Though once powerful political forces, labor unions have lost much of

Question

Though once powerful political forces, labor unions have lost much of their influence,  which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim to favor  management.

A. which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim to favor

B. resulting in a political climate that some analysts claim favors

C. which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim that favors

D. resulting in a political climate that some analysts claim to be in favor of

E. which has resulted in a political climate that has been claimed by some analysts to favour

DmitryFarberMPrep · Accepted Answer

Many of you are misinterpreting the meaning of B and D. Let me see if I can clarify.

In B, both "claim" and "favors" are verbs. The analysts claim that the climate favors management. Compare it to a few instances where two verbs are smashed together:

Whatever my wife  says goes . (The subject-verb pairs are wife-says and whatever-goes.)
This is an album that everyone  thinks rocks . (Okay, this sounds really weird, but it's not wrong. The pairs are everyone-thinks and album-rocks.)
Not convinced? Try a form of "to be." Many are concerned about a plan that the governor  insists is  working just fine. (governor-insists, plan-is)

You can basically think of the subject-verb pair in the middle as a modifier. We have a climate that favors management. We have a climate that (some analysts claim) favors management.

D isn't saying that the analysts are in favor of management, as some here are suggesting. Rather, it's saying that the analysts claim that the climate is in favor of management? What makes this wrong, then? A climate can't "be in favor" of something--that suggests an opinion, and climates don't have opinions! It can "favor" something, which just means to provide an advantage.

goodyear2013 · Answer

Though once powerful political forces, labor unions have lost much of their influence,  which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim to favor  management.

A) which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim to favor 
B) resulting in a political climate that some analysts claim favors 
C) which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim that favors 
D) resulting in a political climate that some analysts claim to be in favor of 
E) which has resulted in a political climate that has been claimed by some analysts to favour

MANHATTAN GMAT OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

The original sentence contains several errors. First, the relative pronoun "which" cannot be used to modify the action of the preceding clause, as it does here ("which has resulted in..."). Instead, it must be used to modify the immediately preceding noun only. In this case, that noun is "influence," which cannot be described as resulting in a "political climate." It is the loss of that influence that has resulted in the "political climate" described in the sentence, not the influence itself. Second, "that some analysts claim to favor management" is incorrect. If we remove "some analysts claim" from the sentence, we are left with "a political climate that...to favor management." This is incorrect. We need "to favor" to agree with "a political climate that."

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) CORRECT. This choice corrects the relative pronoun error by replacing "which has resulted" with "resulting." Moreover, "favors" agrees with "a political climate that..."

(C) This choice does not correct the relative pronoun error. Moreover, it does not correct the verb error. It replaces "to favor" with "that favors," creating the illogical sequence "a political climate that...that favors."

(D) This choice corrects the relative pronoun error by replacing "which has resulted" with "resulting." However, it does not correct the verb error. It replaces "to favor" with "to be in favor of," creating the illogical sequence "a political climate that...to be in favor of."

(E) This choice does not correct the relative pronoun error. Moreover, it does not correct the verb error. It does not replace "to favor." Additionally, "has been claimed by some analysts" is unnecessarily in passive voice and is wordy.

subhashghosh · Answer

Rule - "which" modifies the noun immediately preceding it. The sentence conveys that the loss of influence has caused the scales to tip in favor of Management, and not just the influence "itself". So A is wrong. Now the correct choice should have a phrase beginning with participle - B and D have that. B is correct because it is more concise and in proper simple tense to indicate a current state of affairs.

sguptashared · Answer

I agree with most of the people that the answer has to be either B or D.

Now IMO, "claim favors" is just awkward in B. The reason for the awkwardness is the verb of the sentence. There could be two cases: first, if the verb is "favor", then there has to be an apostrophe(') with analysts. Since it is missing, "favor" can not not act as a verb. Next, if you consider "claim" as a verb, then there has to be an infinitive or gerund following the verb rather than present tense form "favors", which is just weird.

Although the choice D looks little verbose in the construction, it's grammatically correct.

vyassaptarashi · Answer

= B

Option D is changing the meaning...suggesting that the analysts are in favor of the management but that is not the case, Option B correctly suggests that the political environment is favoring management, hence option B needs to be an answer.

shelrod007 · Answer

Though once powerful political forces, labor unions have lost much of their influence, which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim to favor management.

Sentence is speaking about a contrast ... though X has occured , resulting in Y . 
The race is between choice B and E

B) resulting in a political climate that some analysts claim favors --- Subject of sentence after that is some which is singular hence verb is favours---thus this is the correct answer .

D) resulting in a political climate that some analysts claim to be in favor of --Subject verb error

Ergenekon · Answer

'which' cannot modify a clause. What is interesting here, 'resulting' can be used as -ing modifier, although it does not refer to the subject of the previous clause. Any comments?

gaurav90 · Answer

Manhattan GMAT's SC Guide covered this very well in the "Modifiers" chapter (topic: "Which vs the present participle -ing"). I quote:
-ing form can modify an entire clause as long as the clause when converted into a noun phrase could function as the subject of the verb that is now in -ing form.

