In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that was offering the

Question

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities  that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can  access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area

A) that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can

B) has offered complimentary wireless Internet access to the public; with a wireless-enabled device, anyone can

C) to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may

D) offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access, enabling anyone with a wireless-enabled device to

E) offers to the public complimentary wireless Internet access, which, with a wireless-enabled device, allows anyone to

Patronus · Accepted Answer

a. that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can 
 Part 1: "In La Plata"... has NO verb before the end of semicolon. Please note, semicolon is used to join independent clauses (=S+V)
 
b. has offered complimentary wireless Internet access to the public; with a wireless-enabled device, anyone can 
 There is a difference between "with legs, anyone can do ABC" and "anyone with legs can do ABC". 
In the first case, it implies HOW "anyone" can do ABC. In the second, it simply says "anyone with legs" can do ABC.
This choice speaks about first case, while the sentence meaning is the one in second case.

c. to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may 
 "In La Plata, one of the first cities to offer...., anyone..MAY" Correct S+V pair
" one of the first cities to offer...." is acting as an appositive phrase. 
 
d. offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access, enabling anyone with a wireless-enabled device to 
 "In La Plata, ...one of the first cities offering..., enabling..." has NO verb.
 
e. offers to the public complimentary wireless Internet access, which, with a wireless-enabled device, allows anyone to 
"offers" introduces a huge shift in meaning.
 According to the original sentence, "La Plata" IS the city that is offering public complimentary stuff.
However, according to this choice, it says "In La Plata, ..., one of the first cities offers". As you can see it means, in La Plata there are many cities, and in one of those cities public complimentary stuff is given!

chetan2u · Answer

Hi..

In both the choices, the difference is in usage of relative pronoun THAT..
When you say that 
ONE of apples is rotten.
The verb IS corresponds directly to ONE . It means. That there are many apples and one is rotten.

But now let us take the second example..
One of the first cities THAT have..
Here HAVE corresponds to relative pronoun that is referring to pluran cities.
Here the meaning is that there are many cities having xyz and we are talking of one such city

Hope it helps.

JarvisR · Answer

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that 
was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access ; 
anyone with a wireless-enabled device can access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

Intended meaning: 
La-Plata, Argentina, was one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public.
Anyone in La-Plata with a wireless-enabled device can access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

A) that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can
 >>missing main verb.Out.
 B) has offered complimentary wireless Internet access to the public; with a wireless-enabled device, anyone can 
 >>In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities has offered... pretty weird in meaning.Is there another city within La Plata? Out. 
 C) to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may   
D) offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access, enabling anyone with a wireless-enabled device to 
 >>missing main verb.Out.
 E) offers to the public complimentary wireless Internet access, which, with a wireless-enabled device, allows anyone to
 >>Same as B.

sannidhya · Answer

Answer should be C.

to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public -- is modifying La Plata.

to offer is idiomatically correct.

If you read is without modifier, it makes perfect sense:

In La Plata, Argentina  , one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public,   anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area .

anchal25 · Answer

Hi,
I'm confused with option - C, which is the correct answer though. In the sentence ... ,anyone ...is used after a clause and separated with only a comma. Then, how can this clause 'anyone with ...' can be considered an independent clause over here.

can some expert advise. thanks!

sayantanc2k · Answer

First, The initial portion of the sentence ( In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public)  is not a clause - it is a prepositional phrase: there is no verb in this part.

Moreover even if the first portion were a clause, there is no issue with the second portion being an independent clause:
Although I tried hard, I lost. (  I lost  is an independent clause - "used after a clause and separated with only a comma" - nothing wrong with this construction.)

ela4490 · Answer

Can you please tell me what is wrong with option E?
I'm unable to understand.

sayantanc2k · Answer

Option E implies that one of the first cities offer internet access in La Plata - i.e., "La Plata" and "one of the first cities" are different entities. It is not clear that La Plata itself is one of the first cities.

ravi19012015 · Answer

sayantanc2k  
Can you solve my doubts? Thanks

In the question An Offer is made, so we need to take care of To Someone? Here, To Public. Is that one of the important things in this question? 
I always get confused when there are couple of commas initially and later a semi colon. In that case I consider that because of excess commas earlier, the author used a semi-colon to just remove excess of commas; hence inserted a semi-colon. So that semi-colon may not be an independent clause in itself - is that understanding of mine correct? If yes, then is that excess commas earlier in the sentence and later inserting a semi-colon rule correct in original choice? 
Further, because of above understanding, I considered  one of the first  cities that was offering  the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device  can   cities(Subject) that was offering (verb), and.....'can' as verb of Anyone. So in (A), "one of the first cities that was offering" is wrong because of additional THAT and/or because of Past Continuous Tense- was offering. Because past continuous has to be with respect to some other action, which will not be in continuous form. Thats why option (A) is wrong? 
In option (C) I wasn't able to fit in 'To Offer'. 
In option (C) if it were 'Cities offering ...', then will it be correct? And that 'To Public' plays a vital role for picking option (C)

Thank you again

sayantanc2k · Answer

"Offer to + object" and "offer + object" both can be correct.

I offered a beer to him.... correct. ( Indirect object "him" comes after direct object "beer": "to" required)
I offerd him a beer... correct. ( Indirect object "him" comes before direct object "beer": "to" not required)

====================================

Semicolon can be used in the following cases:

1. To separate two Independent clauseS. here you may consider semicolon equivalent to a full stop.
2. Used instead of comma in nested lists. If there is a list within a list then comma is used in the outer list and semicolon in the inner.

However there is no rule that if there are many commas, one should use semicolon later.

====================================

A is wrong because of past continuous. You correctly identified the error. There is no problem with "that". ("that...." is a relative clause modifier.)

======================================

The core structure of option C is as follows:

In La Plata, anyone can access the Internet.

Now add a modifier for La Plata: one of the first cities to offer complimentary Internet. The sentence becomes,

In La Plata, one of the first cities to offer complimentary internet, anyone can access the Internet.

The following would also be correct:
In La Plata, one of the first cities offering complimentary internet, anyone can access the Internet. ("offering.." is a present participle modifier - could also have been a relative clause modifier" that offered or offers")

======================================

Hatakekakashi · Answer

Hello sayantanc2k , 
 If the sentence had a verb , how would it be rephrased?

I went for C but after reading the statement , felt the need of semicolon , because of IC , IC incorrect sentence formation

Any tips as to how to identify the statement is a clause/prepositional phrase ?

sayantanc2k · Answer

A clause has verb, a phrase does not. In option C, the first part "In La Plata, Argentina" is a prepositional phrase, not an IC (because there is no verb in this part). So using semicolon to separate it would be wrong. (The part "one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public" is a modifier for "La Plata, Argentina" and hence can be ignored while understanding the structure of the sentence.)

dabaobao · Answer

Official Solution (Credit: Manhattan Prep)

This sentence describes a noteworthy fact about the city of La Plata, Argentina: the city offers complimentary wireless Internet access to anyone with a wireless-enabled device.
 
(A) The portion of the sentence preceding the semicolon is a sentence fragment. The combination of the past-tense was offering and the present tense can is illogical: the first verb suggests that La Plata no longer offers the service described, while the second suggests the opposite.
 
(B) The combination of the present perfect has offered and the present tense can is illogical; the first verb suggests that La Plata offered the service in the past but not necessarily at present, while the second suggests that the service is still offered now. Note that a time marker would indicate that the action still continues in the present: La Plata has offered the services for three years. Without the time marker "three years," it's unclear whether La Plata still offers these services. In addition, the clause In La Plata, one of the first cities has offered no longer says that La Plata is the city that offers these services. Rather the structure describes a separate city contained within La Plata. Further, the designation first no longer makes sense: one of the first cities to do what?
 
