Pack 15 Q1: Shanghai's Shanghai Tower is easily identified...

Not sure but Is it A ?
Shanghai’s Shanghai Tower is easily identified and highly visible, second only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world.


The way the sentence is constructed,it does convey the intended meaning.

.... Second only to Dubai as Burj Khalifa ..modifies to Shanghai Tower.


A. second only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world

-- Correct ..

B. as the tallest building in the world only second to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa

In choice b .. as the tallest building in the world is modifying to visible .. Meaning wise it seems a bit off. as the tallest building must be Burj Khalifa.. not Shanghai .
Also placement of modifier only is not at correct place . Only second is different than second only to


C. which, as the tallest building in the world, is only second to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa

In this choice which modified to visible... which is wrong.


D. being second in height only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world

Being is used incorrectly..



E. second in height to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa only as the tallest building in the world]

this choice is wordy . Placement of only changes the meaning .

A could be the ans .

Official Explanation

Shanghai’s Shanghai Tower is easily identified and highly visible, second only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world.

A. second only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world
B. as the tallest building in the world only second to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa
C. which, as the tallest building in the world, is only second to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa
D. being second in height only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world
E. second in height to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa only as the tallest building in the world

After a quick glance over the options, we have 2 main things we can focus on:
1. second only to / only second to / second in height only to / second in height to only (Idioms)
2. placement of the phrase “as the tallest building in the world”

Let’s start with #1 on our list: second only to / only second to / second in height only to / second in height to only. The first thing we can do is get rid of any options that use the phrase “in height.” Why? We already know we’re talking about height because we’re comparing Shanghai Tower to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. This means we can eliminate options D & E because saying “in height” is redundant.

Now that we have it narrowed down, let’s determine if there is a difference between saying “second only to” vs. “only second to.” They do mean slightly different things:

X is second only to Y = Y is #1 overall, and X is #2 overall
X is only second to Y = Y is not necessarily #1 overall, and X is #2 ONLY when compared to Y – but there may be other versions of Y that it could compare to differently

It makes the most sense to use “X is second only to Y” because it properly conveys the right meaning – that the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, period – and that the Shanghai Tower is #2 overall. Let’s see how our remaining options handle this:

A. second only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world

B. as the tallest building in the world only second to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa

C. which, as the tallest building in the world, is only second to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa

There you have it – option A was the correct choice all along. It’s the only one that uses the proper idiom “X is second only to Y” and isn’t redundant.

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

You were close, globaldesi! Check out the official explanation in the comments to see how to tackle questions like this in the future.

Well done, jaisonsunny77! You cracked the code on this one - kudos to you!

You cracked the code on this one DasAshishAshutosh! Great job catching each of the errors in the incorrect options! Kudos to you!

Hi @EMPOWERgmat Instructor,

I understood the difference between "second only to" & "only second to" that makes option A correct and B wrong.

But I'm a little confused about the Modifier usage in option A & B.

Can you please explain how option A - "second only to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world" - correctly modifies Shanghai Towers and option B - "as the tallest building in the world only second to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa" - doesn't?

How is "second only to" referring to so far back to Shanghai tower? As per my understanding only Noun Modifier can do that and it doesn't look like one.

Regards
Sarthak

Thanks Sthk94 for your question!

If we look at the preceding clause ("Shanghai’s Shanghai Tower is easily identified and highly visible"), there is only one noun to choose from - Shanghai Tower. Both A & B have modifiers that clearly refer back to that noun - though option B is more awkward to read or understand. There won't be any confusion about what the modifier refers back to because there's only one real option available.

The bigger problem with option B is the "only second to" phrase distorting the intended meaning. As long as you were able to focus on that, you shouldn't be distracted by what is not really a modifier issue at all - it's merely a matter of awkward vs. clear writing.

We hope that helps!

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.