Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, the fact that the

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning of this sentence is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the AQ division had to adapt to a new management team and was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, but this fact was not seen by the board of directors as a legitimate excuse for such low productivity.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• In a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses "Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers" to modify, “the fact”, illogically implying that the fact that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers; the intended meaning is that the AQ division, itself, was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers; please remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses "Though severely hindered by problems with local suppliers" to modify, “the fact”, illogically implying that the fact that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers; the intended meaning is that the AQ division, itself, was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers; please remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option B uses the passive construction “to which to adapt”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses “Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers” to modify “the AQ division”, conveying the intended meaning that the AQ division, itself, was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers. Further, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses "Severely hindered by local supply problems" to modify the placeholder pronoun "that", illogically implying that the fact that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers; the intended meaning is that the AQ division, itself, was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers; please remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses “Though severely hindered by problems with local suppliers” to modify the gerund phrase “the AQ division’s also having” illogically implying that the act of the AQ division having to adapt to a new management team was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers; the intended meaning is that the AQ division, itself, was severely hindered by problems with local suppliers; please remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option E uses the passive construction “to which it had to adapt”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

It's important to understand that there is nothing in the English language that prevents the GMAT from using a this this way. For example, if we look at any good dictionary, it will say that it is possible to use this the way this question does. That is, using a pronoun like this or which to refer to an entire preceding thought is not incorrect.

My advice to you is to change how you view the "rules" you tried to apply here. They may have been presented to you as rules, but you should view them as preferences. So if you see a this used to refer to something other than a noun in an option, you won't remove that option immediately. For example, in this question, there is only one option that provides us the logical noun as the subject of the sentence (the subject not explicitly stated in the first half). Just ignore the this issue entirely, and go with the other (much more reliable) approach.

This does depend, however, on the type of test taker you are. Do you want someone to "abstract" the details away for you, or do you want to get "close to the metal"? This post summarizes how different test takers would look at this issue.

Modifier issue.
The phrase "Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers" is supposed to modify subject - AQ division.
This correct structure can only be seen in option c.

So, correct option must be -c.

No choice seems perfect

IMHO D,

A. Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, the fact that the AQ division also had a new management team to adapt to- WRONG MODIFIER
B. Though severely hindered by local supply problems, the fact that the AQ division also had a new management team to which to adapt- WRONG MODIFIER
C. Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team, but this - WRONG USE OF 'THIS'
D. Severely hindered by local supply problems, that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team - Seems CORRECT
E. Though severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, the AQ division’s also having a new management team to which it had to adapt - not concise

Hi Ashutosh, each successive official publication is also very useful, since it gives us insights into how GMAC's views evolve over time.

Hence, what was considered a red flag once, has moved to become a yellow flag at best.

Similar example that comes to mind, where these is being used in a similar manner in the correct option (in fact, following is not even a recent example):

Besides adding complementary flavors to many foods, hot sauces stimulate the release of endorphins in the brain, just as exercise does, and these have a pain-relieving effect like morphine's.

I dont understand how could C be correct,

as 'This' must refer to NOUN and here it's not

and another thing is Acc to Ron from Manhattan we can not use 'This' alone, we need noun it is modifying with it
ex; This CAR is red

So Experts could you please shed some light on this

Hi

You are absolutely correct that if the portion between the commas is removed, the rest cannot stand alone. Hence, the portion between the commas cannot be considered to be a non-essential modifier.

Non-essential modifiers typically take the form of appositives ie; descriptive phrases which can sometimes also act as replacement phrases for nouns. For example:

Panic, one of the primal human emotions, is sometimes beneficial as it produces adrenaline and triggers a “flight or fight” response.

In such cases, eliminating the appositive allows the sentence to retain its original meaning and the appositive can be considered to be a non-essential modifier. Another way for non-essential modifiers to be used is along with "which". For example:

Rahul returned the book, which had some pages missing, to the store.

Once again, eliminating the portion within the commas allows the rest of the sentence to stand on its own.

While these are some common ways in which non-essential modifiers appear on the GMAT, it is not mandatory for any portion within commas to be treated as a non-essential modifier. Answer option (C) in the above question is a good example of such a scenario.

Hope this helps.

Hi Sneha2021,

That that introduces a big dependent clause ("noun clause") that acts as the subject of the sentence.

1. Severely hindered by local supply problems, that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team was not seen by the board of directors as a legitimate excuse for such low productivity.

We can read this as "severely hindered, {something} was not seen...", where the {something} is "that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team". We have another subject-verb pair within this noun clause (the subject inside the noun clause is the AQ division and the verb is had), but the subject and verb of the main sentence are that... and was not seen.

Option D is incorrect because the subject of the main sentence ({something}) needs to make sense with severely hindered. But "that the AQ division also had to adapt..." is not what was hindered. It was actually the AQ division that was hindered. That's why in the correct option we see "the AQ division" immediately after the comma (no that-clause).

