Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions from

Question

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

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

C. shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies had begun searching for investment opportunities outside of the manufacturing industry

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

E. shareholders of the nation’s leading manufacturing companies are searching for alternative investment opportunities

daagh · Answer

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

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

Kurtosis · Answer

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

Answer: E

chetan2u · Answer

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

chetan2u · Answer

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

Abhishek009 · Answer

IMHO (E) for the highlighted errors above...

paidlukkha · Answer

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 begun  searching for investment OR   are searching   for alternative investment
 are  is a verb correctly for shareholders
hence E

JatinBhandari1 · Answer

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

lary301254M7 · Answer

D is also wrong because of "its". should have been searching for "their" shareholders.

Mac3921 · Answer

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.

shameekv1989 · Answer

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

Mac3921 · Answer

Thanks  shameekv1989

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

shameekv1989 · Answer

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

increases in   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)

daagh · Answer

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.

nivivacious · Answer

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

Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions from

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Discouraged by new data that show increases in toxic emissions from

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