In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve

Question

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.

Was confused between B & D.
E-gmat could this example be a good choice to understand the verb-ing modifier concept?

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

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 :-)

littlegirl · Answer

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.  not parallel

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.  The best

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.  Change meaning, Wrong Subject

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

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.  They : not clear 
Answer is B

mnm21234 · Answer

Hope the above explanation helps.

kinghyts · Answer

Here is my explanation to the question

"being" is not incorrect in this kind of passive voice construction. Therefore A) and B) cannot be ruled out just because "being" is present.

In C) "are pursued" and "operate" are not the right objects in parallel. In almost nonsensically means that people, i.e veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others, "operate" rather than the companies.

D) is incorrect since "but" needs to follow a Independent Clause or another verb in parallel. "now drawing scrutiny from several other government organizations" is a modifier and hence this option is incorrect.

E) the use of "who" to refer back to "companies" is incorrect.

Now between A) and B), both seems correct, one with essential modifier and another with non-essential modifier. "but" is followed correctly by an indenpendent clause in A), while B) has verb "are now drawing" parallel to "are being pursued".

Experts, please help in eliminating A) if it is possible to use any other reason to eliminate A) other than eliminating the option because of the ambiguous pronoun "they" .

KyleWiddison · Answer

Good meaning based question.

A - here the last element "but they are now drawing scrutiny" incorrectly refers back to "those with public pensions" instead of pension advance companies.

B - correct - in this sentence we have clear and proper meaning as we see that those with public pensions are "being pursued" while the pension advance companies "operate" and "are now drawing".

C- here all elements of the latter part of the sentence (are pursued, and operate, but are now drawing) incorrectly tie back to "those with public pensions" (plus they are not parallel in structure). The pension advance companies are the ones that "operate" and "are now drawing".

D- the modifying phrase "operating without...but now drawing" seems to (incorrectly) modify "those with public pensions" instead of the "pension advance companies".

E- the "they" in the final clause "they are now drawing scrutiny..." would tie back to the original subject of the sentence - "those with public pensions" but that doesn't represent the proper meaning that the pension advance companies are now drawing scrutiny.

KW

avohden · Answer

Thanks Mike - I noticed you didn't speak about the 2-3 split between "are being pursued strongly" vs. "are pursued strongly". I couldn't determine what was wrong with "are pursued strongly" but it just didn't sit right with my ear.

Could I get your thoughts on if one is better than the other or if they are both acceptable and that split should be downplayed for other more obvious errors.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear avohden , Both of those are grammatically correct. Those with public pension are pursued. Present tense, passive voice . Those with public pension are being pursued. Present progressive tense, passive voice . See: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-verbs ... ive-tense/ The two versions mean largely the same thing. The second, the progressive form, heightens the implication that this is happening right now --- this is a process in motion even as we are speaking about it. The underscores the urgency of the problem, so in the context of the sentence, the second is a little more natural, but the first is certainly not "wrong". That's why I ignored it in doing the splits, because it's not a decisive split in and of itself. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

vivmechster · Answer

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. -  pronoun reference error.

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. -  subject for operate should be people not companies.

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

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.  pronoun error

jlgdr · Answer

Hi Kylee,

Could you please elaborate how is it that 'being' is used properly in this case?

Thanks
Cheers
J

KyleWiddison · Answer

Being is often used in incorrect answer choices, but it can be used correctly, as in this question. The inclusion of "being" in the sentence above creates a sort of continuous/active tense. The pursuit that is described seems to be ongoing in nature and the meaning would be different/worse if we removed "being". Here are some examples of incorrect uses of "being" (taken from this post: (usage-of-being-on-gmat-111592.html) I was not aware of of the situation being so bad. (Better is: I was not aware that the situation was so bad.) He was not interested in working hard, but being rich. (Better: He was interested not in working hard, but in becoming rich.) The CFO suggested a reduction in the number of employees being assigned to the project. (Better: Simply remove "being.") KW

KyleWiddison · Answer

Maybe you could elaborate a bit on your question. Which modifying are you asking about and what do you think it is modifying?

KW

Thoughtosphere · Answer

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 ?

mikemcgarry · Answer

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 :-)

Blackwhite · Answer

this may be somewhat off-topic, but is the phrase "In these difficult economic times" correct??

Wouldn't it have to be something like "In these economically difficult times"? as far as I can tell the meaning of this sentence is actually that the times are both difficult and economic, which makes no sense(??)

KyleWiddison · Answer

You are correct, saying "difficult and economic times" does not make sense and the sentence does seem like it could be saying that. Really, we have a situation where the two adjectives (difficult and economic) are working together to modify the noun (times). We view "difficult economic" like a single modifier for the word times. How were the times? They were difficult from an economic standpoint. If we wanted the adjectives to separately modify the noun, we would need to separate them with a comma. The phrase "difficult, economic times" would mean that the times were both difficult and economic, which makes no sense.

KW

Shree9975 · Answer

@KyleWiddison...Does a participal ("operating" which is used in option D ) modifier modify the subject of the sentence or the noun besides which it is located? Because judging from the above example it modifies the subject of the sentence... yet I was wondering whether this is always the case...
Can you please clarify on this

KyleWiddison · Answer

When you have these types of modifiers (noun, + -ing) they will not modify the preceding noun but will modify the preceding clause.

Example:
Last night I was so tired I feel asleep on the couch, laying down on top of my computer.

Obviously "laying down..." doesn't modify couch and it doesn't really modify me as a noun, but it does modify that preceding clause, "last night I was so tired..."

Hope that helps.

KW

email2vm · Answer

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.

My question:
In option B :

There are two ways we can read this sentence:

1> In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – 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.

or

2> In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – veterans, mail workers, firemen, and others – 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 .

Question 1>   Is the second one correct since there is no comma before the word " but" ?

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?

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?

Ravi

tarunk31 · Answer

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

In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In these difficult economic times, those who have public pensions – ve

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards