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705-805 Level|   Modifiers|   Parallelism|      
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 27 Jan 2020, 05:57
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Hi guys,

I have a question regarding the non underlined portion of the sentence
Should the main verb not be 'have led' instead of 'has' - The subjects of the sentence are popularity and availability right? Though singular, they are joined by and, which makes them a plural subject demanding a plural verb .

Or the subject is increased - which is a verbed modifier modifying the availability and popularity?

Thanks
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 27 Jan 2020, 06:45
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ankitprad
Hi guys,

I have a question regarding the non underlined portion of the sentence
Should the main verb not be 'have led' instead of 'has' - The subjects of the sentence are popularity and availability right? Though singular, they are joined by and, which makes them a plural subject demanding a plural verb .

Or the subject is increased - which is a verbed modifier modifying the availability and popularity?

Thanks
Show more
Good question. Reminds me of another such official question:

According to a recent poll, owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal of a majority of young adults, as it was of earlier generations.

My understanding is that owning and living are not depicted as entirely distinct activities, in the sense that the sentence is basically trying to convey that living in a self-owned freestanding house is a goal of majority of young adults. Hence, the sentence uses singular verb is.

Thankfully, this verb is in the non-underlined portion and so, we don't have to make a choice here. My feeling is that in such tricky situations, GMAT would not make students choose between a singular and a plural verb.

As far as underlined portion of the sentence is concerned, it is still a safe bet to choose a plural verb in situations where two nouns are connected by and.
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 27 Jan 2020, 08:53
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ankitprad
Hi guys,

I have a question regarding the non underlined portion of the sentence
Should the main verb not be 'have led' instead of 'has' - The subjects of the sentence are popularity and availability right? Though singular, they are joined by and, which makes them a plural subject demanding a plural verb .

Or the subject is increased - which is a verbed modifier modifying the availability and popularity?

Thanks
Show more
Hi ankitprad,

Sometimes the author thinks of multiple nouns as forming one unit. In such cases, he or she may opt for a singular verb.
1. Her skill and her talent makes her the favorite to win the tournament.

This pattern is more common when the nouns are headed by a common element:
2. Her skill and talent makes her the favorite to win the tournament.

In this question, we have common elements on both sides of the nouns. This makes it even easier for the reader to accept a singular verb.
3. The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects...

I agree with EducationAisle: I would not expect the GMAT to move something like this to the underlined portion of the question.
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My question here is in the non-underlined portion. When we join two things by and it becomes plural right?

Here in this sentence, I am not able to identify the subject.
The increased popularity and availability of televisions has or have??
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Mac3921
My question here is in the non-underlined portion. When we join two things by and it becomes plural right?

Here in this sentence, I am not able to identify the subject.
The increased popularity and availability of televisions has or have??
Show more
Good question. The thing is that when the two things are not entirely Independent of each other (in this instance, increased availability of televisions is most probably a result of increased popularity of televisions), GMAT sometimes considers it a singular entity.

Another similar official example:

According to a recent poll, owning and living in a freestanding house on its own land is still a goal of a majority of young adults, as it was of earlier generations.

Good news: The good news is that in both the above sentences, the contentious portion is in the non-underlined part. This means that GMAT is not really expecting test-takers to take a call on whether the subject is singular or plural. I believe this will continue to be the case.
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 10 May 2020, 10:41
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TommyWallach
Hey All,

A good explanation from demon on this one, but I just wanted to weigh in. This is a GMAT favorite trick, because students don't like paralleling -ing words with -ed words. However, when both are parallel this is okay. Remember, you can always change tense in parallel, even with verbs ("I liked to eat chicken but now I only like pork." That's past tense with present tense, joined by the conjunction "but"). But actually, tense isn't an issue here. Both -ing words and -ed words are participles, meaning they are just adjectives. Adjectives don't really HAVE tense (because they aren't verbs), so that's a second reason we shouldn't care. "Perpetuated" in this case is just passive, where as "originating" is active.

The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.

