A study by the Ocean Wildlife Campaign urged states to undertake a num

Question

A study by the Ocean Wildlife Campaign urged states to undertake a number of remedies to reverse a decline in the shark population,  which includes the establishment of size limits for shark catches, closing  state waters for shark fishing during pupping season, and requiring commercial fishers to have federal shark permits.

(A) which includes the establishment of size limits for shark catches, closing

(B) which includes establishing limits to the size of sharks that can be caught, closing

(C) which include the establishment of size limits for shark catches, the closing of

(D) including establishing size limits for shark catches, closing

(E) including the establishing of limits to the size of sharks that are caught, the closing of

anairamitch1804 · Accepted Answer

This sentence has parallelism error. The list is not parallel. Since 3rd element of the list is not underlined, elements 1 and 2 should follow the structure of element 3. Thus, all elements should be verb-ing forms as follows:

1) establishing size limits for shark catches
2) closing state waters for shark fishing during pupping season
3) requiring commercial fishers to have federal shark permits
This sentence also has modifier error. The modifier “which includes…” modifies the closest noun or noun phrase. In this sentence, it does not make sense for the “which modifier” providing list of remedies to modify either the noun phrase “decline in shark population” or the noun “the shark population”.

In A and B, the singular verb includes implies that the pronoun which refers either to the singular noun decline or to the singular noun population, but neither the decline nor the population is including the list of remedies that follows. Eliminate A and B. 
C and E lack parallelism: the establishment of (the + noun + preposition), the establishing of (the + gerund + preposition), and the closing of (the + gerund + preposition) are not parallel with requiring commercial fishers (gerund + direct object). Eliminate C and E. 
The correct answer is D. 
D is correct primarily because A, B, C and E each have a clear error. 
In D, including and establishing are performing different functions.

Generally, when a present participle (such as including) is preceded by a comma, it refers to the subject of the previous clause. It could be argued that including refers to the study: the study is including -- among the remedies that it recommends -- establishing size limits, closing state waters, and requiring fishers to have permits. 
Establishing is not a present participle but a gerund (a verb functioning as a noun). Establishing size limits is one of the remedies that the study is including.

12345678 · Answer

i'll go for D
in C 'which' refers to population but infact it shud refer to remedies..
D has correct parallelism establishing, closing, requiring

superchor · Answer

Please explain that why 'which' is used improperly?

Orko · Answer

"Which" is a relative pronoun that describes about the noun that is just before it. In this case, the noun that is just before "which" is "shark population" however, the author intends to point to the "remedies". This is the reason that "which" is not properly used here.

AMITAGARWAL2 · Answer

in this sentence which is referring to remidies but it cannot be placed next to remedies so use including which modifies the entire clause.

Skywalker18 · Answer

A study by the Ocean Wildlife Campaign urged states to undertake a number of remedies to reverse a decline in the shark population,  which includes the establishment of size limits for shark catches, closing  state waters for shark fishing during pupping season, and requiring commercial fishers to have federal shark permits.

A. which includes the establishment of size limits for shark catches, closing - usage of which to refer to a number of remedies but it refers to population here ; subject verb agreement 
B. which includes establishing limits to the size of sharks that can be caught, closing - usage of which to refer to a number of remedies but it refers to population here; subject verb agreement
C. which include the establishment of size limits for shark catches, the closing of - usage of which to refer to a number of remedies but it refers to population here
D. including establishing size limits for shark catches, closing - Correct
E. including the establishing of limits to the size of sharks that are caught, the closing of - Parallelism issue - the establishing , the closing and requiring

Answer D

gmatexam439 · Answer

A study by the Ocean Wildlife Campaign urged states to undertake a number of remedies to reverse a decline in the shark population,  which includes the establishment of size limits for shark catches, closing  state waters for shark fishing during pupping season, and requiring commercial fishers to have federal shark permits.

