The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-pri

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that the computer company will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, and this action is part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Verb Forms + Tenses

• In a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun; this is one of the most frequently tested concepts on GMAT sentence correction.
• "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.
• The simple future tense is used to refer to events that will take place in the future.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

A: This answer choice incorrectly refers to "$950 million" with "which is part of a deal", incorrectly implying that $950 million are part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market; the intended meaning is that the act of purchasing color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million is part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market; please remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

B: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "$950 million" with "a part of a deal", incorrectly implying that $950 million are part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market; the intended meaning is that the act of purchasing color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million is part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option B incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "makes" to refer to an event that will take place in the future; please remember, the simple future tense is used to refer to events that will take place in the future, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.

C: This answer choice incorrectly modifies "$950 million" with "a part of a deal", incorrectly implying that $950 million are part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market; the intended meaning is that the act of purchasing color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million is part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market; please remember, in a “noun + comma + phrase” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "making" in this sentence) to refer to an event that will take place in the future; please remember, the simple future tense is used to refer to events that will take place in the future.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "to make"; the use of the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + make in this sentence) incorrectly implies that the computer company will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million as part of a deal for the purpose of making the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market; the intended meaning is that the computer company will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, and, as a separate action, this purchase is part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market; please remember, the infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + make in this sentence) is the preferred construction for referring to the purpose/intent of an action.

E: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "as part of a deal that will make", avoiding the modifier errors seen in Options A, B, and C and conveying the intended meaning - that the computer company will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, and as a separate action, this purchase is part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market. Further, Option E correctly uses the simple future tense verb "will make" to refer to an action that will take place in the future.

Hence, E 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 (~1minute):



To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/the ... t2673.html

Good explanation by Ron

Thanks for the link.

Good explanation for usage of 'a part of' and 'part of'

In this case, E is correct.

IMO

as purchase is part of the deal and not $950 million - A, B, C incorrectly uses comma

I picked E, because deal is the one that will make ....

but there is one more explanation given in the link why D is wrong?
'to make it' is incorrect as the subject in that case is 'company', and 'itself' should be used instead of 'it'.

Nice Question!

Good question. Meaning wins!

The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, which is part of a deal that will make it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market,

A) million, which is part of a deal that will make
Wrong even the option is quite attractive.
Meaning: "which" modifies the CLOSEST noun "590 million" <-- wrong meaning because 590M is NOT a part that will make the computer company the largest manufacture. In fact, the purchase (an action) of the color-printing division is a part that makes the computer the largest manufacturer.

B) million, a part of a deal that makes
Wrong. Because the company will purchase.............. --> Future tense should be used, not simple present tense.

C) million, a part of a deal making
Wrong. Because the company will purchase.............. --> Future tense should be used.

D) million as a part of a deal to make
Wrong meaning. It seems the company will purchase the printing division to make it largest manufacturer. The intended meaning is that the deal makes the company the largest manufacturer.

E) million as part of a deal that will make
Correct. Only E keeps correct grammar and intended meaning.

Hope it helps.

The thing to remember here is that the deal is yet to be completed; the company will purchase the new division sometime later. So the part of the deal that makes it the largest blah –blah will also happen only in the future.

a) million, which is part of a deal that will make -- future tense is ok, but the reference for which is wrong. It is the purchase that is part of the deal and not $950 M
b) million, a part of a deal that makes --- present tense is wrong

c) million, a part of a deal making --- the present participle is wrong

d) million as a part of a deal to make --- infinitive to make is wrong; This changes the meaning that the deal’s purpose itself is to make it the largest company

e) million as part of a deal that will make --- use of future tense is correct; hence the correct answer

It doesn't make sense to say that $950 million is part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer. The purchase of the rival company is part of a deal, but the price itself is not.

Second part is not a stand alone Dependent clause, but has the following structure: phrase (a part of a deal) + a Dependent clause (that makes it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market).

Such structures serve as phrases (in this case, more specifically, it's called an appositive).

In B, the meaning is incorrect. It seems to suggest that $950 million is part of a deal!

However, the intended meaning is that the purchase (of the color-printing division) is being done as part of the deal.

First, if only one choice has a given meaning, it's probably not right unless the other meanings are clearly flawed. Second, it's hard to imagine that the rival would agree to a deal with the specific purpose of making this company the largest player. While that might be a clear consequence, surely that is not the *purpose* of the deal from their end.

Hi VeritasKarishma GMATNinja ChiranjeevSingh egmat

"which is part of a deal that will make it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market."
Is there a pronoun ambiguity wrt "it" ? "it" may refer to "computer company" or "rival company"?
Is it safe to assume "it" refer to the "computer company", which is the subject of the main clause?

A few thoughts on this:

• Pronoun ambiguity isn't an absolute rule on the GMAT. More on that in this video.
• The "it" isn't underlined -- so there's nothing you can do about it! There's no reason to worry about an issue that won't help you to distinguish among the five options.
• Pronoun ambiguity is only wrong if it creates confusion in terms of the meaning (and if, of course, you have some clearer options available). And there doesn't seem to be much reason to worry about confused meanings here. The pronoun "it" appears twice in the sentence, and in both cases, "it" refers to "the computer company" -- so it's hard to argue that the second "it" causes much confusion. And the combined company would be singular after the acquisition anyway, right?

I hope that helps!

A perfect example of how GMAT tolerates pronoun ambiguity (as some define it)!
Since one company is acquiring a part of another, only the one acquiring can "become" the largest manufacturer. If it is logical, it is fine. There would be other errors.

Hi EducationAisle,

In B - I'm a little confused on how to understand whether "a part of a deal that makes.." is an appositive or an absolutely modifier? Would that be because grammatically in B - it's a phrase + dependent clause and not a noun + dependent clause?

The reason I ask is because if it is an absolutely modifier, it can be treated as modifying the previous clause and not the previous noun right? All things asked, I understand that B has a verb tense issue, which should suffice to make it incorrect anyways. Thank you!

Regards,
Soubhik.

You make a good point Soubhik! A case can perhaps be made either way (whether a part of a deal modifies $950 million or the entire preceding clause).

This ambiguity in fact, will be another reason why E is more preferable among the given answer choices, since it makes it very clear that the purchase was part of a deal.

The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, which is part of a deal that will make it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.


(A) million, which is part of a deal that will make "which" in this position implies that the money is part of a deal - the sentence intends to say that the purchase is part of a deal. Eliminate.

(B) million, a part of a deal that makes "part of a deal" incorrectly modifies "950 million" and not "purchase". Also, "makes" in the present tense is incorrect since the company has announced that "it will" purchase the division in the future. Eliminate.

(C) million, a part of a deal making Same modifier error as in (B). Eliminate.

(D) million as a part of a deal to make "to make" shows intent ie; the deal was intended to make it the largest manufacturer. While not outrightly incorrect, this does not seem to be the original intent of the sentence. We can hold on to it at the moment.

(E) million as part of a deal that will make Correct answer. All errors and doubts in above options are rectified and no new errors are introduced. We should now eliminate option (D).

Hope this helps.

Hi experts,
GMATNinja DmitryFarber EducationAisle VeritasKarishma

I have 2 questions about modifiers.

1. Does the modifier phase, either V-ing, V-ed, or Appositive phase, happen simultaneously and have the same tense with the preceding clause it modifies?

For example: Xavier, running to the bus stop, dropped his backpack.
As per my understanding, the sentence conveys: Xavier ran to the bus stop, and Xavier dropped his backpack.


Another question...

according to choice(C),
The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, a part of a deal making it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.

Because I saw many explanations telling that "making" here is present tense.

2. Why can't this appositive phase "a part of a deal," in which making modifies, denote a future tense?
So, it will convey: "a part of a deal that will make..."


