Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms,

Question

Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its  ever-present congestion tolerable.

(A) Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its

(B) Japan, a culture of accommodation and constraint, is a system of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes its

(C) A culture of accommodation and constraint, Japan is a system of forms, etiquette, and images making its

(D) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the

(E) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, of a system of forms, etiquette, and images which makes the

Praetorian · Accepted Answer

In D, The clause starting with "that" is a RESTRICTIVE clause...how do i know that?

Remove the "that" clause..we are left with a run on sentence.

With Restrictive Clauses, ALWAYS use THAT.

NOTE:
Its true that both "that" and "which"  can   be used to start restrictive clauses...but "that" is always preferred.

So we zoom in to D.. 

Another reason for rejecting E...

Japan's is a culture of X, of a system of forms...this structure is not quite correct...

Culture and System are two different things.. isnt it? 

Culture of a System of.......isnt that messed up?

correct version can be:

Japan's is a culture of X and a system of Y that makes its Z


ok, now to answer in general about that and which

That starts a restrictive clause providing essential information.. no commas ever for "that"

The book,   which is on the table  , is mine...wrong

If we remove the red part, you will ask...which book....isnt it?

We need more information...

The book   that is on the table   is mine...correct

The sentence in blue is thus integral to the sentence.

Here we have complete information about the book...so this is fine
So if you get rid of a "which" clause ...it " should not " change the meaning of the sentence..if it does, then your sentence construction is wrong.....the Which clause is usually set of from the sentence by commas...

Be advised..there may be cases where ETS will introduce the same error in ALL the choices...in that case, dont lose sight of the fact that you got to pick the BEST answer....for example , you may have five choices...all of these have no comma before which...in that case..you can be sure that the rule " no comma before which" is not tested here.

Is that good enough?

Thanks
Praetorian

b14kumar · Answer

It's between B and D.
I would go with B.

Ok let's take D first:

Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the ever-present congestion tolerable.

We may think "Japan's is" as "Culture of Japan" and can rewrite the sentence as 
 " Culture of Japan  is a culture of accommodation and constraint,  a system of  forms, etiquette, and images that makes the   ever-present congestion tolerable ."

However, a culture can not be a system.
Moreover "ever-present congestion" is not clear. It seems as if congestion is present everywhere. Actually it should say  congestion is present everywhere  in Japan  .

So D is out.


In B

 Japan ,  a culture of  accommodation and constraint,  is a system  of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes  its  ever-present congestion tolerable.

Here Japan can be a system.
I am not sure if it's appropriate to say "Japan is a culture".
"its" clearly says about  Japan's Congestion .

So IMO B should be the answer.

Regards,
Brajesh

selene · Answer

OA is ^ D ^


Here we should talk about the culture so we need "Japan's". Otherwise we would be trying to find a connection between Japan and the culture and that is not what we want ..

So we are left with D and E.

(D) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images  that  makes the 

(E) Japan's is a culture  of  accommodation and constraint,  of  a system of forms, etiquette, and images  which  makes the

In E we have the redundancy with the repetition of "of". It is not necessary.

But the main subject is that "which" in E has no clear referrant. As we use "which" with non restrictive clauses and "that" with restrcitive clauses, "that" is better for this question.

x2suresh · Answer

A,B,C 
Says.. Japan is a Culture.. So.. they are gone.

between D and E.. (They may not be best but better than other 3 options)

In D, I think verb "IS" placed in the midlle of the subject "Janpan's Culture"

I can rewrite the setence like below

Japan's culture of accommodation and constraint IS a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the

E is out.."of systems of forms" --> awkward.

leonidas · Answer

A, B and C tells us that Japan is a culture which is incorrect. (Japan is a country).
D and E states- Japan's is a culture which means, Japan has a culture which is characterized by (accomodation and contraint- use proper form). 
Between (D) and (E), (D) is parallel.
In (E), "of a system of forms, etiquette" breaks teh parallelism.

gmattokyo · Answer

Can't resist replying to a Q on Japan

IMO (D) (A) Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its <--"its" predecessor is not clear" (B) Japan, a culture of accommodation and constraint, is a system of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes its <--same as (A) (C) A culture of accommodation and constraint, Japan is a system of forms, etiquette, and images making its <--Japan is not a culture. It should be Japan's culture (D) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the <--a culture of <>, a system of <> parallel form (E) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, of a system of forms, etiquette, and images which makes the <--a culture of a system of forms... sounds awkward and seems like changing the meaning of original an edit on (A) reason

GMAT TIGER · Answer

Realized that Japan cannot be a culture - so changed to D from A:

(A) is incorrect and wrong meaning as "Japan" cannot be '"a culture of accommodation and constraint".
(B) is incorrect and wrong meaning as "Japan" cannot be '"a culture of accommodation and constraint".
also "which" refers to "images", which is plural and the verb of plural "which" should be "make" not "makes".
(C) Too wired???????

(D) is correct as "Japan's" can be a culture of accommodation and constraint. The sentence reads as: 
“Japan’s is a culture of accommodation and constraints, a system (of forms and etiquettes) that makes the everpresent congestion tolerable”.

(E) "Japan's" cannot be a culture of accommodation and constraint.

sriharimurthy · Answer

D for me.