A.  which  includes the establishment of size limits for shark catches, closing 
B.  which  includes establishing limits to the size of sharks that can be caught, closing 
C.  which  include the establishment of size limits for shark catches, the closing of
D.  including establishing size limits for shark catches, closing 
E. including the establishing of limits to the size of sharks that are caught,  the closing of

ShashankDave · Answer

I agree with D as the correct answer only because it is better than all the others. But I do have a question regarding its grammatical correctness. The problem is with "including".

This has been used at the end of the main clause to tell something extra about the clause. But from what I've read in MGMAT and e-GMAT, if a Verb-ing nodifier is placed at the end of a sentence, then it can do only the following:-
1. Tell us about the result of an action in the clause.
2. Tell us something extra about a verb in the clause.

In this sentence, "including" is doing none of these, but is used to modify a noun in the preceding clause. Is there some grammatical knowledge that I'm missing? Please help.

Posted from my mobile device

Skywalker18 · Answer

Hi  ShashankDave  ,

comma+ INCLUDING is used -
- It modifies the preceding Noun
- It should give a list of SOME, but not ALL, of that noun.
- Though it looks like comma+ing , it does not function like one.

Here , "including" is placed as close as possible to "remedies"

*For more information on this, watch Thursdays with Ron - Sep 23 , 2010

nishantgauragmat · Answer

GMATNinja  , in this question can't which refer to "a number of remedies....."? 
So at the end "which includes" means "a number of remedies" includes " establishing  limit...., closing  ...., and  requiring  ....

AjiteshArun · Answer

A number of  is just another way of saying  some  or  many . To be more specific, when you see  a number of +    used this way, the focus is always on the plural noun, and not on the word  number . For example:

1.  A number of people who   has   taken the GMAT... 
vs.
2.  A number of people who   have   taken the GMAT...

So effectively, it doesn't matter whether we look at  remedies  or  a number of remedies . The verb after the  which  cannot be singular.

3.  ... a number of remedies, which   includes  ...

mallya12 · Answer

GMATNinja  
I agree with D as the correct answer only because it is better than all the others. But I do have a question regarding its grammatical correctness. The problem is with "including".

This has been used at the end of the main clause to tell something extra about the clause. But from what I've read in e-GMAT, if a Verb-ing modifier is placed at the end of a sentence, then it can do only the following:-
1. Tell us about the result of an action in the clause.
2. Tell us something extra about a verb in the clause.

In this sentence, "including" is doing none of these, but is used to modify a noun in the preceding clause. Is there some grammatical knowledge that I'm missing? Please help.

GMATNinja · Answer

"-ing" modifiers can also act as adjectives and modify nouns! For example, "The man eating sushi has fishy breath."

For more on this, check out section 4 of  this article .

I hope this helps!

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  mallya12 , this indeed creates confusion. The rule you've mentioned (result/something extra about the clause) is for  present participial  phrases. However,  including  is  not  a present participial phrase;  including  is actually a  preposition . Hence, the general rules of participial phrases do  not  apply to  including .

including  can modify the  Noun  or  Noun-Phrase  immediately before the word  including .

An officially  correct  sentence:

A study by the Ocean Wildlife Campaign urged states to undertake a number of remedies to reverse a decline in the shark population,  including establishing size limits for shark catches, closing  state waters for shark fishing during pupping season, and requiring commercial fishers to have federal shark permits .

Notice how  including  modifies a rather far-away noun  remedies .

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    has a special note on  the usage of  including  . Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

thangvietnam · Answer

some verb-form words such as "including", " combined" or "compared with" are not verb or participle but word as a preposition
"including" here is a preposition. look at it in a dictionary.

including normally refer to a plural noun such as "remedies". but , it, I think, can refer to a single noun. I have a 3 day holiday, including nest friday.

"including" can refer to far noun "remedies", so, which can refer to "remedies. but I see that gmat do not like which refer to a far noun, while it permit "including" refer to a far noun/nouns.

but even if "which" can refer to "remedies", this reference is not logical. "remedies " can not "includes". the verb "includes" means "contains". each "remedies" can not contain
closing or requiring. 
"including" is a preposition. it means "among them are closing, and requiring". this meaning is logical.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This question tests the concepts of Modifiers and Parallelism.

