Since the 1980s, when Chile adopted free market economic policies

Question

Since the 1980s, when Chile adopted free market economic policies that attracted significant investment, copper has been the country’s top commodity , quadrupling the production of its next biggest competitors, China and the United States.

A. Since the 1980s, when Chile adopted free market economic policies that attracted significant investment, copper has been the country’s top commodity,

B. Since Chile adopted free market economic policies in the 1980s that attracted significant economic investment, it has produced more copper than any country,

C. Chile attracted significant economic investment in the 1980s by adopting free market economic policies, and ever since then, it has produced more copper than has any other country,

D. Copper has been Chile’s top commodity since the 1980s, when free market economic policies attracted significant investment,

E. After Chile adopted free market economic policies that attracted significant economic investment in the 1980s, it has produced more copper than any other country,

hiranmay · Accepted Answer

Since the 1980s, when Chile adopted free market economic policies that attracted significant investment, copper has been the country’s top commodity,   quadrupling  the production of its next biggest competitors, China and the United States.

A. Since the 1980s, when Chile adopted free market economic policies that attracted significant investment,  copper  has been the country’s top commodity, --> subject/doer of " quadrupling " should make sense i.e. it should be " Chile "
B. Since Chile adopted free market economic policies in the 1980s that attracted significant economic investment, it has produced more copper than  any country , --> "Chile has produced more  copper  than any  country " : compare copper w/ country doesn't make sense
C. Chile attracted significant economic investment in the 1980s by adopting free market economic policies, and ever since then, it has produced more copper than has any other country, -->  correct 
D.  Copper  has been Chile’s top commodity since the 1980s, when free market economic policies attracted significant investment,
E. After Chile adopted free market economic policies that attracted significant economic investment in the 1980s, it has produced more than  any other country , --> same as  B

daagh · Answer

Generally, the modifier, "quadrupling the production of its next biggest competitors" gives room to contend that Chile adopted the policies to enhance and quadruple the production of its competitors. The author probably meant to say 'over' its competitors' but stated 'of' instead.

GMATGuruNY · Answer

Generally, COMMA + VERBing serves to modify the agent of the nearest preceding action.
The OA implies the following:
 Chile...has produced more copper than  has  any other country, quadrupling the production of its next biggest competitors. 
Here, COMMA +  quadrupling  seems to modify  any other country  -- the agent of the nearest preceding action in blue -- implying that ANY OTHER COUNTRY is QUADRUPLING the production of ITS COMPETITORS.
This meaning is nonsensical.

None of the answer choices is viable.
I would ignore this SC.
What is the source?

Tamao411284 · Answer

In order to solve the question keep an eye on the comparisons and comma subject rule.
1. than any country is wrong as it includes chile as well so any other country
2. the main subject of the sentence should be chile as the non uderlined adjective phrase quadrupling.. should modify chile not copper.

A. Incorrect subject is copper.
B. any country.. Incorrect
C. Seems OK keep it
D.Subject Change Incorrect.
E.it has produced more than any other country ...wrong comparison verb missing in the any other country (does) Incorrect.

DharLog · Answer

A. It seems like after Chile adopted new policies copper has become a top commodity - it sounds a bit strange.
But the most important part is that in this option "quadrupling" that comes afrter an underlined part is not in the correct place. And it can not be true, because it is not underlined.
Quadrupling is about producing of copper, not about copper itself. So out.

B. First of all lets mention the usual GMAT trap: "any country" is wrong, because it contains Chile as well and production pf copper in Chile can not quadruple production of copper in Chile.
 We have to use such construction: "any other country".
Moreover. "it has produced more copper than any country" - it is a wrong comparison. We can not compare production of copper with country. Out.

D. I would say, here is the same problem as in A. Out.

E. Again. Can not compare production with country. Out.

C. Chile attracted significant economic investment in the 1980s by adopting free market economic policies, and ever since then, it has produced more copper than has any other country
All mistakes mentioned above are avoided. Sounds good.

Helium · Answer

Manhattan Prep Official Explanation:

(1) Take a First Glance (5 seconds)

All five sentences start differently, so be aware of changes to the Sentence Structure. The split between since and after indicates that the sentence may change the order of events. Make sure any verbs match the time marker used in that sentence.

