A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a : Sentence Correction (EA only)

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LoneSurvivor

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

10 Feb 2020, 23:24

I thought Whether-----------or------------- construction is wrong on GMAT .Can anyone please clarify this.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

11 Feb 2020, 02:33

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LoneSurvivor wrote:

I thought Whether-----------or------------- construction is wrong on GMAT .Can anyone please clarify this.

Hi, more specifically, Whether-----------or-------------not is generally a redundant construct.

For example, following would not be correct:

Mass determines whether or not a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf.

However here, three possibilities vis-a-vis neutron star are being expressed:

..a star can compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

It's like this:

GMAT score will determine whether LoneSurvivor will get admit to HBS, LBS, or Wharton.

Can't think of a better way to depict these choices/options.

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A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

27 Apr 2020, 09:36

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ekluo wrote:

Quote:

Answer Choice (D) Mass determines WHETHER a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

My understanding was that "whether" is reserved for scenarios where there were only 2 potential outcomes (ie: going to the party or not going). In this case, there are 3 potential outcomes (compressing itself into a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole). Is there an exception to this rule?

Rather than limiting the usage of whether to a maximum of two potential outcomes, it is better to associate the usage of whether with depicting a choice, an alternative, or a possibility.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

28 Apr 2020, 01:29

daagh EducationAisle

After passing through a red giant stage,depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

I eliminated B because "After passing through a red giant stage" should be followed by the modifying entity ie "a star". Is this correct?

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

28 Apr 2020, 02:57

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Kritisood wrote:

After passing through a red giant stage,depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

I eliminated B because "After passing through a red giant stage" should be followed by the modifying entity ie "a star". Is this correct?

Hi Kriti, your observation is broadly correct.

Sometimes however, a non-essential phrase can be expected after the introductory participial phrase.

For example, following would be acceptable:

While playing at Wankhede, Mumbai's biggest cricket stadium, Tendulkar scored fifteen centuries.

Notice that Mumbai's biggest cricket stadium is an appositive, modifying Wankhede.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

28 Apr 2020, 04:51

EducationAisle wrote:

Kritisood wrote:

After passing through a red giant stage,depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

I eliminated B because "After passing through a red giant stage" should be followed by the modifying entity ie "a star". Is this correct?

Hi Kriti, your observation is broadly correct.

Sometimes however, a non-essential phrase can be expected after the introductory participial phrase.

For example, following would be acceptable:

While playing at Wankhede, Mumbai's biggest cricket stadium, Tendulkar scored fifteen centuries.

Notice that Mumbai's biggest cricket stadium is an appositive, modifying Wankhede.

understood, so this cannot be the sole reason to eliminate an answer choice then? Between D and B i gave preference to D because of this.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

28 Apr 2020, 05:13

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Kritisood wrote:

understood, so this cannot be the sole reason to eliminate an answer choice then? Between D and B i gave preference to D because of this.

Hi Kriti, in the sentence under consideration, your reason to eliminate B is correct, since depending on its mass is not a non-essential phrase.

However, following sentence would also have been correct (from a modifier perspective):

After passing through a red giant stage, the last stage of stellar evolution, a star.....

the last stage of stellar evolution is a non-essential phrase modifying a red giant stage. So, in the above sentence, the participial phrase After passing through a red giant stage would correctly have modified a star.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

04 Jun 2020, 10:27

daagh as per this concept
"The concept is that whenever there is a pronoun in the subordinate portion of a complex sentence, the subordinate clause should be followed by the subject of the main clause. In addition, the protocol of pronoun reference is that the pronoun first refers to the subject of the main clause, and if that be not suitable, may seek any other logical eligible referent. "

in D the subject is "mass" but "will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole" refers to the star. could you pls assist in clearing the confusion?