(C) CORRECT. The idiomatic construction one of the first to is used correctly. The modifier is followed by an independent clause, and all parts of the sentence convey a logical meaning.
 
(D) This sentence is a fragment, consisting entirely of modifiers and lacking either a subject or a verb.
 
(E) The clause In La Plata, one of the first cities has offered no longer says that La Plata is the city that offers these services. Rather the structure describes a separate city contained within La Plata. Further, the designation first no longer makes sense: one of the first cities to do what? The modifier with a wireless-enabled device is placed incorrectly. The choice indicates that wireless Internet access possesses a wireless device; this is illogical.

singh8891 · Answer

I got the following question in my Manhattan CAT:
In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.
that was offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access; anyone with a wireless-enabled device can
has offered complimentary wireless Internet access to the public; with a wireless-enabled device, anyone can
to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may
offering the public complimentary wireless Internet access, enabling anyone with a wireless-enabled device to
offers to the public complimentary wireless Internet access, which, with a wireless-enabled device, allows anyone to.
The question is already discussed here. https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-la-plata- ... 99570.html

I wanted to ask what is the rule position for using the plural form with "one of the"?
One of the apples was rotten is correct.
In La Plata, one of the first cities that have done wonders, the economy is blooming also seems correct. How to decide the correct usage?

NinetyFour · Answer

POE:

A) Need two independent clauses if a semi-colon is used. 
B) Same as A
C) Correct
D) using a participle for the last part of the sentence creates a fragment. 
E) Offers is incorrectly used

singh8891 · Answer

chetan2u  Thank you for replying. But I didn't understand the concept. In one case if La Plata is one of the cities in Argentina and it has done something and in other case La Plata is one of the cities that have done something, I don't understand how to spot the difference
La plata, Argentina, one of the cities that has done wonders, is booming.
La Plata , Argentina, one of the cities that have done wonders, is booming.
Please elaborate.

Shrikant18bhavsar · Answer

La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area. ---this seems correct than

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities to offer complimentary wireless Internet access to the public, anyone with a wireless-enabled device may access the Internet from virtually any location in the downtown area.

Is my understanding correct?

ShekGMAT · Answer

singh8891  This post must be irrelevant to you by now but maybe someone having similar doubt can rectify his/her doubt on pronoun usage concept.

1. This is one of those (book / books)  that  (was / were) published last year.
CORRECTION: This is one of those books that were published last year.
THAT as a pronoun refers to BOOKS... hence we need WERE...

2. Dhoni is one of those cricketers  who  (does / do) modelling assignments.
CORRECTION: Dhoni is one of those cricketers who DO modelling assignments.
This might sound awkward... normally we might want to associate ONE... DOES...
But here, WHO as a pronoun refers to CRICKETERS... hence we need DO

3. One of my (friend / friends) (is an IT professional / are IT professionals).
Correction: One of my friends is an IT professional.
Here we are talking about one person only.

a. He is one of my friends  who  (is an IT professional / are IT professionals).
CORRECTION: He is one of my friends who are IT professionals.

b. He is only one / just one / but one of my friends  who  (is an IT professional / are IT professionals).
CORRECTION: He is only one / just one / but one of my friends who are IT professionals.

c. He is  the only  one of my friends  who  (is an IT professional / are IT professionals).
CORRECTION: He is THE only one of my friends who IS an IT professional.
 Watch out: Here THE ONLY ONE means there is only one person... so IS.

Long story short, whenever you see a relative pronoun (HIGHLIGHTED), always use plural verb because the relative pronoun refers to the immediate plural noun. The only exception is the usage of "THE ONLY", in this case the rel. pronoun refers to the main subject.

Source- Top1percent.
Thank you.

himanshu0123 · Answer

please clarify

in C] Argentina is the main subject of the first clause but there is no verb for Argentina?

in B] is there anything wrong with the prepositional phrase starting with 'WITH'

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that was offering the

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In La Plata, Argentina, one of the first cities that was offering the

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