The Wallerstein study indicates that even after a decade young men and

The Wallerstein study indicates that even after a decade young men and women still experience some of the effects of a divorce occurring when a child.

(A) occurring when a child
(B) occurring when children
(C) that occurred when a child
(D) that occurred when they were children
(E) that has occurred as each was a child

I believe the problem with A-C is that they are sentence fragments. As written in A-C, the phrase "when a child..." needs completion. "When a child" did what?

Although D has an ambiguous pronoun, it fixes the grammatical error. E is too wordy.

D is ok. The pronoun they is unambigously referring to "young men and women" because the phrase "when they were children" can logically apply ONLY to "young men and women" and NOT to effects. It is an absurd thought to believe "effects" could ever be children and hence the ambiguity argument does not hold.

I would like to point you to a website that might help in this very fundamental matter -
https://www.methodist.edu/english/dd_pref.htm

I found this site quite helpful

child ruled out as "young men and women" is plural. A,C,E out.

Between B and D, D makes sense as "that" correctly refers to divorce and "they" to young men and women.
"When children" looks like a beginning of a dependent clause, only with a missing verb.

Ans: "D"

Straight D.
That refers to Divorce and they for the usage of "and".
Hope it helps

Ok,Here we go, This Original sentence has 2 problems, the first one that is apparent is DIVORCE, what do we mean by that, young men and women had divorce when they were kids, well you know the answer, it's NO.

So here's a different meaning of the word Divorce

separate or dissociate (something) from something else, typically with an undesirable effect.
"religion cannot be divorced from morality"
synonyms: separate, disconnect, divide, disunite, sever, disjoin, split, dissociate, detach, isolate, alienate, set apart, keep apart, cut off; More
antonyms: unite
dissociate oneself from (something).
"a desire to divorce myself from history"

Alright !!!, half of the battle won, now the second problem is pronoun the issue, weather to use child, children or they.
Ideally they would refer to young men and women, and we need "that" in the answer choice because "that" is an essential modifier , the word "that" tell us when exactly Divorce/Separation happened.


(A) occurring when a child (pronoun issue)
(B) occurring when children ( illogical, "when" is refer for time, here when refers to children that's a noun)
(C) that occurred when a child (pronoun issue- we need something that refers to men and women)
(D) that occurred when they were children (that is needed for essential info + when happened ( when they were children)
(E) that has occurred as each was a child ( we need past tense, thus this answer choice is clearly wrong)

The Wallerstein study indicates that even after a decade young men and women still experience some of the effects of a divorce occurring when a child.

(A) occurring when a child -- men and women is a compound subject(plural) and thus child is incorrect ; occurring when a child is incomplete --> illogical ; tense issue for occurring
(B) occurring when children -- occurring when a children is incomplete --> illogical ; tense issue for occurring
(C) that occurred when a child -- men and women is a compound subject(plural) and thus child is incorrect; no verb for when a child
(D) that occurred when they were children - Correct
(E) that has occurred as each was a child -- men and women is a compound subject(plural) and thus child is incorrect ; usage of present perfect is incorrect as divorce was over in the past

Answer D

The first thing that should strike you here is the use of ‘child’ (singular) to refer to 'young men and women' (plural).

For this reason, we can eliminate Options A and C. Option E uses present tense (has) which is illogical. Therefore it is safe to eliminate all three options.

Now we are left with the following options:

(B) occurring when children
This option when you substitute it back into the question reads: “The Wallerstein study indicates that even after a decade young men and women still experience some of the effects of a divorce occurring when children” – it feels incomplete. Moreover, this is about ‘divorce’ that occurred in the past. Eliminate.

(D) that occurred when they were children
Correct use of pronoun. The construction is better than the rest. This is the best option.

Hope this helps!

Although I got the answer correct, can someone please provide detailed explanation.

Also would the following option be correct:
occurring when they children

occurring when they children[/quote]

This option is incorrect because "when" is used as a conjunction here. So we need a verb with "they" to form a clause.
OR
even if is used as an adverb, we need a complete idea. "when they children" is not a complete idea.

Hi AjiteshArun AndrewN


Is occuring in (A) & (B) wrong?
Can I use occurring when they were children?

Thank you.

Hello, TorGmatGod. What you are really asking is whether a modifier that ends in -ing is acceptable in place of a relative clause that begins with that. I will point out, first off, that the question does not ask us to make this distinction, and spinoff sentences, although fun to explore at times, provide mild utility for preparation: GMAC™ creates each answer set with particular splits in mind, and we should study what is in front of us. Nevertheless, the short answer is yes, such a modifier can be used in place of the other. In this case, because of the timeline (i.e. the divorce occurred in the past), I think a divorce having occurred when they were children would be slightly better than occurring... In any case, the relative clause is the safer bet in this context.

For further reference, check out the following official questions:

• "a bill requiring"
• "evidence suggesting" (Note: No Expert has commented on the modifier being a problem (because it is not))
• "citizens declaring themselves"

Thank you for thinking to ask, and good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that the divorce occurred when the young men and women were children.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Tenses + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• The simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.
• The present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.

A:
1/ This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "when a child"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that the divorce occurred when the divorce was a child; the intended meaning is that the divorce occurred when the young men and women were children.
2/ Option A incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "occurring" in this sentence) to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.

B:
1/ This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "when children"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that the divorce occurred when the divorce was multiple children; the intended meaning is that the divorce occurred when the young men and women were children.
2/ Option B incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "occurring" in this sentence) to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past.

C:
1/ This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "when a child"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that the divorce occurred when the divorce was a child; the intended meaning is that the divorce occurred when the young men and women were children.

D: Correct.
1/ Option D uses the phrase "when they were children", conveying the intended meaning - that the divorce occurred when the young men and women were children.
2/ Option D correctly uses the simple past tense verb "occurred" to refer to an action that concluded in the past.

E:
1/ This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "as each was a child"; the construction of this phrase produces an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that the divorce occurred when the young men and women were children.
2/ Option E incorrectly uses the present perfect tense verb "has occurred" to refer to an action that concluded in the past; remember, the simple past tense is used to refer to actions that concluded in the past, and the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



To understand the concept of "Present Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team