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

04 Jun 2020, 20:09

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Kriti

I didn't get your doubt rightly. mass is no doubt the subject and 'determines' is the verb of the main clause and there is a subordinate clause starting with 'whether a star ", which you seem to have lost sight of. Therefore the actual subject is the star and you in your super-haste or overindulgence went astray.
Please do the Serenity Prayer every day religiously and your confusion will clear. Best of Luck.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

Updated on: 20 Jul 2020, 05:53

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Sentence Analysis

The sentence says that after a star passes through a red giant stage, it will compress itself into one of the three possibilities. Which possibility a star compresses itself into depends on the star’s mass.

There is no grammatical issue with the sentence. The only issue in the sentence is that the position of the verb-ing modifier ‘depending on mass’ leads to some confusion around what this modifier modifies. This modifier can modify the preceding clause “it passes through…”, or it can modify the main clause “a star will compress”. A better version of the sentence can remove this ambiguity.

Option Analysis

A. A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.
Incorrect.For the issue pointed above.

B. After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
Incorrect.
1. This option has the same confusion in the meaning as option A has.
2. Besides, there is a potential confusion around the antecedent of the pronoun “its”. In this construction, “its” can also refer to “red giant stage”, the only noun that appears before the pronoun.

C. After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
Incorrect.
1. Per this option, “a star’s mass” passes through a red giant stage and compresses itself into a white dwarf. The star does these things, not the star’s mass.
2. The “if” needs to be “replaced with “whether” – “if” is used very commonly in this way in informal contexts, but in formal English, “whether” is used.

D. Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
Correct. The meaning issue present in the original sentence has been resolved by changing the structure of the sentence.

E. The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
Incorrect. This option has the same error as option C has.

Originally posted by GMATIntensive on 18 Jul 2020, 22:41.
Last edited by GMATIntensive on 20 Jul 2020, 05:53, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

20 Jul 2020, 07:33

daagh wrote:

Preamble:
1. The pronoun's first prerogative is to refer to the subject of the sentence, and if the subject does not suit, then it might antecede mostly a nearby noun that may be an object of the verb or object of the preposition. Perhaps even a third one might suit better than the subject or the object, in which case that will become the eligible referent. Logic and nothing but logic is the decider of the pronoun eligibility.
2. The adverbial modifiers modify the subject and the action of the previous clause and one must be adept at spotting the previous clause.

This is a crafty issue. Now let's move on to the question.

A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.-- The pronoun refers to the star and the adverbial modifier ",depending" modifies the previous clause namely' after it(the star) passes through a red giant stage. The slip here is to mistake the previous clause as ' a star will compress', which is the first clause or the main clause but not the previous clause.

(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole. --- No issue about 'its'. However, when you have two back to back modifiers that both modify a common noun, both the modifiers will be required to be intercepted by a conjunction 'and'. Otherwise, there is the risk of the second modifier modifying the first as do nested modifiers do

(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole. -- Instant misfit since the initial modifier illogically modifies the mass rather than the star.

(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole. --- No issues with this choice.

(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole. ---absolutely out because of the distortion that the mass passes through the red giant stage.

Vanam
As far as the referents for the pronoun 'it' in A and 'its' in B are concerned, I appreciate you are on the dot.
Can you please also see my comment on choice A especially with regard to the adverbial modifier? That is a sly pitfall.

In (D), isn't "passing" modifying "mass"? Which is wrong?

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

20 Jul 2020, 09:32

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lakshya14 wrote:

In (D), isn't "passing" modifying "mass"? Which is wrong?

