The crash in Brent crude prices in 2014 and 2015 was particularly hard

Here, it is important to properly comprehend the meaning of the sentence as there are multiple grammatically options.

It was the crash in Brent crude prices that had the ripple effect and not the oil fields as indicated by choice C, which is also grammatically correct.

I thought ", which" is referring to the U.S mining sector and not Jobs.......Support services to be taken as a type of Job or part of the Sector????

I chose E - Meaning. Not sure by why B would be the right answer

Hi ,

The crash in Brent crude prices in 2014 and 2015 was particularly hard on jobs in the U.S. mining sector, including support services in oil fields that had ripple effects on construction and manufacturing, partly because American companies make much of the world’s mining equipment.

A) including support services in oil fields that had
B) which includes support services in oil fields, and had
C) which includes support services in oil fields that had
D) and support services in oil fields had
E) and support services in oil fields, which had

This is case of improper conjunction in the sentence .
Here subject of the sentence is The crash in Brent crude prices in 2014 and 2015 .
There are two independent sentences in the sentence they are :
1 The crash in Brent crude prices in 2014 and 2015 was particularly hard on jobs in the U.S. mining sector
2 had ripple effects on construction and manufacturing, partly because American companies make much of the world’s mining equipment.

In between these two sentence we have a modifier .
Now think about why A cant be the answer that in A refers to oil fields and it is the oil fields that had ripple effects .Clearly this is wrong it was crash .
B is correct as it gives proper conjunction and to connect two independent clauses and modifier is correctly placed

C again has problem with that and meaning is not clear .

D is a disaster as it does not have subject for verb had and it seems to imply that oil fields is the subject but it can not be as it is in prepositional clause
on jobs in the U.S. mining sector and support services in oil fields had

E is wrong as meaning is not clear .which refers to oil fields and it suggest that effects were due to oil fields.

Personally i also struggle with these kinds of sentences. The best possible way to solve these questions to read the both the sentences one by one with subject and see whether it makes sense .

how can B be the answer?
if we use and after a comma , we have to specify the subject , which is clearly missing in B
Isn't option C correct here ?
GMATNinja egmat

HI ,

How come "includes" is correct in option B . Shouldn't it be include agreeing with "Jobs" , because jobs include support services not U.S. mining sector. VeritasKarishma please help here.

The crash... was particularly hard on jobs in the U.S. mining sector, which includes support services in oil fields,

"which" refers to the US mining sector (singular), the noun immediately preceding which. The US mining sector includes support services in oil fields.

The US mining sector includes support services in oil fields? I think we need to revisit the difference between mining and oil 🤔

A definite meaning issue with B and C…

Posted from my mobile device

I COULD BE WRONG BUT HAVE TO ASK:

QUESTION: In option B, shouldn't there be "that" after "and" and before "had" ? Since we need to clearly state that the crash that caused huge impact on the jobs in the US mining sector; and that same crash caused the repel effect isn't it?

Because without "that", the sentence sounds as if the crash made a huge impact on US mining sector's jobs that includes support services as well. However, and had repel effects looks like a separate sentence that looks more like a statement.

For eg: I believe that India will win the world cup and "that" Eagles will win in next year's NFL. (Here: Unless that is not used, the Eagles will win the next year's NFL part looks like an independent prediction not my believe) isn't it ?

Hello AP95,

We hope this find you well.

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

There is no need to include "that" after "and" in this sentence. The structure of the sentence is basically that "The crash...was particularly hard...and...had ripple effects..."; "was particularly hard" and "had ripple effects" are two verb phrases joined in a list by "and", both acting on the noun "The crash".

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

comma + ing rule does not apply to including. Then why A] is incorrect

in B] is usage of comma before 'and' correct?

Hello himanshu0123,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in Option A, "that had" incorrectly modifies "support services in oil fields", incorrectly implying that support services had ripple effects on construction and manufacturing; the intended meaning is that the crash in Brent crude prices had ripple effects on construction and manufacturing.

Further, in Option B, the comma before "and" does not form an Oxford comma ("comma + and"), rather it is part of a pair of commas that offset a phrase conveying extra information - "which includes support services in oil fields".

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

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