Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use

Question

Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel,  the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting  extraction of deeper layers of coal.

(A) the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting

(B) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by permitting the drainage of mines and the

(C) steam engines in eighteenth-century England allowed an increase in coal production by permitting the drainage of mine water and permitting

(D) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by allowing water to be drained out of mines and

(E) eighteenth-century use of steam engines increased English coal production by draining mines and

https://s31.postimg.org/d474xtc17/Screen_Shot_2016_07_31_at_23_36_24.jpg 
This is a pretty hard question, it was the first mistake after a consistent number of right answers.
In my reasoning, I supposed that the steam engine couldn't be the subject of the phrase, since "a steam engine increased" sounded wrong to me, I liked more the idea of "the use of the steam engine increased", if anyone could elaborate I'd appreciate it  :)

Mimster · Accepted Answer

(so I typed out the sentence just because I want to do a proper take on it.)

Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting extraction of deeper layers of coal.

a) the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting.
b) steam engines increased goal production in eighteenth-century England by permitting the drainage of mines and the
c) steam engines in eighteenth-century England allowed an increase in coal production by permitting the drainage of mine water and permitting
d) steam engines increased cold production in eighteenth-century England by allowing water to be drained out of mines and
e) eighteenth-century use of steam engines increased English coal production by draining mines and

From reading the first words of the sentence I immediately notice that it's a modifier and every time there is a modifier my brain goes off screaming 'MAKE SURE IT'S MODIFYING THE RIGHT SUBJECT!'. So since from the start we can identify several issues:
1. Modifier issue 'the use of the steam engine' - I am pretty sure the use is not located, instead the first half of the sentence should modify 'the steam engine'
2. Parallelism issue with 'allowing for mines TO BE DRAINED[...] and permitting EXTRACTION[...]'; first is a gerund + passive and second is gerund + noun phrase.

With these analysis in mind, I quickly eliminate A and E. We're left with B, C, and D.

B) looks good so far, it fixes the modifier issue and the parallelism issue so I move on to scan the remaining choices.

C) this answer choice changes the meaning of the original intention whereby it talks about how steam engines helped coal production in the 18th century and not 18th century steam engines helping coal production. Therefore I eliminate this answer choice. Additionally, two permitting sounds awkward and redundant.

D) Fixes the modifier issue but the parallelism issue still remains, therefore I eliminate this choice.

B) is the only one we have left and corrects all the errors

AjiteshArun · Answer

Quick elimination: the placement of  in eighteenth-century England  is problematic in option C, and option D doesn't have a  the .

Option C 
  steam engines in eighteenth-century England  allowed an increase in coal production 
vs.
 steam engines  increased coal production in eighteenth-century England

This is a little like saying  computers in offices have led to an increase in productivity . While this is not strictly incorrect, the intent of the sentence is to view computers as (let's say) a form of technology and to keep the focus on letting the reader know where the increase in productivity has occurred (as a result of the usage of computers).

Computers in offices have led to an increase in productivity. 
vs.
 Computers have led to an increase in productivity in offices.

Option D 
In option D, while  water  is a noun, it is not a good fit for  extraction . This option basically uses  an object (noun) and an infinitive ] as the first element of the list ( water to be drained ) and only a  noun ] ( extraction of deeper layers ) as the second. This is not very parallel.  Drainage  would have been a much better fit here (with  extraction ).

steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by permitting  the  drainage  of mines  and  the  extraction  of deeper layers  
vs.
 steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by allowing   water  to be drained out of mines  and   extraction  of deeper layers

Also, we should look for a  the  in D. For example,  the extraction of  instead of  extraction of .

babuvgmat · Answer

Hi,

This is a clear Modifier sentence. 
 Located at the coal mines...., (what is located should be here after comma) . steam engines are located at the coal mines. So A and E are out.

C. Distorted the meaning by changing to " allowed an increase " whereas intended meaning is allowed drainage of mines.
D. "allowing water to be drained out of mines" (passive construction) is not parallel to "extraction of deeper layers of coal" (a noun phrase)

B. is clear and concise. Initially i confused for the word water missing but i think its understood in the phrase drainage of mines.

RaghavSingla · Answer

What is wrong with option C ?

Is it just wordiness ? I don't think there's any meaning distortion.

DensetsuNo · Answer

There are two major things other than what babuvgmat pointed out.

1st repeating "permitting" is awkward.
2nd the lack of "the" after the second permitting is wrong, as "permitting extraction" doesn't mean anything.

Den

RK84 · Answer

"Steam engines cannot allow the increase"
That is absurd

Sent from my iPhone using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

WaitingSurprises · Answer

Tough to eliminate D. The structure is not parallel here. 'water' is not parallel to 'extraction'

abrakadabra21 · Answer

I don't understand why it is B.