Hi lakshya14, after whether, a completely new clause starts:

a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

So, after passing through the red giant stage is modifying a star.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

11 Sep 2020, 00:18

noboru wrote:

A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

SC43561.01

Hi GMATNinja VeritasKarishma EducationAisle
AndrewN

In option E, passing can modify both star or the mass. But passing being a noun modifier here and star being a noun nearer to it and it making sense with star, why does it need to modify "the mass"?
We only check with the far away noun when the nearest noun does not make sense? or is it because of the presence of "after"
Will the below sentence be correct :
The mass of a star passing through the red giant stage will determine whether it compresses itself into white dwarf....
Also will this option be different if commas are removed after star and before will.
Also "It" can only refer to star and not mass because mass can not compress itself into star. So there is no ambiguity.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

11 Sep 2020, 12:51

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shanks2020 wrote:

noboru wrote:

A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

SC43561.01

Hi GMATNinja VeritasKarishma EducationAisle
AndrewN

In option E, passing can modify both star or the mass. But passing being a noun modifier here and star being a noun nearer to it and it making sense with star, why does it need to modify "the mass"?
We only check with the far away noun when the nearest noun does not make sense? or is it because of the presence of "after"
Will the below sentence be correct :
The mass of a star passing through the red giant stage will determine whether it compresses itself into white dwarf....
Also will this option be different if commas are removed after star and before will.
Also "It" can only refer to star and not mass because mass can not compress itself into star. So there is no ambiguity.

Hello, shanks2020. Option (E) is incorrect because it is unclear whether the phrase after passing... modifies the noun, mass, or the object of the preposition, star. There is no way to disprove either interpretation, and that is problematic. There are times in which the context of the main clause and phrase will reveal the one correct interpretation, but that simply is not the case here. Consider, for example, the following sentence:

The President of the United States, flying over Iceland in Air Force One en route to London...

No one is going to argue that the United States is flying over Iceland, nor, indeed, that the President has sprouted wings and learned to use them, even without the phrase about the plane. The context of the sentence suggests a clear-cut interpretation, one that is missing from the sentence in question. To be honest, I would not fuss about the it, since by that point in the sentence, it is a non-issue.

Regarding your sample sentence, removing after would change the meaning of the sentence from focusing on a star that has already undergone a change to one that was in the process of undergoing such a change. That scruple aside, though, there is no ambiguity with a restrictive phrase, since it will refer to the nearest noun preceding it.

The mass of a star passing through the red giant stage will determine whether it compresses itself into white dwarf...

As a standalone sentence, I would not red flag this one. It is the star that is understood to be passing through the red giant stage; the it could be clarified by a simple replacement with the referent: will determine whether the star compresses itself... I always prefer clarity of meaning. With that said, there are times in which ambiguous pronouns are present in correct answer choices—I came across two today from an official test that a student of mine had taken. However, it is always best to avoid such ambiguities when possible, and if the other four answer choices present worse offenses, then you should choose the best of the bunch.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me about this one.

- Andrew

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

11 Sep 2020, 23:04

AndrewN wrote:

shanks2020 wrote:

noboru wrote:

A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(A) A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole after it passes through a red giant stage, depending on mass.

(B) After passing through a red giant stage, depending on its mass, a star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(C) After passing through a red giant stage, a star’s mass will determine if it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(D) Mass determines whether a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

(E) The mass of a star, after passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

SC43561.01

Hi GMATNinja VeritasKarishma EducationAisle
AndrewN

In option E, passing can modify both star or the mass. But passing being a noun modifier here and star being a noun nearer to it and it making sense with star, why does it need to modify "the mass"?
We only check with the far away noun when the nearest noun does not make sense? or is it because of the presence of "after"
Will the below sentence be correct :
The mass of a star passing through the red giant stage will determine whether it compresses itself into white dwarf....
Also will this option be different if commas are removed after star and before will.
Also "It" can only refer to star and not mass because mass can not compress itself into star. So there is no ambiguity.

Hello, shanks2020. Option (E) is incorrect because it is unclear whether the phrase after passing... modifies the noun, mass, or the object of the preposition, star. There is no way to disprove either interpretation, and that is problematic. There are times in which the context of the main clause and phrase will reveal the one correct interpretation, but that simply is not the case here. Consider, for example, the following sentence:

The President of the United States, flying over Iceland in Air Force One en route to London...

