Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions from

Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions from domestic factories, searches for alternative investment opportunities are being conducted by shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies.

A. searches for alternative investment opportunities are being conducted by shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies ---wrong modification.

B. searches are being conducted by shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies who are looking for alternative investment opportunities --- the same error as in A.

C. shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies had begun searching for investment opportunities outside of the manufacturing industry -- ' ' had begun' is the wrong tense for a present tense clause.

D. the nation’s leading manufacturing companies are searching for alternative investment opportunities for its shareholders---it is not the companies seeking; it is the shareholders who are searching.

E. shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies are searching for alternative investment opportunities --- the correct choice
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Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions.............. should modify Shareholders. So options A, B and D are out. Between C and E, C uses past perfect tense and this usage leads to incorrect sequence of events.

Answer: E

Hi,
Please post your Q in correct format and properly underlined..

the Q again test on modifier- the beggining clause modifies 'shareholders', so Only C and E are left..
there is no necessity of past perfect 'had', so C is out,..
ans E
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Hi,
There are two issues in the Q..
1) modifier issue..... sentence starts with ' discouraged by..'…...... now who is discouraged, ofcourse not searches and neither the companies,it is the SHAREHOLDERS... so only C and E are left..
2) tense issue.......'had begun' requires to have some past event to which it is being connected to, so here simple PRESENT will be correct..

E is correct
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IMHO (E) for the highlighted errors above...
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comma subject rule
so,
Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions from domestic factories, who?
searches
shareholders
the nation’s leading manufacturing companies
so, shareholders
C & E remains
vertical scan
had begunsearching for investment OR are searching for alternative investment
are is a verb correctly for shareholders
hence E

Hope you are consistent in your efforts. Conceptual clarity is very important to do well in SC questions. A correct answer choice should rectify the existing error, introduce no new error and should keep the intended meaning of the sentence unchanged. Also, it should be concise. Let us try to understand the following question
The modifying phrase “Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions from domestic factories” intends to modify shareholders. However, this incorrectly modifies searches. Now searches can’t be discouraged. This is an absurd logic. Hence there is an error of misplaced modifier present in the underlined portion.
Choice A can be eliminated as this is the repetition of the underlined portion.
Choice B repeats the error, hence can be eliminated on the same ground. Also, the placement of “who are looking for alternative investment opportunities” after “companies” gives an intended idea that companies are looking for alternatives and the shareholders.
Choice C Though the error of misplaced modifier is corrected, a new error is introduced. The use of past perfect tense is inappropriate. The use of “had begun” suggests that the “shareholders” had begun searching for new investment opportunities before the discouraging data were released. However, this is not the intended idea of the original sentence. The use of past perfect tense is to describe actions before a specific time in the past.
Also, this choice is less precise in nature as “investment opportunities outside of the manufacturing industry” is used as compared to “alternative investment opportunities”.
D. The choice has an error of misplaced modifier. The modifying phrase “Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions from domestic factories” intends to modify shareholders. However, this incorrectly modifies companies.
E. Correct answer. The modifier rightly touches shareholders.
Keep practicing; All the best!!
PythaGURUS Faculty Team
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D is also wrong because of "its". should have been searching for "their" shareholders.

My question here is for non underlined portion, I can not understand use of increases here, I think increase is propert verb for plural subject data. or new data is singular?

Please clarify my doubt here.

Mac3921
increases in the sentence is not acting as a verb. "Show" is a verb show what - increases in toxic emissions - noun phrase.

Thanks shameekv1989

If it is a noun phrase then increase in toxic emission is also correct right?

Mac3921
Nice question, I may not have an accurate answer to that but this is how I would think :-

increases in [the quantity of] toxic emissions (since toxic emissions is an uncountable noun)

vs

increase in toxic emissions (it would mean toxic emissions are countable and the increase will directly impact the value of toxic emissions - which I don't think is correct)

There is no need to analyze a non-underlined part. However, for academic's sake,

When we accept emissions, we are accepting a plural word, and plural means it is countable. By implication, there are several bouts of emissions and every time the increase may be different. Therefore it is alright to call all of them as 'increases'.

At the same, it is possible that the emission is also singular when we talk of the emission as a general phenomenon, in which case, the increase also may refer to a general phenomenon of increase. In such cases, it might be prudent to mark the increase as ‘an increase’ to make meaning clear.
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It should answer who is discouraged - so instantly eliminate A, B, D as they're wrong modifiers.
A. searches for alternative investment opportunities are being conducted by shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies

B. searches are being conducted by shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies who are looking for alternative investment opportunities


D. the nation’s leading manufacturing companies are searching for alternative investment opportunities for its shareholders


Had begun is the wrong tense here - so we can eliminate this.
C. shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies had begun searching for investment opportunities outside of the manufacturing industry


E has right modifier - Shareholders - and right tense. So this is the correct one.
E. shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies are searching for alternative investment opportunities