The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure

Question

The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration  have been corrected, according to the firm of consulting engineers.

(A) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration. 
(B) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure, leading to its deterioration. 
(C) leading to its deterioration, the Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure. 
(D) The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration. 
(E) The defects in the supporting structure of the Statue of Liberty which led to its deterioration.

How is OA correct?
My doubt about OA : 1. Doesn't "which" modify only preceding words in the GMAT world?
 2. When "which" is used, should't there be a comma before "which"?

Also, I have several other questions.
1. What's wrong with b and c? I think that the Statue of Liberty's defect IS LEADING its deterioration.
 Is "its" before deterioration a problem? Does it have a ambiguity issue?

2. If "which" or "that" doesn't modify only preceding words like "which" in the OA, can't a be the OA? 
 What's wrong with a?

hellscream · Accepted Answer

Remember one rule: Nouns in the possessive case (before 's) and after preposition are poor antecedents. So we are very clear why OA is E:
A) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to  its  deterioration. 
"Its" here refers to defects , not the Statue of Liberty . Defects can not be deteriorated.
B) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure, leading to  its  deterioration. 
The same mistake to A
C) leading to its deterioration, the Statue of Liberty's defects in  its  supporting structure. 
The same mistake to A
D) The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration. 
Second "that" modifies "supporting structure " or " defects" ? Ambiguous.
E) The defects in the supporting structure of the Statue of Liberty which led to its deterioration.

OA: "which" modifies "defects" , not "Statue of Liberty" because "Statue of Liberty" is after the preposition "of".
 "which" in this case is essential to clear the meaning , therefore we do not put commas there.

Hope it helps

daagh · Answer

Is E the answer? Can‘t take it. First, which has no comma before it and which modifies statue as if the statue led to its deterioration

A) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration -----  supporting structure that led --- touch rule error of that. Did the structure lead to its deterioration 
B)The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure, leading to its deterioration…….. C orrect modification, the present participle rightly modifies the entire phrasal noun before the comma 
C) Leading to its deterioration, the Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure …. W eirdly, this sentence has a twisted meaning. It means - the Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure have been corrected, according to the firm of consulting engineers, leading to its deterioration.  
D) The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration ….  structure that led to touch rule error.  
E) The defects in the supporting structure of the Statue of Liberty which led to its deterioration …  wrong; already explained

The answer must be B

mikemcgarry · Answer

I am responding to a pm asking me to comment on this question.

I concur with many of the others on this page, and would say: in my estimation, the correct "conclusion" to draw is not A, B, C, D, or E, but rather that one should avoid this question source like the plague. Not all GMAT question sources are of equal caliber --- some (MGMAT, Magoosh, etc.) are excellent and as good as the OG, but some are mediocre, and some are downright bad. Caveat emptor!

Here, for free, is a Magoosh SC question:
https://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/1126
After you submit an answer, the next page has a video explanation. Each of our 800+ GMAT practice questions has it's own video explanation, to accelerate your learning.

Mike :-)

pqhai · Answer

Hi Dhairya275

The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration have been corrected, according to the firm of consulting engineers.

(A) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration
Wrong. "that" always modifies the CLOSET noun --> "that" modifies "supporting structure" --> wrong.

(B) The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure, leading to its deterioration
Wrong. Because there is NO comma after phrase "leading to its deterioration" --> The phrase is not a modifier --> wrong grammar.

(C) Leading to its deterioration, the Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure
Wrong. "Leading to its deterioration" is misplaced modifier.

(D) The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure that led to its deterioration
Wrong. Same as in A. "that" always modifies the CLOSET noun --> "that" modifies "supporting structure" --> wrong.

(E) The defects in the supporting structure of the Statue of Liberty which led to its deterioration
The best option among all. But it's still wrong according to GMAT standards which require a comma before "which".

Note: "which" does not need to modifier the closest noun. That's quite common in GMAT. Please see a "similar" question below:
emily-dickinsons-letters-to-susan-huntington-dickinson-were-10142.html

The point here is that without a comma before which, the sentence is not correct per GMAT standards.

Hope it's clear.

hellscream · Answer

It is still wrong. Let put it into the whole sentence and you will see

The defects that the Statue of Liberty had in its supporting structure  led  to its deterioration  have been  corrected, according to the firm of consulting engineers.

This is a fragment sentence.

sayantanc2k · Answer

I do agree that the pronoun  its  is ambiguous here and a non-essential modifier starting with  which  should be separated by comma. However the construction  The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure  is very awkward - such constructions are generally wrong in the GMAT. This question does not seem to be one of the best.

GMATNinja · Answer

I like the phrase "goofy but acceptable." Often true of SC sentences!

There's a funky little thing with "-ing" modifiers: they can modify just a noun, or they can modify an entire clause. In this case, I suppose that the question-writer's objection to (C) is that the modifier "leading to its deterioration" illogically modifies the entire clause "the Statue of Liberty's defects... have been corrected." But if you think that "leading to its deterioration" is just modifying "the Statue of Liberty's defects," then I suppose that (C) is fine. But it's debatable -- and an official GMAT question won't really leave room for debate the way this one does.

Like most non-official questions, this one has its flaws, and needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The GMAT spends $1500-3000 on each question, and even the best test-prep companies can't compete. So please don't spend much time worrying about this one.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The Statue of Liberty's defects in its supporting structure

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