Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect

Question

Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect patients by reducing the grueling hours worked by medical residents,  twelve hospitals have been investigated by state medical officials, finding that all twelve consistently break the laws, many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work  more than 95 hours a week.

A. twelve hospitals have been investigated by state medical officials, finding that all twelve consistently break the laws, many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work

B. an investigation by state medical officials of twelve hospitals have found all twelve consistently breaking the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working

C. an investigation of twelve hospitals by state medical officials has found that all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work

D. twelve hospitals were investigated by state medical officials who found all twelve breaking the laws, with many residents working longer than 24 hours straight, and more than half the surgical residents work

E. an investigation by state medical officials has found that, of twelve hospitals, all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working

akashb106 · Accepted Answer

A)  twelve hospitals  have been investigated by state medical officials,  finding that all  twelve consistently break the laws,  many residents  work longer than 24 hours straight,  and that  more than half the surgical residents work----  Incorrect, because first Investigation has found that hospitals break the laws not state offices or the tweleve hospitals like this sentence implies. Also the many... and that is not parallel.  
B)  an investigation  by state medical officials of twelve hospitals  have  found all twelve consistently breaking the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working----  An investigation does not match with have. SVA error.  
C)  an investigation  of twelve hospitals by state medical officials  has  found that all twelve consistently break the laws,  that many  residents work longer than 24 hours straight,  and that more  than half the surgical residents work---   CORRECT.   
D) twelve hospitals were investigated by  state medical officials who found  all twelve breaking the laws,  with many  residents working longer than 24 hours straight,  and more  than half the surgical residents work----  Not parallel. the investigation has found, not the state medical officials.  
E) an investigation by state medical officials has found that,  of twelve hospitals, all twelve  consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight,  with  more than half the surgical residents working---  with is incorrectly used. Also the of twelve hospitals, all twelve sounds words and awkward.

sayantanc2k · Answer

No, construction in passive voice is not enough to eliminate a choice.

Why A is wrong?
A present participle modifier (-ing) refers to either the entire previous clause or the subject of the previous clause.
Here the present participle modifier " finding that all twelve ....." erroneously refers to the subject of the previous clause "twelve hospitals". "Twelve hospitals" did not find, "state medical officials" did. Therefore, "state medical officers" should have been the subject of the previous clause rather than " twelve hospitals".

Why D is wrong?
The preposition "with" introduces two examples how the laws were broken. Both these examples should be made parallel. Since the first example has a gerund with an -ing ending ("working"), the second should also be a gerund with an -ing ending. However the second example is a verb ("work").

amitdgr · Answer

A and D are passive.

B illogically says that the investigation was carried out by officials of 12 hospitals.
E is awkward.

is it C ?

Please underline the SC question before posting.

LalaB · Answer

C is the answer.and btw https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/19/nyreg ... all&src=pm

GMATPill · Answer

If we "cut the fluff" with answer choice (C) - we can see it as:

(C): ... an investigation of twelve hospitals ... has found that all twelve consistently  break  the laws, that many residents  work  longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents  work

1) "Investigation" is singular - so "has found" is correct.

2) The verbs BREAK, WORK, and WORK are conistent--each list item has "that" - so that's consistent.

Everything checks off and no grammar issues. (C) looks good.

dhruv224 · Answer

.an investigation of twelve hospitals by state medical officials has found that all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work

Can we start a new clause with "that" after a comma???

Can we start a new clause with "that" after a comma???

sa2222 · Answer

“that” certainly could follow a comma if there were a series of “that”-clauses in parallel: like in the above case. “that” has many different uses. You can check out this post: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... s-of-that/ Thanks!

EducationAisle · Answer

Please note that the comma has nothing to do with  that . The comma is needed because there are  three  things (as part of the list) that state medical officials have found.

On a separate note,  that , whether used as a  relative pronoun  or a  conjunction  always starts a  clause .

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses the various  avatars  of  that , their application and examples in significant detail. If you can PM you email-id, I can send you the corresponding section.

nitin6305 · Answer

Can someone please highlight the error in Option A ?

EducationAisle · Answer

While there are quite a few errors, an easy way to eliminate A:

...finding  that  all twelve ...., many residents ..., and  that  more than half...

Clearly there are three  elements . From a parallelism perspective, since the first and third  elements  start with  that , the second  element  ( many residents ... ) should also start with  that .

