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

Question

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

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

(C) million, a part of a deal making

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

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

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

jabhatta2

We don't really have enough information here to tell whether "part of a deal" means that the company will also pay for additional things, or whether the other elements of the deal don't involve purchases. (A deal can be any agreement, and not all the parts have to have dollar values.) All we know for certain is that the acquisition itself will cost $950 million, so any other parts must be about something else than simply acquiring this division.

Thankfully, we don't have to come to a conclusion about any of that. What I'm saying about A-C is that $950 million isn't what is "part of the deal." Rather, the purchase is part of the deal, and that purchase will cost $950 million. The money is just a price--it's not an active part of a deal that can do anything. Whether the total deal is worth more or not doesn't change this. If we were to list out the parts of the deal, one of them would be this $950 million  purchase . $950 million dollars itself can't be a component of a deal, because it's meaningless by itself. A deal has to be made up of transactions or agreements--I give you this, you do that--not just bare numbers. If I said "Let's make a deal: $10," that wouldn't mean anything. I'd need to say something like "Let's make a deal: I'll buy your backpack for $10."

Dinesh654 · Answer

Hello experts, also MartyTargetTestPrep I would like your participation in this. I am having issues with C,D and E. 1. C, as per many explanations, C is wrong because "a part" is reffering to 950$ million and hence its wrong. but since its an absolute phrase, which is flexible, It can modify anything in the preceding clause. i.e. purchase. hence, purchase could be a part of a deal. So whats wrong with C? making is not a verb - just a modifier. seems ok and conscise to me. but not pleasing to my ears though

2. D, many people are saying, D Is wrong because of "intention", whats wrong with that maybe company wants to do all this for a purpose. we don't care whats intended as long as it makes sense. 3. a part vs part? is there a difference? to me both means deal includes more than just this. also How is this an easy-medium level question? there is so much going on!

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

1. My issue with C is more the meaning in the modifier 'making'. It seems to say the deal is already, in the moment, making the company the largest manufacturer. But the story is that once the deal has been struck, the company will become the largest manufacturer. I have a similar qualm with B.

2. We certainly do care what's intended. Intended meaning comes from the entirety of the question.

The other issue with D, and this is more idiomatic and squishy, but noun to verb modifiers don't really work that well. "He went to the store to buy some bread." Great, 'to buy some bread' says 'why he went to the store.'

"It was a party to celebrate her birthday." Ehhhh.... 'to celebrate her birthday' is the 'why' of the party, but it just doesn't fit so nice to ONLY modify the party. It feels much better to say "We threw a party to celebrate her birthday."

Basically 'to verb' modifiers work much better if they modify why A VERB was done, not why a NOUN was 'done.'

So if D said "as part of a deal that was struck to make" the to-verb modifier would work better. It explains why the deal was struck.

3. I don't see a huge different between 'a part' and 'part.' The real difference in E is the 'as.' The purchase was done AS PART of a deal...

Dinesh654 · Answer

Thank you for a detailed response.
So In C, when there is an "ing" modifier, apart from just modifying a noun, It also tells us about the timeframe as well?
does it always represents a present progressive tense ?? I used to think its just a modifier modifying a property of noun.
Can it always be a present progressive or it can be a past progressive as well (In case of being a noun modifier)

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

---ing modifiers are always 'present progressive,' but the way to think about 'when' they are happening is usually 'concurrently with the verb.'

"The dog running on the sidewalk is fast."

"The dog running on the sidewalk was fast."

In both, 'running on the sidewalk' modifies 'the dog,' an we know WHEN it was running by the verb 'is' or 'was.' In the first it is currently running, in the second it was running on the sidewalk.

It doesn't work with the future, though--"The dog running on the sidewalk will be fast."

Also, because nothing is ever easy, the modifier can be present but the verb past: "The man standing on the corner lived on this street for years." Now, the man is currently on the corner, but he lived on the street in the past.

With a comma,---ing modifier, it tends to be more rigid: that modifier is happening *with* that verb, at that time:

"She slipped on the ice, twisting her ankle."

"She slips on the ice, twisting her ankle."

"She will slip on the ice, twisting her ankle."

Regardless, in the sentence in question here, the deal isn't currently making the company the biggest manufacturer. It will do so, once the deal has officially closed.

mehtasahil56 · Answer

isnt this question a subjunctive mood one?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  mehtasahil56 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, no; the subjunctive mood is not used in this sentence.

The subjunctive mood is primarily used to refer to orders and requests, conditionals, and hypothetical/imaginary actions, none of which apply here.

To understand the concept of "Subjunctive Mood" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~20 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK19l5JfrBQ

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

nazii · Answer

why we cannot consider "a part of a deal " as a noun modifier referring to the purchase... ?
I still think why B is incorrect?

egmat · Answer

Hello nazii , You raise a good question. Please allow me to explain.

