The state of California contains 58 counties, of which some of them ha

Question

The state of California contains 58 counties, of which some of them have a population less than 10,000.

(A) of which some of them have
(B) some of which having
(C) some of them having
(D) some of them have
(E) some of which to have

This question explores both absolute phrases and subgroup modifiers. For more on absolute phrases, as well as a complete explanation of this question, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/absolute-p ... -the-gmat/

Mike

Show Answer

Official Answer

C

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear carrillo1228 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

I don't know whether you read the OE, at the link given in the top post in this thread. Here's the basic idea. The word " which " is a relative pronoun. It introduces a subordinate clause and acts as the subject of that clause. Thus, the word " which " always needs a 100% bonafide full verb following it. If there were an option with a full verb after " which ", that would be correct ---- that's what many test-takers would expect, and the fact that this option is not available is part of what is tricky about this question. It would be perfectly correct to say ----- The state of California contains 58 counties, some of which have a population less than 10,000 . That's completely correct, but not an option here. You see, choice (B) has " which " + (C) , with the ordinary pronoun " them " + ---- that is a legitimate structure: an absolute phrase, discuss in the link in that first post. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

BillyZ · Answer

OFFICIAL SOLUTION

Here, we get clause construction as well as what is sometimes called a “subgroup modifier”.

The word “which” is a relative pronoun, and this means two important things. First, “ which ” begins a subordinate clause that, like any clause, must have a full    +    structure. Second, the pronoun “ which ” itself is the subject of this  subordinate clause . Choices (B) & (E) run afoul of the first rule — they follow “which” with a participle and an infinitive respectively, not a full bonafide verb. Choice (A) has a bonafide verb, “have”, but it gets in trouble with the second rule — it has a double subject, the word “which” and the phrase “ some of them ” — this would be a like the sentence, “My sister she is smart” — the    +    structure is  redundant  and  incorrect . Choice (A) makes exactly the same mistake. None of these three choices is correct.

The phrase “ some of them ” is a  noun . If we follow a noun with a full verb “have”, as (D) does, this creates an independent clause —- everything after the comma could stand on its own as a complete sentence. Again, the problem is — we have  ,   — that’s the structure of a run-on sentence. Choice (D) makes this mistake and is not correct. Choice (C) follows the noun “ some of them ” with the  participle  “ having ” — this is the   +   structure of an absolute phrase. This is grammatically correct, and because there’s a grave problem with each of the other four answer choices, (C) is the only possible answer.

umeshpatil · Answer

The state of California contains 58 counties,  of which some of them have  a population less than 10,000.
(A) of which some of them have
(B) some of which having
(C) some of them having
(D) some of them have
(E) some of which to have

+1 kudo sir. I liked this question.
I was between C and D, but chose C correctly as dependent clause will not have its individual verb.

carrillo1228 · Answer

Can someone explain the difference between B and C? Which vs them rule

https://gmatclub.com/static/posted_from.png     Posted from    GMAT ToolKit

BryptoQ · Answer

Hey Mike,

I was wondering why is D not an acceptable answer for this question? Thanks.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Qjones818 , This is also tricky. The second clause would be flawless in version (D) , but the sentence would be a run-on sentence . We can separate one independent clause from another purely with a comma. We need a conjunction ( and, but, or, for, yet , ...) or a strong break in punctuation (semicolon, colon, dash). See: https://gmat.magoosh.com/lessons/916-run-on-sentences Does this make sense? Mike :-)

Subanta · Answer

Hey Mike, nice explanation.. I was wondering can we generalize this is a rule that a pronoun can never be followed by a participle?

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Subanta , I'm happy to respond. :-)

Your question is unusual, because in the OA of this SC question, a pronoun IS followed by a participle. (C) The state of California contains 58 counties, some of them having a population less than 10,000. " them " = pronoun " having " = participle This is the OA and it is 100% correct. We certainly can't generalize a rule against something that is true in this correct sentence. My friend, I will caution you against looking for a "rule based" way to approach GMAT SC. Yes, there are a few valid rules, and several more guidelines, but one cannot rise to GMAT SC mastery by learning some complete set of rules. Grammar is not mathematics. There is an irreducible living quality to language. I will recommend this blog: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/how-to-imp ... bal-score/ Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

dhruv1911 · Answer

Is there a better explanation as to why D is incorrect?

abhimahna · Answer

Hi  dhruv1911  ,

D is wrong because it is joining two independent clauses with a comma and no FANBOYS.

