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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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

isn't 'which' supposed to modify its immediately preceeding noun ?

In this case that would be FM Radio.

Request Expert Reply:
Here, the correct choice B says (with core):
Satellite radio transmissions differ from Satellite radio transmissions (those) of AM and FM radio.
Does it make sense? It does not make sense to me at all! If the above sentence is something like the following then it could make sense. Isn't it?
Satellite radio transmissions differ from transmissions (those) of AM and FM radio.

"Those" can refer to a noun by itself, or to a noun with some adjectives thrown in as well. It all depends on the context of the sentence.

Consider this example:

"Chocolate chip cookies are more delicious than those without chocolate chips."

Here, "those" refers to ONLY the noun "cookies," because the intention of the sentence is to compare "chocolate chip cookies" to "cookies (those) without chocolate chips." It wouldn't make any sense to compare "chocolate chip cookies" to "chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips."

By contrast, look at this example:

"The chocolate chip cookies that my mom makes are more delicious than those that I make."

Here, the comparison is between "the chocolate chip cookies" that my mom makes, and "the chocolate chip cookies" (those) that I make." So, "those" refers to the entire noun phrase "chocolate chip cookies."

Now, look again at the official question so we can determine what "those" refers to:

"Satellite radio transmissions, a popular feature in car stereos, differ from those of AM and FM radio..."

This sentence compares one type of radio transmissions to another. Specifically, it compares "satellite radio transmissions" to "transmissions (those) of AM and FM radio." It wouldn't make sense for the pronoun to refer to the entire phrase "satellite radio transmissions," so we can conclude that "those" refers ONLY to the noun "transmissions."

Overall, there isn't a one-size-fits-all way to use these pronouns -- you have to consider the context of the sentence to determine what makes the most sense.

I hope that helps!

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


SC08150.02

"Which" is till not following the touch rule with "those"? Or is it one of the exceptions?

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.

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

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 INdirectly from earthbound towers and then to a car
B) which are sent INdirectly from earthbound towers to a car's
C) NOT sent from earthbound towers and then directly to a car
D) sending them INdirectly from earthbound towers to a car's
E) being sent INdirectly from earthbound towers to a car

I was wondering if the sentence were :




2nd part refers to : Satellite radio transmissions,
In such a case , which option among C, D and E would be better?
D- wrong( send+ing doesn't make sense with differs ( +ing is wrong )
E- being - its not a temporary activity

only C can make some sense , sent --verb ed modifier refers to noun, --> SRT is noun as the phrase is with comma, If comma then it would have refered to Am and FM radio

is my thinking correct?
Please suggest GMATNinja EducationAisle EMPOWERgmatVerbal

Thanks for the question mSKR!

Let's look at your hypothetical option C with all the non-underlined portions added in:

Satellite radio transmissions, a popular feature in car stereos, differ from those of AM and FM radio, not sent from earthbound towers and then directly to a car stereo.

No matter how you'd like to reword this, the underlined modifier at the end MUST modify "AM and FM radio." This doesn't do that, nor does it make sense to modify "Satellite radio transmissions" because it's too far away from it to logically work.

Also, changing "directly" to "indirectly" doesn't change anything: no matter how they're sent, they still need to clearly modify "AM and FM radio."

We know that changing the original sentence and options is a fun exercise and totally tempting to do, but it's a huge time-waster. On test day, you won't have time to do this anyway. You'll only have time to answer the questions and move on - and no matter how much you love or hate the questions, they are what they are. Your job is to find the best option out of what you're given.

We hope this helps!

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.