In addition to the reduction in saturated fats

Question

In addition to the reduction in saturated fats suggested bv the guidelines, the members of the council on
health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble fiber.

A. In addition to the reduction in saturated fats suggested by the guidelines, the members of the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble fiber.
B. In addition to the reduction in saturated fats that were suggested by the guidelines, the members of the council on health and nutrition now recommend a diet high in soluble fiber.
C. The members of the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble fiber added to the reduction in saturated fats that were suggested by the guidelines.
D. Added to the reduction in saturated fats suggested by the guidelines, the members of the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble fiber.
E. Added to reduction in saturated fats which had been suggested by the guidelines, the members of the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble fiber.

Since I got it wrong, I need a discussion on the major contenders.

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Official Answer

A

argha · Answer

IMO B,

A & B are in contention.

I think first part of A is a fragment(lacks a verb). Hence B should be the correct answer.

Look forward to suggestions.

Regards

Argha

Marcab · Answer

B has a SVA error. It should be "was suggested" and not "were suggested".
Moreover to your point with A, modifiers may or may not have a verb.

blueseas · Answer

In addition to the reduction in saturated fats suggested by the guidelines, the members of the council on
health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble fiber.

A)In addition to the reduction in saturated fats suggested by the guidelines, the members
of the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble
fiber.==>
  CORRECT . 
B)In addition to the reduction in saturated fats that  were  suggested by the guidelines,
the members of the council on health and nutrition now recommend a diet high in
soluble fiber.
  WRONG . 
REDUCTION = SINGULAR ...WERE= PLURAL ==>Sub - verb disagreement.
C)The members of the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high
in soluble fiber  added  to the reduction in saturated fats that were suggested by the
guidelines.
  WRONG . 
-ADDED =>verb-ed modifier modifying closest noun...==>fiber added to reduction==>wrong.(modifier error)
D) Added  to the reduction in saturated fats suggested by the guidelines, the members of
the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble fiber.
  WRONG  .(this was the next contender IMO)
what is added ? ==>WRONG modification.
E) Added  to reduction in saturated fats which  had  been suggested by the guidelines, the
members of the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in
soluble fiber.
  WRONG . 
-What is ADDED? same as D
-WRONG use of PAST PERFECT as no double past is present.
-no comma before WHICH (No official question has such construction).

hope it helps.

Marcab · Answer

In addition to the reduction in saturated fats suggested by the guidelines, the members
of the council on health and nutrition are now recommending a diet high in soluble
fiber.

Agree with the explanation, but how can we get rid of the modifier error in answer choice A. 
How can reduction in saturated fats be logically parallel to the members of the council?

blueseas · Answer

I think this construction is correct.

IN ADDITION TO  X , the members ...are now recommending  Y . 
here  X AND Y  ARE parallel..as both are  NOUNS phrase

See one analogous sentence.:
In addition to the recipe ingredients, you'll need the following..XYZ.

hope this helps

mdacosta · Answer

can an expert please help on why A is preferred to B?

I thought "were" in B was fine as 'that' touches 'fats', meaning it should read 'fats that (plural) were"

sobby · Answer

Not an expert ,but will try to help u out

Logic of the sentence says :
 
"Reduction of saturated fats" was suggested by guidelines 
not
Saturated fats itself 
So we have SV issue in B .

mdacosta · Answer

Thanks for your explanation! I thought that the "that" via the touch rule takes the tense of the word before it, but it seems i'm wrong. Do you know how to differentiate between using the touch rule and cutting the middlemen to find the subj (in this case the middlemen is "of saturated fats"

Kchaudhary · Answer

Let me try,

As we know the doer of this modifier 'in addition.... ' is 'the members'. If I reconstruct this sentence as,

the members of the council on health and nutrition 'in addition to the reduction in saturated fats suggested by the guidelines' are now recommending a diet high in soluble fiber.

Does it make any sense?

We can also say,

The members..... in addition to 
 ' suggest'  the reduction in saturated fats 
 are now recommending....

Funsho84 · Answer

B)In addition to the reduction in saturated fats that were suggested by the guidelines,
 the members of the council on health and nutrition now   recommend  a diet high in
soluble fiber.

What stood out to me in B was the highlighted part. The council is now recommending something that has been called out by the past participle recommended, which signals something done in the past. There's a time issue with this line.

Avinash2303 · Answer

My understanding is that Verb+ed modifier modified the preceding noun.

in addition to reduction in saturated fat suggested by the guideline, ........

Isn't  suggested  is modifying  saturated fats ? If so, how can a guideline suggest saturated fats? It has to be suggested by the guideline?

Experts - Can you please help me on this question?

Alacritous · Answer

Same question. Someone please answer this.

sumit411 · Answer

Verb Ed modifier modifies the nearest noun or nearest noun phrase. Here suggested is modifying - - - > reduction in xyz

So reduction in xyz is suggested by the guidelines. That makes sense.

Consider kudos if that helped

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

GittinGud · Answer

I think the correct sentence would look something like this:

"In addition to the reduction in saturated fats suggested by the guidelines, a diet high in soluble fiber is now being recommended by the members of the council on health and nutrition"

In addition to reduction in saturated fats....., a diet high in soluble fiber.

A illogically compares reduction in saturated fats to members.

Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

DmitryFarber · Answer

This is the general rule, but we can't always apply it 100% literally. In this case, we have an intervening modifier ("in saturated fats") that can't be placed anywhere else. However, it's still clear that the reduction, and not the fat, was suggested. Similarly, if I say "The King of Spain, who visited" or "The jar of peanut butter, which shattered," we know that the king (not Spain) visited and the jar (not the peanut butter) shattered.

gvij2017 · Answer

This forum contain numerous SC problem based on this concept. And every problem have two type of answer.

Few are favoring "in addition to A, B is ..." and others are favoring "in addition to A, X is seeking B".

Why this contention with this phrase! Please clarify!

amitahlawat06 · Answer

in option B : "that refers" to what, It should refer to recommendation; however, "that were" can not refer to singular Recommendation. so B is incorrect

Mandojay · Answer

Dissecting the question:

In addition to 
the reduction in saturated fats --  noun phrase parallel to noun phrase - a diet high in soluble fiber  
suggested by the guidelines, --  verb-ed modifier modifying reduction in saturated phrase 
the members of the council on health and nutrition 
are now recommending --  verb 
a diet high in soluble fiber --  noun phrase

In addition to the reduction in saturated fats

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In addition to the reduction in saturated fats

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