Declining values for farm equipment and land, the collateral against

Is D modifying "land", "land and farm equipment", or "declining values"? Originally thought "land", but given that it is part of a prepositional pharse, I imagine this is wrong. Would really appreciate some help!!:)

Hi HansJK, if your doubt is whether which can modify something in a prepositional phrase, then the answer is definitely yes. There are numerous official examples, with which modifying words in prepositional phrases.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses modifier issues of "which", their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

So, to judge whether which modifies the subject of the sentence or the object of a prepositional phrase, we have to simply decide what makes the most sense?

Also, can which modify two preciding nouns? For instance: Mike and Simon, which are best friends...?

Nops; which modifies the nearest grammatical eligible word.

An officially incorrect example:

It is called a sea, but the landlocked Caspian is actually the largest lake on Earth, which covers more than four times the surface area of its closest rival in size, North America's Lake Superior.

Official explanation: Because Earth immediately precedes which, the sentence appears to say, illogically, that Earth covers more than four times the surface area of Lake Superior.


Your example is incorrect, because which can only modify "non-persons", while "Mike and Simon" are obviously persons.

Correct sentence will be:

Mike and Simon, who are best friends....

However, if your question is whether which can modify two entities, then the answer is yes. An officially correct example:

Unlike the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, which were capable of carrying sufficient power in fuel cells and batteries for their short flights, a permanently orbiting space station will have to generate its own electricity.
- which is modifying the shuttle and earlier spacecraft.

One point of confusion. This is correct according to the OG: "Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, which were written over a period beginning a few years before Susan’s marriage to Emily’s brother and ending shortly before Emily’s death in 1886, outnumber..."

Is Susan Dickinson not, in your words, the "nearest grammatical eligible word"?

It is not used as a gerund (noun) here; it is used as an "adjective" ("-ing" form of verb, used as an adjective, is called participle).

Declining values for farm equipment and land, the collateral against which farmers borrow to get through the harvest season, is going to force many lenders to tighten or deny credit this spring.

(A) the collateral against which farmers borrow to get through the harvest season, is
(B) which farmers use as collateral to borrow against to get through the harvest season, is
(C) the collateral which is borrowed against by farmers to get through the harvest season, is
(D) which farmers use as collateral to borrow against to get through the harvest season, are
(E) the collateral against which farmers borrow to get through the harvest season, are

When "which" follows a noun phrase that involves a preposition, there's no rule that tells us what it's describing. We have to use logic.

Here, it makes more sense for "which" to refer to "equipment and land" as "declining values" pretty clearly couldn't be used as collateral. So "which" isn't inherently wrong here.

And I wouldn't say that "borrow" and "collateral" are redundant. After all, they both show up in every option.

The issues with (D) can be seen most clearly by doing a side-by-side comparison with (E). In (D) the land and equipment are described by the modifier "which farmers use as collateral..." But why use the clunky phrase, "which farmers use as collateral" when you could just call the land and equipment "collateral" directly, as (E) does?

Also, the first time I read (D), I stumbled over the phrase "collateral to borrow," thinking for a moment that the farmers were borrowing collateral, an interpretation that makes no sense. If you read (D) again in its entirety, you can see that this isn't what the writer means, but (E) gets rid of the problematic phrase entirely and spares the reader this confusion.

So I wouldn't say that (D) has a definitive error, necessarily, but (E) is clearer and more concise, and therefore better.

I hope that helps!

https://gmatclub.com/forum/while-depressed-property-values-can-hurt-some-large-investors-they-18708.html

In this question "property values" is plural, and here "Declining values" has a verb "is", which is singular.

Please shed some light on "values"! GMATNinja egmat

Hi vishnugmatgupta,

There's an are at the end of the correct option.