Marian Corey has developed a chest cold that, with

Question

Marian Corey has developed a chest cold  that, with persistent coughing, could gravely strain  the five-octave voice that earned her fame.

A. that, with persistent coughing, could gravely strain 
B. that, because of persistent coughing, could be a grave strain for
C. with persistent coughing, and it could gravely strain
D. with persistent coughing and could be a grave strain for
E. with persistent coughing and could gravely strain

First, I eliminated answer choices with "could be a grave strain for"...diction...B and D gone.
Then I eliminated C, "it" is not required for the subject.
I got confused between A and E, but selected E. 
Could you please explain your answers.

gmat1220 · Answer

The first split is "that/with". If that is not easy elimination - look at the meaning. The sentence says that chest cold gravely "strain" the voice.

Marian Corey has developed a chest cold  that, with persistent coughing, could gravely strain  the five-octave voice that earned her fame.

A. that,  with persistent coughing , could gravely strain

D - out for passive "be"
E - change of meaning. Looks like Corey "strain" her own voice. Illogical.

WarriorAjay · Answer

Original sentence has nothing wrong in it. You simply can not change any of the words present.

rohu27 · Answer

ok..another example where the meaning of the sentence comes into play.

the question actually says the cold combined wth cough would strain her voice or its just the cold? 
with persistent coughing  is just a modifier?

WarriorAjay · Answer

If we consider 'with persistent coughing' as an essential modifier, we have only C as the option left. However, usage of 'it' is incorrect in this choice. 'It' might refer to chest cold or persistent coughing.-- ummm.. not clear..

On the other hand, if we consider 'with persistent coughing' as an additional information to a chest cold, the sentence still makes sense and is less ambiguous. Hence, A.

Andreweng · Answer

I picked answer c) because I thought "with" is an essential modifier that needs to be next to a noun. I see the "it" ambiguity in c. Thanks.

PTK · Answer

hi all

my choice is A.

The original sentence clearly cinveys the meaning that "chest cold that could gravely strain"

in E you don't need  and , becuase it links 2 non-parallel constructions.

anvesh004 · Answer

This explanation is simple and clear.

Posted from my mobile device

gmat1393 · Answer

Hi  generis

Please put the highlighted part into spoiler

Thanks!

Abhishek009 · Answer

Done That,

Answer must be (A)

Marian Corey has developed a chest cold that,  with persistent coughing,  could gravely strain the five-octave voice that earned her fame.

Eliminate the non-essential modifier the Answer is clean (A)

Bunuel · Answer

MANHATTAN REVIEW OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

The first thing you have to figure out is do you use with or that first. The intention of the sentence is not to state what will happen, but what may/can happen. The point is that she does not have a chest cold with a persistent cough, but that her chest cold, if it were to have a persistent cough, could produce some other result. Consequently, choices B, C, D and E are incorrect. Therefore, choice A is the correct answer.

LIBERTYRodP · Answer

I just want to point out that the answers C, D, and E are incorrect due to parallelism.

In the case of  C , we have two main clauses. The first one tells us that the woman has developed a cough, while the second one tells us that this cough could strain her voice. It is very wordy, as we would prefer to have a modifier telling us what the effects from this cough are, just like in A and B.

In the case of  D and E,  the verb  COULD BE  is incorrectly made parallel to the verb  HAS DEVELOPED . The first verb has MARY as the subject, while the second verb should have COUGH as the subject. As we know, verbs can only be parallel if they have the same subject.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Marian Corey has developed a chest cold that, with

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Marian Corey has developed a chest cold that, with

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