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sayantanc2k
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 13 Apr 2016, 09:49
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tarunktuteja
Question 1> Is the second one correct since there is no comma before the word " but" ?
No for the same reason you mentioned.

Question 2> let's it is having comma before but ( and let's forget the meaning of the sentence ),Then option 1 would be suitable. Am I right?

No if you consider the meaning. Companies are pursured and not the pensioners.

Question 3> let's it is having comma before but and let's concentrate on the meaning of the sentence ,Then option 1 would be wrong. Since "those who have public pensions" can not draw scrutiny from several other government organizations. Am I right?
Yes

I don't think OA is B. I think A is better.

Can you please post the OE

Posted from my mobile device
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A comma before "but" requires another independent clause after the conjunction "but"

I smoke but swim... correct
I smoke, but I swim... correct
I smoke, but swim.... wrong

Now the subject sentence intends to convey the following meaning:

Pension advance companies operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny.

The actions "operate" and "are drawing" both are performed by "Pension advance companies" [ replaced by relative pronoun "which"]. Therefore we do not require a comma before "but". If we introduce a comma before "but", we would require another subject [ as in option A: ", but they are..." - which is also grammatically correct; nonetheless option A is wrong for pronoun ambiguity]

Why option A is wrong?
Since "they" is the subject of a clause, it refers to the subject of another clause in the sentence, i.e. "those who have public pensions" (by virtue of parallelism - such usage is acceptable in GMAT) . However the intended meaning is " banking regulators", not "those who have public pensions" are drawing scrutiny. Option A is wrong because of this pronoun ambiguity.
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 08 May 2016, 00:09
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Can anyone please explain why E is wrong?
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 08 May 2016, 13:10
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ynk
Can anyone please explain why E is wrong?
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2 reasons:

1. The relative pronouns "who" and "whom" must modify people - "companies" cannot be the antecedent of "who".

2. The pronoun "they" is ambiguous.
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 23 Aug 2016, 03:28
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sayantanc2k
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Can anyone please explain why E is wrong?

2 reasons:

1. The relative pronouns "who" and "whom" must modify people - "companies" cannot be the antecedent of "who".

2. The pronoun "they" is ambiguous.
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Hi Sayantanc2k!

What about 'being pursued' vs 'are pursued'? Is 'are pursued' correct in option E? If it didn't have pronoun error would option E be correct?
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 23 Aug 2016, 10:39
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sudhirgupta93
sayantanc2k
ynk
Can anyone please explain why E is wrong?

2 reasons:

1. The relative pronouns "who" and "whom" must modify people - "companies" cannot be the antecedent of "who".

2. The pronoun "they" is ambiguous.

Hi Sayantanc2k!

What about 'being pursued' vs 'are pursued'? Is 'are pursued' correct in option E? If it didn't have pronoun error would option E be correct?
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"Are being pursued" is the passive voice form of present continuous and "are pursued " is the passive voice form of simple present. Both tenses are OK here. Consider the active voice form of both cases:

In these difficult economic times, companies are pursuing those....
In these difficult economic times, companies pursue those....

I do not see any problem with either.
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 01 Nov 2016, 06:46
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Thoughtosphere
Thanks a lot Mike. I marked D, but now I understand where I faltered. I didn't see any discussion happening over the usage of which and that. I eliminated B because it used "which". Shouldn't that be used instead of which here ?
Dear Thoughtosphere,
I'm happy to respond. :-) The word "which" is 100% correct in (B).
1) It clearly refers to the noun that it "touches" ---- "pension advance companies"
2) It is correctly separated with a comma
3) It serves at the subject of the clause that it introduces.
The word "which" is correct if all three of these criteria are true, and they are. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/that-vs-which-on-the-gmat/
You may also find this helpful:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... modifiers/
Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Hi Mike,

Isn't a comma required after the which clause above?
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 01 Nov 2016, 11:09
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goforgmat
Hi Mike,

Isn't a comma required after the which clause above?
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Dear goforgmat,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, there is no after! In choice (B) of this question, the OA, the final "which" clause continues from the word "which" until the end of the sentence. The "which" clause ends with the period at the end of the sentence. You see, the relative pronoun "which" is the subject of the relative clause, and this single subject is followed by two verbs in parallel: "which operate ... but now are drawing . . " Both verbs and their predicates are part of this large "which" clause, the relative clause.

