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ExpertsGlobal5
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In an effort to reduce the number of fires started by cigarettes, a ma 22 Nov 2022, 05:57
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mansianand1234
amount of oxygen that enters the cigarette

v/s

amount of oxygen entering the cigarette

when do we use ing verbal over a RPC modifier. What sense does restrictive clause brings out here? does meaning changes?
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Hello mansianand1234,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in this context, the phrases are actually interchangeable.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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In an effort to reduce the number of fires started by cigarettes, a ma 26 Jan 2023, 09:47
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johnycute
In an effort to reduce the number of fires started by cigarettes, a major tobacco company is test-marketing a cigarette in which thin layers of extra paper are used to decrease the amount of oxygen entering the cigarette, thereby slowing the rate at which it burns and lowering the heat it generates.


A. in which thin layers of extra paper are used to decrease the amount of oxygen entering the cigarette, thereby slowing

B. in which they use thin layers of extra paper in decreasing the amount of oxygen entering the cigarette, which slows

C. that uses thin layers of extra paper to decrease the amount of oxygen when it enters the cigarette, thereby slowing

D. for which thin layers of extra paper are used to decrease the amount of oxygen that enters the cigarette, and thereby slowing

E. using thin layers of extra paper in decreasing the amount of oxygen entering the cigarette, which slows
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Option D is wrong because:
Whenever you see an and after a comma, check for two possibilities:
1- a list: apples, grapes, and berries
2- two main clauses

Since, in option d what follows and is not a main clause. D is incorrect

PS: Following sentence is correct
Peter O'Toole was nominated for his first Oscar in 1962, and his eighth in 2006, but he never actually won the award.
In this sentence- Peter (Subect/Noun), was nominated (verb), for (prepostion), Oscar (object/noun) have been dropped.
Remember: We can drop noun/pronoun, the verb, or even the preposition' for' after , and
but meaning should be clear
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In an effort to reduce the number of fires started by cigarettes, a ma 30 Jul 2023, 15:26
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mansianand1234
amount of oxygen that enters the cigarette

v/s

amount of oxygen entering the cigarette

when do we use ing verbal over a RPC modifier. What sense does restrictive clause brings out here? does meaning changes?
What's the difference between "that enters" and "entering"? Who knows? ;)

Luckily, the GMAT isn't asking us to worry about that difference.

Choice (D) has a glaring parallelism issue: what is "slowing" parallel to? The only option is "test-marketing," so it seems like we have, "... a major tobacco company is slowing the rate at which it burns and lowering the heat it generates."

That's not what we want. The "slowing" is what happens as a result of the decrease in the amount of oxygen entering the cigarette, not something that the company itself does directly.

So "slowing" makes much more sense as a modifier, and we can eliminate (D) without worrying about "that enters" vs. "entering". :)
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I may be completely off here, but the last phrase "thereby slowing..." is an -ing modifier...so does this not modify the preceding clause and for that it needs to make sense with the subject of the clause which is "A major tobacco company" and therefore it seems that the tobacco company is slowing the rate at which the Cigarette burns but as pointed out, this does not seem logical. Can someone please confirm this understanding and explain how using the -ing modifier is making sense here.
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In an effort to reduce the number of fires started by cigarettes, a ma 02 Aug 2023, 08:13
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Utkersh
I may be completely off here, but the last phrase "thereby slowing..." is an -ing modifier...so does this not modify the preceding clause and for that it needs to make sense with the subject of the clause which is "A major tobacco company" and therefore it seems that the tobacco company is slowing the rate at which the Cigarette burns but as pointed out, this does not seem logical. Can someone please confirm this understanding and explain how using the -ing modifier is making sense here.
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Here's a slightly simplified version of (A):

    A company is marketing a cigarette in which thin layers of paper are used to decrease the amount of oxygen entering the cigarette, thereby slowing the rate at which it burns and lowering the heat it generates.

Notice that there's a clause after "in which" ("thin layers... are used..."). The phrase beginning with "slowing..." logically modifies that clause (which is in fact the preceding clause -- it's just not the main clause of the sentence). There's no reason to jump over the "in which" clause and assume that "slowing..." illogically modifies the main clause ("a company is marketing..."), so (A) is fine as-is.

As explained in this post, the parallelism in (D) forces an illogical meaning, and that's why (A) is a better option.

I hope that helps!
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