The intended meaning of the sentence is that a study urged states to undertake a number of remedies to reverse a decline in the shark population. The sentence then lists the remedies. The remedies are listed in the form of a modifier and since there is a list of remedies, there is also parallelism involved.

When we do a vertical scan of the options, we see that Options A, B, and C begin with the relative pronoun ‘which’ and Options D and E begin with the participle ‘including’.

A relative pronoun refers to the noun immediately before it, which in this case, would be “shark population”. Since ‘shark population’ cannot include the establishment of size limits for shark catches etc., the sentence doesn’t convey a logical meaning.

Further, parallelism is also affected in Options A and C. The last part of the sentence is a list of remedies – establishing…, closing…, and requiring…
In Options A and C, ‘establishing’ has been changed to ‘the establishment’.  So, Options A and C can be eliminated.

In Option B, parallelism has been maintained but the phrase “establishing limits to the size of sharks that can be caught” changes the meaning. The limits are on the size of ‘shark catches’, meaning the number of sharks that can be caught, not on the size of the sharks that can be caught. So, Option B can also be eliminated.

Between Options D and E, E contains the same error as Option B. The phrase “establishing limits to the size of sharks that can be caught” has been used in this option too.  So, Option E can be eliminated.

Therefore, Option D is the most appropriate one.

Jayanthi Kumar.

Ilhomjon98 · Answer

(A)  which includes the establishment of size limits for shark catches, closing

1) "which" usually modifies the nearest "noun" or "noun + modifier": Here, "which" seems to modify " shark population " or " a decline ", meaning that "shark population" or "decline" includes  the establishment ... closing state waters ..., and  requiring . Illogical

2) Parallelism issue: ... the establishment ... closing state waters ..., and  requiring

(B)  which includes establishing limits to the size of sharks that can be caught, closing

1) "which" usually modifies the nearest "noun" or "noun + modifier": Here, "which" seems to modify " shark population " or " a decline ", meaning that "shark population" or "decline" includes  the establishment ... closing state waters ..., and  requiring . Illogical

2) "that", an essentiol modifier, narrows down the noun it modifies: "sharks  that  can be caught"---> here, "that" gives the meaning that there some sharks that can be caught and other sharks that cannot be caught. For example, "Hammerhead sharks" can be caught, while "Great white shark" cannot. Besides, (B) says that some countermeasures include establishing limits to the  SIZE  of sharks that can be caught. ILLOGICAL: The intended meaning is that there should be limits on shark catches, not the size or types of sharks.

(C)  which include the establishment of size limits for shark catches, the closing of

1) the same problem with "which"

2) Parallelism issue: ... the establishment ... the closing state waters ..., and  requiring

(D)  including establishing size limits for shark catches, closing

1) Unlike some other "comma + V_ing", which usually modifies the nearest action and its agent, "comma + including" modifies a noun, which can be anywhere in the preceding clause, and serves to mean "for example".

Now, Let's find a plural noun that can include the three actions:  estalishing ... closing ..., and  requiring .

Yes, You are right! "remedies": "remedies" can include the three actions:  estalishing ... closing ..., and  requiring .

(E)  including the establishing of limits to the size of sharks that are caught, the closing of

1) Parallelism issue: ... the establishment ... the closing state waters ..., and  requiring

sanjayparihar16 · Answer

Moral of the story - Parallelism should be the better route to eliminate our answers.
 Establishing….,closing….., and requiring…..

Only option B and D follow this structure.

B is incorrect as “includes” can refer to singular antecedent but we don’t have any singular antecedent.

Hence D is our answer.

Posted from my mobile device

sanjayparihar16 · Answer

Moral of the story - Parallelism should be the better route to eliminate our answers.
 Establishing….,closing….., and requiring…..

Only option B and D follow this structure.

B is incorrect as “includes” can refer to singular antecedent but we don’t have any singular antecedent.

Hence D is our answer.

Posted from my mobile device

A study by the Ocean Wildlife Campaign urged states to undertake a num

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

A study by the Ocean Wildlife Campaign urged states to undertake a num

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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