The TGV, France's high-speed train, set a record in 2007 to

Question

The TGV, France's high-speed train,  set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, which shuttles  passengers from Lorraine to Champagne-Ardenne and averages over 293 kilometers per hour (173 miles per hour).

A. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, which shuttles
B. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttling
C. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, it shuttles
D. which set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttles
E. setting a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train; it shuttled

daagh · Accepted Answer

A. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, which shuttles ---  The comma after train is the spoil sport; the info that is cocooned between the two commas renders that info non- essential. Now if you remove it, for the sake checking construction, you will find it the whole sentence is a fragment

B. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttling --- 1 again the same problem a in A; 2 shuttling is not // to averages. 3. Shuttles and averages are the principal verbs; relegating them to modifier is illogical predication 
 
C. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, it shuttles –  a run on

D. which set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttles; -- -because this relative clause is an additional info which can be dispensed with, the verb – set - is no more a part of the list that needs parallelism. It may be noted that the comma after the train also smugly fits in with the requirement of --, which -- . IMO, the best choice. The relative clause that describes the onetime event of the rains record- break is relegated to a modifier clause, allowing the remaining part to display the main verbs in // manner.

E. setting a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train; it shuttlled ------  1 The first part is a fragment. 2. In the second part, shuttled is wrong tense and in addition, does not // averages.

hariprasad · Answer

To me D seems to be the answer.. My expln as follows..

C & E can be easily eliminated.. C - Run on sentence after comma and E - tense error because of 'shuttled'..
I felt that 'shuttles' should be parallel to 'averages' and so I go with D.. A and B do not meet this criteria..

OA plz??

crazypriya · Answer

IMO D
This option is using correct parallelism: shuttles....averages...

aditya8062 · Answer

but also look that the intent of the sentence is to show the setting of the record and by putting that in comma ,as in D , we are changing the meaning of the sentence .not that i am in favour of A

TO the original poster  : after putting the question u have not put the OA

surya167 · Answer

I am in the opinion of D. The reasons given by the folks above are the same that i am thinking of too. D is the best choice!

KarishmaB · Answer

Responding to a pm:

Break down the sentence:

The TGV, - subject
France's high-speed train, - An Appositive - renames the noun right before it. We might as well ignore it
 set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, - rest of the main clause
which shuttles passengers from Lorraine to Champagne-Ardenne and averages over 293 kilometers per hour (173 miles per hour) - a modifier modifying the fastest non magnetic train.

Isn't there a problem here? Obviously, the last modifier is talking about TGV and not the generic 'fastest non magnetic train'. TGV is the one which shuttles passengers from Lorraine to Champagne-Ardenne and averages over 293 kilometers per hour (173 miles per hour)

Let's look at the sentence structure of (D) now.
The TGV, which set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttles passengers from Lorraine to Champagne-Ardenne and averages over 293 kilometers per hour (173 miles per hour).

Here, the main clause is 'The TGV shuttles passengers from Lorraine to Champagne-Ardenne and averages over 293 kilometers per hour (173 miles per hour).' which makes perfect sense.
'which set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train,' is a modifier modifying TGV which again makes perfect sense.

As for the issue of 'which' modifying 'France's high-speed train', there is no problem here. 'which' is modifying 'train'. The possessive 'France's' just modifies the train too. The structure is absolutely fine. Take an example:

Abby's car, which is red in color, is working fine.
The sentence is correct. 'which is red in color' modifies the car.

Take another example:

This car belongs to Abby, my best friend. - Correct
This car is Abby's, my best friend. - Incorrect. This is where we are trying to modify the possessive and that is a problem.

suryav · Answer

hi Karishma,

in the appositive case 'which' refers to the subject whom appositive is modifying.

The TGV, France's high-speed train, which  set a....
here which modifies TGV

in option A.
The TGV, France's high-speed train, set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train,  which  shuttles

here  which  modifies train not the TGV as preceding clause is not appositive.

pls correct if i am wrong.

br//Surya

KarishmaB · Answer

The appositive just renames the noun so it doesn't matter in either case. We can say that 'which' modifies TGV or 'France's high speed train' since they both refer to the same thing.

