The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make

"The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic."

Is there any issue with connecting two IC?
"The government predicts... , though some consumer groups disagree"

I've rejected A because of absence of FANBOYS as connector.. Am I wrong here and clauses are dependent?

You're right about the fact that the portion we see at the end is a dependent clause, as though is a subordinating conjunction there.

X says Y, though Z disagrees.

The first thing I noticed was that the underline is quite long. That’s a really good clue that I might have one of these sentences where the “splits” (or differences in the answer choices) might be less obvious. It’s more likely that big chunks of the sentence will move around, and the form of different pieces may change more substantially than usual. Basically, the longer the underline, the more likely these types of things are to happen.

The government predicts that, for <a certain group>, the <long modifier> rate cuts will reduce costs, though some groups disagree, <-ing modifier>.

The independent clause is one of the more complex structures: Subject Verb THAT Subject Verb Object.

The government predicts that the rate cuts will reduce costs.

A prepositional phrase (“for…”) set off by commas interrupts the independent clause. If something is going to get picked up and moved around in the answers, that’s a good candidate.

There’s also a long adjectival modifier describing the rate cuts: they’re “owned” by the Federal Communications Commission (that is, the FCC was responsible for them) and they occurred recently.

More simply, we’ve got:

Start of independent clause, modifier, rest of independent clause, dependent clause (introducing a contrast), modifier

The commas above correspond to the commas in the original sentence.

As we discussed in the first half of this 2-part article, it is far better to compare answers vertically than to read each answer choice horizontally. Your goal is always to find the best answer of the five; finding the best of something is by definition a comparison. On the problems we’re examining in this series, the comparisons are not as straightforward as they are on many problems.

So how do we still use this technique when the splits, or differences, aren’t as straightforward? We break the sentence into major parts – that’s why I simplified our original sentence, above.

Where are those parts in the various answer choices? Answer choice A is always the same as the original, of course. What about the others? (The commas represent the actual commas found in the sentences.)

A: start of independent clause, modifier, rest of independent clause

B: independent clause with a “that” modifier embedded (“that make…”)

C: start of independent clause), modifier, hmm… more of the independent clause? A new independent clause?

D: opening modifier, subject (with embedded “that” modifier: “that the FCC…”)

E: opening modifier, independent clause (with embedded “that” modifier: “that the FCC has made”)

In practice, I would start just with the independent clause in each choice, ignoring the rest of the sentence. Is each independent clause okay?

So, let’s see. Answer D seems to be missing an independent clause. That’s not good – every sentence has to have an independent clause or it’s not a sentence in the first place. Let’s check that one again:

“For consumers…” Okay, that’s just a modifier.

“the prediction that <something is true>” There’s a subject (prediction) but no verb to go with it (only the “that <something is true>” modifier has a verb).

The rest of the sentence is the non-underlined stuff, and we already decided that that part consisted of a dependent clause and a modifier. So, we don’t have a complete sentence. “Prediction” could be the main noun, but it has no verb! Eliminate D.

I also stumbled a little bit when trying to describe answer C’s independent clause:

“The government’s prediction is costs will be greatly reduced…”

I predict that costs will be greatly reduced…

I predict costs will be greatly reduced…

What’s the difference? Can I skip the word “that” in this sentence?

Turns out I cannot! Not in the above structure. If I want to predict something simple I can – let’s say that I want to convey the idea that things will be chaotic when the GMAT switches to the new version of the exam in 2012. I might say, “I predict chaos!” I wouldn’t say “I predict that chaos.” Why not?

We reserve the “that” structure for situations in which we want to predict something more complete. I predict that you will all study hard tonight. I predict that there will be lots of chaos when the GMAT switches to the new exam in 2012. I predict that costs will be greatly reduced…

All of those are more complex thoughts – we’re predicting things that go beyond just a single word – we’re predicting entire situations. For that, we need “that.” Eliminate C.

What else have we got? The original sentence contains the modifier “for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls.” Where is that info in B and E? In choice B, the modifier isn’t set off from the main sentence. What difference does that make? Choice E places the modifier at the beginning of the sentence, also set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma. Does moving the modifier to the front change anything?

Modifiers refer to some other part of the sentence, so we have to make sure that they’re placed in such a way that they modify the correct thing. The word “for” is a preposition, so we’re dealing with a prepositional phrase modifier. When a prepositional phrase modifier is set off by commas, it is typically functioning as an adverbial modifier – that is, it is referring to some action in the sentence, as represented by a verb (the action). The modifier does not have to be placed right next to the verb, but it does have to be placed in such a way that it is clear which verb the modifier is “attached” to – that is, we don’t want to introduce confusion by placing the adverbial modifier too close to some other verb or action.

