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555-605 Level|   Grammatical/Rhetorical Construction|   Parallelism|                                 
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EducationAisle
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Please can some one explain why is that referring to reactions and not individual ?
Doesn't that refer to the imediate preceding noun ?
Three reasons:
i) that cannot refer to people (for the most part, that can only refer to non-living things)
ii) If that refers to individual, then the verb would be creates (and not create), though one could argue that there is a Subject-verb disagreement in the original sentence
iii) Logically, it is the emotional reactions (and not individual) that creates unconscious physiological response.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana lays down a simple framework to determine what that modifies, it application and examples in significant detail. If you can PM you email-id, I can send you the corresponding section.

Hi education Aisle,
Can you help me eliminate E?
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Ahmed31
Can you help me eliminate E?
E says: an individual...who creates unconscious physiological responses

Since the sentence is talking about "unconscious" physiological responses, an individual cannot create them.

The most logical meaning is that "emotional reactions" create unconscious physiological responses.
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I found this question confusing in terms of its meaning. Initially, I interpreted the word "that" as referring to an individual. Based on this understanding, I believed that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual and that individual, in turn, creates unconscious physiological responses. Consequently, I faced difficulty in selecting the correct answer and eventually opted for option E, although I had reservations about the phrase 'turn in' at the end of the sentence. I would greatly appreciate your guidance on how to address such meaning-related errors in the future. Thank you for your assistance in advance.
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I found this question confusing in terms of its meaning. Initially, I interpreted the word "that" as referring to an individual. Based on this understanding, I believed that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual and that individual, in turn, creates unconscious physiological responses. Consequently, I faced difficulty in selecting the correct answer and eventually opted for option E, although I had reservations about the phrase 'turn in' at the end of the sentence. I would greatly appreciate your guidance on how to address such meaning-related errors in the future. Thank you for your assistance in advance.

The sentence is all about what "that" refers to in context.

The sentence structure is as follows: The use of lie detectors is based on the assumption that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual THAT create unconscious physiological responses.

Here, the "that" isn't referring to the individual, but to the "emotional reactions" produced by lying. Those emotional reactions, in turn, are what create the unconscious physiological responses detected by lie detectors.

A) This option is grammatically correct and maintains the correct meaning. The phrase "that, in turn," refers back to the emotional reactions. So, this is our answer.

B) Incorrect. The use of "creates" suggests that "that" refers to a singular noun, but it's referring to "emotional reactions," which is plural.

C) This changes the meaning of the sentence by implying that the emotional reactions are creating the physiological responses simultaneously, rather than as a subsequent action ("in turn").

D) Incorrect. The infinitive "to create" changes the grammatical structure of the sentence and disrupts its meaning.

E) You were right to have reservations about this one. "Who" typically refers to people, not emotional reactions. Moreover, "creates" should be "create" to match the plural "reactions".
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gauravsirohi93
I found this question confusing in terms of its meaning. Initially, I interpreted the word "that" as referring to an individual. Based on this understanding, I believed that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual and that individual, in turn, creates unconscious physiological responses. Consequently, I faced difficulty in selecting the correct answer and eventually opted for option E, although I had reservations about the phrase 'turn in' at the end of the sentence. I would greatly appreciate your guidance on how to address such meaning-related errors in the future. Thank you for your assistance in advance.
Notice that "create" is a plural verb, so the phrase "that, in turn, create" must modify a plural noun.

Since "individual" is singular, we know that we can skip over it and tie the modifier back to "emotional reactions" instead.

For a bit more on that, check out this post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-use-of-lie-detectors-is-based-on-the-assumption-that-lying-produce-83581-40.html#p2467036.

I hope that helps!
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Hi

how is that the emotional reactions could create unconscious physiological responses?

isn't physiological responses created by a person?
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ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
flyinhair
The use of lie detectors is based on the assumption that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual that, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses.


(A) that, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses

(B) that creates unconscious physiological responses in turn

(C) creating, in turn, unconscious physiological responses

(D) to create, in turn, physiological responses that are unconscious

(E) who creates unconscious physiological responses in turn


Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning of this sentence is key to solving the question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual, and these reactions, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Awkwardness/Redundancy

A: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the plural noun “reactions” with the plural verb “create”. Further, the sentence formed by Option A uses the phrase “emotional reactions…that…create”, conveying the intended meaning – that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual, and as a result, these reactions, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses. Additionally, Option A is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun “reactions” with the singular verb “creates”.

C: The sentence formed by this answer alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “individual creating...unconscious physiological responses”; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual who is at that time, in turn, creating unconscious physiological responses, themselves; the intended meaning is that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual, and these reactions, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses.

D: The sentence formed by this answer alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “to produce”; the use of the infinitive verb form (“to + base form of verb” – “to + create” in this sentence) incorrectly implies that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual for the purpose of creating unconscious physiological responses; the intended meaning is that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual, and as a result, these reactions, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses. Further, Option D uses the needlessly wordy phrase “physiological responses that are unconscious”, leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E: The sentence formed by this answer alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “individual who creates”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that lying produces emotional reactions in an individual who creates unconscious physiological responses, themselves; the intended meaning is that the lying produces emotional reactions in an individual, and these reactions, in turn, create unconscious physiological responses.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Can you please explain what does "that" modify in option A?
IMO "that" can refer only to singular noun when acting as a pronoun.
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Tanvi01
Can you please explain what does "that" modify in option A?
IMO "that" can refer only to singular noun when acting as a pronoun.
Hi Tanvi01,

The second that is a relative pronoun, and it refers to emotional reactions. As a normal pronoun or as an adjective (more precisely, "determiner"), that does have a plural form (those), but as a relative pronoun, that does not have a plural form.

Here's a quick look at that:
1. That was a tough question. | Those were some tough questions. | That were some tough questions.That is used as a pronoun here, and has a plural form, those.

2. That question was tough. | Those questions were tough. | That questions were tough. ← As a determiner, that has a plural form.

3. A question that was tough... | Questions that were tough... | Questions those were tough... ← As a relative pronoun, that does not have a plural form.

4. The question was not that tough! | The question was not those tough! ← Again, no plural form when that is used as an adverb.

5. She did {something} so that she... | She did {something} so those she... ← No plural form when we use that to introduce a dependent clause, so we can't replace so that with so those.

6. The colour of the car matches that of the motorcycle. ← This kind of that is supposed to be read as "the {previously mentioned singular noun}" (the the isn't too important, depending on context): "The colour of the car matches the colour of the motorcycle".

7. The economies of Asia are more resilient than those of Europe. ← In (6), we can use those as the plural of that to mean "the {previously mentioned plural noun}": "The economies of Asia are more resilient than the economies of Europe.".
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princeann
Hi

how is that the emotional reactions could create unconscious physiological responses?

isn't physiological responses created by a person?
The idea is that emotional reactions (e.g. anger, sadness, fear, nervousness, happiness, etc.) cause unconscious changes in your body -- things that you aren't necessarily thinking about and might not even notice, like changes to your facial expressions, a change in posture, an elevated heartbeat, rapid breathing, and so on.

For example, lying might make you feel nervous (that's the emotional reaction), and the nervousness might cause an elevated heartbeat, rapid breathing, or fidgeting. Those are the unconscious physiological responses -- things that happen to your body because of the emotions in your mind.

I hope that helps!
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