(A) which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
PROBLEM: (First, which needs a comma before it). Okay, so it's the SECOND "and" here that marks the parallelism we care about (the other "and" parallels ethnic and cultural heritages, and is always correct). We're always concerned with whatever comes DIRECTLY after the parallel marker. In this case, we get "perpetuated". This is a participle, so we need another one earlier in the sentence. Instead, we get "originate", which is a present tense verb.

(B) that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
PROBLEM: Again, we look after the marker "and" and find the participle "perpetuated". Unfortunately, "originated" here is a past tense verb, not a participle. How do we know? Consider the difference here:

I read the book. ("read" = past tense verb...it has a subject in the main clause, "I")
Read by millions, the book is one of the nation's most popular. ("read" = past participle, it's just a modifier, and we don't get the subject until it's the subject of a new clause "the book is...")

(C) originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
PROBLEM: "Originated" can't be an action. This is just a misuse of the word. It may look parallel, but the participle of "originate" is "originating". Think about it. You can't put this in the past, because the word itself implies the past origin of something, even in the present tense (i.e. Originating in 1200 BC, the codex is the key to life itself).

(D) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
ANSWER: Perpetuated = participle. Originating = participle. Parallel.

(E) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating
PROBLEM: "Perpetuating by" doesn't make any sense. We need it to be passive, not active.

Hope that helps!

-tommy
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Can someone please explain how to differentiate a modifier from a verb. "Originated" can be both a modifier and a Past Tense Verb . How to test while answering such a question. In this question please help me differentiating option B from Option D.

Regards,
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 11 May 2020, 04:03
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Adi88
Can someone please explain how to differentiate a modifier from a verb. "Originated" can be both a modifier and a Past Tense Verb . How to test while answering such a question. In this question please help me differentiating option B from Option D.
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Hi Adi88, our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses a simple framework to differentiate between Simple Past tense verb and Past Participle. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 31 May 2020, 08:15
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AjiteshArun VeritasKarishma MentorTutoring egmat

Please help to solve my head ache with confusion between verb-ed vs verb for this question.

Quote:
The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.
Show more

The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects. Independent clause -1
, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.
This is a dependent clause, with noun + noun modifier
noun: language variations.
noun modifier: which

Here noun + noun modifier modified the regional dialects. Hope I am correct.

My head spins here itself to decide if originate and perpetuated are verbs or verb-ed modifiers?
So as per this post:
If subject of sentence is the doer of action, then the verb-ed is the verb of sentence.
So, let me get to task:
Is the subject: language variations performing action of originated?
Yes they originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages.
But did they perpetuated by geographic isolation.
No, this does not seem to fit. So (A) is out since I need either two verbs or two modifiers to be ||el


Quote:
(B) that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
Show more
Same as (A) without helping verb: are perpetuated, perpetuated is a verb-ed modifier

Quote:
(C) originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
Show more
now without a relative modifier (which/that) originated as in (B) is a simple past tense verb
but perpetuated is still a verb-ed modifier

Quote:
(D) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
Show more
originating is a verb-ing modifier (since there is not helping verb: are)
What I am really confused is about voice of active vs passive for a modified: perpetuated
as reply by TommyWallach . Could you shed more light on the same?
The voice (active vs passive) is associated with verb, not a modifier. Am I correct?

Quote:
(E) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating
Show more
Why is the preposition by (in non-underlined portion) that follows perpetuating makes this option incorrect?
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sacmanitin
The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.


(A) which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(B) that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(C) originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(D) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(E) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating
Show more

VeritasKarishma GMATNinja
Why option E is wrong ?
Both "originating" and "perpetuating" are modifiers.
And I don't believe the explanation mentioned that 'perpetuating by' is awkward.
Please explain.
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sacmanitin
The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.


(A) which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(B) that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(C) originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(D) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(E) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating

VeritasKarishma GMATNinja
Why option E is wrong ?
Both "originating" and "perpetuating" are modifiers.
And I don't believe the explanation mentioned that 'perpetuating by' is awkward.
Please explain.
Show more

The main verb does not take the -ing form in a passive construction.

A perpetuates B - active
B is perpetuated by A - passive

A is perpetuating B - active
B is being perpetuated by A - passive

A perpetuated B - active
B was perpetuated by A - passive

The passive voice uses past participle form of the main verb.

Dialects are perpetuated by geographical isolation - is passive form.
Here, though we are using perpetuated as a verb-ed modifier, it will follow the same rule and not take the -ing form in passive. So use of perpetuating is incorrect.
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.


(A) which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(B) that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(C) originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(D) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(E) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating

GMATNinja Can you guide on this question ?
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 24 Jun 2021, 19:45
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Livelifeloud20
The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.


(A) which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(B) that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(C) originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(D) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(E) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating

GMATNinja Can you guide on this question ?
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We posted this analysis earlier in the thread. Check that out, and let us know if you still have questions.
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 19 Jul 2021, 05:12
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Hey GMATNinja can you please explain this question and how to approach such questions from modifier and verb stand point.

Please help.
As Karishma and Andrew have both noted, the difference between the modifier form and the verb form is often about meaning: passive vs active.

To see why, consider the various ways we can use "perpetuated" or "perpetuating."

    1) Tim, who perpetuated the rumor that he'd been nominated for the Nobel Price in Physics, has failed every science class he's ever taken.

Here, "perpetuated" is functioning as a verb meaning "to make perpetual" or "to preserve." Because "who" refers to "Tim", we know that it's Tim who is actively keeping a rumor alive.

    2) The rumor that Tim would win the Nobel, perpetuated by many of the neighborhood kids, spread far and wide.

This time "perpetuated" is functioning as a modifier describing the "rumor." Notice that the word has a passive connotation here. The "rumor" isn't doing anything itself. Someone or something else has to do the perpetuating, and in this case, it's the neighborhood kids who are preserving the rumor.

    3) Perpetuating the rumor that he was going to win the Nobel, Tim tacked poorly made signs to every cork board in a three-mile radius of his house.

Now "perpetuating" is serving as a modifier describing "Tim," so again, there's an active connotation, and it's Tim preserving the idea.

To summarize: "perpetuated" can be used as a modifier or as a verb, depending on context. When it's used as a verb, it has an active connotation, but when it's used as a modifier, it's passive and should be done "by" some entity.

"Perpetuating" is a modifier that will describe the entity performing the action. This one also has an active connotation.

In this question, we know that the word is connected to "language variations." So the first question we'd ask ourselves is whether the language variations are doing the preserving (active) or are themselves being preserved (passive.) Clearly, the passive interpretation makes more sense, especially given the phrase, "by geographical isolation." So let's keep that in mind as we break down the options.

Quote:
(A)The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.
This is like our first example above, in which "perpetuated" functions as the verb to "which", so it suggests that the language variations are actively doing the preserving.

This makes no sense. What are they preserving? Themselves? And now the phrase "by geographical isolation" doesn't work, since there's nothing for it to describe.

(A) is out.

Quote:
(B) The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographical isolation.
Same problem as (A), but now "perpetuated is the verb for "that." Kill (B).

Quote:
(C) The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.
This is a mess. Notice that the portions in blue and red are both independent clauses, but there's no conjunction connecting them. This is a run-on sentence, so it's out.

Quote:
(D) The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.
This looks better. Because "perpetuated" is parallel to the modifier "originating" we can assume that "perpetuated" is also serving as a modifier here, meaning it has a passive connotation. So the "language variations" are preserved by geographic isolation. Perfectly reasonable. Hold on to (D).

Quote:
(E) The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating by geographic isolation.
Remember that "perpetuating" is a modifier with an active connotation, so we're back to this idea that the language variations are themselves doing the preserving. Same logical problem as (A) and (B). (E) is out.

So we're left with (D), which is our winner.

