During the 1970s, the demand for long-lasting staple foods prompted

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 51: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here   
During the 1970s, the demand for long-lasting staple foods  prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of their flavors was reduced .

(A) prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of their flavors was reduced

(B) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, so the quality of their flavors were reduced

(C) prompted them to add preservatives to previously simple dishes, reducing the food's flavor quality

(D) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, a change that reduced the quality of the food's flavors

(E) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, which reduced the quality of the food's flavors

The best/excellent answers get kudos, which will be  awarded  after   the answer is revealed. 
There may be no best/excellent answers, or a there may be a few excellent answers!

GKomoku · Accepted Answer

During the 1970s, the demand for long-lasting staple foods  prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of their flavors was reduced.

(A) prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of their flavors was reduced

(B) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, so the quality of their flavors were reduced

(C) prompted them to add preservatives to previously simple dishes, reducing the food's flavor quality

(D) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, a change that reduced the quality of the food's flavors

(E) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, which reduced the quality of the food's flavors

Meaning analysis:  In the past (1970) some demand suggested to add some preservatives to food, thus quality of the food's flavors reduced.

Error analysis:  Modifier placement, that modifies dishes, but per the meaning of the sentence it has to modify preservatives. Pronoun ambiguity, plural “their” can refer both “dishes” and “preservatives”. Idiom add  X  to  Y , addition of  X  to  Y .

(A) prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes  that  previously were simple, whereby the quality of  their  flavors was reduced

(B) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, so the quality of  their  flavors  were  reduced   (pronoun ambiguity, singular “quality” cannot take plural “were”)

(C) prompted  them  to add preservatives to previously simple dishes, reducing the food's flavor quality   (“them” has no clear antecedent, reducing correctly modifies preceding clause )

(D)  prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, a change that reduced the quality of the food's flavors    (here noun+noun modifier correctly modifies preceding clause, noun – “a change”, noun modifier – “that reduced the quality of the food's flavors”, no other errors)

(E) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes,  which  reduced the quality of the food's flavors   (which cannot modify clauses)

IMO answer choice  D  is correct.

(please correct if I'm mistaken, thank you)

amanr1 · Answer

(A) prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of  their  flavors was reduced ---> their has no clear referent (preservatives/dishes)

(B) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, so the  quality  of their flavors were reduced ---> quality should be singular

(C) prompted  them  to add preservatives to previously simple dishes, reducing the food's flavor quality ---> no referent for them

(D) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, a change that reduced the quality of the food's flavors ---> correct

(E) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple  dishes, which  reduced the quality of the food's flavors ---> wrong use of which. Here, it seems that dishes reduced the quality

yash312 · Answer

IMO D

(A) prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of their flavors was reduced-----incorrect; it is alwyz better to use ACTION noun where possible in place of VERB-ing noun

(B) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, so the quality of their flavors were reduced ---incorrect, meaning changes it shows now that quality was changed intentional, whereas in actual it means that quality change was result of addition of Preservatives

(C) prompted them to add preservatives to previously simple dishes, reducing the food's flavor quality---Incorrect, them has no antecedant

(D) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, a change that reduced the quality of the food's flavors--->correct, Noun + noun modifier

(E) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, which reduced the quality of the food's flavors--->Incorrect, which referant to either simples dishes or addition of preservatives; it is ambigious, as one is correct while other s wrong

AliciaSierra · Answer

During the 1970s, the demand for long-lasting staple foods  prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of their flavors was reduced .

THAT is wrong. Here "THAT" is referring to "Dishes", which is plural so "THOSE" should come. I think "adding" is wrong too. Prompted addition of ABC is better than Prompted adding ABC.

Change in meaning.  Preservatives were not added to reduce quality of dishes but to enhance the food life. As per this option, it says preservatives were added so that Quality of dishes were reduced.

( Prompted Whom? There is no antecedent for "THEM"

last part is correct but i am skeptical about "previously simple dishes"

"WHICH" can refer to "dishes" or to "addition of preservatives"

To me all options are wrong. 
I think addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes is wrong modifier. Preservatives are not getting added to previous dishes. Preservatives are added to dishes, which used to be simple previously.

Please let me know what is the gap in my understanding.

AliciaSierra · Answer

Yash312 ,

Can you justify "preservatives to previously simple dishes"

yash312 · Answer

ammuseeru

There is no justification for a prepositional phrase as long it makes sense with the object it is defining and That prepositional phrase can't be placed anywhere else.

In the current option D, you can't place " addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes", because if you do so or even if you try to break the prepositional phrase and place the broken part somewhere else in sentence, IT WONT MAKE SENSE.

Go by the meaning and placement of modifiers in original sentence to extract max crux of the original sentence.

sm86 · Answer

During the 1970s, the demand for long-lasting staple foods prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of their flavors was reduced.

(A) prompted the adding of preservatives to dishes that previously were simple, whereby the quality of  their  flavors was reduced
 food or preservatives?

(B) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, so the quality of  their  flavors were reduced
 food or preservatives?

(C) prompted  them  to add preservatives to previously simple dishes, reducing the food's flavor quality
 Dangling pronoun

(D) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes, a change that reduced the quality of the food's flavors

(E) prompted the addition of preservatives to previously simple dishes,  which  reduced the quality of the food's flavors
 which ----> only places in antecedent.

sudarshan22 · Answer

Official Explanation :

If you look through the answers choices, you can see that some answers choices contains the gerund  adding , whereas the other contains the noun  addition , that is pretty good clue that the question is testing the use of  nouns vs. gerunds , and that an answer containing the noun form is more likely to be correct.

Choice A  is incorrect because  the adding  should be  the addition ; the noun form is standard usage. In addition the phrase  whereby the quality of their flavors was reduced  is wordy and awkward, and contains a passive construction.

Choice B  is incorrect because the plural verb  were  disagrees with its singular subject  quality . The plural noun  flavors , which appears immediately before the verb is part of the prepositional phrase of their flavors.

Choice C  is incorrect because the pronoun  them  is missing a referent. Logically we can assume that it refers to food manufacturers but that noun does not actually appear in the sentence. in addition  the   food's flavor quality  should be  the quality of the food's flavors ; the former is idiomatically unacceptable.

Choice D  is correct because the noun  a change  is appropriately used to refer back to the addition of preservatives and to begin an appositive that modifies the previous clause.

Choice E  is incorrect because both  them  and  which  are missing referents. The sentence contains no plural noun to which them could reasonably refer. Although  which  logically refers to  the addition of preservatives , the noun  addition  does not appear - only the verb  to add , and a verb cannot act as a referent.

071999 · Answer

B wrong because it uses so after comma which gives the purpose, the intended meaning doesn't state the purpose to show after comma

Using "addition' as we always prefer standard noun form firs instead of ing, The performance of dancers unstead of the Performing of dancers so A and C are out

In E which modifies dishes which is wrong rest D is the answer,,

Please tell if my understanding is right?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  071999 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, yes - your reasoning is largely correct. However, a much clearer error in Option E is the fact that the pronoun "them" has no antecedent, and in Option B the singular noun "quality" is referred to with the plural verb "were".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

During the 1970s, the demand for long-lasting staple foods prompted

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

During the 1970s, the demand for long-lasting staple foods prompted

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards