The satellite Orbiter will spend some time hunting for

Question

The satellite Orbiter will spend some time hunting for  brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

A.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

B.) brown dwarfs which are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter'

C.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, that are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

D.) brown dwarfs; masses of gas smaller than our Sun that are too cool to burn and that are making up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

E.) brown dwarfs that are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter'

anvesh004 · Accepted Answer

A.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

B.) brown dwarfs which are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the  Universe  'Invisible dark matter'
  Possesive form of Universe is required. They make up Invisible dark matter  of Universe .

C.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun,  that  are too cool to burn and  which  may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'
  "that are cool..." and "which may make..." are not parallel.

D.) brown dwarfs; masses of gas smaller than our Sun that are too cool to burn and that  are making   up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'
  ".. are making.." present continuous tense is wrong. Simple Present is needed.

E.) brown dwarfs that are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the  Universe  'Invisible dark matter'
  Possesive form of Universe is required. They make up Invisible dark matter  of Universe .

Answer A

rohit8865 · Answer

Ans A for maintaining parallelism.

rahul16singh28 · Answer

Hi All,

Though A is best of All, why can't which refer to "Sun" preceding which. Is it because "masses of gas than our Sun" is a NE Modifier??

rahul6019 · Answer

rahul16singh28  On first look, looks like it should be modifying sun but there is an obvious error. Sun is singular whereas which are is plural, so which are is jumping over singular verb and pointing to the distant right one i.e. brown dwarfs.

AdityaHongunti · Answer

Understand :
orbiter will spend some time ..doing what?? hunting for dwarfs
what dwarfs?? : dwarfs that have masses of gas smaller than sun..dwarfs that are too cool to burn...dwarfs that may make up the universe's matter
(note: i have written dwarfs thrice for meaning clearance.. it  does not  mean that there are three kinds of dwarfs)

Error analysis:
-"which" is unambiguously referring to "dwarfs" as the verb follwoing "which" is plural..you could argue that "masses" can also be an antecedant but logically it cannot as "masses" are not cool to burn .. so the only antecedant of "Which" is dwarfs
-"which " and "which" are parallel so everything is cool here.

-   CORRECT  
 
- we need a comma before "and which" or it may look like "which are too cool...and which may make" are one single entity, in which case we would need "and" before "which are too cool " to maintan parallelism
- "universe invisible dark matter " we need possesive form of "universe" otherwise it becomes a compound noun.
-ELIMINATE
 
- "that" modifier cannot be parallel with "which" modifier
 
- Semi colon in this case needs an independant clause... NOTE: semi colon does not always need an independant clause. A semi colon can be used to place modifiers in parallel to each one by one.. but here "masses of gas" is not modifying anything as there is no antecedant after semi colon.. 
 
-"universe dark matter " need possesive 
- "that" modi cannot be parallel with "which" modi

arvind910619 · Answer

Imo A

This one was very tough. It took me more than 2.5 min to finally get it right. 
This is a case of absolute modifiers. "masses of gas smaller than our Sun" modifies brown dwarfs and in turn "which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter" modifies masses of cool gas.
Notice how the parallelism is maintained by the use of which.

SnigdhaM · Answer

In option A, why will 'which' not refer to Sun

Snigdha

Skywalker18 · Answer

The satellite Orbiter will spend some time hunting for  brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

A.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter' - Correct

B.) brown dwarfs which are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter'

C.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, that are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter' - parallelism issue - that and which -- which should be preceded by a comma

D.) brown dwarfs; masses of gas smaller than our Sun that are too cool to burn and that are making up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter' - After semicolon, there should be an independent clause

E.) brown dwarfs that are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter' - we need a possessive - Universe's IDM

1. In OA -A, 
   'which' has plural verb 'are' and thus (CANNOT refer to Sun)can refer either to masses of gas or to brown dwarfs? Then how do we decide to which noun 'which' refers to? ( I do understand that the phrase "masses of gas smaller than our Sun" modifies brown dwarfs.)
 
The satellite Orbiter will spend some time hunting for  brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

2. In option D, the part after the semicolon is as follows-

masses of gas smaller than our Sun that are too cool to burn and that are making up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter' --  here that has a plural verb 'are' and thus will refer to masses of gas.

Also, masses of gas CANNOT refer to 'brown dwarfs' because it is an independent clause separated by a semicolon?