Indeed, we can use "a part of a deal" as a Noun + Noun Modifier to refer to the action of purchasing the color-printing division. The usage of this expression is not the issue in Choice B. The issue in this choice is the use of the simple present tense verb "makes". The sentence clearly mentioned that the computer company WILL purchase the color-printing division. The computer company will become the largest manufacturer in the said field only after the purchase is made. Therefore, the use of the simple present tense verb is incorrect in this sentence. The correct answer Choice E correctly uses the simple future tense verb "will make" to present the logical progression of events per the context of the sentence. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  nazii ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, to say that the sum of money "$950 million" is a part of the deal produces a rather awkward meaning.

However, even if we were to discount the meaning error, Option B also incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "makes" to refer to an event that will take place in the future.

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

GMATTarget720plus · Answer

Hi  egmat  Shraddha ,

If Choice B is changed to,

(B) million, a part of a deal that  will make

then Choice B will be a good contender ? (Assuming we are not given Choice E .)

Thanks.
Regards

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

GMATTarget720plus

No, that still wouldn't work, because "a part of a deal" is wrong. That phrase would make a noun modifier, and there's no noun to correctly modify. In other words, no noun in the sentence actually describes WHAT is part of the deal.

egmat · Answer

Hey  GMATTarget720plus

You've asked a very important question.

In addition to what Shraddha and  DmitryFarber  have said about the  incorrect tense  and the  missing noun modified entity , I'd like to highlight another very important error: the use of the idiom "a part of" instead of "part of".

Concept  :   Idioms  
 
    A part of   = A piece or segment of something
 
Example: In ancient times, present-day Tajikistan was  a part of  the empire of the Achaemenian Persians.
  
    Part of   = Included in or essential to the nature of something
 
Examples: 
 As  part of  the experiment, students  manipulated  light and temperature to see how it affected the plants.
   The students' manipulation of light and temperature was included in or essential to the nature of the experiment. 
As  part of  her oral examination, she  had to recite  the names of all the presidents.
   Her recitation of the names of all the presidents was included in or essential to the nature of her oral examination.

Meaning Analysis of Original Sentence:   
 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.

Aspects and Inferences: 
 
  The computer company will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million.  
  This purchase (deal) will make the computer company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.  
  Hence,  this purchase is not a piece or segment of a larger deal . This purchase  is the deal  that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.  
  Becoming the largest manufacturer is merely the impact of this deal. 
  Hence, the use of "  a part of  " is  incorrect . We must use "  part of  ".

So, to answer your question:

No, this modified choice B would still be incorrect by virtue of the incorrect idiom "a part of".  This is also why choice D, the nearest contender to choice E, is also incorrect .

All of the above is corroborated by even the   official explanation   to answer choice D:

I hope this helps improve your understanding of these two common English idioms. Please feel free to revert for further clarification, if required.

Happy learning!

Abhishek

carmenamos · Answer

can anyone plz explain what exactly 'as' in (E) means

KarishmaB · Answer

'as' works as a preposition here. It means 'in the role of' or 'function'.

A will do B as part of a deal that will ...

brt · Answer

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

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

(C) million, a part of a deal making

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

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

Option A is wrong because which refers to directly 950 million. Two independent phrases can be joined by a coordinating,subordinating or by a semicolon. So option B,C is wrong. If you try to understand the meaning, it is clear that the deal will make it the largest manufacturer not a deal to make. So ans is E.

Guest96 · Answer

"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 that will make  it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market."

KarishmaB ,  DmitryFarber ,  GMATNinja , other experts

Isn't "a part of a deal..." modifying the clause "that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million", hence acting as a clause/idea modifier (abstract appositive or absolute phrase)? 
To put it in another way, isn't "The fact that it will purchase the color-printing division..." a part of a deal?

If not, then how do we distinguish between a noun modifier and an abstract appositive or absolute phrase?

KarishmaB · Answer

There is no problem in using a noun modifier but here 'a part' is not great, meaning-wise.

part of - an element or constituent that belongs to something and is essential to its nature. It is included.
a part of - a piece or segment of something such as an object, activity, or period of time, which combined with other pieces makes up the whole.

Examples:
As part of our agreement, A must happen .... (This is included in our agreement)
This clause is a part of our agreement. (a piece, there are other clauses too.)

The sentence tells us this:
 The company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million as part of a deal that will make it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.

Note here that the company is buying the division of the rival company for $950 million. It is announcing this purchase. It is likely not one part of a whole with many other parts. They want to say that it is what the deal is, or the most significant aspect of the deal. Can we divide the deal into smaller units - this being one of the units? Unlikely. It is not just one of the units. "Buying the division" will make the company the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market. It is not the deal that will make it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market. 
Had the deal consisted of lots of other parts - say buying monochrome division of XYZ, buying paper division of AMC etc, then we would have said 
"... a part of a deal that will make the company the largest manufacturer in the printing market." (bigger market, not just office colour printing market)

The fact that we are talking about 'buying the colour printing division' and the deal making it the largest manufacturer in the colour printing space, makes the usage of 'a part of' a bit questionable.

Note that I would likely not think all this during the exam. But when I read 'as part of..' I liked it far more than 'a part of'.

VerbalBot · Answer

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