Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 03:23 It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 03:23
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
sandeepmanocha
User avatar
Joined: 21 Jun 2014
Last visit: 30 Dec 2016
Posts: 21
Own Kudos:
129
Given Kudos: 184
Posts: 21
Kudos: 129
Inferred Meaning 21 Jun 2015, 13:13
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
The Economist, Dec 13th, Page 11 - Police in Hong Kong began clearing the main camp set up by demonstrators more than ten weeks ago to call for free elections in the Chinese territory.

Is this a wrong construction? Can't we infer two different meanings, "began clearing camps older than ten months" or "began clearing camps 10 months ago", from this?

Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Verbal Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block below for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
User avatar
mikemcgarry
User avatar
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Last visit: 06 Aug 2018
Posts: 4,479
Own Kudos:
30,534
 [4]
Given Kudos: 130
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 4,479
Kudos: 30,534
 [4]
Inferred Meaning 23 Jun 2015, 16:35
4
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
sandeepmanocha
The Economist, Dec 13th, Page 11 - Police in Hong Kong began clearing the main camp set up by demonstrators more than ten weeks ago to call for free elections in the Chinese territory.

Is this a wrong construction? Can't we infer two different meanings, "began clearing camps older than ten months" or "began clearing camps 10 months ago", from this?
Show more
Dear sandeepmanocha,
I'm happy to respond. :-) My friend, I am extremely glad to see that you are reading the Economist magazine as part of your preparation. Outside reading is the best way to build your verbal skills, precisely because you encounter sentences of this sort. This is a fantastic question! :-)

This sentence is 100% correct and unambiguous. The phrase "more than ten weeks ago" is an adverb phrase, a verb modifier. Verb modifiers are looser in their rules than noun modifier. As a general rule, noun modifiers must obey the Modifier Touch Rule. Verb modifiers are under no obligation to touch the verb they modify, but as a general rule, verb modifiers modify the verb or verbal to which they are closest. Here, this verb modifier is the second in a sequence of verb modifiers that immediate follows the verbal, the participle "set up." It's absolutely clear that the 10 week period refers to setting up the camps. If we wanted to say that the police action of clearing the camps is what started 10 weeks ago, we would have to locate the verb modifier closer to that verb:

Version B: Police in Hong Kong began more than ten weeks ago clearing the main camp set up by demonstrators to call for free elections in the Chinese territory.
Version C: More than ten weeks ago, police in Hong Kong began clearing the main camp set up by demonstrators to call for free elections in the Chinese territory.

In those two versions, it's unambiguous that the 10 weeks time indicator applies to the police action, so that setting up the camps must have happened much more than 10 weeks ago.
In the original version in the Economist, it's unambiguous that the 10 week time indicator applies to setting up the camps, so the police action must be more recent.

The verb modifier acts on the closest verb or verbal. Verbals include infinitives, participles, and gerunds.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
User avatar
VerbalBot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 18,832
Own Kudos:
986
Posts: 18,832
Kudos: 986
Inferred Meaning 29 Nov 2022, 11:19
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Verbal Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
Moderators:
miag
188 posts
u1983
Current Student
710 posts
MikeScarn
Current Student
275 posts