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!
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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.
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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.

Let us zoom in on B and E


(B) million, a part of a deal that makes

Isn???t ???a part of a deal that makes??? a noun+noun modifier that can modify the full preceding clause ???it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million????

This makes sense because ???the purchase of the coloring printing division????????? explains what the ???a part of a deal??????..???
Also, how is ???makes??? incorrect? *a part of a deal that makes* could be giving a fact that now makes it the largest manu in the office color-printing division.


(E) million as part of a deal that will make???

How do we know that the author wanted to say ??? 950 million as a part????

The author could be wanting to describe the whole preceding clause. This is ???a part of a deal???

That "a part of..." could be referring to "$950 million", which is not correct (that is, the amount itself is not "a part of a deal"). Also, the use of the present tense makes in option B is not correct.
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permit me to post another time.
look at choice C and E.
choice E means, the purchase is as a part of a deal. "as a part of a deal " modifies "purchase". this is logic
choice C means:
noun+noun modifier can modify the whole preceding clause. noun+noun modifier is the representation of the whole preceding clause.
so, choice C means
"it will purchase" and this phenomenon is a part of the deal
this is wrong. the event that "it will purchase" is not part of the deal, but only "purchasing" is a part of a deal.
the event that company A will buy company B can not be a part of a deal. only the buying can be as a part of a deal.

an event can not be a part of a deal. an action,verb can be as a part of a deal.

the company A control or want to do the deal and it take an action to finish part of the deal

honiestly, I want to explain why choice C is wrong this way. I wish you explain more why "a part of a deal " can not modify the preceding clause.

In fact I have found several counterexamples to the claim that concrete nouns cannot be used in an absolute phrase. For example:
Owen walked out of the store, his head held high. (from Manhattanrep GMAT book), His head is certainly a concrete noun.
Instead the problem here is tense. I think E is better than C in explaining that the outcome will be in the future.

PS, An Obvious thing : To improve yourself in SC, REVIEW every mistake in every answer choice after you attempt a problem.

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.
The act of purchasing will happen so, the part after 950 million also requires will as it will happen in future.


(A) million, which is part of a deal that will make
Which is referring to 950 million. Incorrect


(B) million, a part of a deal that makes
Incorrect, requires will.
A part of deal is referring to 950 million which is incorrect.


(C) million, a part of a deal making
Present participle making is Incorrect, requires will.
A part of deal is referring to 950 million which is incorrect.


(D) million as a part of a deal to make
Incorrect, requires will.
Usage of “+ to” denotes intent which is clearly not the case


(E) million as part of a deal that will make
Best of all.

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.
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(A) million, which is part of a deal that will make
which modified million here, >incorrect

(B) million, a part of a deal that makes
makes -> present tense usage is incorrect here

(C) million, a part of a deal making
continuous tense usage is incorrect here

(D) million as a part of a deal to make
verb missing

(E) million as part of a deal that will make
no error

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.
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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.


as $950m is non essential prepositional noun, "which" will refer to rival company. If this is correct, them "it" will refer to the company. It is wrong.


present tense is not needed


same as B, tense error.


same as B


Correct tense used.

E is a clear win


[/quote]
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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.
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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.
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DmitryFarber

Really appreciate your clarification!

So, if I compare 2 clauses:
(1) that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million as part of a deal that will make it
(2) that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million as part of a deal making it

Is (1) over (2), from a reason that clearer meaning?
Because (2) there's NO explicit indicator that this noun modifier for "deal" is talking about the future, while (1) has

interesting question:)

Before dear expert reply , I would like to share my opinion.
1 means purchase will make it the largest manufacturer ( after deal happen)--> idea is similar to: After the deal is signed, I will get 1000$.
2 means purchase will make it the largest manufacturer ( at time of deal- seems as a result of deal)-->idea is similar to : As the deal is signed, I become the richest person.


hope it helps

As per Ron's view, There is another definite error in the infinitive construction.

"if you use the infinitive "to make", then the computer company is still the subject of the sentence. therefore, in this case you have to use the reflexive pronoun: itself. as an analogy, i can't look at me in the mirror, but i can look at myself in the mirror."

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... t2673.html