For the coach who manages to keep them uninjured, providing them with

Question

For the coach who manages to keep them uninjured,  providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving  upwards of 30 personal records each year.

(A) providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving

(B) providing them with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, the Olympic runner achieves

(C) providing with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving

(D) providing with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, the Olympic runners achieves

(E) provided with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, Olympic runners will achieve

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Accepted Answer

Hi aaba,

Another great question! Let's tackle this one problem at a time, and see if we can find the correct answer quickly!

After running through the answers quickly, it looks like their endings are the main difference between each one. So let's figure out which ones work, and which ones don't. Consider things like subject/verb agreement, proper verb tense, and logic.

A: providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully,  Olympic runners are achieving

This answer is  INCORRECT  because it doesn't make logical sense. In the beginning, the phrase "who manages to keep" suggests that the coaches are working in the present to help the Olympic runners set records in the future. Since this phrase says they are currently setting records, this doesn't really make sense.

B: providing them with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully,  the Olympic runner achieves

This answer is  INCORRECT  because it doesn't agree in number with the first part of the sentence. Earlier, it refers to the runners by the plural pronoun "them," but later uses the singular "the Olympic runner."

C: providing with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully,  Olympic runners are achieving

This answer is  INCORRECT  because it doesn't make logical sense. It suggests that coaches still need to help Olympic runners, but they're already achieving their goals?

D: providing with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully,  the Olympic runners achieves

This answer is  INCORRECT  because it doesn't have the right subject/verb agreement. It uses the plural "runners" and the singular "achieves."

E: provided with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully,  Olympic runners will achieve

This answer is  CORRECT  because it makes sense to use the future tense (coaches help runners now, they set more records in the future), and it uses proper subject/verb agreement.

I hope this helps!

daagh · Answer

For the coach who manages to keep them uninjured,  providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving  upwards of 30 personal records each year.

(A) providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving

(B) providing them with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, the Olympic runner achieves

(C) providing with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving

(D) providing with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, the Olympic runners achieves

(E) provided with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, Olympic runners will achieve

1. I doubt whether this is an official GMAT Prep question. Somebody has plagiarized the original question cited by Abhimana. Will GMAT Prep ever give such a problem with cosmetic changes? A small query to the original poster. What is the real source of this question?

2. The basic tenet of a verb+ing modification that is separated by a comma from the previous part is to modify the subject and its action of the previous clause. If there is no previous clause as in this context, where we find only an introductory prepositional noun phrase, then the "verb+ing" will be modifying the following noun after the end of the modifier. As such, 'the modifiers 'providing' and 'training' are modifying the runners, which is diametrically opposite to what the text says. They are the people who are provided and trained.

That is the reason A, B, C, and D are instantly out. B has the additional problem of subject-pronoun error. D has parallelism problem too. In D, yet again, I wonder what the phrase "runners achieves" is doing in a GMAT Prep question.

That leaves us with E with correct modification and sub-pronoun agreement.

techiesam · Answer

Its still not clear to me why option A is wrong.I think the participle phrases are clearly modifying coaches..

abhimahna · Answer

Hey  techiesam  ,

This question is exactly similar to the one  here .

You need to understand the sequencing of the events.

As per the meaning of the sentence, coach should first provide the training and then the Olympic runners should achieve the target. So, if you are talking about coaches providing training in present tense, the score should be achieved in the future.

This is what is wrong in option A and correct in option E.

Does that make sense?

shraddhasoni · Answer

Hi, whats the cue to use the future tense? Couldn't the question mean that the runners are already achieving upwards of 30 personal record every year?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Shraddha, it's actually a conditional statement in disguise: If you work hard, you will score well . Similarly, If a coach , Olympic runners will .

abhik1502 · Answer

Expert,

WIll you pls suggest if out here "providing and training" do create little ambiguity about modificaiton entity that is being modified out there. THey can modify either 1st clause or 2nd clause.

ANd even if it is first clause as in option A then also it make sense. It is about how Coach keep Olympic runners uninjured. That is by providing physical therapists and by training them. 
So keeping aside verb tense error, Option A could also be a good candidate of correct option.

Pls suggest.

hongg7 · Answer

For the coach who manages to keep them uninjured, providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving upwards of 30 personal records each year.

(A) providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving

(B) providing them with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, the Olympic runner achieves

(C) providing with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving

(D) providing with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, the Olympic runners achieves

(E) provided with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, Olympic runners will achieve

I chose E over the rest of the answers because of the usage of commas here. GMAT will not have a comma after 'and' if there are only two items. But since there is a comma after 'and', this suggests that there are more than two items, in fact, there are three in the case of this problem. So, the second term cannot start with providing, as using it would show that it is a modifier and therefore 'and' after providing, should not have a comma before it, because then there will be only two items: providing and training.

Therefore, we have to keep these three items parallel:

keep them..