Here's (B), with the relative clause in green:
... are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies, which operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 02 Dec 2016, 08:20
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vibhav
In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

a. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

b.are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies, which operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

c.are pursued strongly by pension advance companies and operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

d.are pursued strongly by pension advance companies, operating without much oversight from banking regulators but now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

e. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies who operate without much oversight from banking regulators; however, they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

Show Spoiler
Was confused between B & D.
E-gmat could this example be a good choice to understand the verb-ing modifier concept?
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I was stuck between A and B. "being pursued" is required since the sentence starts with "In these ..times.."

I eliminated B because it changed the essential modifier "that" to "which".
Isn't "that" required to specify "pension advance companies" THAT operate without much oversight?
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 10 Mar 2017, 04:02
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bitanrc

I was stuck between A and B. "being pursued" is required since the sentence starts with "In these ..times.."

I eliminated B because it changed the essential modifier "that" to "which".
Isn't "that" required to specify "pension advance companies" THAT operate without much oversight?
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Notice that you must understand whether we need an essential modifier here. the clause after pension advance companies is simply describing those companies and not specifying anything. Hence, B should not be eliminated on that basis. A will be incorrect because we have a 'They' pronoun and it is not clear what it is referring too. Hence, B is the only correct option here.
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 01 Apr 2017, 19:04
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vibhav
In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

A. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

B. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies, which operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

C. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies and operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

D. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies, operating without much oversight from banking regulators but now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

E. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies who operate without much oversight from banking regulators; however, they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

@E-GMAT could this example be a good choice to understand the VERB-ing modifier concept?
Show more

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


Solution: B

Explanation: This sentence correction problem is mostly concerned with errors of sentence construction. The most obvious decision point – the choice between “are being pursued” and “are pursued” is not important as both could be used to describe the current situation. In (A) the use of “they” in the last portion of the sentence is incorrect as it represents a reference error (the “they” seems to be referencing the people with pensions not the companies). (B) is correct as the “which” clause makes it clear that the companies “operate without oversight….but are now drawing….”. In (C) it is not the people with pensions that “operate without much oversight…”. For (D), the use of the participle “operating” perpetuates the problem in (C) – it still modifies the subject (those with pensions) so is nonsensical as people would not operate without oversight. In (E), the use of “they” in the second portion after the semicolon contains the same reference error as in (A). Answer is (B).
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 24 Aug 2017, 05:52
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My reasoning:
In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

A> are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations --> the sentence is not clear in meaning - I mean if veterans are being pursued, then why the scrutiny for regulators (misplaced pronoun 'they..now')

B> are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies, which operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations. --> this is right: "those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – [u]are being pursued strongly by ...companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now.." --> hence it clearly says that veterans etc are being hotly pursued by companies (modifier) but are now..rest of the sentence

C> are pursued strongly by pension advance companies and operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations. --> changes the meaning --> veterans are CURRENTLY being pursued --> not general statement 'pursued' . The verb 'being' is needed here

D>are pursued strongly by pension advance companies, operating without much oversight from banking regulators but now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations. --> changes focus to regulators and not veterans

E> are pursued strongly by pension advance companies who operate without much oversight from banking regulators; however, they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations. --> same issue as D
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 18 Sep 2018, 09:29
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hazelnut
vibhav
In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

A. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

B. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies, which operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

C. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies and operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

D. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies, operating without much oversight from banking regulators but now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

E. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies who operate without much oversight from banking regulators; however, they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

@E-GMAT could this example be a good choice to understand the VERB-ing modifier concept?

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


Solution: B

Explanation: This sentence correction problem is mostly concerned with errors of sentence construction. The most obvious decision point – the choice between “are being pursued” and “are pursued” is not important as both could be used to describe the current situation. In (A) the use of “they” in the last portion of the sentence is incorrect as it represents a reference error (the “they” seems to be referencing the people with pensions not the companies). (B) is correct as the “which” clause makes it clear that the companies “operate without oversight….but are now drawing….”. In (C) it is not the people with pensions that “operate without much oversight…”. For (D), the use of the participle “operating” perpetuates the problem in (C) – it still modifies the subject (those with pensions) so is nonsensical as people would not operate without oversight. In (E), the use of “they” in the second portion after the semicolon contains the same reference error as in (A). Answer is (B).
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mikemcgarry, @hazelnut,@veriaskarishma, abhimahna,
In option A, there are 2 clause.
In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators
subject 1- those who have public pensions. Clause1- those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies
subject2- pension advance companies clause 2- pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators. Here that modifies pension advance companies. So, the sentence becomes pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators. Operate is the verb.
Now, they must modify the subject of the preceding clause. So, the subject of the preceding clause is pension advance companies. How can we have a pronoun ambiguity then?
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 01 Feb 2019, 01:11
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Options A and E have a problem with the pronoun “they”. In both of these options, “they” could refer to “pension advance companies” (correct) or to “those who have public pensions”. This ambiguity means that we can get rid of these two options. C has a big meaning error. “and operate without much oversight” should have the subject “pension advance companies” but here its subject is “those with public pensions”. Completely wrong. D is mostly correct but has a subtle logic problem, even though its grammar is spot on. D suggests that “operating without much oversight from banking regulators but now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.” Refers to “those with public pensions”. Again, not the right meaning.