'set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train' is part of the main clause and 'which' after that modifies 'the fastest nonmagnetic train'. In this case, 'shuttles passengers ... and averages ...' becomes a characteristic of the 'fastest nonmagnetic train' which is not correct. 'fastest nonmagnetic train' does not stand for TGV. In the past, some other train might have been the 'fastest nonmagnetic train'. 
'shuttles passengers ... and averages ...' is a characteristic of TGV and the same should be implied by the sentence.

Archit143 · Answer

HI Karishma
New doubt has arisen..
You pointeed out that ther are two modifiers in case of option A...and they point to 2 different things.....
i do not think there is any problem for the modifiers to point to different things...Yes meaning wise it points subtle difference. As in A says "There are many high speed trains. and TGV is the fastest among the high speed trains that runs on the the route mentioned. However the case is that TGV is infact the fastest among trains on any route....

Am i correct in my interpretation..
Archit

KarishmaB · Answer

Consider these sentences and tell me which one works:

Bolt set the world record in 2009 to become the fastest man, who can run 100m in 9.58 secs. 
Bolt, who set the world record in 2009 to become the fastest man, can run 100m in 9.58 secs.

Logically, 'who can run' should not modify 'the fastest man' because it is not the characteristic of the fastest man. Both 'fastest man' and 'who can run 100 m in 9.58 secs' are characteristics of Bolt. It just so happens that right now, Bolt is the fastest man. Tomorrow, some one else could be the fastest man.

Anyway, you have the second option (given as D in the question) which is certainly more accurate and logical.

abhimahna · Answer

Another tough one. Meaning is very important here to arrive at correct answer D as explained by  daagh  Sir. I marked the answer as A but later realized my mistake.

nks2611 · Answer

hii, sir in the above explanation about option A , did you mean by the line i mean about this comma before the train ( The TGV, France's high-speed train,)

dabhishek87 · Answer

The TGV, France's high-speed train,  set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, which shuttles  passengers from Lorraine to Champagne-Ardenne and averages over 293 kilometers per hour (173 miles per hour).

A. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train,  which shuttles 
B. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train,  shuttling 
C. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train,  it  shuttles 
D. which set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttles  correct, corrects parallelism issue 
E.  setting  a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train; it  shuttled

daagh · Answer

nks2611 
Yes. The comma after the TGV, France's high-speed  train,

IIMC · Answer

daagh  : what is a run on sentence and how to identify it. ??...pls help.

KarishmaB · Answer

Here is a post on run-on sentences: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2015/0 ... questions/

hellosanthosh2k2 · Answer

Was struck between B and D.

Finally chose D.

The TGV, France's high-speed train, set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, which shuttles passengers from Lorraine to Champagne-Ardenne and averages over 293 kilometers per hour (173 miles per hour).

A. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, which shuttles -  "which" incorrectly refers to magnetic train => meaning, TGV was fastest of the non-magnetic trains that shuttles between Champagne-Ardenne

B. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttling -  shutting not parallel with averages

C. set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, it shuttles -  run on sentence

D. which set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttles - correct choice.  "which" correctly refers to TGV, also shuttles and averages parallel

E. setting a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train; it shuttled -  First part is fragment

Experts, is my reasoning correct, especially choice A elimination?

push12345 · Answer

which set a record in 2007 to become the fastest nonmagnetic train, shuttles

D is correct answer
B is tempting but it is not correct as sentence Requires use of which to avoid fragment and Particular activity which is still going on and true must use present tense

naveengmat15 · Answer

Here non underlined part is important,

And averages so only thing in options which is parallel to averages is shuttles so D is the answer

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The TGV, France's high-speed train, set a record in 2007 to

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The TGV, France's high-speed train, set a record in 2007 to

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