Can someone explain something to me?
In answer choice B, why does 'which' modify prices and not computer chips?
I was under the impression that which modifies the word immediately preceding it.

Structure: "Because X did Y, A did B."

Here: "Because [this thing has sent prices plunging], [this other thing has announced blah blah blah]."

Actually which always modifies the nearest grammatically eligible word preceding it.

B says: which is due to an oversupply...

Because of the presence of is (a singular verb), only singular nouns will be grammatically eligible to be modified by which. But here, there is no singular noun present (plunging prices and computer chips are both plural); hence which actually does not have any noun to modify here.

p.s. Our book SC Nirvana discusses the which and that pronouns, and what they modify, in significant detail. If you can PM you email, I can send you the corresponding section.
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Hi warriorsquared,
I don’t know whether you are looking for the reply or not, but here it is anyways.

You are correct in saying that the “which” modifier modifies the preceding noun, but it can also modify a slightly far away noun, depending on the context of the sentence. Let’s see how:

• The sword of the great Tipu Sultan, which was used in the famous battle of Pollilur, resides in the Local Arts Museum.

In the above sentence, the modifier ‘which’ jumps over the prepositional phrase “of the great Tipu Sultan” to modify slightly far away noun ‘the sword’ since the prepositional phrase is modifying the noun “the sword” and hence it cannot be placed anywhere else in the sentence.

Let’s take two more examples:
• The Hindi translation of this book, which was done by a prominent Hindi author, is one of the best Hindi translations till today. (‘which’ modifies ‘The Hindi translation’)


• The English translation of the book, which was originally written in Hindi, was done in 1998. (‘which’ modifies ‘the book’)

To learn more about how a noun modifier can modify a slightly far away noun, please refer to the following link:
noun-modifiers-can-modify-slightly-far-away-noun-135868.html#p1105003

Note that, when there are more than one possible antecedents for a pronoun, then we replace the pronoun by the possible antecedents one by one and check which one of the antecedents makes sense in the sentence.

Now, coming to your question, let’s replace “which” by “plunging prices” and “computer chips”:

• Because of plunging prices for computer chips, which is due to an oversupply, the manufacturer has announced that it will cut production by closing its factories for two days a month.

As we can see, it does not make sense to say “computer chips is due to an oversupply”. So, “which” cannot refer to “computer chips”.
Now, it makes sense to say “plunging prices is due to an oversupply”, but the subject verb pair does not agree in number. So, this is also incorrect. However, now we know that logically “which” can refer to plunging prices.



Hope this helps!
Deepak
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I'd request for an experts response on this. I am slightly confused about the tense used in the correct option A.

We have used present perfect in both the clauses to highlight that there is a continued effect. But is it grammatically correct to frame a sentence in the form:
Because present perfect, present perfect?

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GMATNinja, @e-gmat, and mikemcgarry

Why are we using present perfect 'has sent prices plunging' ? Isn't the action of 'prices plunging' over?

Little confused with the usage of present perfect in this sentence.


Thanks

A is good, but one thing: there is a obsequies of events, but author uses Present perfect two times.
In my opinion it would be better if Past Perfect would be used for first event.

Because an oversupply of computer chips had sent prices plunging, the manufacturer has announced that it will cut production by closing its factories for two days a month.

Please somebody explain where I am wrong.
Thanks, BR

What a beautiful and logical explanation.
Thanks a lot.

The present perfect tense serves to express a PAST ACTION THAT AFFECTS THE PRESENT.
Example:
You do not need to give me directions to the city; I have traveled there many times.
Here, the present tense action in red is true because of the blue action.
Since the blue action happened in the past but affects the present, it is expressed in the present perfect tense.

OA: Because an oversupply of computer chips has sent prices plunging, the manufacturer...will cut production.
Here, the blue action affects the present because -- sometime AFTER THE PRESENT -- the company WILL cut production.
Since the blue action happened in the past but affects the present, it is expressed in the present perfect tense.
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Hi Experts,

Out of above all rule based explanations, i have a small query regarding different approach to choose among options A & D:
-Can i think like, OVERSUPPLY is leading Manufacturer to cut the production, not the PLUNGING PRICES. So OVERSUPPLY should be the subject not the PLUNGING PRICES..!

Someone please explain, if this can be applied here..

Here are (A) and (D) again:

Yup, that sounds reasonable enough, appylov! I suppose that it's the oversupply -- or better still, the fact that the oversupply has sent prices plunging -- that caused the manufacturer to cut production. It's arguably not the plunging computer chip prices alone that caused the manufacturer to cut production.

I still think that it takes less effort to just recognize that "due to" is misused in (D), and I'm all about minimizing effort on SC. But I do agree with your analysis!
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Overall, (A) is the best sentence but I was really confused that "oversupply has sent prices plunging" is correct. For me, oversupply cant perform the action of sending something plunging but maybe its just because I'm a non-native speaker

It's a demand and supply gap concept.
Take the example of OIL.
Oil Oversupply is a situation in the oil and gas industry whereby an excessive amount of crude oil is available in the market for trade. This situation makes storage of crude oil difficult because of its surplus availability. An oversupply of any commodity is usually caused when demand is lower than the supply, resulting in the surplus of the commodity.

Oversupply of crude oil results in a surplus and ultimately leads to the larger amount of crude oil available in the market than its actual demand, i.e., it affects the demand and supply gap for crude oil. This results in the fall of the crude oil prices and related petroleum products.

source
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What if the option (E) would have been : due to an oversupply of chips, the prices ---------- ???

The prices are not due to "an oversupply of chips", so we would still think twice before using a due to.

In the following example, the car itself is not caused by "an accident":
Due to an accident, his car...
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VeritasKarishma egmat GMATNinja Could you please explain why C is wrong and what does "which" refer to in C?

I think you half-answered your own question!

"Which" can only modify a noun, and the only available noun to modify is "prices". But the "prices" themselves didn't result from an oversupply. We could say that the plunging of the prices resulted from an oversupply (in that case, "plunging" is a gerund that functions as a noun), but that's not what we have in (C).

As described in this post, in choice (C), "which" seems to modify the entire preceding verb phrase: "have been sent plunging". Since "which" can only be used to modify nouns, that doesn't work.
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Ok my doubt can be stupid. In answer choice (b), modifier "which" can modify slightly far away noun "prices" which are plunging. Why this is not true? I agree that "plunging prices of" is better than "plunging prices for". But I see GmatNinja's post where has outrightly rejected (b) without looking at that a noun modifier can modify slightly far away noun as well.

Please help!

VeritasKarishma ChiranjeevSingh GMATNinja

Please can you explain why in non underlined portion present perfect is used "has anounced"

Present perfect is used to denote action that started in past and have still effect in future

I'm not able to understand

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