The basic process of selecting the President of the United States is..

Question

The basic process of selecting the President of the United States is spelled out  in the U.S. Constitution, which has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many additional steps.

(A) in the U.S. Constitution, which has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many additional steps 
(B) in the U.S. Constitution and it has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many additional steps 
(C) in the U.S. Constitution and has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to many additional steps 
(D) in the U.S. Constitution and is modified by subsequent amendments, which have led to the addition of many additional steps 
(E) in the U.S. Constitution and has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many steps

rxb266 · Answer

daagh Could you please explain how E is the correct answer

ankaua · Answer

(E) in the U.S. Constitution and has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many steps 
v-ing modifier after comma modifies a preceding clause but the doer of the action has to be the subject of the modified clause; this is not the case here. So, for me E is wrong for this reason.

I choose D. Would be great to hear from experts

ankaua · Answer

I have doubts why E is correct answer choice. 
v-ing modifier after comma modifies a preceding clause but the doer of the action has to be the subject of the modified clause. Not sure how this rule works for passive, the case which can be seen in E.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Good question.

The use of the relative clause in (D) is slightly better than the use of the participial phrase in (E), though how amendments would lead to the addition of steps is not clear.

I guess perhaps the redundant nature of "addition" + "additional" in (D) is worse than the use of the participial phrase with the passive in (E), but maybe it's not.

I doubt you'll ever see the type of construction that appears in (E) in a "correct" answer in a Sentence Correction question, but given some of the weird and debatably incorrect structures I have seen in "correct" choices, I would not rule out the possibility entirely. You have to be a little flexible with the rules in SC. Sometimes finding an OA is a matter of finding the best of some not so great structures.

In any case, this question is a little weak on a few fronts. It's clearly meant to highlight the issue of redundancy, and doesn't do much else very well; none of the versions are well written.

So, the upshot is that you can't be too rigid in your application of rules, or even logic, in SC, and, at the same time, this question and its OA are not great examples of the types of things you will see on the actual GMAT.

GMATXP · Answer

What is wrong with C?

Is it because "leading to" does not work with "steps"?

Posted from my mobile device

Sourav700 · Answer

The basic process of selecting the President of the United States is spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, which has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many additional steps.

(A) in the U.S. Constitution, which has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many additional steps 
(B) in the U.S. Constitution and it has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many additional steps 
(C) in the U.S. Constitution and has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to many additional steps 
(D) in the U.S. Constitution and is modified by subsequent amendments, which have led to the addition of many additional steps 
(E) in the U.S. Constitution and has been modified by subsequent amendments, leading to the addition of many steps

Subject - (basic) process
Verb: is

the use of AND necessitates X....AND..Y be parallel.

How is a simple present tense (is) parallel to a Past-perfect (has been modified)?

The only issue with D is the redundancy, but does that beat the strict parallelism law on GMAT?

Is there any sequence of events that i may be missing?

Man this is so confusing, Please hep:

generis   VeritasKarishma   chetan2u   MartyTargetTestPrep   GMATNinja

azhrhasan · Answer

Error1: In essence, the sentence tends to imply that process of selection was modified by amendments, but placement of which tends to mean that the constitution was modified. To correct this, we need to separate the clauses. 
Error2: Furthermore, addition of many additional steps is redundancy. Only "addition" is enough.

A: incorrect error1, error2
B: incorrect error2
C: incorrect changes meaning ("additional steps" but of what these "additional steps" are for is not clear in this usage)
D: incorrect: error2
E: correct

azhrhasan · Answer

Please remember that the tenses are not paralleled . One way to remember this rule is usage of tenses in if.. then constructions.

KarishmaB · Answer

The tense used is the same when both actions happen at the same time. Here that is not the case.
The Constitution spells out the process of selecting the President in Present tense.
The modifications in the process were made in the past and might be an ongoing process so we should use Present Perfect tense (has been modified). We could have used simple past too here to show that modifications are done and over with.

"leading to the addition of many additional steps" is redundant. You need to use addition/additional only once.

OllieMartin · Answer

I have doubts why E is correct answer choice.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation:

Answer: E

(A) The phrase  addition of many additional steps  is redundant and awkward. It’s better to say  addition of many steps .

(B) The usage of  it  after  and  is not required since it is understood that the subject is the process of selection. Again, the phrase  addition of many additional steps  is redundant.

(C) This sentence looks correct but the last part is actually distorting the meaning by suggesting that the amendments led to many additional steps. The amendments did not lead to the steps but to the addition of the steps to the process. So, this option is incorrect.

(D) Since the modifications were in the past but their effect is still felt, we need the present perfect tense ( has been ) and not the simple present tense ( is ). The phrase  addition of many additional steps  is redundant. It’s better to say  addition of many steps .

(E) The correct answer

MayaK · Answer

Hi,
why is A wrong? it has a different meaning than E but it doesn't mean the author didn't intend to that meaning

The basic process of selecting the President of the United States is..

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The basic process of selecting the President of the United States is..

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