It seems like steam engines is permitting the drainage and extraction. I dont like C for the same reason. subject of "allow" is "steam engine"

seanick · Answer

A, C, and E are out.
D has passive form of speech " allowing water to be drained out of mines ", and there is a lack of proper parallelism between " allowing water to be drained out of mine " and " permitting extraction of deep layer of coal "
B doesn't have passive construction, and also it has correct parallelism, even the elimination of need to use  permitting  twice.

sayantanc2k · Answer

" The use of steam engines" is wrong, because the pronoun "them" in the opening modifier requires "steam engines" to be the subject. 
(Yet your reasoning that "the use of steam engines increased" is better than " steam engines increased", but then the sentence would be grammatically wrong because of wrong pronoun reference - it is not wrong to say that " steam engines increased").

narendran1990 · Answer

I understand your explanation  Mimster . Gerund has to be parallel with an action noun and not only with noun. But in option B the 'drainage of mines' sounds awkward. Whereas in option D, use of the term 'water' adds some meaning. Questions like these, it is tough to figure out whether to go by meaning or pure parallelism rules.!

felippemed · Answer

a) the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting. b) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by permitting the drainage of mines and the c) steam engines in eighteenth-century England allowed an increase in coal production by permitting the drainage of mine water and (by) permitting d) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by allowing water to be drained out of mines and e) eighteenth-century use of steam engines increased English coal production by draining mines and bad modified :evil:

the drainage of mine water - mine water is not a coal mine allowing water to be drained out of mines - you can allow an innanimate thing such as water to be drained out. ( water can't perform such task by itself ) steam engines in eighteenth-century England - remove the fluff and you will see a change in the meaning (it was never mentioned that steam engines were in England

daviddaviddavid · Answer

Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting extraction of deeper layers of coal.

(A)  the use of steam  engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting
(B) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by permitting the drainage of mines and the
(C) steam engines in eighteenth-century England  allowed  an increase in coal production by permitting the drainage of mine water and  permitting 
(D) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by allowing water to be drained out of mines  and  does not fit to the rest of the sentence!
(E)  eighteenth-century use  of steam engines increased English coal production by draining mines and

Sahil01 · Answer

Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel,  the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting  extraction of deeper layers of coal.

(A) the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting  - "steam engines" needed after "fuel," 
(B) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by permitting the drainage of mines and the  - CORRECT "the drainage" parallel to "the extraction" 
(C) steam engines in eighteenth-century England allowed an increase in coal production by permitting the drainage of mine water and permitting  - not parallel "by permitting the drainage.." with "permitting extraction" 
(D) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by allowing water to be drained out of mines and  - "by allowing" not parallel to "extraction"  
(E) eighteenth-century use of steam engines increased English coal production by draining mines and  - "steam engines" needed after "fuel," - same as A

praveen8047 · Answer

IMO (B)
(1 Located at the ..... with fuel --> this modifier should modify steam engines. Neither to 'the use' nor to 'the eighteenth century'
(2) subject and object should be placed closer whenever its possible
Steam engine (subject) + increased (verb)+ Coal production(Objects) --- correct form
(3) parallelism : permitting drainage of mine water and permitting extraction of deeer layers.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

arvind910619 · Answer

Main issue in the sentence is parallelism and wordiness .
Option B corrects these two flaws .
Option is pretty close but fails miserably for parallelism and use passive voice.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel,  the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting  extraction of deeper layers of coal.

(A) the use of steam engines in eighteenth-century England increased coal production by allowing for mines to be drained of water and permitting -- opening modifier error 
(B) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by permitting the drainage of mines and the
(C) steam engines in eighteenth-century England allowed an increase in coal production by permitting the drainage of mine water and permitting -- permitting is redundant here?
(D) steam engines increased coal production in eighteenth-century England by allowing water to be drained out of mines and
(E) eighteenth-century use of steam engines increased English coal production by draining mines and -- opening modifier error ; parallelism issue - by draining and extraction are not parallel

I chose D -- by allowing X and Y ; X = water to be drained out of mines, Y = extraction of deeper layers of coal . I believe both water and extraction here are nouns.

AjiteshArun  , mikemcgarry  , egmat  , GMATNinja  , other experts - can you please help with eliminating options C and D ?

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Skywalker18 I'm happy to respond.

I see that my intelligent fellow expert AjiteshArun already responded, but I will add a few more thoughts. Many students, both native English speaker and non-native speakers, have the mistaken notion that parallelism is a grammatical structure. It is not . Parallelism is a logical structure , and the matching grammar merely serves to elucidate the underlying logical correspondences. Just because two nouns are the same part of speech does not mean they would be appropriate for parallelism. Here's a disastrous sentence: I cooked dinner with seven carrots, with my biggest pot, and with my friend Chris . At the level of grammar, I have three prepositional phrase of the form " with " + , so the grammar is all matching, but of course the logical relationships are 100% different. That sentence is so bad it's comical. Much in the same way, " water " and " extraction " indeed are both nouns, but they do not have a logically parallel relationship. The word " extraction " is an action-noun, describing a human activity, and " water " is a concrete noun, a substances that is the concern or focus of a human activity. By contrast, the OA, choice (B) has the two nouns in parallel " the drainage " and " the extraction ": these are action nouns describing two human activities that would done in tandem and combine to result in greater coal production. In (B), there is a profound coherence between the grammar and the logic, whereas in (D), there's a mismatch between grammar and logic. In a well written GMAT SC sentence, grammar & logic & rhetoric are all coherent--all work together to support meaning. Does all this make sense? Mike

800Dreamer · Answer

Hi  Bunuel ,

This question is a prep ques. Can you please mark the same?

Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use

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

Located at the very coal mines that provided them with fuel, the use

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