Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroa

Hi GMATExperts

Please enlighten me,

1) Option A has modifier issue as Added to the increase in hourly supply Can not modify Employees
2) Same error and use of Had
3) Chose this Option
4) In addition to increase hourly wages can not modify Employee
5) Same as 4

Here is an official Example which is causing me irritation ,

In addition to her work on the Miocene hominid fossil record, Mary Leakey contributed to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting East African cave paintings.


(A) Leakey contributed to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstakingly documenting

(B) Leakey contributed to archaeology by her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and by painstakingly documenting

(C) Leakey was a contributor to archaeology with her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and with her painstaking documentation of

(D) Leakey’s contributions to archaeology include her discovery of the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and her painstaking documentation of

(E) Leakey’s contributions to archaeology include her discovering the earliest direct evidence of hominid activity and painstaking documentation of

OA: D

This is a tough question to digest IMO.

(D) and (E) can not be eliminated due to the modifier error you are describing. The "in addition to" prepositional phrase is not the same as the modifier phrase in (A) and (B).

Imagine the sentence were something more simple, like below:

"In addition to the request for higher compensation, the employees are now requesting more paid time off."

There's nothing wrong with the above sentence.

Hope this helps.

None of the choices in this question are very good. So, we have to choose from a group of flawed choices the one that is the most effective.


This version is illogical because the opening modifier illogically modifies "employees," who would not be added to an increase in wages.


This version is illogical because the opening modifier illogically modifies "employees," who would not be added to an increase in wages.

Also, in GMAT SC, "which" is used in nonrestrictive modfiers. If a modifier is nonrestrictive, it should be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, but "which has been ..." is not separated from what precedes it by a comma. This is not a strong decision point, since there is some debate among linguists regarding whether using "which" at the beginning of a restrictive relative clause is acceptable.

Also, the use of the past past perfect "had been requested" does not make sense, since there is no prior past event that the requesting preceded.


While a bit awkward, this version could potentially be considered the best of these five flawed choices if it were not for the blatant flaw that the plural "were requested" does not agree with the singular "increase." Wages were not requested. The increase was requested.

Also, "seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits added to the increase in hourly wages" conveys the illogical meaning that the employeess are seeking a program of a specific type of benefits, benefits that are added to the increase. Thus, it does not effectively convey that the employees are seeking to have a program added to the wage increase. So, while this question includes no great version of the sentence, this version is clearly rather illogical.


This version isn't great, because the opening modiifier seems to modify "employees," with the result that the sentence seems to convey that the employees are in addition to the increase in hourly wages.

What clearly knocks this choice out is that the plural "were requested" does not agree with the singular "increase." Wages were not requested. The increase was requested.


This version isn't great, because the opening modiifier seems to modify "employees," with the result that the sentence seems to convey that the employees are in addition to the increase in hourly wages.

At the same time, none of the other choices are good either.

(B), (C), and (D) are out for sure because of flaws other than the opening modifier issue. So, we have to decide between (E) and (A).

The "added to" opening modifier in (A) is clearly a past participial phrase that has no logical target. Even if "added to ..." were moved to the end of the sentence, where it is in (C), the use of "added to ..." would not make sense.

On the other hand, "in addition to ...," in this version, could be understood to somehow modify what follows, as we can see by considering the fact that, if "in addition to ..." were moved to the end of the sentence, the sentence would work.

So, while (E) isn't great, it's clearly better than the blatantly incorrect (A).

So we choose (E).

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

(A) Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
(B) Added to the increase in hourly wages which had been requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
(C) The railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits added to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July.
(D) In addition to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
(E) In addition to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

After a quick glance over the options, there are a couple things we can focus on to narrow down our choices:

1. Where to place the modifier "added to the increase in hourly wages..."
2. Subject/Verb Agreement: requested / had been requested / were requested
3. the railroad employees / the employees of the railroad

Whenever you see an entire sentence underlined, and you also identify a modifier that's in more than one place, it's a good idea to do a quick check to see if the modifier and its antecedent are next to each other:

(A) Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
(B) Added to the increase in hourly wages which had been requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
(C) The railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits added to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July.
(D) In addition to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
(E) In addition to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

We can eliminate options A & B because their modifiers aren't in the correct place. They're trying to suggest the employees are added to the increase in hourly wages, which doesn't make sense.

Now that we've narrowed it down a bit, let's tackle #2 on our list: subject/verb agreement. In this case, the verb we choose must agree with the subject "increase," which is singular:

(C) The railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits added to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July.
(D) In addition to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
(E) In addition to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

We can eliminate options C & D because they use the plural "were," which doesn't match the singular subject "increase."


There you have it - option E is the correct choice because it uses modifiers and subject/verb agreement correctly!

So what about "the railroad employees" vs. "the employees of the railroad?"

