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[quote="sachinrelan"]Even in this age of conservation, cooking ranges that consume fossil fuels are far more common than those that rely on magnetic resonance, producing heat more efficiently than natural gas.


A. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas

B. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas does

C. which produce heat more efficiently than natural gas

D. which produce heat more efficiently than natural gas does

E. much more efficient at producing heat than natural gas


[spoiler=]What should be the correct answer to this question. ?

I feel it should be Option D.



AjiteshArun : This question is debatable I think. Please clear the air about the usage of comma + ing modifier in option B. What producing actually modifies here? Above mentioned threads say it is not modifying "cooking ranges."
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AkshdeepS
AjiteshArun : This question is debatable I think. Please clear the air about the usage of comma + ing modifier in option B. What producing actually modifies here? Above mentioned threads say it is not modifying "cooking ranges."
I agree that producing is not referring to "cooking ranges that consume fossil fuels". This is mainly because a "comma -ING" is not restricted to taking the subject of the sentence as its own subject. At most we could say that it is slightly ambiguous.

The problem I see in option D is that it puts two relative clauses together (XYZ that ABC, which DEF) in a way that (though not strictly wrong) is a little awkward and ends up adding an extra word to the option. That word, which, is also too close to magnetic resonance. Even though produce is plural, I don't think the which is clear enough.

The call remains yours though. However, I'd advise you not to take too much away from this question. Even if this really is an official question, it was clearly made a (really) long time back. Those were simpler days. :)
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Even in this age of conservation, cooking ranges that consume fossil fuels are far more common than those that rely on magnetic resonance, producing heat more efficiently than natural gas.

A. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas
B. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas does
C. which produce heat more efficiently than natural gas
D. which produce heat more efficiently than natural gas does
E. much more efficient at producing heat than natural gas

I'm also confused between B and D.

As per my analysis, there are two comparisons:
1. Which is more common - Cooking ranges that consume fossil fuel (natural gas) and Cooking ranges that consume magnetic resonance
2. Which produces heat more efficiently - Natural gas (fossil fuel) or Magnetic Resonance

Problem with D is that which (MR) is singular subject and produce (plural verb) heat more efficiently than natural gas does - therefore S-V disagreement

With B - I'm confused because ", + verb-ing" is result modifier modifying the doer - Cooking ranges that consume MR which is not correct comparison

GMATNinja , daagh Sir, please help
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ss

IMO, both your assumptions are misplaced.

In B, the ‘+ verb-ing’" is the resultant modifier modifying the actual doer that is actually ‘those ‘ that rely on MR., because you see that is the immediate previous clause.
In the case of D, ‘which’ stands for the plural word ’those’ meaning ‘those coking ranges’ and hence S- V pair is okay.
Any doubts?
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Quote:
Ram washes his car more number of times than Shyam

Here we are clear that Ram doesn't wash Shyam. So the meaning is clear that we are comparing number of times of car wash by Ram with number of times of car wash by Shyam

Similarly , why it is necessary to add does in below as it is clear Fossil fuels produces heat but won't produce natural gas

A. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas
B. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas does

please suggest.
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imSKR
Here we are clear that Ram doesn't wash Shyam. So the meaning is clear that we are comparing number of times of car wash by Ram with number of times of car wash by Shyam

Similarly , why it is necessary to add does in below as it is clear Fossil fuels produces heat but won't produce natural gas

A. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas
B. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas does

please suggest.
AjiteshArun daagh
Hi imSKR,

I'd advise you to treat this as a case of ambiguity. It is not strictly incorrect to say "X does something more frequently than Y", but we should check whether there is another (clearer) option. Here is another example of the same thing.
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imSKR
Here we are clear that Ram doesn't wash Shyam. So the meaning is clear that we are comparing number of times of car wash by Ram with number of times of car wash by Shyam

Similarly , why it is necessary to add does in below as it is clear Fossil fuels produces heat but won't produce natural gas

A. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas
B. producing heat more efficiently than natural gas does

please suggest.
AjiteshArun daagh
Hi imSKR,

I'd advise you to treat this as a case of ambiguity. It is not strictly incorrect to say "X does something more frequently than Y", but we should check whether there is another (clearer) option. Here is another example of the same thing.

Dear AjiteshArun, dear egmat, dear Dh4035, dear pratyush86, dear community

I struggle with this a lot! (I was able to eliminate all options except A&B). The only difference is the "does" between the option A&B. My problem is that I have a really hard time to spot whether there is any ambiguity or not (in a timely manner). The reason for this is that the 2nd interpretation is usually very strange. It is obvious to me that the second interpretation, which says that cooking ranges that rely on magnetic resonance besides producing heat also produce less efficiently some kind of natural gas IS FALSE. I am no chemist, but it is so plainly obvious (even to me) that this could not be the intended meaning. How should an electric stove produce natural gas, when there is no natural gas involved and no electrolysis is occurring. Therefore, I wonder:

WHEN AN OPTION IS GRAMMATICALLY/TECHNALLY AMBIGUOUS BUT LOGICALLY IS VERY CLEAR CAN, WE THEN ELIMINATE THE VERB?
To me logically there is no ambiguity and therefor the "does" in B is not required and "A" should be correct. How do you know when something is ambiguous and when is something clear; is there a method to distinguish when the verb is ambiguouse or not?
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WHEN AN OPTION IS GRAMMATICALLY/TECHNALLY AMBIGUOUS BUT LOGICALLY IS VERY CLEAR CAN, WE THEN ELIMINATE THE VERB? To me logically there is no ambiguity and therefor the "does" in B is not required and "A" should be correct. How do you know when something is ambiguous and when is something clear; is there a method to distinguish when the verb is ambiguouse or not?
Hi GMATE1,

Generally, we should never start with ambiguity. It is just not as important as a lot of test takers think it is. Instead, we should always start by looking for more reliable splits.

In questions like this one (nouns all around the than), I think you should prefer the option with the verb (if there is no better split), even if you think that you can understand what the sentence is trying to say without the verb. This is because the point is not whether you can understand the intended meaning. What the exam wants us to do is select the best option, the one least likely to be misinterpreted by people in general.

On a different note, I like how you "scienced" (I love science and do not normally use science as a verb) your way to option A. However, we must try to not to bring this much outside information in. The GMAT is a standardized test, and that, unfortunately, means that test takers who like thinking deeply about the issues they see are often penalized for their critical thinking skills.

Here is another question for you to try.
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I am getting really confused, In this que why can we not consider that does in in ellipses in option E or consider it as
much more efficient at producing heat than natural gas(does)
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I am getting really confused, In this que why can we not consider that does in in ellipses in option E or consider it as
much more efficient at producing heat than natural gas(does)
Hi Shaurya, in general, when it comes to ellipsis, we can only assumes words that have already appeared in the sentence.

does (produces) does not appear in the sentence. Hence, we can't assume does.
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kashishDhir
Dear Sir,
How C and D is incorrect?
According to me, which here refers to the subject just before the comma i.e. Magnetic resonance. Hence, the sentence means MR produce heat more efficiently than NG does.
Hence, C or D should be correct.
In B, there is a comma before gerund, Is that correct sentence formation?

kashishDhir, yes which refers to MR. But as MR is singular, it should be followed by "produces" not "Produce". There is a clear cut subject verb agreement error. We don't even need to look at the meaning for C&D.
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Hello Experts,

I have a doubt in option B.

Even in this age, cooking ranges that consume fossil fuels are far more common than those that rely on magnetic resonance, producing heat more efficiently than natural gas does

I read in some other question a rule pertaining to usage of DOES (it was one of the HOT competition questions : https://gmatclub.com/forum/hot-competit ... 33213.html ).
My takeaway from that question was that over there option E was incorrect because "containing" didn't make sense with the subject of previous clause and because of the presence of DOES, usage of CONTAINING was wrong as we required a verb (to which DOES CAN REFER).

Similarly, here DOES must refer to a verb and in our case the bold part doesn't have a verb as PRODUCING is a modifier.
Also, a modifier isn't supposed to have a verb in it, I guess.

Besides, I do know that we absolutely need DOES to remove the ambiguity. That's the reason I preferred D over A as D contains that verb.

Can some expert clear my doubt. Have my gmat in a week :D

I appreciate some help!


AjiteshArun , GMATNinja GMATNinjatwo generis
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Saasingh
Hello Experts,

I have a doubt in option B.

Even in this age, cooking ranges that consume fossil fuels are far more common than those that rely on magnetic resonance, producing heat more efficiently than natural gas does

I read in some other question a rule pertaining to usage of DOES.
My takeaway from that question was that over there option E was incorrect because "containing" didn't make sense with the subject of previous clause and because of the presence of DOES, usage of CONTAINING was wrong as we required a verb (to which DOES CAN REFER).

Similarly, here DOES must refer to a verb and in our case the bold part doesn't have a verb as PRODUCING is a modifier.
Also, a modifier isn't supposed to have a verb in it, I guess.

Besides, I do know that we absolutely need DOES to remove the ambiguity. That's the reason I preferred D over A as D contains that verb.

Can some expert clear my doubt. Have my gmat in a week :D

I appreciate some help!


AjiteshArunGMATNinjaGMATNinjatwogeneris

I have the exact same doubt, could any expert please clarify. What does "does" refer to in option B?
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I still do not understand why it should be B. In option D, " which" refers to MR cooking ranges and makes the meaning clearer.
It would be great if someone could clear this out.
Thank you!
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I don’t understand the comma ing. How was it refer to “rely” if rely is part of a a modifier which modifies those? It’s not a verb.

Posted from my mobile device
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egmat
Ravindra.here
well i don't agree with your explanation. Clearly , it seems like producing is a present participle
that is referring to cooking ranges that use fossil fuel .However, here producing is modifying ""those""
and the best construction , which is ANSWER B, compares the heat produced by Magnetic resonance cooking ranges
to the heat produced by one of the fossil fuels , natural gas.
As you said we are comparing heat produced by fossil fuels to heat produced by natural gas is wrong according to me.
And that is why option b adds a verb after natural gas in b


Hello Ravindra.here,

I agree to your analysis. Good observation points there. :-)

The approach to solve this question is simple - focus on the intended comparison.

The sentences compares two kinds of cooking ranges. They have been compared because one produces heat more efficiently than the other.

However, Choices A, C, and E presents ambiguous comparison because in the absence of the helping verb does, we can infer two comparisons in these choices:

Comparison 1: Cooking ranges that rely on magnetic resonance produce heat more efficiently than natural gas produces. Entities compared: Cooking ranges that rely on magnetic resonance and natural gas.


Comparison 2: Cooking ranges that rely on magnetic resonance produce heat more efficiently than natural gas. Entities compared: heat and natural gas.

Per the context of the sentence, Comparison 2 does nit make any sense because fossil fuels are natural gas only.

Hence, we must repeat the helping verb does to make the comparison clear.

This analysis leaved us with Choice B and D.

Use of which is incorrect in Choice D as which refers to magnetic resonance. Per the context of the sentence, magnetic resonance is not the part of comparsion. Hence, Choice D is correct.

Choice B is the clear winner.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha


Hello,

I was stuck at the same point of ambiguity.

As you said their can be two comparisons:
Comparison 1: Cooking ranges that rely on magnetic resonance produce heat more efficiently than natural gas produces. Entities compared: Cooking ranges that rely on magnetic resonance and natural gas.

Comparison 2: Cooking ranges that rely on magnetic resonance produce heat more efficiently than natural gas. Entities compared: heat and natural gas.

If comparison2 is illogical, should we be considering the statement as ambiguous when ellipse is used?

I am under the impression that, when ellipse is used, if both the comparisons that come out of the original statement are logically possible, then the comparison should be considered ambiguous and the usage of Ellipse is wrong. Is my understanding correct?
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Anandanwar
I am under the impression that, when ellipse is used, if both the comparisons that come out of the original statement are logically possible, then the comparison should be considered ambiguous and the usage of Ellipse is wrong. Is my understanding correct?
Hi Anandanwar,

My reply is not specific to this question, but ambiguity is never an absolute error.
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