On her way to the store, Priya decided to purchase a personal organize

Question

On her way to the store, Priya decided to purchase a personal organizer, a new computer with a wireless network card,  and a barking toy robot dog that would make her life easier, she decided.

A. and a barking toy robot dog that would make her life easier, she decided.

B. and a barking toy robot dog; that would make her life easier, she decided.

C. and a barking toy robot dog that would make her life easier; she decided.

D. and a barking toy robot dog making her life easier, she decided.

E. and, deciding that would make her life easier, a barking toy robot dog.

sayantanc2k · Accepted Answer

Sorry about the confusion - I was mistakenly referring to option B instead of C. Nonetheless, since the topic has been raised, you may please note the four uses of "that":

1. I know that you have studied hard.... "that" introduces a clause. For understanding, consider "that" a conjunction, though technically it is not - it is the object of the verb "know".

2. I hate dogs that bark. .... "that" is used as a relative pronoun (can be singular or plural - here "that" is plural because it replaces "dogs").

3. The house beside the river is more beautiful than that on the top of the hill..... "that" creates a new copy of the noun "house" (can only be singular - for plural nouns, use "those")

4. I like that book..... "that is used as a demonstrative adjective (can only be singular - for plural nouns, use "those")

The usage in option C falls under category 2 (neither of the types mentioned in your post - your post refers to category 3 and 4 only), and the usage is absolutely alright.

Option C is wrong because the independent clause "she decided" is separated from the part describing what she decided. Hence it is not clear what she decided.

grichagupta · Answer

I chose option B because this sentence reflects (by way of correct placement of semi colon) that both computer and toy dog would make her life easy.

sleepynut · Answer

Hi experts,
How can we know for sure what "that" in choice B refer to?
IMHO,the construction is quite strange.The first part mention about her decision to buy two things.The second part tends to convey that what her bought would make her life easier,but which one? either a personal organizer or a robot dog.

Any way it doesn't make any sense to separate the latter information to another independent clause.

Please help clarify :-(

arunavamunshi1988 · Answer

I beg to differ that in one concept of standard english we know that we can not join two independent clauses with comma. In option B two independent clauses are -

1. Priya decided to purchase a personal organizer, a new computer with a wireless network card, and a barking toy robot dog that would make her life easier

2. she decided

So IMO B is wrong. Only option C stands.

lorenzo393 · Answer

Where does this question comes from?
Anyway can a independent clause start with ''that''?
what is that she decided refered to? If is refered to Priya that would be a repetion, I am a little bit confused

winionhi · Answer

A. Incorrect. While grammatically correct, the placement of that suggests that the barking toy would make her life easier, when it makes more sense for it to be either the whole purchase or just the non-toy portions.

B. Correct. By putting that into a new independent clause, it can make a stronger claim to modify the preceding clause. You can still argue that that refers back to the toy, but the connection is not as strong as it is in the other sentences.

C. Incorrect. Though this one is technically grammatically correct, that modifies the toy again, and “she decided” is a very uninformative independent clause.

D. Incorrect. Placing the present participle making directly next to the toy dog suggests it is the barking toy making her life easier, which isn’t likely (has anyone’s life ever been made easier by a barking toy dog?).

E. Incorrect. The placement of and before the deciding suggests they are part of the same unit: the final item in her list of purchases. This also suggests the toy will make her life easier.

I don’t believe you’ll see a question exactly like this on the GMAT

sayantanc2k · Answer

The usage of "that" in option C is incorrect.  This, that, these  and  those  are demonstrative adjectives and cannot stand by their own - nouns are required after them.
That was fun: wrong
That party was fun: correct

(An independent clause may start with "that" - see the second example above.)

lorenzo393 · Answer

Sorry I am still confused I am stuying on the Manhattan SC guide and about THIS,THAT,THOSE,THESE it says te following:
-They cannot take place of a noun unless they indicate a ''new copy'' of the antecedent: ''The money spent by the parents is less that that spent by her childeren.
-they must be used as an adjective referring to nouns
In answer C it seems that ''that'' is reffering to dogs, so why it is uncorrect?
Finally, to evaluate if a sentence is independent I should eliminate everything that comes before it or not? because if I should eliminate everything before how can: ''that would make her life easier, she decided'' stand alone? please help I have a lot of confusion in my head

rishit1080 · Answer

Semi colon separates 2 independent ideas. In option C "she decided" is not an independent idea. Knock off C. B is the only one that uses the semicolon properly to address two independent sentences.

daagh · Answer

A sentence is supposed to convey a complete sense of meaning and it should be done in a grammatical way. Both these norms have been flouted in the above topic.
1. "She decided" (although is only two words strong) is an IC and that has been joined by a comma with another clause and so this is a fatal comma splice and a style error. Therefore, you can remove all the choices depicting this error. A, B and D are out. 
2. Choice C: A semicolon is supposed to be followed by IC, and by a related one, but not a loosely dangling one. In C, she decided is in no way connected to the previous clause. 
3. Choice E: Can you see the comma after 'and'? The structure of the clause is weird with a para-jumble of words that convey no cogent meaning. 
One can't spot any correct answer 
I wonder if this question is really from Kaplan.

rishit1080 · Answer

https://www.kaptest.com/study/gmat/sente ... nctuation/ I got you dog

rishit1080 · Answer

OE

A. Incorrect. While grammatically correct, the placement of that suggests that the barking toy would make her life easier, when it makes more sense for it to be either the whole purchase or just the non-toy portions.

B. Correct. By putting that into a new independent clause, it can make a stronger claim to modify the preceding clause. You can still argue that that refers back to the toy, but the connection is not as strong as it is in the other sentences.

C. Incorrect. Though this one is technically grammatically correct, that modifies the toy again, and “she decided” is a very uninformative independent clause.

D. Incorrect. Placing the present participle making directly next to the toy dog suggests it is the barking toy making her life easier, which isn’t likely (has anyone’s life ever been made easier by a barking toy dog?).

E. Incorrect. The placement of and before the deciding suggests they are part of the same unit: the final item in her list of purchases. This also suggests the toy will make her life easier.

I don’t believe you’ll see a question exactly like this on the GMAT; that’s not the point. The idea here is to show how the placement of punctuation can affect how you interpret certain parts of sentences.

abhimahna · Answer

Hi,

What I have read is a semi color plays the role of a full stop in a sentence. So, ideally anything after the semicolon must be an IC and must make sense.

Considering this, I can say the 2nd sentence that I have is

"that would make her life easier, she decided.". Now, I don't think this sentence is making sense. Can someone please provide their inputs.

sayantanc2k · Answer

The author has used the word "that" as the subject of the second independent clause (after semicolon). However, in GMAT such usage is not acceptable - "that" in such cases is used as demonstrative adjective and should be followed by a noun.

That was great. ... wrong.
That speech was great.... correct.

abhimahna · Answer

Thanks brother. In that case, should we say this question is wrong as far as GMAT is concerned?

Rajdeep1989 · Answer

Priya decided to buy three items...all that would make her life easier. Only B makes it clear.

Varisht · Answer

That in B can refer to the decision of buying, but it can anyways refer back to the robot, so why is A wrong?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Varisht ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in Option B "that" is separated from the noun "robot" by a semicolon, meaning "that would make her life easier" cannot modify "robot"; thus, "that" takes the role of a pronoun referring to the act of "buying".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

VerbalBot · Answer

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On her way to the store, Priya decided to purchase a personal organize

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On her way to the store, Priya decided to purchase a personal organize

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