So what is happening “for (certain) consumers and businesses?” The rate cuts will reduce costs for these people and companies. The relevant action is “reduce costs.”

A and E both use commas to set off the prepositional phrase. In A, the prepositional phrase comes just before the clause that includes the verb “reduce,” so the placement in A is fine.

In E, the prepositional phrase comes just before “the government predicts.” That is one action: the government is predicting something. Is the government making this prediction for or on behalf of the consumers and businesses? No, that’s the wrong action. Rather, the government is predicting some other action – that costs will be reduced for consumers and businesses. The placement of the modifier in E is incorrect. Eliminate E.

What about choice B? The modifier comes immediately after “will be greatly reduced.” The placement here looks fine – the costs will be reduced for these groups. That meaning is correct.

We’re down to A and B. What else can we compare? Interesting. The opening part of B (“The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced…”) sounds so much better than the opening part of A that it makes me wonder about the end of choice B. On really long choices, I’ve seen them do this before: the opening part sounds better but then something falls apart towards the end of that choice. If I’m not paying enough attention, I might not spot it, and they’ve just gotten me to fall into a trap. So I’m going to examine the end of B.

Let’s see: costs will be greatly reduced for <certain groups> that <have a certain characteristic> by <the thing that’s reducing the costs>

That last bit is problematic. The verb is in the passive voice (“costs will be reduced”). With passive voice, the subject is not the thing making the action happen. Rather, something else is (often, but not always, introduced using the preposition “by”). So the “by” preposition at the end is telling us who or what is responsible for reducing the costs. For example: “I ate the pizza” (active) or “The pizza was eaten by me” (passive).

As a general rule, we prefer active voice to passive voice. We can see active voice in choice A: “the rate cuts will greatly reduce costs.” The subject (rate cuts) is responsible for the action. So this is one reason to prefer A over B, but I’m going to take it a little further. The word “by” is a preposition and introduces a prepositional phrase. When a preposition immediately follows a noun with no comma between them, the default assumption is that the prepositional phrase refers to that noun. It doesn’t always have to 100% of the time, but that is the most likely scenario.

Is that accurate here? Does “by the Federal Communications Commission’s recent telephone rate cuts” modify “long-distance calls?”

No. I might say “I make a large number of long-distance calls by Skype” or “by satellite phone.” But I don’t make a large number of long-distance calls by rate cuts. The fact that the sentence can initially be read in this nonsensical way introduces an ambiguity and the GMAT doesn’t like ambiguity. Now we have two reasons to prefer A over B, and that’s definitely enough to pick A and move on!

The correct answer is A.

Key Takeaways for Long Underlines + Jumbled Sentences on SC:
(1) Long-underline sentences are more likely to be “jumbled” – that is, to move big chunks of the sentence around and even to change what information is located in the dependent vs. independent clauses. When you see this happening, break the sentence down into those chunks (commas are often great natural separators) and figure out the role of each chunk.

(2) When you use the “chunk” strategy, you will often start in one of two places: either start with the first chunk of the original sentence and go find the location of that chunk in subsequent answer choices, or start with the independent clause in each answer choice, wherever that might be. The more complicated the sentence, the more likely you are to concentrate on the independent clause first.

(3) These kinds of sentences also typically test the placement of the chunks – is the modifier or other “extra” info in the right place relative to the other pieces of information? In this case, we were able to eliminate some choices because the modifiers were placed incorrectly relative to the other words in the sentence.

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In E, is the introductory modifier "For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls" modifying Government and hence, giving an illogical meaning?

Can an expert please reply.

You're right that there's a modifier issue here. Just know that when a sentence begins with a prepositional phrase, that phrase will often modify the clause that follows.

"For several weeks, Tim attempted to construct a new kidney for himself using an assortment of empty milk cartons and straws."

Here "For several weeks" doesn't modify "Tim," but rather, provides the time frame for when Tim's action took place. Put another way, the prepositional phrase is modifying the full clause. That's fine. (For those concerned, Tim is fine, and the kidney stone dissolved before he could attempt the transplant.)

In (E), we have "For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts..." We could argue that "for consumers and businesses..." is modifying the clause "the government predicts," but that doesn't really make sense. The government isn't making the prediction for consumers. Rather, the government is predicting that the FCC will reduce costs for the consumers. Because the modification is illogical, (E) is out.

So yup, you had the right idea, Manukaran!

Can someone explain why in D and E, the placement of the modifier is wrong?

While the modifier placement in (D) isn't great, there's an even more concrete error: it has no main verb! It seems as though "the government prediction" will be the subject of the main clause, but then we get a lengthy "that" modifier and no corresponding action for this prediction to do. Because we have a fragment, (D) is out.

To see the problem with modification in (E), see our post above.

