After suffering a stroke, some patients must relearn seemingly simple

Question

After suffering a stroke, some patients must relearn seemingly simple tasks like walking or speaking, which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged.

A) speaking, which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged

B) speaking that trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged

C) speaking, training the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged

D) speaking, training the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that are being damaged

E) speaking, which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that are being damaged

daagh · Accepted Answer

Straight C; 
 In A and B, the relative pronouns which and that should refer to the simple tasks; on the contrary, they are referring to speaking. D and E are out because 'areas that are being damaged' is a wrong interpretation. The areas have already been damaged.

sagarltl · Answer

correct answer c.
Upon analysis of question, we can see that an action i.e relearn seemingly simple task and why the action is to be performed i.e. training the healthy areas of brain, indicating that the second the portion after the comma modifies the entire previous sentence.

A: which modifies speaking or walking >> wrong
B: that modifies same as A
C: correct , present participle -training...- modifies entire clause and have been damaged correctly uses present prefect tense to show the continuous effect of an action
D: that are being damaged is present continuous and illogical, changes meaning
E: same as A

georgecostanza · Answer

Hi  egmat .
Could you please help me with this question.
If training is modifying the clause, it should make sense with the subject of the previous clause, that is 'some patients'
So are some patients training themselves? 
What I understand from the question is that the act of relearning is training.

arvind910619 · Answer

Imo C 
Correct modifier 
It is not walking or speaking it is the act of doing these activities that helps .
D suggests the brains are in the process of getting damaged 
E is wrong for using which

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onkargm · Answer

IMO there is an error in underlined part as well, it should be such as walking and speaking, instead of like walking ....

karakule01 · Answer

I couldn't understands two points about the question.
1. How come we can use "like" to give examples.
2 ing modifiers should modify the whole sentences or at least object of the clause. But here?

adkikani · Answer

daagh   VeritasPrepKarishma   GMATNinja   sayantanc2k

why can not  that  and  which  - both noun modifiers jump over two nouns  walking / speaking  to modify other noun -  tasks ?
Can you please explain role of verb-ing modifier  training  in OA?

sanpreetsaini · Answer

Hi Daagh,

Seems like question itself is wrong using like for showing examples. 
  like walking or speaking

GMATSkilled · Answer

Here the verb-ing is used to give more information about how some patients must relearn seemingly simple tasks.

So this is how it will be - some patients must relearn seemingly simple by training the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged.

egmat  could clarify this though

AliciaSierra · Answer

sanpreetsaini , like is correct here. "like" is not used to show examples, but it is used to show similarity between simple tasks and walking/speaking.

AliciaSierra · Answer

sachinpoovanna , in my opinion verb+ing modifier in above SC is not used to show extra information but it is used to show result of previous clause.

Learn simple tasks to train brain.

thefibonacci · Answer

can someone explain why in A the relative pronoun modifier cannot modify a slight far away entity "simple tasks" since "like walking or speaking" describes those tasks only?

egmat   GMATNinja

also, can someone point out the difference b/w using a relative pronoun modifier with & without a comma?

Helium · Answer

This sentence follows the clause "some patients must relearn....speaking" with a modifying phrase. This phrase is meant to modify or describe the entire clause that came before it (i.e. the task of relearning). The answer choices that use the relative clause modifier construction illogically suggest that it is just speaking that trains the healthy areas (rather than the whole relearning process), and can be eliminated (A, B, E). Answer D incorrectly suggests that certain areas of the brain are still being damaged after the stroke, and can be eliminated for this Illogical Meaning error. Only correct answer C accurately expresses the time-frame of the injury while grammatically modifying the entire 'must relearn' clause through use of the participial phrase "training the...areas..."

smmunna · Answer

Hello sir, can you please explain when 'that' and 'which' can modify noun away from them?

shirishsriv · Answer

In the above question trains refer to singular subject causing subject verb agreement error.

divyajeswani · Answer

After suffering a stroke, some patients must relearn seemingly simple tasks like walking or speaking, which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged.

A) speaking, which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged
 
B) speaking that trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged

simple tasks ...  trains  is incorrect, tasks is plural. So eliminate A & B.
 
C) speaking, training the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged -  Correct.

being damaged is incorrect with respect to meaning. So eliminate D & E.

D) speaking, training the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that are being damaged

E) speaking, which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that are being damaged

greenbear · Answer

It's not speaking or walking being modified "trained the healthy areas" but the relearning the simple tasks" . - ing is a clause modifier for the correct usage.

Have been vs are being damaged 
At the beginning of the sentence, "after the stroke", can see that the damage has already been done.
thus --> Have been is right

mangamma · Answer

Official solution

Correct Answer: C

This sentence follows the clause "some patients must relearn....speaking" with a modifying phrase. This phrase is meant to modify or describe the entire clause that came before it (i.e. the task of relearning). The answer choices that use the relative clause modifier construction illogically suggest that it is just speaking that trains the healthy areas (rather than the whole relearning process), and can be eliminated (A, B, E). Answer D incorrectly suggests that certain areas of the brain are still being damaged after the stroke, and can be eliminated for this Illogical Meaning error. Only correct answer C accurately expresses the time-frame of the injury while grammatically modifying the entire 'must relearn' clause through use of the participial phrase "training the...areas..."

dracarys007 · Answer

A humble request – Please give KUDOS if you like the response.
Let us first dissect the sentence.
After suffering a stroke, - After is a conjunction used to connect the two clauses. This is a dependent clause.
some patients must relearn seemingly simple tasks like walking or speaking, - here we have a parallel list of two nouns walking and speaking. This is an independent clause.
which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas 
,which modifies the list of two nouns preceding which is incorrect. Instead a use of ing modifier is more appropriate which modifies the complete preceding clause.
There is used to refer to the patients.
that have been damaged. - That is used to modify the preceding noun areas.

A) speaking, which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged
This choice is incorrect for the aforementioned reasons.

B) speaking that trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged
Speaking that – the use of that to modify the preceding nouns is incorrect.

C) speaking, training the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that have been damaged

This choice is correct.
If you are still reading my post please hit the KUDOS button.

D) speaking, training the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that are being damaged
Use of being is incorrect in this choice. The areas are not in present being damaged.

E) speaking, which trains the healthy areas of their brains to take over the functions of the areas that are being damaged
Use of being is incorrect in this choice. The areas are not in present being damaged. ,which modifies the list of two nouns preceding which is incorrect.

Thank you for reading the post. Request you to please hit the KUDOS button.
Answer is C.

After suffering a stroke, some patients must relearn seemingly simple

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

After suffering a stroke, some patients must relearn seemingly simple

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