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TheUltimateWinner
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 30 Nov 2022, 12:00
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GMATGuruNY
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Sir, why do we think that the essential modifier is necessary here? If the sentence is something below which one should we choose?

Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of negligence when the crucial data went missing, the CEO defused
B. a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
B1. a situation, which was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault

if we choose choice B1 that means we are ignoring the 'diffused' part. But, why do we think that we need the part that is being diffused?

An analogy:
Children feared John because he had a face that never smiled.
If we omit the modifier in blue, we get:
Children feared John because he had a face.
The sentence is red does not tell the whole story.
Children did not fear John because he had face; all people have faces.
Rather, children feared John because he had a particular TYPE of face:
a face THAT NEVER SMILED
For this reason, the modifier in blue is considered ESSENTIAL to the meaning.

A similar line of reasoning can be applied to the SC above.
The CEO did not simply defuse a situation.
Rather, the CEO defused a particular TYPE of situation:
a situation THAT WAS QUITE TENSE
Since the modifier in green is essential to the meaning, it cannot be rephrased in B1 as a nonessential modifier.

Quote:
What if the choice B is replaced with B1 in the original SC? Should we choose that option (B1) as a correct choice then?

The GMAT would not replace B with B1, so this question is moot.

Quote:
= how do you sort out the parts of speech from the combination of so many words (not to have been Smith's fault). We saw the parts of speech could be just a single word (not combination of so many words).

Question:
What is considered not to have been Smith's fault?
Answer:
The DEBACLE.
Since only an adjective can modify a noun such as debacle, the phrase in red must be serving as an adjective.
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GMATGuruNY
Thanks you very much. Learned a different things!
Kudos to you..
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 30 Nov 2022, 23:50
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alicebling
Can someone please explain why a comma is needed in front of "by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault." Is it stil correct if the comma is removed?? Thank you!
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I also have some what similar query. After comma "by publically stating that....." is an independent clause. I rejected this schoice because two independent clauses can not be connected by comma. I'd appreciate if experts can help here to understand why my reasoaning is incorrect.
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 01 Dec 2022, 02:40
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JaydeepPatadiya
alicebling
Can someone please explain why a comma is needed in front of "by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault." Is it stil correct if the comma is removed?? Thank you!

I also have some what similar query. After comma "by publically stating that....." is an independent clause. I rejected this schoice because two independent clauses can not be connected by comma. I'd appreciate if experts can help here to understand why my reasoaning is incorrect.
Show more

Hey JaydeepPatadiya

Happy to help you with this.

Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of negligence when the crucial data went missing, the CEO defused a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault.

1. The first takeaway is that the words "by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault" do not form an Independent Clause. This is just a prepositional phrase:
    Preposition: by
    Complete Object of Preposition: publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
    Main Object of Preposition "by": stating (verb-ing noun a.k.a. a gerund)

So, "by publicly stating something" is just a prepositional phrase in which:
    something = that the debacle was not Smith's fault

In order to improve your ability to distinguish between phrases and clauses, I strongly recommend you strengthen your basics of grammar and work on deriving the Sentence Structure of complex sentences.

2. Now, let's come to the question of the comma placed before this prepositional phrase "by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault".
This prepositional phrase modifies the verb "defused", telling us "how" the situation was defused. Now, the comma has been placed before 'by' only to make it clear that this prepositional phrase modifies 'defused' and nothing else in between.

This is normally done when the preceding object is especially long. The comma signifies the end of that object and the start of the next part of speech, in this case an adverb. This eliminates any possible ambiguity or unintended modification.


So, although this comma is not absolutely necessary here, it certainly makes the sentence more comprehensible.


I hope this helps improve your understanding of adverbial prepositional phrases.


Happy Learning.

Abhishek
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 01 Dec 2022, 12:20
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Quote:
Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of negligence when the crucial data went missing, the CEO defused a situation that was quite tense with her public statement that the debacle was not Smith’s fault.

