Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine

AjiteshArun sir,

Please evaluate my reasoning and share your two cents:-

Option A:-
1. The part after comma "already are a cost to business" is in past tense. This costing part occured in the past. This cannot be in the present tense. Hence, the usage of "are"(present tense) is incorrect.
2. The usage of "are" and "cost" both plural is incorrect and redundant.

Option B:- This is the correct answer choice.

Option C:-
1. The portion of the sentence after second comma "already with business costs...". The meaning conveyed is that the business costs are the cost of compounding. However, the original sentence mentions that the business costs are the costs of drug and alcohol abuse.

Option D:-
1. The meaning conveyed in this option is that crack and cocaine is costing business more than 100 billion dollars a year. However, it is the drug and alcohol abuse that is costing billions of dollars.

Option E:- Same meaning as option D.

"Which" here refers to the compound noun "the effects of drug and alcohol abuse"

Hi krndatta,

The present tense is fine in option A, because the sentence introduces something that's generally true ("which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year"). Also, the cost that we see in option A is a singular noun ("a cost"). It's different from the cost that we see in the correct option, which is a plural verb. So one reason to take A out is that "which are a cost to business" is awkward, but the usage of the present tense is fine. Meaning clarity is also a problem, because we can't say whether the > $100 billion bit is for cost or business.

Options C and D are most likely unidiomatic ("already with..." and "business costs" in C and "significant in compounding" in D). Also, "is... costing" in option D is a major red flag, as we don't want to shift the verb cost into the progressive (this sentence isn't about a very short duration of time).

Dear Experts,

I know the answer is (B) and I am correct.

However, after doing more than 100 questions, I am still not clear the usage of COMMA + PREPOSITION PHRASE.

In (C), many comments told that it doesn't convey intended meaning. what "already with business costs..." modify ? and why does it change the meaning

Don't overcomplicate it. A prepositional phrase can function as an adjective or an adverb, meaning it can modify a noun or a verb. If you see one, ask yourself if there's a noun or verb in the vicinity that could be logically modified. If there is, the prepositional phrase is fine. If there isn't, it's a problem. That's it.

In (C), there's nothing "already with business costs of" could logically modify. It's clearly not referring to "alcohol abuse... with business costs." (As opposed to alcohol abuse without such costs?)

And it doesn't make much sense to say something is "compounding with business costs."

A modifier with nothing to modify is a problem.

Contrast that with (B), in which it's crystal clear that the "which" is referring to "drug and alcohol abuse." There's no need to stress about how prepositional phrases function in the abstract -- (B) is clearer and more logical, so it's better.

The takeaway: anytime you're not sure about a rule, 1) there might not be one and 2) the rule you don't know can't help you during the test, so you'll want to pivot to thinking about logic and meaning.

I hope that clears things up!

Hello Tanchat,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the problem in Option C is that the modifier "already with business costs..." cannot logically modify the noun that precedes the comma just before it; remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.

To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

GMATNinja KarishmaB

Sentence : Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year.

To identify the noun for "cost", as is the universal test of ask what to the verb so
what cost(s) business more than $100 billion? The answer (according to me) is "the use of crack and cocaine. It seems bit odd that verb is referring to another verb and hence, the use of cost+ing seems correct usage.

Can you please correct me.

As per the post, effect of drug and alcohol abuse is the noun, but I am unable to understand why my analysis is incorrect. And how do I work on it.

I am not sure I understand your question.

Sentence : Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year.

'which' - relative pronoun stands for 'drug and alcohol abuse'
are - verb
a cost - noun (which is same as 'drug and alcohol abuse' (e.g. He is a teacher. 'He' and 'a teacher' indicate the same person))
to business - prepositional phrase
of more than $100 billion a year - a prepositional phrase which seems to be incorrectly modifying 'business'

Hello Rickooreo,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity, "the use of X" is not a verb, rather it is a noun phrase that refers to the practice of using X.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

KarishmaB
To clarify, I thought that the "which" referred to "effects" because nouns in a prepositional phase cannot be the main noun referred to. So if my understanding is correct, wouldn't "which" refer to "effects" and not "drug and alcohol abuse"?

Thank you for all of your time and help. P.S. I am retaking my exam toward the end of November... the end is almost in sight, and I am hoping to do better

GMATNinja, shouldn't the correct answer be which already cost businesses? business is singular. did not select for this reason

Hello yalembagrad,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of the plural verb "cost" is correct here, because the action of "costing" is carried out by the plural noun phrase "effects of drug and alcohol abuse".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

You have to ask yourself, "WHAT costs business more than $100 billion a year?" In this case, the effects (of drug and alcohol abuse) are what cost business more than $100 billion a year. Since "effects" is a plural noun, we need a plural verb ("cost").

In other words, the "which..." part is a noun modifier that describes a plural noun ("effects"), so we need use a plural verb in the "which" clause.

(Also, note that "of drug and alcohol abuse" is a prepositional phrase that modifies "effects" -- and you can ignore that modifier when thinking about whether "effects" is singular or plural.)

I hope that helps!

GMATNinja

Please help me clear these doubts:
1/What does which refer to in option choice-B? Does it refer to effects or drug and alcohol abuse?
2/ If the subject is drug and alcohol abuse, then drug and alcohol are adjectives for abuse. How is the verb plural then?

[quote="AjiteshArun"] [quote="GMATNinja"]

Experts, please help with this query

GMATNinja AjiteshArun

Hi ankitapugalia,

Which refers to the entire noun phrase the effects of drug and alcohol abuse. The most important word in this phrase, the one that the verb must agree with, is effects. Both the noun effects and the verb cost are plural.

1. the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business ← If we ignore the relative which, it's easier to see that "the effects... cost" is correct (we can't say "the effects... costs").

Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year.

Understanding the meaning helped me to get through this sentence.


(A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of …. Wordy cost to business is incorrect

(B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business correct modifier CORRECT

(C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of modifier error

(D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business simple present tense is preferred use of significant is incorrect

(E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business effects is plural. Costs is singular use of significant is incorrect