They're both okay to use! Some of the more difficult GMAT SC questions will throw in splits that don't matter just to throw you off. Focus on bigger issues like modifiers, verbs, idioms, and the like to find your focus!

Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

In my opinion,

That can not modify the noun in the prepositional phrase.

"WERE" is referring to Increase.... which is wrong as it is singular.

Regards,
Rahul

A - Incorrect. Faulty comparison between wages and employees.
B - Incorrect. Faulty comparison too.
C - Incorrect. Plural "were" used instead of singular "was"
D - Incorrect. Plural "were" used instead of singular "was"
E - Correct.

Hi, I didn't eliminate D as I thought 'requested' is a subjunctive verb. Obviously I was wrong. Could you explain what is the gap in my understanding?

[quote="wild_desperado"]Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.


(A) Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

(B) Added to the increase in hourly wages which had been requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

(C) The railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits added to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July.

(D) In addition to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

(E) In addition to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

*************************************************************
(A) Modifier error (Sentence before comma not talking about railroad employees
(B) Same as (A)
(C) Requirement added to hourly benefit or in addition to
(D) That modifies wages , only specific wages were requested. I do not think so.
(E) Correct

The sentence intends to say that the railroad employees are seeking retirement benefits on top of the increase in hourly wages.

The problem with the sentence is that the verb-ed modifier “added” modifies the main subject “the railroad employees”, leading to a nonsensical meaning that the employees are added to the increase in hourly wages.



A. Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
Incorrect.For the reason mentioned above.

B. Added to the increase in hourly wages which had been requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
Incorrect.This option has the same error as option A has. In addition, the use of past perfect tense ‘had been requested’ is not correct since there is no other past event.

C. The railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits added to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July.
Incorrect.There are two errors in this option:

• The structure of this sentence is: The employees are now seeking x added to y. The only sense this construction makes is that the employees are demanding that x be added to y. (Not that they be given x in addition to y). A correct way to frame this sentence is: the employees are now seeking x, in addition to y.
  
• The plural verb “were” is incorrect for the singular subject “increase”. If you think ‘that’ refers to ‘hourly wages’, you are not seeing the illogical meaning such reference would lead to. Such a reference would mean that the employees requested hourly wages last July. Were they not getting hourly wages before that? Were they working for free till then?

D. In addition to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
Incorrect.This option repeats the second error of option C.

E. In addition to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.
Correct.

Hello TheGMATCo,
Isn't "requested" in E, referring to wages and produces the same illogical meaning as you mentioned it in C?
What am I missing here? Please help

Hello GMATNinja sir,
Can you please give option-wise analysis like you did for other questions because I am not understanding as to how the beginning phrase is not modifying the subject?
Thank you in advance.

Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

Meaning: Railroad employee requested an increase in hourly wages last July. In addition to that, they are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

(A) Added to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits. railroad employee could not be added to the increase in wages

(B) Added to the increase in hourly wages which had been requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits. railroad employee could not be added to the increase in wages

(C) The railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits added to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July. That should refer to "the increase", so singular verb should be used

(D) In addition to the increase in hourly wages that were requested last July, the railroad employees are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits. That should refer to "the increase", so singular verb should be used

(E) In addition to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits. Not bad. "In addition to" modify the verb "seeking"

D to be right should be "increases in hourly wages that were requested", because were requested modifies hourly wages. The intending meaning of this sentence is to say that increases in wages were requested.
GMATNinja

[/quote]


When I see "in addition to" I assume there is something parallel in the sentence. Can I assume that "In addition to INCREASE....., the EMPLOYEES...."- here INCREASE and EMPLOYEES seems paralel. That why I hesitated to choose (E).

What role is the highlighted part playing in the sentence? Is it adverbial phrase ?

(E) In addition to the increase in hourly wages requested last July, the employees of the railroad are now seeking an expanded program of retirement benefits.

As suggested by the above comments, there is a misplaced modifier in A. But in he correct answer E, there is still misplacement of the modifier, as "in addition " seems to be incorrectly modifying "employees".

What am I missing ?

All modifiers are not the same Naman.

There are various types of modifiers, and each modifier is rather unique in terms of what it can or cannot modify.

For example:

i) Adjectives can only modify Nouns

ii) Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs

iii) Prepositional phrases can act as adjectives or as adverbs (depending upon the intended meaning and the location of the Prepositional phrase)

iv) Participial phrases generally act as adjectives (and hence, will modify nouns)

v) Relative clauses always act as adjectives (and hence, will modify nouns)

etc.

"Added to...." is a participial phrase and such participial phrases, when used at the beginning of a clause/sentence, generally modify the subject of the clause. Hence, "Added to..." in the original sentence modifies "the railroad employees" (nonsensically in this case).

"In addition to..." is a Prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases, when used at the beginning of a clause/sentence, generally are adverbial modifiers, and hence, this Prepositional phrase will not modify the Noun "the employees".