The bylaws of a corporation specify how the directors of the corporati

Question

The bylaws of a corporation specify how the directors of the corporation are to be elected, whether the existing stockholders will have first right to buy any new stock issued by the firm,  as well as duties of management committees .

(A) as well as duties of management committees

(B) as well as the duties that the management committees have

(C) and that the management committees have duties

(D) outlining the duties of management committees

(E) and what the duties of management committees will be

Marcab · Accepted Answer

Hii Archit.
I will mention some laws that I always follow when dealing with modifier problems.
1) Modifiers such as the one crossed above bears no significance in the sentence i.e. it is given the least priority. These type of modifiers are called Non-Essential modifiers.Consider an example:  Abraham Lincoln, who was a black president of US, was murdered.  In this sentence, does being black bears any significance to the sentence. No! you just don't have to consider this. In order to remove the complexity of the sentences that include modifiers, you can safely cross of the modifier. No worries.
let me give you few more examples:
i)The car, which is painted black, is a product of the sister company of Volks Wagon. 
ii) Steve Jobs, who founded Apple inc, died in 2012.

BUT you can't do this with Essential modifiers. NO CRISS-CROSS in Essential Modifiers.
Essential Modifiers are those which are necessary for the sentence and are given equal importance.
Consider:
i) The car that has been painted black is a product of the sister company of Volks Wagon.
I hope you get the difference.

2) Don't put two long modifiers before or after a noun.

3) Modifiers can't modify across "and", "but" etc.

4) "Being" on GMAT is not always Incorrect, but make sure that "being" is not placed at the start of the modifier.

5) Placing a noun after a comma, followed by a modifier of that noun, is a great way to describe an idea from the preceding clause. This structure is known as Absolute Phrase.

6) Keep the modifiers as close as possible to the words they modify.

Hope That helps.

Let me know if anything remains unclear.

Marcab · Answer

The bylaws of a corporation specify how the directors of the corporation are to be elected, whether the existing stockholders will have first right to buy any new stock issued by the firm, as well as duties of management committees.
On reading the clause, we can compare the intent of the two clauses. The three questions.
E.
Hope That helps.
P.S. Do mention the source

nanishora · Answer

The bylaws of a corporation specify how the directors of the corporation are to be elected, whether the existing stockholders will have first right to buy any new stock issued by the firm,  as well as duties of management committees .
(A) as well as duties of management committees should be the duties 
(B) as well as the duties that the management committees have have - should be more like should have or will be 
(C) and that the management committees have duties it should specify what duties they have not that they have them 
(D) outlining the duties of management committees outlining - wrong tense 
(E) and what the duties of management committees will be Correct

Archit143 · Answer

Marcab nice explanation but can you pls detail the principle involved and help me in eliminating D.

Marcab · Answer

Regarding D, do notice one point. The "comma" is followed by an verb-ing.
Whenever this happens, it implies:
i) The clause after comma is the result of the preceding clause.

Now in D, ask yourself is "outlining the duties of management committees" the effect of the preceding clause "whether the existing stockholders will have first right to buy any new stock issued by the firm".

Still if you are not certain, let me know. I will try my best.

Archit143 · Answer

Good One Marcab
Can you give an example for 3rd point mentioned in your explanation, which deals with and , but.

Marcab · Answer

Clause X, modifier, Clause Y.
What do you think the modifier will modify, is it clause X or clause Y. To eliminate this ambiguity "but", "and" etc can be used as separators and act as "walls" to prevent the clause to be modified by the modifier, eliminating ambiguity.

i) Clause X, "and" modifier, clause Y---> In this Case the modifier will modify clause Y
ii) clause X, modifier, "and" clause Y----> In this case the modifier will modify clause X.

Hope that helps.
Siddhartha

Marcab · Answer

For #3) 
 Galileo did not invent the telescope, but on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he quickly built his own device from an organ pipe and spectacle lenses .  In this example, "on hearing" cannot modify "Galileo did not invent the telescope" but can modify "in 1609, that bla bla"  This one is correct.
 
Even though, Galileo did not invent the telescope, on hearing, in 1609, that such an optical instrument had been made, he quickly built his own device from an organ pipe and spectacle lenses.   In this, there is an ambiguity. What is the modifier "on hearing" referring to????   This one is incorrect.