There are some other official problems in which standalone "this"/"that" refers to a whole phrase or clause from earlier in the sentence. Here's another one, for instance.

In this problem, there's a much more fundamental issue, a misattributed initial modifier, that's common to all four of the wrong answer choices. (Every choice begins with an initial description that quite clearly needs to describe "the AQ division" itself, but only in choice C does it actually modify that noun.)
You can take a lesson about priorities from this: Be sure to look for major, fundamental problems in the choices first before using rules of thumb.

Hi GMATNinja it took me around 1:30 to settle on C. It's our clear winner here, but I could have called it even earlier (around 50 second mark) if it wasn't for ", but this". I was suspicious of it a little bit. Where do we stand on "conjunction + this". Any situation you can think of where you would be like, the usage of "this" is a big no-no?

Hi Tanchat,

Here are my thoughts on this (original post here):

Generally, in English
The usage of this to refer to some person, event, or thing mentioned in the sentence (or even outside the sentence: Don't do this) is acceptable. Here are a few examples:

1. He studied at Stanford, and this allowed him to develop the network that he needed.

2. Companies in the area want MBAs; we know this because we've spoken with them.

3. Electric cars are generally quite expensive, but this is not.

4. You should take accounting and marketing as these are the most important for you. (these is the plural form)

Such usage is allowed in English, but may not be very precise. For example, in (3), the one after this is understood:
3a. Electric cars are generally quite expensive, but this one is not.
or
3b. Electric cars are generally quite expensive, but this electric car is not.

Similarly, in (4), the sentence assumes a word like subjects:
4a. You should take accounting and marketing as these subjects are the most important for you.

An interesting point here is that that and those are much more common than this and these in such constructions (something like 10:1 if I remember correctly). For example, we can generally expect people to prefer

1a. He studied at Stanford, and that allowed him to develop the network that he needed.
to
1b. He studied at Stanford, and this allowed him to develop the network that he needed.

and

4b. You should take accounting and marketing as those are the most important for you.
to
4c. You should take accounting and marketing as these are the most important for you.


Perhaps the sentence is assuming a word like discovery here:
DNA evidence was recovered by scientists, who were able to deduce from this discovery that an epidemic of malaria struck in the empire’s waning days.

On the GMAT
Such usage is vague, but I would not go so far as to say that it is "unacceptably vague". It is, however, a very good sign that the option we're considering is incorrect. All in all, I'd advise you to use it as just that: a sign. Be aware of this concept, use it, but don't put it all the way up there with something like SVA.

Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, the fact that the AQ division also had a new management team to adapt to was not seen by the board of directors as a legitimate excuse for such low productivity.

A. Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, the fact that the AQ division also had a new management team to adapt to- opening modifier issue
B. Though severely hindered by local supply problems, the fact that the AQ division also had a new management team to which to adapt
C. Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team, but this
D. Severely hindered by local supply problems, that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team - opening modifier issue
E. Though severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, the AQ division’s also having a new management team to which it had to adapt- usage of having, the use of possessive in AQ division

I chose option B as per the rule that pronouns such as this, these can't stand without a noun. From the above discussion, I understand that this is just a preference (no longer a concrete rule).

1. In option B, since the option begins with 'though', is the opening modifier rule applicable here since though is subordinate conjunction?
2. Is 'to which to adapt to' in option B incorrect?

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyTargetTestPrep , DmitryFarber , VeritasKarishma , generis , jennpt , other experts

1. Yes. We don't want to imply that the fact was severely hindered.

2. There is no to after adapt, so I don't think that it's wrong (as in impossible). It's not as direct as the correct option though.

Hi all! I am a bit confused with answer C's position of the commas. The part of the answer ",the fact...suppliers," seems to be a nonessential modifier when placed in the middle of the sentence.

However, "Severely hindered by problems with local suppliers, but this was not seen by the board of directors as a legitimate excuse for such low productivity" cannot stand alone. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated

A IS WRONG because of modifier touch rule first sent is modifying AQ division
B same error
C is right
D that two subordinate clause cannot be joined using comma and plus the touch rule
e it pronoun referring to possessive ? like really and again touch rule

Hi Experts,
KarishmaB GMATNinja
D. Severely hindered by local supply problems, that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team
Why D is incorrect?
Can you explain the sentence structure? What's the role of "that" after comma?

Thanks!

Hello Sneha2021,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can resolve your doubt.

Here, the phrase "that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team" can be read as "the fact that the AQ division also had to adapt to a new management team"; thus, "Severely hindered by local supply problems" incorrectly modifies "the fact" rather than "the AQ division".

Another way to look at it is simply that in Option D "Severely hindered by local supply problems" incorrectly modifies "that", leading to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that the AQ division was severely hindered by local supply problems.

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