The state of California contains 58 counties, some of them have a population less than 10,000.

Does that make sense?

daagh · Answer

D is wrong primarily not because it misses the preposition 'of' after population. but because it is a comma splice as Abhi has pointed out. There is no need to worry about the correctness of the not - underlined part, unless you can draw some clues from it to solve the error if any

mohit2491 · Answer

mikemcgarry , would the following be correct in this case (had it been an option)? The state of California contains 58 counties, of which some have a population less than 10,000. I realize that the post is old and I might be bothering you

Thanks in advance!

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear mohit2491 I'm happy to respond. :-)

My friend, your version is awkward and not at all how a native speaker would phrase it. I guess it's grammatically correct, but that's beside the point. The version that would be 100% correct in every respect is: The state of California contains 58 counties, some of which have a population less than 10,000 . Does this make sense? Mike :-)

rohitchayal · Answer

mikemcgarry  
The following is the explanation given by magoosh to why option A is incorrect.

The word “which” is a relative pronoun, and this means two important things. First, “which” begins a subordinate clause that, like any clause, must have a full   +   structure. Second, the pronoun “which” itself is the subject of this subordinate clause.
Choice (A) has a bonafide verb, “have”, but it gets in trouble with the second rule — it has a double subject, the word “which” and the phrase “some of them”

But I am confused here what if "which" here is acting as a subordinating conjunction and not a relative pronoun? I read that to differentiate between a relative pronoun and a subordinate conjunction is to check whether who, which, etc are the subject of sentence, if there's another subject present then they act as subordinating conjunction and not relative pronoun so why is A incorrect?

Kushchokhani · Answer

mikemcgarry  
I also have this query. I thought "of which" is a conjunction and so marked A. I rejected B and C on the grounds of the word "having" which usually is a part of many incorrect answer choices.

DmitryFarber · Answer

Kushchokhani

"Of" is a preposition, so it creates a prepositional phrase, which is a type of modifier. It can't ever be a conjunction. I might have a clause after "of which," but it would be part of the modifier. When I say "The city of which she spoke was not on any map," the clause "she spoke" is part of the modifier and doesn't affect the main core: "The city was not on any map."

As for "having," beware of rules of thumb that have you cross out a real English word on sight. Sure, like "being," "having" can be used badly. But there still has to be an actual problem; either of those words can appear in a correct answer.

Kushchokhani · Answer

Thanks for the response. I have a follow up question-

If "of which" is a prepositional phrase, then it can be regarded as neither a subject nor a conjunction. However, the OE reasons that there is a double subject in answer choice A. If we apply the OE to your apparently correct example sentence, then that will again have a double subject and would become incorrect. Then what's the correct reason of eliminating answer choice A?

Further, I have found few posts on GC Forums regarding correct usage of having+participle. However, I couldn't find any post that discusses about correct usage of having+noun (such as in the current question). It would be very helpful if you could throw some light on the same. TIA.

DmitryFarber · Answer

Kushchokhani

The term "double subject" may be confusing here. The OE is using it to describe the use of two subjects  within the modifier.  Either "each" or "some" could be the subject for "have," but together they create a problem. There's nothing like that in my example. The modifier "of which she spoke" applies to the main subject, "city," and the only subject inside that modifier is "she."

If you want to create a post with questions about "having," feel free to tag me. But it works like any other -ing word to create modifiers. I can say things like this: "I ate lunch in the car, having no time for a sit-down meal." Also like other -ings, it can be a gerund (noun): "Having a few close friends is better than having many superficial acquaintances."

Kushchokhani · Answer

DmitryFarber

"each" is not a part of the original sentence's modifier; however, "of which", like in your example sentence, is a part of the modifier in the original sentence. As per my understanding of the original sentence, the modifier "of which some of them" applies to the main subject, "58 counties", and the only subject inside that modifier is "some of them". So, I am still a bit confused about the OE. I think that choice A is incorrect because "which" and "them" are redundant in this case, as both are in the same modifier (incorrect not because of two subjects).

Thanks for the explanation that having+noun can be used as either a modifier or a gerund!

The state of California contains 58 counties, of which some of them ha

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The state of California contains 58 counties, of which some of them ha

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