DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "EACH" AND "EACH OF WHICH"

Question

unable to understand the structure of the sentence:

Rats form colonies of approx. 20 animals, each of which consisting/each of colony consisting/ each of which consist one king.

correct option is : ==>each of colony consisting.
here comma+each of colony consisting act as modifier...?
please help

abhimahna · Answer

Hi  sanjeet11  ,

Here is the thing. You much understand the meaning of comma +which. It refers to the immediate noun before the comma rather than the subject.

Now, let's talk about your options:

Rats form colonies of approx. 20 animals,  each of which consisting.

Rats form colonies of approx. 20 animals,  each of which consist one king.

In both these options, which refers to animals because that is the nearest noun. Now it is illogical to say animals consists of something. Hence, both of the above options are incorrect.

Rats form colonies of approx. 20 animals,  each of colony consisting.

Here, we are correctly defining what colony consists of. Hence, it is correct.

And yes, it is acting as a modifier.

Does that make sense?

sanjeet11 · Answer

Thank u Abhimahna for your quick response. I still have one doubt here regarding the modifier structure here. generally we have 
comma+ verb+ed modifier
comma+ verb+ing modifier
comma+ noun + noun modifier 
understood its modifying the colony but its linked to the sentence in bit strange way that is ==>comma + "each of the colony consisting of"..
Can you please help to understand me on this.. thanks in advance.

abhimahna · Answer

Here is the thing: This is one of the weird rules that I also believe is awkward. But GMAT says, it is okay to use modifier of the subject with a comma at the end provided it is not creating any ambiguity.

Remember we have the solid reason to reject other two options while we don't have any reason for rejecting the correct one.

Thanks

aceGMAT21 · Answer

Hi  sanjeet11 ,

A. each of which consists 
 "which" refers to animals (as that is the closest noun). INCORRECT
 
 B. with each of them consisting 
 them refers to animals or colonies : ambiguous. INCORRECT.

C. each colony consisting 
Its a modifier, if seen closely. The complete sentence would be,

Naked mole rats form colonies of approximately 20 animals,   each colony     consisting of a single reproductive female and workers that defend her

each colony (NOUN)   consisting of a.....(NOUN MODIFIER -- in this case, its a VERB-ing Modifier)  -- NOUN + NOUN MODIFIER (or ABSOLUTE PHRASE, in other terms) modfifying "colonies" in the preceding clause. I hope you are aware that Noun + Noun Modifier can modify any part of the preceding clause/sentence.

D. and each of them consist 
 each is SINGULAR, therefore, pronoun number agreement error

E. and each colony consisting 
 No verb for the 2nd IC. Here again, if you see closely, the presence of the structure IC1 + ", and" needs a IC2. So, we need verb for "each colony"

Hope this answers your query. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks.
-aceGMAT21

sanjeet11 · Answer

Got it and thank u for explaining the original question solution in detail.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "EACH" AND "EACH OF WHICH"

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