So, B is the right answer.
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 28 Sep 2022, 08:59
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can there be a decision point on "are pursued" and "are being pursued" ?

mikemcgarry
avohden
In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

A. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

B. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies, which operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

C. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies and operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

D. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies, operating without much oversight from banking regulators but now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

E. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies who operate without much oversight from banking regulators; however, they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.
Dear avohden
I'm happy to help. :-) This is a good question.

The adjective "they" in (A) & (E) is ambiguous. We know logically it has to refer to the "pension advance companies" but grammatically, it could refer to "those who have public pensions". Choice (E) also creates a very strong break between two verbs, "operate" and "are drawing", that really should be contrasted in parallel. Similarly, (A) doesn't maintain parallelism between them. These two are incorrect.

In (B), the modifier refers very clearly and appropriately to the "pension advance companies". This choice is promising.

In (C), we have false parallelism. This is a trap designed for folks who think about parallelism mechanically, ignoring the meaning of the sentence. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/parallelis ... orrection/
The subject of the verba "operate" and "are ... drawing" are the "pension advance companies", but the parallelism suggests otherwise. This is incorrect.

Choice (D) is perhaps the most tempting alternative to (B). The problem with (D) is subtle. Typically, when we have an independent clause, then a comma, then a participial phrase, the participial phrase, if it acting as noun-modifier, modifies the subject.
P did X to Q, doing Y.
In that construction, most typically P is the actor of the "doing Y" action.
In (D), this rule would suggest that "those who have public pensions" should be the subject of the participial phrases, but logically, we know it must be the "pension advance companies." Grammar & logic don't support the same conclusion --- that's always the sign of an incorrectly constructed sentence. We can reject (D).

The only possible answer is (B).

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve 29 Sep 2022, 05:03
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kittle
can there be a decision point on "are pursued" and "are being pursued" ?

mikemcgarry
avohden
In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

A. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies that operate without much oversight from banking regulators, but they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

B. are being pursued strongly by pension advance companies, which operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

C. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies and operate without much oversight from banking regulators but are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

D. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies, operating without much oversight from banking regulators but now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.

E. are pursued strongly by pension advance companies who operate without much oversight from banking regulators; however, they are now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations.
Dear avohden
I'm happy to help. :-) This is a good question.

The adjective "they" in (A) & (E) is ambiguous. We know logically it has to refer to the "pension advance companies" but grammatically, it could refer to "those who have public pensions". Choice (E) also creates a very strong break between two verbs, "operate" and "are drawing", that really should be contrasted in parallel. Similarly, (A) doesn't maintain parallelism between them. These two are incorrect.

In (B), the modifier refers very clearly and appropriately to the "pension advance companies". This choice is promising.

In (C), we have false parallelism. This is a trap designed for folks who think about parallelism mechanically, ignoring the meaning of the sentence. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/parallelis ... orrection/
The subject of the verba "operate" and "are ... drawing" are the "pension advance companies", but the parallelism suggests otherwise. This is incorrect.

Choice (D) is perhaps the most tempting alternative to (B). The problem with (D) is subtle. Typically, when we have an independent clause, then a comma, then a participial phrase, the participial phrase, if it acting as noun-modifier, modifies the subject.
P did X to Q, doing Y.
In that construction, most typically P is the actor of the "doing Y" action.
In (D), this rule would suggest that "those who have public pensions" should be the subject of the participial phrases, but logically, we know it must be the "pension advance companies." Grammar & logic don't support the same conclusion --- that's always the sign of an incorrectly constructed sentence. We can reject (D).

The only possible answer is (B).

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Hello kittle,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, no; in this case, we cannot use the simple present ("are pursued") versus simple present continuous ("are being pursued") split to eliminate answer choices because both tenses can logically be used here.

The action of "pursuing" those who have public pensions can be interpreted as a habitual action (best conveyed through the simple present tense) or as an action that is currently ongoing and continuous in nature (conveyed through the simple present continuous tense).

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Simple Continuous Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
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