1. uninjured
2. provided with the ...
3. trained carefully

And only answer E does this properly.

Not sure if my way is correct or not, but I welcome suggestions!

daagh · Answer

But what is not clear is the meaning of thirty personal records each year. Take for instance Usain Bolt is not able to improve upon his previous record of 9.58 seconds he set in 2009, that is, nine years ago in spite of the best facilities, he must have been enjoying, while the women's world record of 10.49 seconds set by American Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988 remains unbroken.

What are the 30 personal records each year this question talking about? Are they sold in Walmart? This is the problem of improper copycatting.

What are the 30 personal records each year this question talking about? Are they sold in Walmart? This is the problem of improper copycatting.

daagh · Answer

Abhik 
If as per your inkling, providing and training as adjectival modifiers are modifying the coach, then also 'for the coach' is wrong. There should be no intrusions between the modifier and the modified in the case of adjectival modifiers.

rohitchayal · Answer

daagh  i get that you here are saying but what about the comma+ verb+ed here? Doesnt comma+verb+ed modify the noun that precedes them? hence, in E wont verb+ed will modify the runners?
Or is it not the case here cause verb+ed is making a parallel structure

Posted from my mobile device

daagh · Answer

Rohit

(E) provided with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, Olympic runners will achieve

Here the only noun prior to the verb+ed participle is the coach; Can the participle in that case modify the coach? Is the coach the one provided with the best therapists and trained carefully?
Therefore, the existence of a rule alone does not decide a choice. The judicious application of the rule decides. 
If you visit, the official example cited by Abhimana might help you in this regard. 
Abhishek,
Of course, the first part is indeed a relative clause using a relative pronoun 'who' and a verb 'manages'. . After all, modifiers include relative clauses also. 
Ex---A South American bird that forages for winged termites and other small insects while swinging upside down from the foliage of tall trees, the gaveteiro belongs to the ovenbird family, a group of New World tropical birds that includes more than 230 species and is represented in virtually every kind of habitat.

However, look at the context of the test case.

For the coach who manages to keep them uninjured,  providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving  upwards of 30 personal records each year.

(A) providing them with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving

(B) providing them with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, the Olympic runner achieves

(C) providing with the best physical therapists, and training them carefully, Olympic runners are achieving

(D) providing with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, the Olympic runners achieves

(E) provided with the best physical therapists, and trained carefully, Olympic runners will achieve

If providing 'them' were to refer to the Olympic runners, it is not clear what the word 'them' refers to. Does it mean that the runners are providing themselves or training themselves? In that case, the coach becomes infructuous. In addition it is not within reason to say that the Olympians are producing personal records for their managers rather than for their countries and for themselves.

GDT · Answer

VeritasKarishma

Can you pls explain why A is not correct and how E is better

Isn't ing-modifier better here

KarishmaB · Answer

There is a list of elements here.

Instinctively, I was looking for the option that gives "provide them" and "train them" so that the parallel elements are:
... manages to
- keep them uninjured
- provide them
- train them

But since this option is not to be found, the next best is 
... manages to keep them
- uninjured
- provided ...
- trained ...
(note that provided and trained do not repeat 'them' since it is assumed to stand for all three)

All the three things need to be done by the coach.

Piyush1993 · Answer

VeritasKarishma 
Can we not assume the first phrase as a prepositional introductory phrase and the next two (provide and train) as the modifiers for runners? 
Is this line of thinking faulty? 
Because going by your logic of parallelism, reading sentence paralles feels awkward..for example, the coach who manages to keep them uninjured (original sentence and sounds ok), the coach who manages to keep them provided with...(parallel meaning but sounds awkward) The coach who manages to keep them trained carefully (sounds awkward)

Pls help

Posted from my mobile device

KarishmaB · Answer

No they cannot be modifiers for athletes. Who is providing? Who is training? The coach
The players cannot provide ... themselves and train... themselves.

Yes, keep them provided with... and keep them trained carefully are awkward. The test maker perhaps wanted to say something like "well provided" and "well trained", we will never know. 
In any case, "providing" and "training" certainly doesn't work.

Eaneru · Answer

This question is the exact replica of official quest -  https://gmatclub.com/forum/for-the-farmer-who-takes-care-to-keep-them-cool-providing-them-with-161370.html

Anyways to ur question, It is parallelism error in A = to keep them 1) uninjured 2) provided with xyz 3)trained.... 
if the coach does these things then the  runners are achieving - tense error.
;    runners will achieve  - correct usage

It may take sometime to observe patterns in GMAT questions, but once u start spotting them you will breeze through them.

pk6969 · Answer

hi

pk6969 · Answer

Hi  IanStewart  Though I was able to get the correct answer, I am confused what role uninjured, provided and trained are playing. They are acting as past participles ? or are they acting as objects in passive form? I am not able to get that.

For the coach who manages to keep them uninjured, providing them with

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For the coach who manages to keep them uninjured, providing them with

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