I hope that helps!
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Hi! In C why can't originated and perpetuated both be modifiers, modifying language variations. I read if the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action, then its a verb and if not, the its a past participle(modifier). Here originated can function as modifier (language variations originated..... and perpetuated) and this whole will be an absolute phrase. Please help IanStewart DmitryFarber
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Hi! In C why can't originated and perpetuated both be modifiers, modifying language variations. I read if the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action, then its a verb and if not, the its a past participle(modifier). Here originated can function as modifier (language variations originated..... and perpetuated) and this whole will be an absolute phrase. Please help IanStewart DmitryFarber
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Yes, that's a good point -- grammatically, a sentence that looks like C could be perfectly correct, if both of the -ed words were modifiers. The problem though is that "originated", as a past participle, has a specific meaning, different from what is intended in this sentence. The word "originate" can mean two things: it can mean "began from", which is the meaning in this sentence, or it can mean something like "was created" (by a person). These are examples of the first meaning, then the second meaning:

This recipe originated in India. (this is the same meaning as in the original question in this thread)

Chef Kapoor originated this recipe. (this usage isn't too common, but here "originated" means something like "invented")

When we use "originated" as a modifier, at least as far as I'm aware, it always conveys the second meaning. So you can say "The recipe, originated by Chef Kapoor, is now popular worldwide". But if you want a modifier that conveys the first meaning, you need to use "originating". There's probably a good logical reason for this, because 'originate' already connotes something in the past, and adding -ed makes it doubly in the past, but when I think about that logic using other similar words, I'm not sure my suspicion is altogether correct, and I need to think about it some more. So perhaps it's best thought of simply as an idiom situation.
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sacmanitin
The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.
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(A) which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
originate is a problem and which requires a comma therefore out

(B) that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
orginated is also isn't the perfect usage therefore out

(C) originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
Similar reasoning as B

(D) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
The meaning is perfect therefore let us hang on to it

(E) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating
perputuating isn't the right usage therefore out

Therefore IMO D
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 24 Aug 2021, 08:47
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Regarding usage of Verbing & verbed modifiers

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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 23 Dec 2021, 04:04
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GMATNinja

It is hard to believe that C is wrong as we can assume ORIGINATED to be a V-ED MODIFIER, but I agree that D is much better and clear

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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 23 Dec 2021, 21:08
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ramuramu1838
GMATNinja

It is hard to believe that C is wrong as we can assume ORIGINATED to be a V-ED MODIFIER, but I agree that D is much better and clear

Thanks and regards
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Hi ramuramu1838,

Originate has more than one meaning, but the one we're looking at here is ~"occur" or "start".

1. X originated from Y.

If we're trying to say "X originated (started) from Y", then we don't normally say "X was originated (started) from Y". If we did, it'd mean using the passive voice, but this originate can't be used in the passive. In other words, we should consider originated from a verb, not a participle.

That said, we are discussing idiomatic usage here, and it'd be great to get more opinions on this.
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 12 Jan 2022, 11:57
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ramuramu1838
GMATNinja

It is hard to believe that C is wrong as we can assume ORIGINATED to be a V-ED MODIFIER, but I agree that D is much better and clear

Thanks and regards
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The verb "to originate" means "to have a specified beginning," so it makes to say that [something] originated (past tense verb) as [something else]. For example:

    "Tim's writing career originated as a means to escape the stress of preparing for the GMAT."

The key here is that the action of originating is performed by the thing that had a specified beginning (Tim's writing career, in this case). Tim's writing career wasn't originated by something else -- instead, Tim's writing career is the thing that originated.

If we use "originated" as a modifier, it sounds like the modified noun is being originated by something else. In the official question, it's the language variations that performed the action of originating -- they weren't originated by something else. So "originating" makes more sense as a modifier, while "originated" makes more sense as a past tense verb.

At the very least, "originated" suggests that the language variations are NOT the thing performing the action of originating. That's not quite right, so (D) is a better answer.

I hope that helps a bit!
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The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to th 08 Jun 2022, 15:07
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sacmanitin
The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.

Key: "Originated" is not a correct modifier version of "originate." For example, something can't be "originated from" - it will always be "originating from" the source. That said, eliminate (B) and (C).

(A) which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

"which" incorrectly modifies dialects without a comma

(B) that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(C) originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

(D) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated

"originating" = correct modifier participle form of "originate" // to "perpetuated by" that is also a modifier

(E) originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating

Perpetuating = verb, not parallel to "originating," which is a modifier. OUT
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