The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure

I am responding to a pm asking me to comment on this question.

I concur with many of the others on this page, and would say: in my estimation, the correct "conclusion" to draw is not A, B, C, D, or E, but rather that one should avoid this question source like the plague. Not all GMAT question sources are of equal caliber --- some (MGMAT, Magoosh, etc.) are excellent and as good as the OG, but some are mediocre, and some are downright bad. Caveat emptor!

Here, for free, is a Magoosh SC question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/1126
After you submit an answer, the next page has a video explanation. Each of our 800+ GMAT practice questions has it's own video explanation, to accelerate your learning.

Mike

Hi Dhairya275

The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration have been corrected, according to the firm of consulting engineers.

(A) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration
Wrong. "that" always modifies the CLOSET noun --> "that" modifies "supporting structure" --> wrong.

(B) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure, leading to its deterioration
Wrong. Because there is NO comma after phrase "leading to its deterioration" --> The phrase is not a modifier --> wrong grammar.

(C) Leading to its deterioration, the Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure
Wrong. "Leading to its deterioration" is misplaced modifier.

(D) The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration
Wrong. Same as in A. "that" always modifies the CLOSET noun --> "that" modifies "supporting structure" --> wrong.

(E) The defects in the supporting structure of the Statue of Liberty which led to its deterioration
The best option among all. But it's still wrong according to GMAT standards which require a comma before "which".

Note: "which" does not need to modifier the closest noun. That's quite common in GMAT. Please see a "similar" question below:
emily-dickinsons-letters-to-susan-huntington-dickinson-were-10142.html

The point here is that without a comma before which, the sentence is not correct per GMAT standards.

Hope it's clear.

It is still wrong. Let put it into the whole sentence and you will see

The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure led to its deterioration have been corrected, according to the firm of consulting engineers.

This is a fragment sentence.

I do agree that the pronoun its is ambiguous here and a non-essential modifier starting with which should be separated by comma. However the construction The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure is very awkward - such constructions are generally wrong in the GMAT. This question does not seem to be one of the best.

I like the phrase "goofy but acceptable." Often true of SC sentences!

There's a funky little thing with "-ing" modifiers: they can modify just a noun, or they can modify an entire clause. In this case, I suppose that the question-writer's objection to (C) is that the modifier "leading to its deterioration" illogically modifies the entire clause "the Statue of Liberty's defects... have been corrected." But if you think that "leading to its deterioration" is just modifying "the Statue of Liberty's defects," then I suppose that (C) is fine. But it's debatable -- and an official GMAT question won't really leave room for debate the way this one does.

Like most non-official questions, this one has its flaws, and needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The GMAT spends $1500-3000 on each question, and even the best test-prep companies can't compete. So please don't spend much time worrying about this one.

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