(2) Read for Meaning

The sentence says that, ever since Chile enacted policies that attracted economic investment, copper has been its top commodity; in other words, Chile produces more copper than it does any other commodity (for example, silver). Separately, Chile also produces more copper than any other country does; Chile’s copper production is quadruple the production of China and the United States combined. Note that, just because copper is Chile’s top commodity, this doesn’t guarantee that Chile will also be the top copper producer worldwide.

As written, quadrupling modifies copper has been the country’s top commodity, but the fact that Chile produces more copper than other countries does not describe how Chile produces more copper than it does any other commodity. Rather, the quadrupling figure should describe how much more copper Chile is able to produce compared to other countries. Eliminate answer choice (A).

(3) Find a Starting Point

Start with any difference that seems easiest to you, then move to the next easiest issue, and so on. Stop when you have one answer or you aren’t sure how to address the remaining differences. All errors for each choice are detailed in the next section.

(4) Eliminate (and Repeat)

(A) The fact that Chile produces more copper than other countries does not describe how Chile produces more copper than it does any other commodity. The quadrupling figure should describe how much more copper Chile is able to produce compared to other countries.

(B) This sentence says that Chile produced more copper than any country, but Chile is a country, too, so this ought to say that Chile has produced more copper than any other country. Chile can’t produce more copper than Chile!

(C) CORRECT.  The modifier quadrupling properly modifies   has produced more copper than has any other country. It describes how much more copper Chile has produced than its closest competitors (other countries).

(D) In this sentence, quadrupling modifies free market economic policies attracted significant investment, but quadrupling production does not describe how free market economic policies attracted significant investment. Rather, quadrupling production quantifies how much more copper Chile produces compared to other countries.

(E) The modifier quadrupling properly modifies   has produced more   than any other country. However, the shift from since to after changes the required tense from present perfect (an action that began in the past and is still happening) to regular past tense. The sentence should read as follows: After Chile adopted certain policies, it produced more (copper). This choice incorrectly uses has produced.

warrior1991 · Answer

generis  The one you were looking for.

The Comma+VERBing form of question.

waiting for some great explanation from you.

generis · Answer

warrior1991  , the only explanation, great or not, for this question?
It is flawed in the non-underlined part. On the GMAT, none of these answers would be correct.

Quadrupling  is incorrect:
(1) it does not modify the previous clause or any nouns or verbs in that clause; and
(2) its direct object, what got quadrupled, is production of copper in China and the U.S.

The question is not official. I will tag it Poor Quality. I would not spend another minute on this question. 
I suspect that the author meant to use the word  quadruple . See below.

• Intended meaning = four times as much as  
-- The sentence is supposed to mean that Chile produced four times as much copper as China and the U.S. produced.

--  four times as much as  =  adjective  =  quadruple 
--  On Black Friday, the demand for stupid but well-marketed devices was quadruple the supply for those devices.

• Quadrupling, part of speech?

--  quadrupling  is the present participle of the verb  to quadruple 
-- to quadruple means to become four times as big as (intransitive, no object), or to multiply an amount by 4 (transitive, object)
 The stock's price rose rapidly, quadrupling in one year alone.

• The question is grammatically incorrect and logically incoherent  
"Quadrupling" incorrectly acts upon copper production in other countries. 
 Quadrupling  in this case means  a fact that has quadrupled

Quadrupling  has a direct object. The logic is absurd  
Chile quadruples  China's  production of copper? No.

-- the direct objects of "quadrupling," the things that got quadrupled, are 
(1) the production of China and (2) the production of the United States. Not correct.
 
  • The sentence should use the word quadruple

-- Chile has produced more   than any other country,  quadruple  the amount produced by China or the U.S.

• Participial modifiers / comma + verbING

-- comma + verbING can modify nouns, verbs, and entire clauses, but even the latter structure will not work in this case.

--  Quadrupling  cannot modify  Chile, copper , or  any other country . Chile, the country, was not quadrupled. 
Copper, the metal, was not quadrupled.  Any other country  was not quadrupled.

--  Quadrupling  could modify the whole previous clause if the words that followed were something that referred to Chilean production, this way:
   has produced more copper than has any other country, quadrupling its exported tonnage of the metal,    
 
But as the sentence stands, the logic is absurd.
The fact that Chile produced more copper than any other country 
increases the amount of copper produced by China and the U.S.? No.