A. a situation that was quite tense with her public statement that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
B. a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
C. a situation, which was quite tense, by stating publicly that Smith was not responsible for the debacle
D. a quite tense situation with a public statement about the debacle not being Smith’s fault
E. a quite tense situation by publicly stating the debacle not to have been Smith’s fault
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GMATGuruNY
Sir, A very quick question. Normally, we use COMMA+VerbING as adverbial modifier but in choice B we use some extra words (i.e., by publicly). Why don't we use as usual like '',stating publicly that the debacle was not Smith’s fault''?
Thank you for your time..
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 01 Dec 2022, 13:11
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Quote:
Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of negligence when the crucial data went missing, the CEO defused a situation that was quite tense with her public statement that the debacle was not Smith’s fault.

A. a situation that was quite tense with her public statement that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
B. a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
C. a situation, which was quite tense, by stating publicly that Smith was not responsible for the debacle
D. a quite tense situation with a public statement about the debacle not being Smith’s fault
E. a quite tense situation by publicly stating the debacle not to have been Smith’s fault
GMATGuruNY
Sir, A very quick question. Normally, we use COMMA+VerbING as adverbial modifier but in choice B we use some extra words (i.e., by publicly). Why don't we use as usual like '',stating publicly that the debacle was not Smith’s fault''?
Thank you for your time..
Show more

One possible reason:

As mentioned in my first post, by + VERBing cannot serve to modify a state-of-being such as was or were.

COMMA + VERBing, however, is not constrained in this way.
SC30 in the OG12:
Shields were essential items of military equipment, protecting warriors against enemy arrows.
Here, COMMA + protecting refers to were and to the subject of this verb -- shields -- conveying that the SHIELDS were PROTECTING warriors.

Your proposed revision:
a situation that was quite tense, stating publicly that the debacle was not Smith's fault
Here, COMMA + stating seems to refer to was and to the implied subject of this verb -- a situation -- conveying that a SITUATION was STATING publicly that the debacle was not Smith's fault.
This meaning is nonsensical.
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 01 Dec 2022, 13:25
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GMATGuruNY
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Quote:
Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of negligence when the crucial data went missing, the CEO defused a situation that was quite tense with her public statement that the debacle was not Smith’s fault.

A. a situation that was quite tense with her public statement that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
B. a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
C. a situation, which was quite tense, by stating publicly that Smith was not responsible for the debacle
D. a quite tense situation with a public statement about the debacle not being Smith’s fault
E. a quite tense situation by publicly stating the debacle not to have been Smith’s fault
GMATGuruNY
Sir, A very quick question. Normally, we use COMMA+VerbING as adverbial modifier but in choice B we use some extra words (i.e., by publicly). Why don't we use as usual like '',stating publicly that the debacle was not Smith’s fault''?
Thank you for your time..

One possible reason:

As mentioned in my first post, by + VERBing cannot serve to modify a state-of-being such as was or were.

COMMA + VERBing, however, is not constrained in this way.
SC30 in the OG12:
Shields were essential items of military equipment, protecting warriors against enemy arrows.
Here, COMMA + protecting refers to were and to the subject of this verb -- shields -- conveying that the SHIELDS were PROTECTING warriors.

Your proposed revision:
a situation that was quite tense, stating publicly that the debacle was not Smith's fault
Here, COMMA + stating seems to refer to was and to the implied subject of this verb -- a situation -- conveying that a SITUATION was STATING publicly that the debacle was not Smith's fault.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Show more
GMATGuruNY
Your explanation is awesome as usual. Thanks again with kudos, sir.
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 01 Dec 2022, 21:23
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alicebling
Can someone please explain why a comma is needed in front of "by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault." Is it stil correct if the comma is removed?? Thank you!

I also have some what similar query. After comma "by publically stating that....." is an independent clause. I rejected this schoice because two independent clauses can not be connected by comma. I'd appreciate if experts can help here to understand why my reasoaning is incorrect.

Happy to help you with this.

Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of negligence when the crucial data went missing, the CEO defused a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault.