No one is going to argue that the United States is flying over Iceland, nor, indeed, that the President has sprouted wings and learned to use them, even without the phrase about the plane. The context of the sentence suggests a clear-cut interpretation, one that is missing from the sentence in question. To be honest, I would not fuss about the it, since by that point in the sentence, it is a non-issue.

Regarding your sample sentence, removing after would change the meaning of the sentence from focusing on a star that has already undergone a change to one that was in the process of undergoing such a change. That scruple aside, though, there is no ambiguity with a restrictive phrase, since it will refer to the nearest noun preceding it.

The mass of a star passing through the red giant stage will determine whether it compresses itself into white dwarf...

As a standalone sentence, I would not red flag this one. It is the star that is understood to be passing through the red giant stage; the it could be clarified by a simple replacement with the referent: will determine whether the star compresses itself... I always prefer clarity of meaning. With that said, there are times in which ambiguous pronouns are present in correct answer choices—I came across two today from an official test that a student of mine had taken. However, it is always best to avoid such ambiguities when possible, and if the other four answer choices present worse offenses, then you should choose the best of the bunch.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me about this one.

- Andrew

Hi AndrewN

Thanks for the detailed reply.
Even i hold the same opinion for "It". But the official explanation(GMAC) mentions it as an "issue" in E.
Regarding your view on the use of "passing", since you mentioned that passing could modify both star or mass, here i have slight different view. Since mass can not logically pass through a stage, plus star being the nearer noun, shouldn't it unambiguously modify star, just like your flying example, where we know it can not refer to US, but only to Preseident(country can not fly - but we do say people flew over x and y implying taking flight). So to sum, "passing" should only modify "star". Or am i missing something in ignoring it's logical modification of "mass"?
Or is it the word "after" that is making the difference here or the comma after the noun phrase? Like when comma is there, we should only consider the noun phrase in totality. something that comes true even in your example.
As you replied to my alternate sentence, if we remove comma and after, then there would be no confusion that passing refers to star only.
So basically are the below 2 versions different : Do they imply the same meaning/ambiguity or are they correct?

1)The mass of a star after passing through the red giant stage will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

2)The mass of a star, passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

Moreover, option D talks only about mass - no mention of mass of what, so i felt option E should have been better than E.

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

12 Sep 2020, 12:48

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shanks2020 wrote:

Hi AndrewN

Thanks for the detailed reply.
Even i hold the same opinion for "It". But the official explanation(GMAC) mentions it as an "issue" in E.
Regarding your view on the use of "passing", since you mentioned that passing could modify both star or mass, here i have slight different view. Since mass can not logically pass through a stage, plus star being the nearer noun, shouldn't it unambiguously modify star, just like your flying example, where we know it can not refer to US, but only to Preseident(country can not fly - but we do say people flew over x and y implying taking flight). So to sum, "passing" should only modify "star". Or am i missing something in ignoring it's logical modification of "mass"?
Or is it the word "after" that is making the difference here or the comma after the noun phrase? Like when comma is there, we should only consider the noun phrase in totality. something that comes true even in your example.
As you replied to my alternate sentence, if we remove comma and after, then there would be no confusion that passing refers to star only.
So basically are the below 2 versions different : Do they imply the same meaning/ambiguity or are they correct?

1)The mass of a star after passing through the red giant stage will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

2)The mass of a star, passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

Moreover, option D talks only about mass - no mention of mass of what, so i felt option E should have been better than E.

Hello again, shanks2020. The reason I pressed the point on the ambiguity of the passing phrase earlier is that SC questions should not require that a test-taker possess specialized knowledge about, in this case, stars or astronomy. To someone reading choice (E) who did not know about red giants, the sentence would be quite confusing. But in my example about the President, one need not understand aerodynamics to grasp that the sentence is not suggesting that a person can fly. I did not focus on it because I had already made my decision while I was taking on the question myself that (E) was sub-optimal to (D) once the passing phrase had resolved. I often approach SC questions in this manner, rarely reading through the entirety of each choice. My mental process might be something like the following for this question:

(A) depending on mass? What does that modify? Yellow light.
(B) Double introductory phrases, its mass. Red light.
(C) Possessive-modifier issue. Red light.
(D) Looks okay. Green light.
(E) What is passing? It? Red light.

