrase "after passing through the red giant stage" correctly modifies the noun "star". Moreover, this option correctly conveys the meaning of the sentence, after passing through a red giant stage, a star will compress itself a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole, and which of these three it shall become depends on the star's mass.

Choice E: Option E repeats the same error as Option C.; the phrase "after passing through the red giant stage" modifies "The mass of the star". Thus, Option E is incorrect.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of “Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of “Extra Information between Two Commas on GMAT”, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
Show more

Hello Elite097,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, what we meant to convey here is that the placement of the modifier "depending on mass" in Option A leads to an ambiguity of meaning.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team[/quote]
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 17 Jan 2023, 00:15
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Elite097
ExpertsGlobal5 of course i Know that. Point is why is the confusion regarding the 'noun' which it is modifying? Shouldnt it be something to do with the clause? Do you agree with the same or not and in that light can you provide a correct explanation based on this instead?
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Hey Elite097,

Please allow me to step in.

I believe you are referring to choice A. Here, the issue is that of the verb-ing modifier "depending on mass". As per the structure of this sentence, this verb-ing modifier modifies the immediately preceding action: "passes through a red giant stage". The intended modified entity, however, is the action "will compress".

The compression of a star, into a White Dwarf, Neutron Star, or Black hole, depends on the initial mass of the star. Its passing through a red giant stage does not.

So, to fix this, we need to bring this modifier closer to the verb "will compress" if we are to retain this structure.


I hope this clarifies.

Happy Learning!

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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 07 Jul 2023, 09:43
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In Option A - A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass - If we ignore/eliminate 'after it passes through a red giant stage' then is the sentence correct ?
The subject of the main clause ' a star' is not doing the action 'depending' although 'a star' is being correctly modified. at first glance I eliminated this option on that basis.
Can you pls let me know when the subject of the main clause should be the doer of adverbial phrase/ing phrase and when it is not ?
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 31 Dec 2023, 21:48
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ExpertsGlobal5 VeritasPrepBrian AnthonyRitz GMATNinja chetan2u KarishmaB
TommyWallach

Can any expert please throw some light on the meaning difference in the phrases "depending on mass" (as in option A) & "Mass determines whether a star" (as in option D)?

I was thinking of necessary vs sufficient condition for this distinction. While the placement of the former phrase is wrong in option A, the phrase, in itself, indicates that this is just one of the factors that influence what the star will compress into.

Whereas the phrase "Mass determines whether" might seem to imply that mass, in itself, is a sufficient factor for the outcome. For example: in the sentence, The School's Principal determines whether a holiday is declared on New year", The school principal's act is sufficient for the the outcome (holiday or no holiday). Whereas in this sentence, "depending on (~considering) the actions of other schools, the principal shall decide whether to declare a holiday" the actions of other schools is just one of multiple factors that are considered.

Hope I am clear enough.

Pls clarify,
Thanks.
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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a 23 Aug 2025, 08:34
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Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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