IMO the explanation should be as follows:

Japan's (that is japans culture) is:

1) a culture of accommodation and constraint,
2) a system of forms, etiquette and images (here we are not talking about this point as a separate entity but rather to aid in describing the above point and thereby japans culture - this would explain the use of a comma rather than 'and')

which makes (because we are referring to 'culture' which is singular) the ever-present congestion tolerable.

Hope this helps!

Let me know what you guys think.

daagh · Answer

The first test here is whether what the relative pronoun ‘ which ’ or ‘ that ’ stands for. If it is argued that it stands for the noun ‘ images ’, then this structure runs into a serious problem of S-V disagreement – ‘ images ’ which or that ‘ makes ’. Otherwise, we have to labor to argue that it stands for the distant ' a system ' or ' a culture '. This is untenable; so in my opinion, we have to drop B, D and E and go for A, or C which avoids the mismodification by using a present participle that modifies the entire noun phrase or phrases lying before it.

Second task is whether we can accept a country as a culture. I think it is acceptable metaphorically.

But between A and C, A has a subtle problem, Japan is a culture and a system as per the text. I think these two should have been conjugated by a conjunction ‘and’.

C - On the contrary, some feel that it is awkward to start a sentence with an absolute modifier such as in choice C. But I feel that there are so many instances where this type of form has been passed by GMAT. In an OG example given below, the answer choice is C which is using the absolute modifiers as starters of sentences.

I feel that C makes the strongest case as the answer IMO. Any takers?

daagh · Answer

I find an important custom of English usage sadly missed by many.

What do you think of the following statements?

Franklin Rooswelt was a ‘giant’ of a President.
Mahatma Gandhi was a ‘lion’ of a statesman. 
He is a ‘horse’ when he drinks
It is raining ‘cats and dogs’.
 
These are metaphors used to stress some point and are perfectly licit. We should not think of a country only in terms of geography or geology. A country is much more than that. So let us not mistake that this text suffers from weirdness. That said, let us delve into the choices now.

A) Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its ------
  ‘IMO, A is a perfect choice with proper participial modification that modifies the entire noun idea running before it and with proper punctuation.’

(B) Japan, a culture of accommodation and constraint, is a system of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes its -----  ‘ Which makes’  flouts relative pronoun touch- rule. 
(C) A culture of accommodation and constraint, Japan is a system of forms, etiquette, and images making its …….  The sentence alters the meaning that only images are making its ever-present congestion tolerable.  
D) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images’ that makes …..  ‘That’ modifies images and flouts touch rule.
 
(E) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, of a system of forms, etiquette, and images which makes the
  ‘and images which makes the ‘Which’ is not preceded by a comma and hence the sentence is ungrammatical,

souvik101990 · Answer

Thing to not here "that" and "which" maintains the touch rule. But not 100% of the time.
I sent the letter to my dad which contained the information.
This is a completely gmat-relevant sentence.
Also see that in D "makes" makes it clear that the subject of "makes" is not images but system (similar to the above sentence in which "letter" is the subject to the verb "contained".
D is the winner
Might not be a clear winner tho.

Souvik

arirux92 · Answer

Since people are having doubt between D and E, let me clarify that :

Other than that/which

a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the

D)
It says
Japan's is 
1) a culture of accommodation and constraint
2) a system of forms, etiquette, and images

E)

It says :

Japan's is a :
1) a culture of accommodation and constraint
2) culture of a system of forms, etiquette, and images

We want to say Japan's system is a system of forms, etiquette and images
How can a culture match up with a system?

Hence D

Other than that, which can only refer to a single noun!!!! so which noun do we match up here?

kamathimanshu · Answer

A, B, C are wrong because the sentence talks about cultures whereas the subject of the sentences is Japan.

between D and E,

E - which without comma is rarely used in GMAT
 - Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint,  of a system of forms , etiquette, and images which makes the
 is wierd.

D- that is preferred over which in this sentence as that is a restrictive clause.

leanhdung · Answer

Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its  ever-present congestion tolerable.

Japan  is  not   a culture !!!

(A)  Japan is a culture  of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images, making its

(B)  Japan, a culture  of accommodation and constraint, is a system of forms, etiquette, and images, which makes its

(C)  A culture  of accommodation and constraint,  Japan  is a system of forms, etiquette, and images making its

(D) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms, etiquette, and images that makes the
--> correct.

(E) Japan's is a culture of accommodation and constraint, of a system of forms, etiquette, and images which makes the
--> awkward.

as03691 · Answer

A, B and C all call Japan a system or a culture, so they are all wrong. It must be D or E. The correct answer should be D since E repeats ‘of’ twice. This is awkward and redundant.

RamilL · Answer

Please can someone explain what does "Japan's is" mean?
This is from the answers D and E.

Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

parijit · Answer

I don't thing this one is GMAT standard question,it does not obey the touch rule.

sayan640 · Answer

VeritasKarishma  ,  GMATGuruNY  ,  GMATNinja  ,  generis

Can you please explain this question ?

neutronstar · Answer

Can you explain the use of "Japan's"?, how "Japan's" is a culture?

Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms,

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Japan is a culture of accommodation and constraint, a system of forms,

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