Cannot argue against anything in (D), so pick it.

The question took me 1:10 to answer correctly, and I apparently took it on on 3 June. You may home in on other aspects of a sentence to disprove, but I simply call things as I see them.

Finally, in the two sentences you wrote at the end of your post, the comma-free version clarifies what the -ing phrase is modifying, in terms of its grammatical construct. I would still change it to the star, though, not that that was a consideration in the five answer choices given.

- Andrew

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Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

13 Sep 2020, 00:00

AndrewN wrote:

shanks2020 wrote:

Hi AndrewN

Thanks for the detailed reply.
Even i hold the same opinion for "It". But the official explanation(GMAC) mentions it as an "issue" in E.
Regarding your view on the use of "passing", since you mentioned that passing could modify both star or mass, here i have slight different view. Since mass can not logically pass through a stage, plus star being the nearer noun, shouldn't it unambiguously modify star, just like your flying example, where we know it can not refer to US, but only to Preseident(country can not fly - but we do say people flew over x and y implying taking flight). So to sum, "passing" should only modify "star". Or am i missing something in ignoring it's logical modification of "mass"?
Or is it the word "after" that is making the difference here or the comma after the noun phrase? Like when comma is there, we should only consider the noun phrase in totality. something that comes true even in your example.
As you replied to my alternate sentence, if we remove comma and after, then there would be no confusion that passing refers to star only.
So basically are the below 2 versions different : Do they imply the same meaning/ambiguity or are they correct?

1)The mass of a star after passing through the red giant stage will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

2)The mass of a star, passing through the red giant stage, will determine whether it compresses itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

Moreover, option D talks only about mass - no mention of mass of what, so i felt option E should have been better than E.

Hello again, shanks2020. The reason I pressed the point on the ambiguity of the passing phrase earlier is that SC questions should not require that a test-taker possess specialized knowledge about, in this case, stars or astronomy. To someone reading choice (E) who did not know about red giants, the sentence would be quite confusing. But in my example about the President, one need not understand aerodynamics to grasp that the sentence is not suggesting that a person can fly. I did not focus on it because I had already made my decision while I was taking on the question myself that (E) was sub-optimal to (D) once the passing phrase had resolved. I often approach SC questions in this manner, rarely reading through the entirety of each choice. My mental process might be something like the following for this question:

(A) depending on mass? What does that modify? Yellow light.
(B) Double introductory phrases, its mass. Red light.
(C) Possessive-modifier issue. Red light.
(D) Looks okay. Green light.
(E) What is passing? It? Red light.

Cannot argue against anything in (D), so pick it.

The question took me 1:10 to answer correctly, and I apparently took it on on 3 June. You may home in on other aspects of a sentence to disprove, but I simply call things as I see them.

Finally, in the two sentences you wrote at the end of your post, the comma-free version clarifies what the -ing phrase is modifying, in terms of its grammatical construct. I would still change it to the star, though, not that that was a consideration in the five answer choices given.

- Andrew

Hi AndrewN

Hope to learn the way you solve the questions!!!
Regarding common knowledge, it was based on that only i considered that "Mass" can not be "Passing". It can be increasing, decreasing, more, less, etc, but can not logical to associate with passing any stage. No need to know what kind of stage(red giant stage). Basically, associating mass with passing any "stage" made it sound illogical to me, so i thought there could be no ambiguity. Where am i getting any wrong...Hoping to get the right thinking!!!
Is it that Mass can be associated with passing of any stage?

gmatclubot

Re: A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a [#permalink]

13 Sep 2020, 00:00

GMAT Sentence Correction (EA only) Questions

A star will compress itself into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a