The question is flawed.

Hope that helps.

kapilsaini · Answer

Option C mentions: Chile attracted significant economic investment in the 1980s. 
What this option states that Chile only got investments in the year 1980 and never after. But the original sentence meant that after it adopted policy, it got investments.

Isn't this incorrect ?

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

The meaning conveyed by the correct version does not have to exactly match the meaning conveyed by the original sentence.

The idea that the meaning conveyed by the correct answer has to match exactly the meaning conveyed by the original sentence is a common misconception.

To find the correct answer, just look for a version that makes sense.

gmat102021 · Answer

In C, "it" refers to "free market economic policies" or "Chile"?

DmitryFarber · Answer

jhaamit6666

We can and should our understanding of the meaning of the sentence to interpret pronouns. Policies can't produce copper, but countries can. Also. note the language "than any other country." This means that we must be talking about a country. Anything else would be incorrect.

jabhatta2 · Answer

Hi  avigutman   IanStewart   GMATGuruNY  - this is a manhattan question so i am a bit skeptical. I was surprised reading the logic behind eliminating option E (seen in the quote above) in this Manhattan question

Reason given for eliminating E: The time marker is  After  and not  since

Given the time marker is  After  -- it doesnt make sense to use the  present perfect   apparently and one should use  simple past tense  instead.

I am not sure if this is a rule.

Just curious on your thoughts if you have memorized this rule and does it make logical sense to you all ? Given this is NOT an official question - i am nervous to just out right memorize this ( the less I memorize, the more relaxed I am on test date i notice)

If i tried making some sentences with "After"

After  Sam turned 21,  he HAS been working  = present perfect progressive  
  After   Sam turned 21,  he worked  = simple past  
  After   Sam turned 21,  Sam HAS worked  = present perfect

I thought All 3 verb tenses (present perfect progresive / simple past / present perfect) were okay with the time marker AFTER

avigutman · Answer

This ^^ is so important,  jabhatta2 . Definitely do not memorize anything from this.
I admit it does feel a bit strange to use "after" before present perfect. Maybe because the use of present perfect requires some specific starting point, which "since" provides and "after" doesn't? 
Whereas past simple doesn't require that specific starting point, because it's implied within the tense? I don't know, this is all just me thinking out loud. I'm not a grammar expert. 
But, I've never had to think about any of this on an official GMAT problem, so... Definitely nothing to memorize here!

IanStewart · Answer

It's not the case here that some 'rule' governs the choice of verb tense. It's just a question of meaning -- is the second action complete, or is it ongoing? I don't think it's actually clear that one meaning is preferable to the other, so I don't think that's a great reason to eliminate E.

I'd add that I find it strange to write a sentence that seems to extoll the economic policies of the Pinochet regime, not only for the obvious reasons, but also because his economic reforms are often blamed for precipitating Chile's 1982 economic collapse (the mining reforms the sentence mentions date to 1981-1982). So I wouldn't take this sentence to be an accurate record of history.

GMATGuruNY · Answer

The purpose of the present perfect is to express a PAST action that affects the PRESENT.
For this reason, time-modifiers for the present perfect generally link the past to the present.

Official examples:
 The universe began in an explosive instant ten to twenty billion years ago and has been expanding ever SINCE. 
Meaning:
Here, the usage of  since  conveys that the act of expanding started in the PAST and continues in the PRESENT.

Sunspots have NEVER been sighted on the Sun’s poles or equator. 
Meaning:
Here, the usage of  never  conveys that act of sighting did not happen in the PAST and is still not happening in the PRESENT.

E:  After Chile adopted free market economic policies, it has produced more than any other country .
Here,  after  refers to the PAST, but it does not provide a link to the PRESENT.
For this reason, its usage as a time-modifier for  has produced  (present perfect) seems inappropriate.

huongguyen · Answer

Can I eliminate A and D because "when" clause modifies "1980s"?

IanStewart · Answer

I might not understand precisely what you mean, but the "when" clause is supposed to modify "the 1980s", so those choices look fine from that point of view. I don't care for the question much as I said above, but I think the trick here is finding an answer choice that will correctly lead to the non-underlined part, so can correctly come before the part that says "quadrupling the production..."

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Since the 1980s, when Chile adopted free market economic policies

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Since the 1980s, when Chile adopted free market economic policies

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