Pharmaceutical ads

Question

In the absence of appropriate medical care, ill individuals tend to be unduly influenced by consumer-oriented medical information,  such as pharmaceutical advertisements, that are better designed to increase market share rather than to provide  accurate health related advice.

A)
B) such as pharmaceutical advertisements, which are better designed to increase market share rather than to provide 

C) such as pharmaceutical advertisements, that are better at increasing market share than at providing accurate

D) such as pharmaceutical advertisements, that is better designed to increase market share than to provide 

E)such as pharmaceutical advertisements, which is better designed to increase market share rather to provide

Folaa3 · Answer

Between B and E, I pick B and here is why. 

A is wrong because of the use of the restrictive clause â€˜thatâ€™. Apparently, consumers canâ€™t distinguish between pharmaceutical advertisements that are better designed to increase market share vs the ones that are not. Since the restrictive clause provides â€˜requiredâ€™ information that is needed of a statement to be complete, A is out. 

B, correctly uses the non-restrictive clause because if we omitted the that are better designed to increase market share rather than to provide accurate health related advice. , the sentence will still make sense . 

B is also parallel. Better designed toâ€¦..rather than toâ€¦.

C give the sentence a new meaning entirely. 

D is wrong because pharmaceutical advertisements should be followed by a plural verb not singular (is).

E ( Assuming there is a typo in this choice) although this is a contender with B, but the non restrictive clause often refer to the immediately preceeding noun so in this case, which correctly refers to pharmaceutical advertisements, thus the singular verb is should be are. 
IF there is no typo in E, then E is definitely out because such as pharmaceutical advertisements, which is better designed  to increase market share rather to provide  Is unidiomatic

riteshgupta1 · Answer

Yes B is good.

That will never follow a comma.

And moreover, we are talking about advertisements rather than about -oriented medical information.

rthothad · Answer

I will go with E

HowManyToGo · Answer

The which modifies pharma ads and not customer-oriented info.

HMTG.

riteshgupta1 · Answer

E is missing THAN

It should be RATHER THAN instead of RATHER

rthothad · Answer

But B uses 'are' to modify 'consumer-oriented medical information' which is more ill suited than 'E'

riteshgupta1 · Answer

WHICH is starting a non-restrictive clause and should modify the nearest noun available, which in this case is adverstisement(s), not the subject of the clause.

Hence B.

To clarify the matter furthur.. Lets extend this example...

ill individuals tend to be unduly influenced by consumer-oriented medical information, such as  pharmaceutical advertisements, which are better  designed to increase market share rather than to provide accurate health related advice, and  American Medical Journal, which is  constantly updated with new discoveries by health professional.

Now if you see, first NON_restrictive clause is modifying adverstisements and second NON_restrictive clause is modifing AMJ. 

If we do not follow this priniciple, then both clauses should modify medical information. So thumb rule is "restrictive clause should modify the nearest noun available."

Hope this helps.

ssap · Answer

Guys & Gals,
 Everyone(including myself) missed the correct ans.
The OA is 'D'.
Didn't agree with the answer choice myself.
However, the explanation is as follows:
In B, the lack of the comma after the phrase 'such as pharmaceutical advertisements' makes the pharmaceutical advertisements the subject of the sentence. Hence the verb 'are' is appropriate. But B incorrectly uses the non-restrictive 'which' instead of 'that'. 
'That' must be used whenever what is being described is essential to the meaning of the sentence.

Can anyone clarify this point further?

gmat2me2 · Answer

Yes I have opted for B but the OA looks to be correct...Here I think we need a restrictive clause

vishal2005 · Answer

In the absence of appropriate medical care, ill individuals tend to be unduly influenced by consumer-oriented medical information, such as pharmaceutical advertisements,   that are better designed to increase market share rather than to provide accurate health related advice  . 

A) 
B) such as pharmaceutical advertisements, which are better designed to increase market share rather than to provide 

C) such as pharmaceutical advertisements, that are better at increasing market share than at providing accurate 

D) such as pharmaceutical advertisements, that is better designed to increase market share than to provide 

E)such as pharmaceutical advertisements, which is better designed to increase market share rather to provide


i think here is better designed to increase marker share thgan to provide is not foe pharmaceutical advertisements but it is for consumer oriented medical information because if weaskthe question what is/are better desgined the answer is consumer oriented.........

i think i m right if nor pls correct me

Darth_McDaddy · Answer

Correct me guys, if I am wrong. I think the answer should be B and the OA - D is wrong.

To those of you, who are still confused regarding the use of that vs. which,

Consider the following example

--------------------
That vs which: restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. Restrictive clauses are essential to the meaning of a sentence, while unrestrictive clauses are parenthetical. Unrestrictive clauses are always set off with commas, and restrictive clauses are never set off with commas. Which is appropriate for unrestrictive clauses, and that is appropriate for restrictive clauses.

Example of an unrestrictive clause: "The story, which appeared on the second page, was compelling."

Or, written to include a restrictive clause: "The story that appeared on the second page was compelling."
-----------------------

As a comma precedes "that" in choice D, choice D is out. Besides, the use of "is" is wrong. As the that refers to "pharmaceutical advertisements", the word "are" should follow.

IMHO, the answer should be B. 

PS - if the answer is not B, then my grammar fundas are in for a major overhaul. (fingers crossed)

Arsene_Wenger · Answer

It's a clear (D). 

(A), (B) and (C) are ruled out because of subject/verb issues. Information is singluar and should take a singular verb, 'is' not 'are'. 

In (E), an idiom trick, IMO, is wrong because using 'better' and 'rather' together is not idiomatic. the right combination should be '....better....than' as in (D), and not '...better...rather' as in (E).

Pharmaceutical ads

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