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teja8341 · Answer

This question is all about meaning

Remember 
 Which  is  Non-restrictive  modifier
 That  is a  restrictive  modifier

brown dwarfs,...,  which  are too cool to burn.... -> Means that  all  brown dwarfs are too cool to burn (Correct meaning)
brown dwarfs,...,  that  are too cool to burn.... -> Means that  some type  of brown dwarfs are too cool burn (Incorrect meaning)

GDT · Answer

MentorTutoring

Just for information, when modifiers like "which" don't precede a comma as in the highlighted part of B, then what do they modify?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  GDT . This one is a little more straightforward. Without a comma, a  which  clause is restrictive and is used in the same sense as  that . Such usage is more common where British English is spoken. GMAC™ has stated in the OG that the  that  versus  which  usage in the restrictive sense is  not  tested. The meaning conveyed in (B) is that only brown dwarfs that are masses of gas smaller than the sun are being searched for, as opposed to those that might be masses of gas greater than the sun. It is a nonsensical reading that the comma helps avoid.

- Andrew

Biswadip · Answer

I would like to say one simple logic.

Options those contain "That are" are not correct In Subject Verb agreement. Following this, choice C, D, E are out.
If we consider choice A and B.

Option B: (,which) can make the option correct : brown dwarfs(, which )are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter'.

Option A: makes sense.

Scuven · Answer

The satellite Orbiter will spend some time hunting for brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

A.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'
 Comma after sun and before which to introduce a non essential clause and correct parallelism introduced by and. Let's keep it.

B.) brown dwarfs which are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter'
 "Which are masses of.." it's a fundamental information to understand what brown dwarfs are and which should always be introduced by a comma. + " which are to cool" is too distant from brown dwarfs, it seems it refer to sun

C.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, that are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'
 Uncorrect parallelism of that and which + no comma before which 
D.) brown dwarfs; masses of gas smaller than our Sun that are too cool to burn and that are making up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'
 Conceptually being to cool to burn is not essential to the clause and thus it is better to use which + are making up means at a defined moment you mentioned (es. right now) thus it is wrong, you should use present simple or may 
E.) brown dwarfs that are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter'
 That are masses is wrong, it must be which with a comma before and which are to cool is wrong because it is too distant from its antecedent brown dwards

Soham68 · Answer

I have a query related modifier

A.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

B.) brown dwarfs which are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter'

In option A, WHICH can refer to brown dwarfs, but in option B, 2nd WHICH can't refer back to brown dwarfs. Why?

Is it because of, in option B, introduction of 1st WHICH, changes 1st modifier into essential modifier, and ,in option A, 1st modifier is already a non-essential modifier?

raoshahb · Answer

I eliminated choice A because the phrase  masses of gas smaller than our Sun  is in two commas. So it means that this is extra information which we can remove. I thought that the information is required that's why E is a good choice. Because the phrase started with that in E.

My question is how to identify which information is essential and which is not?

PS: I missed the possessive pronoun error.

Thanks

vivekgmat29 · Answer

The satellite Orbiter will spend some time hunting for brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter'

A.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter' - Correct. Which accurately modifies brown dwarfs... parallelism is maintained

B.) brown dwarfs which are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter' - Incorrect.. which are masses of gas needs to have a comma before which.. which are too cool to burn, here which seems to refer to sun inaccurately

C.) brown dwarfs, masses of gas smaller than our Sun, that are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter' - incorrect, that are not parallel to which may

D.) brown dwarfs; masses of gas smaller than our Sun that are too cool to burn and that are making up the Universe's 'Invisible dark matter' - incorrect due to ; masses of gas don't seem to modify brown dwarfs.. that are too cool (simple present) not parallel to that are making (present continuous)

E.) brown dwarfs that are masses of gas smaller than our Sun, which are too cool to burn and which may make up the Universe 'Invisible dark matter' - which are too cool inaccurately modifies sun

Hope this makes sense .. Would like to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

MBAB123 · Answer

raoshahb , why would the usage of additional information make a sentence wrong? If anything, additional information should add more clarity. The way that E is stated, it seems like the the orbiter is hunting a particular type of brown dwarfs, i.e, the ones that  are masses of gas blah blah blah . That is not what we're trying to say here. I don't think there is a rule that says you can throw our anything that comes between 2 commas. Such applications/rules would be very contextual and E has some definite red flags.

Rickooreo · Answer

Hi Experts, I have few doubts

1. I understand that which can skip prepositional phrase.

Which in the original sentence is intended to modify the dwarfs. It is actually modifying Sun.
I understand that "which are" is used and hence it can't go to the sun but then doesn't it violate the which rule? I understand meaning is important but grammar should also be correct so definitely I am missing something over grammar as well.

2. Some of the post mentioned that Option B is wrong because it doesn't use comma before the second which i.e "and which" portion. However, wont there be same issue in Option A as well?

Stanindaw · Answer

I eliminated C,D, E on the basis of the rule that says ‘that’ is an essential modifier, and if we eliminate ‘that’ phrase the sentence cannot stand on its own.
 Please if anyone can shed more light on this.

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The satellite Orbiter will spend some time hunting for

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The satellite Orbiter will spend some time hunting for

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