I hope that helps!

The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

(A) The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, Correct answer - no apparent errors.

(B) The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts, The prepositional phrase 'by FCC's rate cuts' must modify 'reduced'. Here it is modifying 'long distance calls'. Eliminate.

(C) The government's prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission, "that" is needed after "prediction is" since what follows is reported speech. Also, "government's prediction is" is unnecessarily wordy. Eliminate.

(D) For consumers and businesses that make large number of long-distance calls, the government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, Sentence fragment. Also, "for" at the beginning implies that the government made the prediction for them rather than that the prediction was about them. Eliminate.

(E) For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs, "the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made" is unnecessarily wordy. Also, "for" at the beginning implies that the government made the prediction for them rather than that the prediction was about them. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

Please help with “the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts”.
My understanding is that this means the rate cuts of Federal communication as compared to “rate cuts made by Federal communication” in other choices
AjiteshArun GMATNinja

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Hi ag28,

This isn't something that I cover in my sessions, but I'll do my best to answer your question with my limited understanding of the issue.

1. Possessives can't always be expressed in the of-form (Ajitesh's phone but not the phone of Ajitesh).

2. Possessives are (somewhat confusingly) not limited to communicating actual possession (a ladies' tailor ~ "a tailor who caters to women" not "a tailor of ladies" or "a tailor belonging to ladies" ).

3. Something like the Reserve Bank of India's recent interest rate cuts sounds fine to me, so I wouldn't normally look for an error in the FCC's recent telephone rate cuts.

Also, there's a typo in the original sentence. "The Federal communication" is not, as far as I know, an acceptable way to refer to the FCC (does "the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts" sound better?). Tagging Bunuel for the typo issue.

I went through all the explanations as to why Answer Choice A is correct, the modifier misplacement in Answer Choice E and the usage of "THAT" twice is unidiomatic. But I came across this concept that essential information of a sentence shouldn't be separated by commas (I refer to the question in the URL below). So I assumed the same and felt in Option A if the sentence separated by commas is removed, then the sentence is more generalized and not as specific as in Answer Choice E.


https://gmatclub.com/forum/as-the-honeybee-s-stinger-is-heavily-barbed-staying-where-it-is-inser-78082.html

Hi narendran1990.

It's generally the case that, when a modifier is removed from a sentence, the meaning conveyed by the sentence becomes more general. So, what makes a modifier essential is not that some meaning conveyed is lost if that modifier is removed. What makes a modifier essential is that the sentence conveys a rather different meaning without it.

Also, many modifiers that could be essential modifiers can also work as nonessential modifiers.

So, in this case, it's OK for the modifier in (A) to be punctuated as a nonessential modifier.

Also, notice that basically the same modifier is set off from the main clause by a comma in the (E) version.

One thing we say all the time is that the GMAT is pretty lenient when it comes to comma usage: commas are often used for clarity even when they are not strictly necessary. So even though comma-separated modifiers might generally be regarded as nonessential modifiers, the GMAT certainly doesn't strictly adhere to a "commas = nonessential modifier" rule that we've collectively invented.

Also, assuming you are referring to this post, notice that "vital to the core meaning of the sentence" is awfully subjective.

Yes, there are certain times when a comma is undoubtedly required (i.e. when linking two independent clauses with an "and/or/but"). But, otherwise, eliminating something based on comma usage is rarely a good idea, and it's better to be conservative and look for other decision points. (For another official example where this sort of thing comes up, check out this post.)

I hope that helps!

could you please elaborate on the dangling modifer in E]

E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls

E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs

In (E), the position of 'for consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls' could lead to misunderstandings about the sentence meaning.

Ideally, 'the recent telephone rate cuts ... will greatly reduce costs' and 'for consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls' should be together. In (E) they are separated, and some readers may take the government's prediction to be that the rate cuts will reduce costs for everyone, not just for particular groups.

Secondly, (E) could mean that the government made the prediction 'for (the benefit of) individuals and businesses making a large number of long distance calls'.

Finally, 'the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made' is wordy compared to 'the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts'.

Each of these minor points is a reason to choose (A) rather than (E).
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

Option Elimination -

A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs - ok

B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts - "calls by the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts" is wrong.

C. The government prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission. "The government predicts" is a cleaner construction than"The government prediction is"

D. For consumers and businesses that make a large number of long distance calls, the government's prediction that the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs - there is no verb for "prediction."

E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs - two relative pronoun construction while not grammatically wrong, is inferior to option A construction. Moreover, the prepositional modifier causes a few issues. As it is an adverbial saying the government is prediction for consumers and businesses. The intended meaning is that the government predicts that the FCC's rate cuts will reduce costs for consumers.