Hi Zarrolou,

After decreasing steadily in the mid-1990's, the percentage of students in the United States finishing high school or having earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, up to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and 84.8 percent in 1998.

(A) finishing high school or having earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, up to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and
(B) finishing high school or earning equivalency diplomas, increasing in the last three years of the decade, rising to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and from
(C) having finished high school or earning an equivalency diploma increased in the last three years of the decade, and rose to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and from
(D) who either finished high school or they earned an equivalency diploma, increasing in the last three years of the decade, rose to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and
(E) who finished high school or earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and

The reason that verb-ing modifiers in Choices A, B, and C refer to immediately preceding noun United States and hence these choices should be eliminated is not correct.

The verb-ing modifier without a comma preceding it and a relative pronoun both are noun modifiers. The rules for all the noun modifiers are the same. In that case, then “who” in Choices D and E should also refer to the immediate preceding noun United States. But that is not the case.

In choices A, B , and C, the verb-ing modifiers correctly refers to the preceding noun phrase “students in the United States”. This is the reason why “who” also refers to this very noun phrase in choices D and E.

For more details on when a noun modifier can refer to a slightly far away noun and when it cannot, please refer to the following article:

noun-modifiers-can-modify-slightly-far-away-noun-135868.html

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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After decreasing steadily in the mid-1990's, the percentage of students in the United States finishing high school or having earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, up to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and 84.8 percent in 1998.

(A) finishing high school or having earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, up to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and
(B) finishing high school or earning equivalency diplomas, increasing in the last three years of the decade, rising to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and from
(C) having finished high school or earning an equivalency diploma increased in the last three years of the decade, and rose to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and from
(D) who either finished high school or they earned an equivalency diploma, increasing in the last three years of the decade, rose to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and
(E) who finished high school or earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and


I confirm: the OA is E. (well said aditya8062 )
The use of the -ing form modifies the noun before, Unites States in this case. This is clearly wrong: out A B C. D is unclear: "they" makes the sentence redundant.

The idiom in this sentence is To X From Y? Is that correct?

to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent

Yes, that's correct. But if I am not mistaken, also the other way round is correct "From X to Y"; both cases are fine.

Hello egmat, how can who modify United States? Can who modify a country?

Please note that when "who" is used as a non-essential modifier, ie. with a comma right before "who", then "who" modifies the noun right before the comma.
Else, when "who" is used as an essential modifier, ie. without a comma right before "who", then "who" doesn't necessarily modify the noun right before the comma. So, in this case, "who" modifies "students in the United States".

Here are my colorful 2 cents on the answer choices.


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Hi "mohish",

Well, that's what my point is. The way cannot refer to United States, in the same way the other noun modifiers after "United States" also do not refer to the Unites States because logically they all refer to a little far away noun "students".

Thanks.
Shraddha
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Thanks Shraddha for your response. It is clear now.

In Choice E isn't comma between decade & 86.5 wrong?

"who finished high school or earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and"

The phrase needs a "who" because saying "someone having done something" is not idiomatic. Answer choice D has "they", rendering the answer choice incorrect. Answer choice E is the correct one.
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egmat,

Between A and E - how do we get to the correct answer? why is A incorrect and E the correct answer choice?

Thanks!

Hi egmat,

Thanks for your elaborate reply.

Though now I know why we cant eliminate A, B, C outright due to the noun modifier rules just explained, I am having trouble to find out on what grounds exactly we eliminated A,B,C .

Is it due to -
A - increased..up to = ''up'' being incorrect/redundant
B - no verb hence its a sentence fragment
C - increased.. and rose to = ''rose'' being incorrect/redundant ; Also, , and is not required because the intention is to use this part as a modifier rather than as an independent clause and there is no Independent clause following it

Is my understanding for POE correct?

After decreasing steadily in the mid-1990's, the percentage of students in the United States finishing high school or having earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, up to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and 84.8 percent in 1998.

(A) finishing high school or having earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, up to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and "finishing" and "having earned" are not parallel. Eliminate.

(B) finishing high school or earning equivalency diplomas, increasing in the last three years of the decade, rising to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and from Sentence fragment. Eliminate.

(C) having finished high school or earning an equivalency diploma increased in the last three years of the decade, and rose to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and from "having finished" and "earning" are not parallel. Eliminate.

(D) who either finished high school or they earned an equivalency diploma, increasing in the last three years of the decade, rose to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and "finished" and "they earned" are not parallel. Eliminate.

(E) who finished high school or earned equivalency diplomas increased in the last three years of the decade, to 86.5 percent in 2000 from 85.9 percent in 1999 and Correct answer. Parallelism is maintained.

Hope this helps.
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