The sentence can be re-written as: The  loss of influence  of labor unions  has resulted  in a political climate....
This satisfies the above requirement, and so the sentence can also be written as "Labor unions have lost influence, resulting in..."

souvik101990 · Answer

The original sentence contains several errors. First, the relative pronoun "which"
cannot be used to modify the action of the preceding clause, as it does here ("which
has resulted in..."). Instead, it must be used to modify the immediately preceding noun
only. In this case, that noun is "influence," which cannot be described as resulting in a
"political climate." It is the loss of that influence that has resulted in the "political
climate" described in the sentence, not the influence itself.
Second, "that some analysts claim to favor management" is incorrect. If we
remove "some analysts claim" from the sentence, we are left with "a political
climate that...to favor management." This is incorrect. We need "to favor" to
agree with "a political climate that."

(A) This choice is incorrect as it repeats the original sentence.

(B) CORRECT. This choice corrects the relative pronoun error by replacing "which
has resulted" with "resulting." Moreover, "favors" agrees with "a political climate
that..."

(C) This choice does not correct the relative pronoun error. Moreover, it does not
correct the verb error.
It replaces "to favor" with "that favors," creating the illogical sequence "a
political climate that...that favors."

(D) This choice corrects the relative pronoun error by replacing "which has resulted"
with "resulting." However, it does not correct the verb error.
It replaces "to favor" with "to be in favor of," creating the illogical sequence "a
political climate that...to be in favor of."

(E) This choice does not correct the relative pronoun error. Moreover, it does not
correct the verb error. It does not replace "to favor." Additionally, "has been claimed
by some analysts" is unnecessarily in passive voice and is wordy.

sytabish · Answer

Hi  souvik101990 ,

Regarding the second elimination strategy that u used, can u please shed some more light ?

Second, "that some analysts claim to favor management" is incorrect. If we
remove "some analysts claim" from the sentence, we are left with "a political
climate that...to favor management." This is incorrect. We need "to favor" to
agree with "a political climate that.

Thanks!

PrakharGMAT · Answer

HI  chetan2u ,

Can you please tell whats the error in D..?
According to me we prefer infinitive form with "Claim". (Claim + to)
Please assist.

chetan2u · Answer

Hi,

three points-- 
1) The infinitive form is TO +verb,  so " to claim" is the infinitive form.. 
2 )Claim to be is an IDIOM, but does not fit in here..  Since political climate is connected with FAVOURS, lets see how the sentences look--
B) resulting in a political climate that  some analysts claim  favors 
Correctly conveys the meaning
D) resulting in a political climate that  some analysts claim  to be in favor of
Construction is not proper..

3)  usage of CLAIM TO BE does not have clear SUBJECT, it illogically refers to scientists.. 
see the sentences using it..
The president claims to be in fvaour of common law.
the law maker claim the law to be in favour of poor.

stevekeating · Answer

That’s a good explanation by chetan2u of why B is better than D. Often eliminating unnecessary words can enable you to see the correct option more quickly. In this case “some analysts claim” was eliminated. Even if you didn’t notice this, you may have chosen B over D because it is shorter and simpler. Notice the placement of “which” next to “influence” in A, C and E. This is incorrect as “which” does not refer to “influence”.

anje29 · Answer

Here are useful points related to claim :

1. claim that – used while proclaiming something 
Correct: Walter claims that he can run backwards.

2. claim to – used to take control of assets or will 
Correct: The eldest son laid claim to the father’s property.

3. claim to be – used while claiming to be some other person 
Correct: The man claimed to be John’s long lost son.
 Incorrect: He is claimed as the best batsman of all times.

Here nobody is claiming to be something , but analysts claiming that political climate is favoring something bla bla......

Therefore , B is correct

ydmuley · Answer

Though once powerful political forces, labor unions have lost much of their influence,  which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim to favor  management.

• which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim to favor ==> which is incorrectly used
• resulting in a political climate that some analysts claim favors
• which has resulted in a political climate that some analysts claim that favors
• resulting in a political climate that some analysts claim to be in favor of
• which has resulted in a political climate that has been claimed by some analysts to favour

Usage if which in A, B and C is incorrect, so they are out
Between B and D, D says climate to be in favor of - which is not correct

Hence, Answer is B

ashwiney · Answer

Can you please give the correct answer and explain why others options are incorrect

Bunuel · Answer

The correct answer is given under the spoiler in the original post, and it's B. If you check the discussion above your post you'll find several explanations of the answer.

Huahua1987 · Answer

Ok Let's remove "that some analysts claim" since many of us believe "favor" modifies "political climate". Now we have this sentence - resulting in a political climate favors management. Somehow it doesn't sound right. Of course, we could also re-write this sentence to "resulting in a political climate that, some analysts claim, favors management". It will be clearer.

That's why I don't think this is a good question. It's testing the bottom boundaries of GMAT's "unclear modification". GMAT has a very low tolerance of unclear modification. This question unfortunately has that issue. Some of you may consider it clear. And I agree. I also agree some other options of other questions GMAT considers unclear are also clear to some people. So we don't matter here - low tolerance is low tolerance.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Though once powerful political forces, labor unions have lost much of

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