In 2004, resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami

Question

In 2004,  resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean,  the entire world rallied in support of the devastated region and helped recovery efforts in the area.

A) resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean
B) the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean resulted and
C) because of the result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the largest of the modern era
D) as a result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the largest of the modern era
E) as a result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which was the largest tsunami of the modern era

daagh · Accepted Answer

E can not be the answer choice, because it unnecessarily indulges in putting the relative pronoun - which - the reference of which can be nothing and nothing but the Indian Ocean. 
On the contrary, D does not fall into the trap, by providing an appointive modifier- the largest of the modern era – one that is permitted to modify the entire preceding phrase, namely, -the tsunami in the Indian Ocean – rather than simply the noun it touches 
We can dispense with A because the entire world can not be resulting from the destruction.
B is obviously awkward and C suffers the same malady of wrong modification as in E.

Incidentally, a somewhat similar question that has been posted in some OG or1000 series goes as follows.

In A.D. 391,  resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria , later generations lost all but the Iliad and Odyssey among Greek epics, most of the poetry of Pindar and Sappho, and dozens of plays by Aeschylus and Euripides.

A) Resulting from the destruction of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria,
(B) the destroying of the largest library of the ancient world at Alexandria resulted and
(C) because of the result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world, 
(D) as a result of the destruction of the library at Alexandria, the largest of the ancient world, 
(E) Alexandria’s largest library of the ancient world was destroyed, and the result was

The OA is D in this case, the choice with the appositive modifier.

medanova · Answer

According to me, the answer should be E, because this is the only choice that provides a complete logical structure of the sentence.

metallicafan · Answer

Could you provide more detail? E is wordy for me.

Ellipse · Answer

The current form of sentence contains a dangling reference  (resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean) . So this needs to be rephrased.
(B) The sentence construction is wrong
(C) Construction of   .....because of the result of the destruction...   is awkword and also the last modifier (the largest of the modern era) does not modify tsunami. It seems to modify either Indian Ocean or destrction.
(D) Again the modifier  the largest of the modern era  is not placed correctly.
(E) The above error (misplaced modifier) has been corrected.

praveenism · Answer

IN E : Doesnt it sounds that Indian ocean was itself the largest Sunami !!!!
"the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which was the largest tsunami of the modern era"
Which is incorrectly used to modify Indian Ocean ?

medanova · Answer

I don't think so because we have a repetition of "tsunami" and it is clear that "which" refers to "tsunami" and not to the "Indian Ocean". To be more precise, "which" refers to " the tsunami in the Indian Ocean ".

medanova · Answer

I think both examples are not comparable. In our example we have to clarify what is "the largest in the modern era", the tsunami or the ocean. This is the case only in E. D is confusing as whether we refer to ocean or to tsunami.

daagh · Answer

There need be no confusion regarding whether the appositive - the largest of the modern era - refers to the ocean or the tsunami, because, Indian Ocean has not been the largest of the oceans , whether in modern era or in any other era.

ermks279 · Answer

This may be true in real life. but contextually, a modifier modifies the noun preceding it. Here we have ambiguity - Tsunami and Indian Ocean. a specification is needed. Which construction (referring to the whole sentence - the destruction process) is in fact helping to resolve this ambiguity by clearing the largest (noun) Tsunami.

altairahmad · Answer

What's stopping the modifier in (D), the largest of the modern era, from jumping over the preceding preposition and from modifying 'the tsunami' ?After all, there is no better place for 'in the Indian Ocean', and thus the modifier can jump over this prepositional object phrase of 'the tsunami'.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal Any thoughts ?

EMPOWERgmatVerbal  Any thoughts ?

lynlyn · Answer

In 2004, resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean, the entire world rallied in support of the devastated region and helped recovery efforts in the area.

A) resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean -  the entire world is inproperly modified by resulting from 
B) the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean resulted and -  change in meaning 
C) because of the result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the largest of the modern era -  wordy ~ "as a result of" suffices 
D) as a result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the largest of the modern era -  "the largest of the modern era" could modify tsunami, destruction, or the ocean 
E) as a result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which was the largest tsunami of the modern era -  "the largest tsunami" makes the modification clear

ravigupta2912 · Answer

A) resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean -- the present participle usage is incorrect here since there is no antecedent which it is modifying. Eliminate

B) the destruction caused by the largest tsunami of the modern era in the Indian Ocean resulted and -- fragment. "destruction" a noun "resulted" verb.. destruction caused by X resulted? It makes no sense. Eliminate.

C) because of the result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the largest of the modern era -- "because of" and "result of" seems redundant. Eliminate.

D) as a result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the largest of the modern era -- it is unclear whether the noun modifier "the largest of the modern era" is modifying "tsunami" or "the indian ocean" or "the destruction". Ambigious. Eliminate.

E) as a result of the destruction caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which was the largest tsunami of the modern era -- Removes the ambiguity in D by making it clear that relative pronoun "which" here refers to the head of the noun phrase "tsunami in the Indian ocean". Correct.

AnirudhaS · Answer

What rubbish, “the largest of the modern era“ is modifying “ tsunami in the Indian Ocean”

Tsunami=largest of the modern era

So in my opinion D is not wrong.

Also E is not wrong, just a bit wordy. Thoughts?

Posted from my mobile device

ravigupta2912 · Answer

Sorta agree. I'd like to have more Expert opinion on this.  IanStewart   GMATNinja   VeritasKarishma   mikemcgarry

EDIT -- I do think that D is somewhat ambiguous if you go by the rules literally (that noun modifier can modify the closes noun i.e. indian ocean or the head of the noun phrase tsunami or a distant noun entity - destruction in this case). But if we assume that the noun modifier only modifies the closest noun / noun phrase then yes "tsunami in the Indian ocean" is the modified entity which would make the sentence correct?

HELP!

IanStewart · Answer

Even if, in answer D, you decide (and I disagree that you can decide this, but supposing you do) that the thing that is the "largest of the modern era" is the "tsunami in the Indian Ocean", it's still unclear if this was the Indian Ocean's largest tsunami, or if it was the world's largest tsunami. Answer E resolves all ambiguity about what "largest" means in this sentence, so it seems a preferable answer to me.

That said, this is a prep company question, not an official one, and even the "OA" is bad writing, so I don't like any answer choice here. They're misusing words (the world rallied in support perhaps "in response to the destruction", not "as a result of the destruction"), the modifier is still a problem in E, and the sentence can easily be rephrased in about five different ways to make it more concise and less convoluted. I never feel that way about the right answers to official SC questions, so those are much better questions to study, and there's not really any reason to care what a prep company thinks is the "OA" to a question like this one, when there isn't a good answer among the five choices.

ravigupta2912 · Answer

Thanks Ian. I went with E too because it just removed all the lingering doubts in D. But per se didn't find modifier reference too big an issue in D.

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In 2004, resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami

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In 2004, resulting from the destruction caused by the largest tsunami

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