JarvisR · Answer

My 2 cents.
Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect patients 
by reducing the grueling hours worked by medical residents, 
 twelve hospitals have been investigated by state medical officials, finding that 
all twelve consistently break the laws, 
many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that 
more than half the surgical residents work  more than 95 hours a week.

A) twelve hospitals have been investigated by state medical officials, finding that all twelve consistently break the laws, many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work 
 >> 
 B) an investigation by state medical officials of twelve hospitals have found all twelve consistently breaking the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working 
 >> 
 C) an investigation of twelve hospitals by state medical officials has found that all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work. 
  
 D) twelve hospitals were investigated by state medical officials who found all twelve breaking the laws, with many residents working longer than 24 hours straight, and more than half the surgical residents work
 >> 
 E) an investigation by state medical officials has found that, of twelve hospitals, all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working 
 >>

nitin6305 · Answer

Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect patients by reducing the grueling hours worked by medical residents,  twelve hospitals have been investigated by state medical officials, finding that all twelve consistently break the laws, many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work  more than 95 hours a week.

A) twelve hospitals have been investigated by state medical officials, finding that all twelve consistently break the laws, many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work
B) an investigation by state medical officials of twelve hospitals have found all twelve consistently breaking the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working
C) an investigation of twelve hospitals by state medical officials has found that all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work
D) twelve hospitals were investigated by state medical officials who found all twelve breaking the laws, with many residents working longer than 24 hours straight, and more than half the surgical residents work
E) an investigation by state medical officials has found that, of twelve hospitals, all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working

My question is how can   investigation  , the subject of the clause in the correct answer choice C, can be the subject? You find something as a result of investigation, investigation does not find anything! As this is an official guide question so it has to be right, but can someone please advise if this construction is Ok and makes sense?

daagh · Answer

A) twelve hospitals have been investigated by state medical officials, finding that all twelve consistently break the laws, many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work ----  “that” parallelism is flouted in the list.  
B) an investigation by state medical officials of twelve hospitals have found all twelve consistently breaking the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working---  investigation .. have found --- SV number error

C) an investigation of twelve hospitals by state medical officials has found that all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work ---  Correct list parallelism maintained

D) twelve hospitals were investigated by state medical officials who found all twelve breaking the laws, with many residents working longer than 24 hours straight, and more than half the surgical residents work ----  list parallelism fouled

E) an investigation by state medical officials has found that, of twelve hospitals, all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, with more than half the surgical residents working ---  List parallelism floute d

daagh · Answer

Nitin 
After all, how can the officials find the truth by just looking at the hospitals; if only when they go deep into the affairs they can know the facts and that is the investigation. It is not unusual to write so. For example, we often say that an enquiry into the tragedy revealed this and that or a probe by an endoscope confirmed a tumor in the throat etc; we don't mention the agents of the probe or the enquiry. The important thing is the result of the investigation and not who conducted the investigation. Therefore, we can accept the investigation as the subject.

EducationAisle · Answer

Indeed...since the investigation found 3 things, a comma must separate them.

enasni · Answer

So what if A and D are in passive? Is dat enough to discard an answer choice?

Nab77 · Answer

Hello Experts,
Thank you for the explanations but I just cannot get 1 question of my mind - How can an investigation find something (on its own)? I ruled out option C first, thinking that it has to be the people doing the investigation who find whatever they have to.
Kindly help me understand what am I missing here?

Thanks in advance!

sayantanc2k · Answer

This is official GMAT question. Thus, simply keep in mind that GMAT allows the usage " investigation has found". The following example is somewhat similar:

Investigation has revealed that....

One may argue that investigation on its own did not reveal anything - the investigators did. Yet the above usage is valid. Similarly  Investigation has found...  is also valid as per GMAT.

sunitagitu · Answer

I have few doubts related to the question.
Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect patients by reducing the grueling hours worked by medical residents,  twelve hospitals have been investigated by state medical officials, finding that all twelve consistently break the laws, many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work  more than 95 hours a week.

Correct answer is C
Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect patients by reducing the grueling hours worked by medical residents,an investigation of twelve hospitals by state medical officials has found that all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work.

i) Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect patients by reducing the grueling hours worked by medical residents,
ii) an investigation of twelve hospitals by state medical officials has found that all twelve consistently break the laws, that many residents work longer than 24 hours straight, and that more than half the surgical residents work.

My Question :
1) Is the part i) Dependent Clause ? 
2) Is   Almost a decade after   equivalent to subordinate conjunction AFTER?
3) Is that why a comma has been put to connect (i) to Independent clause (ii)?

Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect

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Almost a decade after New York State passed laws to protect

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