Marcab · Answer

For #4) I really can't come up with an example, but I remember my post. You can refer it to clear your doubt. when-you-should-eliminate-being-the-answer-is-here-141086.html

Marcab · Answer

For #5)
I can give you numerous examples here, because this is the topic I gave most of time.

i) Sound can travel through water for enormous distances, its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperatures and densities.

ii)  More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

shanmugamgsn · Answer

@Marcab I'm not able to get one thing... :evil:

i ) Sound can travel through water for enormous distances modifies "its" possessive pronoun which in-turn refers to "sound"? ii) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal modifies "which" relative pronoun refers back to "Siberia's Lake Baikal " ? My queries : 1) Actually here modifiers are Independent clause right? modifiers express only partial idea right? 2) Here these pronouns refer back to modifiers right? I know i'm missing something in this... but i couldn't figure it out.... messed up with these sentence

sorry

Marcab · Answer

Hii Shan.
Query #1-) Independent clauses can co-exist with the help of conjunction words. If there is no conjunction word, they entire sentence is flawed. 
 Sound can travel through water for enormous distances,   its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperatures and densities. . The green shaded is the NOT the independent clause.

Consider the sentence: Mahatma Gandhi is regarded as the Father of Nation, he was shot dead.
Here the two clauses are independent and since there is no conjunction word, so these two clauses can't be put together.

Same for the second sentence.

These are Absolute Phrases and these refer back to the ENTIRE IDEA, not just the Subject of the main clause.
For these phrases, I developed a technique to identify whether its an Absolute phrase or not.
Consider the example:
"Sound can travel through water for enormous distances, its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperatures and densities.".
Break the sentence into two parts.
i) Sound can travel through water for enormous distances,
ii) its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperatures and densities.".

After the first part is over, RAISE A QUESTION  HOW?  If the just next clause answers your question, then the just next clause is the Absolute Phrase.
try this technique in the two sentences, which I gave in #5.
If you find difficulty in understanding it, let me know. I will try my best.

shanmugamgsn · Answer

Thanks Marcab. Really hand tool...

But I'm afraid still i didnt get the point... I'm got first sentence Sound can travel through water for enormous distances HOW? (by its acoustic energy preventing from dissipating blah blah....) its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperatures and densities. Here this HOW explains action of sound (preventing) For second sentence i couldn't make it up More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, HOW?? Here this how doesn't explain an action of Siberia Lake Baikal Also can a Independent clause act as modifier? Sound can travel through water for enormous distances , its acoustic energy prevented from dissipating by boundaries in the ocean created by water layers of different temperatures and densities. Red is Independent Clause modifies Green Subordinate clause . (i was thinking in reverse) I know this Types of Modifier : Words, Phrase, Clauses But i thot modifier clauses are dependent clauses only....

Marcab · Answer

Visit: the-technique-to-nail-the-absolute-phrase-questions-143219.html This will clear all your doubts.

daagh · Answer

One aspect that I would like add to this tposic is that, this topic is essentially a test of structural parallelism, which has been sidelined in the discussions. The text wants to present three factors of a specification in indirect interrogative manner with three interrogatives such as how, whether and what. Obviously when they are part of a list parallelism, the last one has to be coordinated with a fanboy such as ‘and’. Thus you will find the use of the additive phrase ‘as well as breaks the //ism and leads to the implication that the first is just an addendum of the con d and essentially only two factors remain. Due to this altered intent A and B are out. C also misses the //ism by missing the what. In D, the third factor is modifier than a factor. E, finally, reflects the true intention and is the chocie.

Of course, all roads lead to Rome and this is yet another route apart from the others mentioned in the discussion.

Of course, all roads lead to Rome and this is yet another route apart from the others mentioned in the discussion.

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

The bylaws have three stipulations in this sentence, and whenever you see a list, you know to look out for flaws in parallelism. Think of the original sentence this way:
"The bylaws of a corporation specify:
1. how the directors...are to be elected
2. whether the existing stockholders...firm and/as well as
3. duties of management committees."
Each piece of the list needs to follow grammatically from the first part of the sentence, and each needs to have the same structure as the others. Item 3 is clearly not like the others, so eliminate (A), and go ahead and take out (В), (C), and (D) for breaking the parallel as well.

(E) is a bit clumsy, but it's the only grammatically correct option.

An 800 test taker thinks of parallelism whenever she sees lists or word pairs like between...and and fewer...than.

PaddyRoy · Answer

This question can be answered using the concept of parallel construction:

The sentence here talks about a certain bylaw (the subject) and what all does it cover. Now 1st 2 features that this bylaw covers in a question like phrase while the 3rd feature is a direct simple phrase. Now, if we look for a similar question like 3rd phrase, we will be left with only option E.

Naptiste · Answer

Hello,

I understand that we can find E) using parallelism.

However I do not understand when "as well" is wrong in this context ?

Can we use "as well" in a list as we would use "and" ?

Thank you so much

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Naptiste ,

We hope this finds you well.

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

Yes, when listing elements "as well as" can play the same role as "and", except in the phrase "both A and B"; the construction "both A as well as B" is redundant and unidiomatic.

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

The bylaws of a corporation specify how the directors of the corporati

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

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

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The bylaws of a corporation specify how the directors of the corporati

Prep Toolkit

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

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards