An estimated 80 million to 100 million Americans have nonalcoholic fat

Question

An estimated 80 million to 100 million Americans have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, which causes the liver to swell with dangerous levels of fat.

A. disease, which causes the liver to swell with dangerous levels of fat
B. causing the liver to swell with dangerous levels of fat
C. disease, and causes the liver to swell with dangerous levels of fat
D. disease that causes the liver to swell with dangerous levels of fat
E. disease; causing the liver to swell with dangerous levels of fat

Ref: This sentence is a part of NYT article.

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Official Answer

A

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daagh · Accepted Answer

I don't think GMAT is interested in the usage of 'that' vs ', which' as the usage is controversial. Not much to learn here.

raghavrf · Answer

Please highlight the modifier usage in this sentence and the various options.

gvij2017 · Answer

My 2 cents for this SC problem is as below.

Screening A and D out of given choices,

X, which Y: Here Y is general phenomena related to X. 
X that Y Here X has specific characteristic Y.

Considering the intent of statement, A is better choice.

LaveenaPanchal · Answer

In addition to that vs which there is one more thing i would like to understand.

In option A there is "comma + which" whereas in option D there is "that"

What does "comma + which" mean?

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Abhajadon · Answer

we always separate a descriptive modifier ( non essential modifier ,basically if we remove this part of sentence the meaning of the sentence wouldn't be changed) from the entity being modified by a comma 
Where as restrictive modifier ( which provides important information about the entity) is not separated by a comma

"Which" is always a descriptive modifier and hence is always preceded by a comma
"that" on the other hand is a restrictive modifier which is never preceded by a comma

santosh93 · Answer

This is my understanding about "which" and "that"

"which" and "that" are relative pronouns so they can refer to a noun
"that" can also be used as a connector. Ex: The weather forecast department predicted  that  May will be the hottest month of the year

for "which", the referring noun should be immediately before it. There can be a gap between the referring noun and "that"

In the given question I eliminated choice with "that" because "that" could refer to  fatty liver disease  or  An estimate 
whereas "which" can only refers to  fatty liver disease

So I choose option  A

dameili · Answer

I admire the way you screen out A and D at the first sight, and make a comparison, it is so talented. But I'm confused as a non-English speaker, why can't use the -ing modifier to modify the former part "An estimated 80 million to 100 million Americans have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease"? I mean, what's the reason for not choosing E? Many thanks!

GMATNinja · Answer

When we use a semicolon in this context, it should separate two independent clauses, meaning each part should be able to stand on its own as a complete sentence. In (E), the portion after the semicolon, "causing the liver to swell with dangerous levels of fat," couldn't stand on its own, so we have a concrete grammar error.

There's also a meaning problem here. The fact that many people have the disease doesn't cause the liver to swell; it's the disease  itself  that causes the liver to swell, so the modifier, as written in (E), isn't logical.

Either issue alone is enough to get rid of (E).

I hope that clears things up!

deep1624 · Answer

could you please elaborate a little more, I did not get the reasons to distinguish to between which and that

VerbalBot · Answer

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An estimated 80 million to 100 million Americans have nonalcoholic fat

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

An estimated 80 million to 100 million Americans have nonalcoholic fat

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