1. The first takeaway is that the words "by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault" do not form an Independent Clause. This is just a prepositional phrase:
    Preposition: by
    Complete Object of Preposition: publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
    Main Object of Preposition "by": stating (verb-ing noun a.k.a. a gerund)

So, "by publicly stating something" is just a prepositional phrase in which:
    something = that the debacle was not Smith's fault

In order to improve your ability to distinguish between phrases and clauses, I strongly recommend you strengthen your basics of grammar and work on deriving the Sentence Structure of complex sentences.

2. Now, let's come to the question of the comma placed before this prepositional phrase "by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault".
This prepositional phrase modifies the verb "defused", telling us "how" the situation was defused. Now, the comma has been placed before 'by' only to make it clear that this prepositional phrase modifies 'defused' and nothing else in between.

This is normally done when the preceding object is especially long. The comma signifies the end of that object and the start of the next part of speech, in this case an adverb. This eliminates any possible ambiguity or unintended modification.


So, although this comma is not absolutely necessary here, it certainly makes the sentence more comprehensible.


I hope this helps improve your understanding of adverbial prepositional phrases.


Happy Learning.

Abhishek
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Thanks for the detailed explanation. I considered "by publically stating..." as clause only because it has subject and verb pair but now I realize that its the part of entire object. Appreciate your time for the explanation. I am very happy after improving this aspect:-)
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 04 Feb 2023, 00:39
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ExpertsGlobal, GMATNinja karishma

Can you please explain the application of V-A-N rule in the answer choices?
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 21 Jun 2023, 09:09
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Hi,
Would love it if an expert took a stab at all the options AndrewN GMATNinja egmat

Is 'a quite tense situation' necessarily wrong compared to 'a situation that was quite tense'?

Thanks in advance
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 10 Nov 2023, 17:07
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AjiteshArun
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There are two problems in option E:

... a quite tense situation by publicly stating the debacle not to have been Smith’s fault.

1. A quite tense situation is not the right way to express that idea. For example:

She solved a question that was quite tough. ← This one is fine.
vs.
She solved a quite tough question. ← This is not correct.

He watched a movie that was quite long. ← This one is fine.
vs.
He watched a quite long movie. ← This is not correct.

2. Stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault is better (more direct) than stating the debacle not to have been Smith’s fault.

Why are the parts in bold not correct?


Quite cannot take that position in that structure. This is something that we'll have to remember.

a + quite + [adj] + [noun] ← This is not correct. We need to move that quite.

1. a quite tough question ← This is not correct.

2. a question that was/is quite tough ← This is fine.
3. quite a tough question ← This is fine.
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AjiteshArun
Thanks for the nice explanation. I've a very little question based on your explanation.

If I say:
This one is a very hard question. Is it wrong? Should I say the following?
This one is very a hard question.

Or, is the highlighted part right? Should I say the following?
Quote:
I've a very little question based on your explanation.
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I've very a little question based on your explanation.

Or, Is the rules only for the word quite?
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 10 Nov 2023, 17:21
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GMATNinja
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is the use "comma" ,before "by" in the correct option B necessary?
Is it necessary? Probably not... but that's not something you really need to worry about.

What matters is that (B) is the best option out of the five in this question. There are no black and white rules dictating when you should and should not use a comma to set off a modifier.

The first part of this post might also help, and if you want a totally excessive video on GMAT SC punctuation, you can find it here.
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GMATNinja
Sir
How do we be sure that ''by publicly stating'' does not modify ''quite tense''?
Quote:
B. a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 21 Nov 2023, 03:43
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Bunuel

B. a situation that was quite tense, by publicly stating that the debacle was not Smith’s fault
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I have a doubt here with the usage of the second "that" - Shouldn't 'that' have a noun to refer to? or is there another use case for the word?. Please help.
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Although some had accused Smith, the firm’s network manager, of neglig 21 Nov 2023, 07:00
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Ritwickhota
I have a doubt here with the usage of the second "that" - Shouldn't 'that' have a noun to refer to? or is there another use case for the word?. Please help.
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Hi Ritwickhota,

There are other ways to use that. For example, in "he said that the question was tough", we don't need to look for a noun for the that to point to.
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