Thank you in advance!
-tor

TorGmatGod
Short answer: no, not necessarily.

First, it's important to note that since modifiers are not verbs, they don't have a tense. So we can't say that a modifier is itself in the past or present tense, even if it includes, describes, or modifies past or present actions.

Second, modifiers have a number of different uses and meanings, so we need to think about them flexibly. For instance, if we use a present participle (-ing form) as an adverbial modifier, it may describe why/how something happened, or it may describe a result that occurred later. Noun modifiers are a little less flexible, since they just attach to a noun, so they will usually just tag along with the time frame the noun is in.

A few examples:

An urban legend circulating when I was in high school was that Pop Rocks and Coke were a lethal combination. (Here, "circulating" is a noun modifier. Since the action takes place in the past, we know the rumor was circulating at the time I was in high school.)

Candidates applying in Round 3 should not get their hopes up. (Here, we're making a recommendation, so while we're talking about the future, it's not about any particular time. It's more of a general statement. The word "applying" is a noun modifier for "candidates." We're talking about any time a candidate applies.)

Wanting to make a good impression, I prepared extensively. (Here we have an initial adverbial modifier. I prepared because I wanted to make a good impression. Clearly, I must have wanted this before I prepared extensively, but this isn't a matter of order or simultaneity. I probably wanted to make a good impression both before, during, and after my extensive preparation.)

In 2021, I found a cure diabetes, eventually earning numerous awards for my breakthrough. (Here, the adverbial modifier comes after the main clause and shows a result. It's clear that the awards came after I found the cure in 2021, but we don't know exactly when. Later that year? 2025? Spread out over 30 years? We don't know, and that's not a flaw in the sentence.)

The festival we have planned will consist of about 30 shows at outdoor venues, culminating in an all-night jam session on New Year's Eve. (Here, "culminating" is an adverbial modifier applying to the previous clause, showing what will happen in the future, at the end of the festival we have recently planned.)

-Ed words can work like -ing noun modifiers, but they too won't necessarily stick to one time frame. For instance, we could say this: Considered the world's leading expert on moths, Dr. Chandra spent much of her childhood looking through a magnifying glass at the creatures in her neighborhood. Here, it's clear that Dr. Chandra is now considered the leading expert, and this may have been true for some time, but the action described in the main clause clearly predates that status.

So . . . it's complicated.

So, getting to your question in #2, there's no indicator that this noun modifier for "deal" is talking about the future. If the deal has just happened, why would we interpret "making" as happening in the future? Also, note that the noun modifier "a part of a deal" would apply to the noun phrase "$950 million," so we want to throw this out before we even get to the -ing modifier.

Verbal experts DmitryFarber EducationAisle GMATNinja - two quick questions :

i) Is my fundamental understanding accurate - there will be a 950 million $ purchase BUT the total purchase amount OVERALL is going to be higher ?

I thought that 950 million was a part of an overall deal (total deal is maybe worth 2 billion total -- 950 million is only a part of that total 2 billion $ purchase)

Is that accurate OR is 950 million the total amount of the purchase ?

The word part of a deal seems to imply to me -- the total deal is perhaps worth 2 billion dollars and 950 million is just a chunk out of the 2 billion dollars

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II) Given i thought 950 million is only part of a much larger deal (maybe total deal amounting is 2 billion)

I marked E wrong because I thought E could be interpreted in 2 ways.

Specifically in E - purchase of what is causing the company to become the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market ? Is it

Interpretation 1) The mini deal (950 million dollar purchase)
Interpretation 2) The overall deal [the 950 million dollar purchase + other remaining bits of the deal]

I thought option B and option C did a better job referring to interpretation # 1 only



Hi DmitryFarber - could you elaborate why you say what you say in the pink above ?

I thought 950 million was part of a much larger deal (deal total is say : 2 billion dollars - 950 million dollars is just a part of that 2 billion dollar acquisition)