Hello, everyone. I am writing in response to a request from
PTD1995. I enjoy discussing the finer points of grammar sometimes in an effort to assist the community, and this question presents a few issues that bear discussion. I would like to know the source for reasons that I will broach below.
rheam25 wrote:
In Shengzhou, among the most prolific regions in Zhejiang province in eastern China, about 95% of bamboo handicrafts are exported, indicating that selling bamboo, “poor man’s timber”, to Chinese is hard.
Before we even get to the answer choices, notice the comma that falls
outside the quotation marks surrounding
poor man's timber. I see two distinct possibilities here that are worth mentioning. First, the transcriptionist copied the punctuation incorrectly from the source material. I mistype all the time, although usually not with punctuation. The other plausible explanation is that the comma placement is a faithful representation of the original sentence, but that would introduce uncertainty as to the likeness the question bears to an actual GMAT™ question. That is, the GMAT™
always observes the punctuation conventions of Standard American English, and within this set of rules, commas go
inside quotation marks. I would not go so far as to say that the question was a dubious one if the second scenario proved true, but at the same time, I would draw attention to the risks that may come attached to third-party questions, where quality control might not be that high. With that said, let us jump into the answer choices.
rheam25 wrote:
A. exported, indicating that
Analysis: An -ing phrase can reach back in the sentence to modify more than just the word on the other side of the comma. If we break down the sentence at hand, we have a prepositional phrase,
In Shengzhou, followed by another prepositional phrase,
among the most prolific regions in the Zhejiang province in eastern China, a prepositional phrase that is bounded by double commas and clearly modifies the noun
Shengzhou in the first. The double commas allow us to jump over the modifying phrase and leave a perfectly intact main clause:
In Shengzhou, about 95% of bamboo handicrafts are exported, indicating that selling bamboo to Chinese is hard. Notice that I cut out the appositive phrase
"poor man's timber" because it is also bound by double commas. The question becomes, can we make sense of just what
indicating refers to in the main clause? I would argue yes, it must be the entire fact that 95% of bamboo handicrafts from the region are exported. It cannot be
exported alone because we would need to know what was exported to complete a causal link between the main clause and the modifier that follows it. That link, of course, is bamboo. Since almost all the bamboo handicrafts are exported, presumably from China and not just the region, the Chinese must not be buying the bamboo, hence the modifying phrase. If you were unsure and just wanted to check the other answers, that is fine. For now, I see nothing wrong with this option.
Yellow light.rheam25 wrote:
B.exported to indicate that
Analysis: The infinitive
to indicate muddles the meaning here, as if we were meant to understand that the bamboo handicrafts were exported
in order to indicate something, and there is simply no way to argue that such a reading has no basis. It is not that the use of the infinitive is always wrong (see
this recent question or
this earlier one, based on an official question). However, in this case, the infinitive distorts the meaning of the sentence in a way that would not make logical sense.
Red light.rheam25 wrote:
C.exported, exports that indicate that
Analysis: Surely, there is a better way to express this notion than to repeat a form of
export, not to mention the double
that. Furthermore, the first
that is problematic, shifting the focus from the overall fact that the high percentage of bamboo exports from the region indicates something to the
exports themselves indicating something. Watch out for restrictive
that clauses. The meaning may not be as clear as you think.
Red light.rheam25 wrote:
D.exported, a metric indicating
Analysis: I have no problem with the
metric here, which would clearly refer back to the 95% part. It is the tail-end that concerns me,
a metric indicating selling. To answer the question of
what the metric indicates, I am looking for a noun or a placeholder pronoun--i.e.
that--instead of a phrase. I cannot find a single example of stacking -ing phrases in this manner in any correct response to an official question, making me wonder whether
that might, in fact, appear in the original source material. I would not okay this option, as written.
Red light. rheam25 wrote:
E.exports for indicating
Analysis: We are back to explaining why
exports are going on, as we saw in option (B). If it did not work there, it will not work here, either. Moreover, as
shameekv1989 pointed out,
for indicating is not the correct way of expressing the notion that something
indicates.
Red light.It is easy to argue for an answer after the fact, with knowledge of the official answer in hand, but third-party material is not always the most reliable, and I have even seen
at least one such question in which a moderator changed the official answer after conceding a point to a debater. Regardless, I am not afraid of being wrong on this one. I would choose (A) any day of the week. If someone else wants to come along and
disprove (A), then so be it, but for now, I would call it the best of the lot for reasons outlined above.
Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew
close
21 Jan 2020, 07:26
56%
(01:12)
wrong 
