In the 1980s computer books’ sales accounted for approximately 4% of

Question

In the 1980s computer books’ sales accounted for approximately 4% of operating profits of a typical  publishing company; in the 2000s this proportion increased to 40%.

A) publishing company; in the 2000s this proportion increased to 40%.
B) publishing company; in the 2000s they increased by 40%.
C) publishing company, in the 2000s they increased to 40%.
D) publishing company; increasing to 40% in the 2000s.
E) publishing company, which increased to 40% in the 2000s.

Visshu · Answer

IMO E.

which- modifying profit.

sumeetkarora · Answer

My answer would be  A .

A) publishing company; in the 2000s this proportion increased to 40%. - Correct Choice.
B) publishing company; in the 2000s they increased   by   40%. - Changes the meaning
C) publishing company, in the 2000s   they   increased to 40%. - Pronoun Error
D) publishing company  ; increasing to 40% in the 2000s.   - use of ; requires an independent clause - the clause here does not have a subject
E) publishing company,   which   increased to 40% in the 2000s. - Which incorrectly modifies the publishing company

Vercules · Answer

A) publishing company; in the 2000s this proportion increased to 40%.

Correct. The use of semicolon the first sentence is correct as it connects two closely related clauses. The comparison made is also contextually and grammatically correct. “In the 1980s” is correctly compared with “in the 2000s” and both are grammatically parallel. The use of “this proportion” unambiguously refers to the proportion of “computer books sales” in the first part of the sentence.

B) publishing company; in the 2000s they increased by 40%.

This answer choice contains two errors. First, the phrase “increased by 40%” incorrectly changes the meaning of the original sentence, implying that “40%” indicates the relative magnitude of the increase rather than the new proportion of “advertising revenues” in the structure of “operating profits.” Second, the pronoun “they” is ambiguous and does not have a clear antecedent and could refer to either “operating profits” or “computer books’ sales.”

C) publishing company, in the 2000s they increased to 40%.

The comma is incorrectly used to join two independent clauses, thus making the sentence run-on. rather than with a semicolon or with a connecting conjunction. Further, the pronoun “they” lacks a clear antecedent and could be interpreted to refer either “operating profits” or “computer books’ sales.”

D) publishing company; increasing to 40% in the 2000s.

This answer choice incorrectly uses a semicolon to connect two clauses, only one of which can stand alone. The phrase “increasing to 40% in the 1980s” is not an independent clause and cannot follow the semicolon. Furthermore, by moving the time reference “in the 2000s” from the beginning of the second clause to the end, this answer choice violates parallelism with the non-underlined portion of the sentence that begins with another time reference “In the 1980s.”

E) publishing company, which increased to 40% in the 2000s

“Which” is used incorrectly; clauses introduced by the relative pronoun “which” can refer only to the immediately preceding noun. In this case, the relative pronoun “which” refers to “a typical book publishing company,” thus illogically suggesting that “a typical book publishing company” was the subject of the increase. Finally, by moving the time reference “in the 2000s” from the beginning of the second clause to the end, this answer choice does not maintain parallel structure with the non-underlined portion of the sentence that begins with the time reference “In the 1980s.”

Vercules

mshrek · Answer

I somewhere read in this forum that prepositional phrases can exist between a noun and a noun modifier such as "which". In this context i would like to know why is answer "E" wrong. Since,which is preceded by a prepositional phrase.

Here is the question:
In the 1980s computer books’ sales accounted for approximately 4% of operating profits of a typical  publishing company;   in the 2000s this proportion increased to 40% .
A.publishing company; in the 2000s this proportion increased to 40%. 
B.publishing company; in the 2000s they increased by 40%.
C.publishing company, in the 2000s they increased to 40%.
D.publishing company; increasing to 40% in the 2000s.
E.publishing company, which increased to 40% in the 2000s.

aniteshgmat1101 · Answer

Hi,
"which" in option E is modifying "company" not "proportion". Noun modifiers modify the closest noun.
So, the correct option is A.

Hope this helps.
Thank you.

mshrek · Answer

Hi , Here is the link i was referring to : our-understanding-was-that-she-would-continue-to-cover-the-104891.html Can you please have a look at it and still say that "E" is incorrect only for the reason mentioned by you. I had the same thought process as you are having untill i came across that link :shock:

aniteshgmat1101 · Answer

Thanx for providing the link.
The question mentioned in the link:
"Our understanding was that she would continue to cover  the costs of school enrollment and room and board for the children , which she verbally agreed to pay with the rest of the family."

In this sentence "which" is modifying a group of costs, which it follows. So, the use of which is correct here since Noun is the all of the costs. Confusion could have happened if any of the options had "all of which". 
Hence here also "which" is referring to the closest set of noun. You can evaluate both the questions and see the difference in use of "which" and the meaning change.

Hope this helped.

Gnpth · Answer

Merging Similar topics, Please read the detailed explanation given above.

Also please read the forum rules before posting any questions. Thanks.

daboo343 · Answer

A)    Correct   publishing company; in the 2000s this proportion increased to 40%.
This option correctly talks about proportion ( a new proportion of a new profit (profit of 2000s) 
B)  Incorrect publishing company; in the 2000s they increased by 40%.
here they refer to profits but the referred profit is the profit of 80s not the profit of 2000
C)  Incorrect publishing company, in the 2000s they increased to 40%.
Same as B, In addition to this error, a comma before "in the..........." make this sentence run on. (two sentences are joined without any conjunction)
D)  Incorrect publishing company; increasing to 40% in the 2000s.
Semicolon is used to join two independent clauses but here after semicolon, we have a phrase
E)  Incorrect publishing company, which increased to 40% in the 2000s
which here is problematic. which can refer to company or profits. if which refers to profit still option E is incorrect. Because which refers to the profits of 1980s but we want to refer new profits.

piyushluniya · Answer

shouldn't we use plural i.e "they" to refer to sales.
the use of singular "this", is doubtful as even if it is referring to sales or operating profits, it should be plural in both cases.
So, how is A correct as this should refer to something singular and we dont have any singular antecedent in the sentence.

svasan05 · Answer

Hi Piyush

Let us read the sentence again:

In the 1980s computer books’ sales accounted for approximately 4% of operating profits of a typical publishing company; in the 2000s this proportion increased to 40%.

The pronoun "this" is immediately followed by the noun to which it refers ie; "proportion". This is made apparent by what follows as well - "increased to 40%". The only entity for which a percentage is given in the sentence is the proportion of operating profits that are accounted for by computer books' sales. Therefore, it is clear that "this" refers to "proportion". Since it is singular, the use of singular pronoun "this" is correct.

Hope this helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

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In the 1980s computer books’ sales accounted for approximately 4% of

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