Satellite radio transmissions a popular feature in car stereos

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:

Satellite radio transmissions, a popular feature in car stereos, differ from those of AM and FM radio, which is sent directly from earthbound towers and then to a car stereo.

A) which is sent directly from earthbound towers and then to a car

B) which are sent directly from earthbound towers to a car's

C) sent from earthbound towers and then directly to a car

D) sending them directly from earthbound towers to a car's

E) being sent directly from earthbound towers to a car

After a quick glance over the options, there are a couple key differences we can focus on:

1. which is sent / which are sent / sent / sending them / being sent (Construction & Logic)
2. and then to a car / to a car’s / and then directly to a car / to a car (Idioms)

Let’s start with #2 on our list, which deals with idioms - a much easier thing to test for than #1 on our list. The idiom we’re dealing with is “from X to Y.” We need to eliminate any that don’t follow this format:

A) which is sent directly from earthbound towers and then to a car

B) which are sent directly from earthbound towers to a car's

C) sent from earthbound towers and then directly to a car

D) sending them directly from earthbound towers to a car's

E) being sent directly from earthbound towers to a car

We can eliminate options A & C because they don’t follow the “from X to Y” idiom format. Now that we have it narrowed down to only 3 options, let’s tackle #1 on our list. We need to make sure that this phrase, which is meant to modify “those of AM and FM radio,” is worded clearly and doesn’t change the intended meaning:

B) which are sent directly from earthbound towers to a car's
This is CORRECT! The “which” modifier clearly refers back to “those of AM and FM radio” and keeps the intended meaning clear.

D) sending them directly from earthbound towers to a car's
This is INCORRECT because an “-ing” modifier is not needed here. The pronoun “them” is referring back to “those of AM and FM radio,” which doesn’t make sense. Transmissions cannot send transmissions on their own. Therefore, we need to rule this out because it’s confusing and illogical.

E) being sent directly from earthbound towers to a car
This is also INCORRECT because the “-ing” modifier here also doesn’t work. It actually creates a parallelism problem! Instead of comparing satellite transmissions to AM/FM radio transmissions, this is trying to compare satellite transmissions to only those AM/FM radio transmissions that come from earthbound towers - not all AM/FM radio transmissions.

There you have it - option B is our winner!


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