During winters to stop the spread of flu virus, Ayurveda

Question

During winters to stop the spread of flu virus, Ayurveda suggests drinking warm water and  to apply eucalyptus oil on the nose, which acts like a growth inhibitor, allowing the body time to build antibodies to fight the virus.

(A) to apply eucalyptus oil on the nose, which acts like a growth inhibitor, allowing the body time to build antibodies to fight the virus
(B) applying eucalyptus oil, which acts as a growth inhibitor on the nose, allowing the body time to build antibodies and to fight the virus
(C) applying eucalyptus oil on the nose, which acts as a growth inhibitor, allowing the body time to build antibodies to fight the virus
(D) to apply eucalyptus oil on the nose, which acting like a growth inhibitor allows the body time to build antibodies to fight the virus
(E) applying eucalyptus oil on the nose, which acting like a growth inhibitor allowing the body time for building antibodies fighting the virus

carma19 · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

MEANING ANALYSIS: 
This sentence shows facts about Ayurveda recommendations to stop spread of flu virus. It also explains the reasoning behind these recommendations. The question tests your ability to identify a list and ensure that it is parallel. It also tests your knowledge of idiomatic usage of act and like. Lastly it tests your expertise in identifying all Subject-Verb pairs in a sentence.

ERROR ANALYSIS: 
The original sentence has two errors 
– Parallelism and Idiom 
1: Parallelism Error – The sentence presents two Ayurvedic recommendations – drinking warm water (in the non-underlined portion) and to apply Eucalyptus oil (in the underlined portion). Clearly “to apply” is not parallel to “drinking”. This should be “applying”. 
2: Idiom - This sentence uses “act like” when it should indeed be “Act as”. This is because the sentence intends to state the function of eucalyptus oil. Note that “Act like” expresses similarity in behaviour which is not correct in the context of this sentence.

ANSWER (B) - ERROR EXPLANATION: 
This choice has two errors 
– Modifier placement and meaning 
1: Modifier – The modifier “on the nose” is placed after growth inhibitor implying that eucalyptus oil acts as a certain kind of growth inhibitor – the one that is on the nose. This is clearly not the intended meaning, since per the original sentence, “on the nose” specifies the location where the oil should be applied. 
2: Meaning – The placement of “and” before “to fight the virus” introduces a subtle but significant meaning error. Per the intended meaning, the growth inhibitor allows the body time to build antibodies to fight the virus. Thus fighting the virus is the purpose of antibodies. Now the placement of “and” changes this purpose. Now the sentence means that growth inhibitor allows two things to happen. Firstly the body to build antibodies and secondly to fight the virus. These are two very different meanings.

CORRECT ANSWER: ( C )

anumnit90 · Answer

Hi Guys, 
I think there is some problem with the OA, i.e. option C. As far as I know, 'which' doesn't modify the clause and in this option I think, 'which' is not used correctly. Please correct me if I am wrong!!

Thanks in advance,
Anurag

AndrewN · Answer

Hello, Anurag. You are correct in saying that a  which  clause is not used to modify a preceding clause; however,  which  can reach across a prepositional phrase to modify that noun. It is debatable in (C) whether  which  refers to  eucalyptus oil  or  the nose , since it could be used to replace either. You might find  this e-GMAT article  useful on the subject of noun modifiers and the so-called "touch rule."

Happy reading.

- Andrew

Saiharish98 · Answer

In option C which is a relative pronoun so modifies nose not the entire clause right?

Posted from my mobile device

AndrewN · Answer

The problem with the  nose  interpretation,  Saiharish98 , is that the sentence would then be saying that the nose itself acted as a growth inhibitor, and that would not make sense. Again (from my earlier post),  which  cannot be used to modify an entire clause. To be honest, I would prefer a hybrid answer that combined correct elements of (B) and (C) in a clear and unambiguous way--note the effect of the comma after  inhibitor :

During winters to stop the spread of flu virus, Ayurveda suggests drinking warm water and  applying eucalyptus oil, which acts as a growth inhibitor, on the nose, allowing the body time to build antibodies to fight the virus.

With that said, you can only go by what is on the screen. If you find yourself in a 50/50 situation, then see which answer presents options that are easier to argue against. Get rid of that answer and choose the other.

- Andrew

aggvipul · Answer

Hi  anumnit90 
I would like to help here, you are absolutely right "which" does not modify a clause. Refer sentence below
During winters to stop the spread of flu virus, Ayurveda suggests drinking warm water and applying eucalyptus oil on the nose,  which  acts as a growth inhibitor, allowing the body time to build antibodies to fight the virus

Rules for "which"
1. It modifies the closest noun
2. Ideally which should be followed by a comma

There is one Exception rule as well for Relative modifiers
Sentence - Noun + Additional Information + Relative Modifier
Now if the Additional information  about Noun 
a. Can't be moved elsewhere in the sentence
b. Its placement does not result in ambiguity in meaning
Then, the use of Additional info. between Noun and Relative Modifier(in this case "which") is permitted
Hence, the use of "which" is correct here.

Hope, I am able to solve the query. Refer the link in my signature for more details on SC

ravigupta2912 · Answer

Although i marked the correct answer, the usage of which to modify a slightly far away noun confused me. As a principle it is always good to remember that if you can reword the sentence and remove the prepositional phrase after the modified noun, then the usage of which "may" be incorrect.

If you can't, "which" can jump over and modify the slightly far away noun.

If you can't, "which" can jump over and modify the slightly far away noun.

udaypratapsingh99 · Answer

Incorrect use of which. Nose doesn't work as an inhibitor. C is incorrect.

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

While it's true that the GMAT sometimes allows some interesting exceptions to the "touch rule" for noun modifiers, this is not an official GMAT problem and I would not follow its lead. There are a number of questionable constructions here, starting with "During winters to stop the spread." On official GMAT questions, we have to accept that one answer is right, so we choose what's best. We don't have the same certainty with unofficial questions (including a few of ours over the years!), so when we see this kind of trouble we may just want to decide to scrap the question, and that's what I'd advise here.

saarthakkhanna04 · Answer

Then how do we Identify the exception in real life gmat test?

I mean to ask is, is there a way to identify the exception or can you provide more question with which involved in them?

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

During winters to stop the spread of flu virus, Ayurveda

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

During winters to stop the spread of flu virus, Ayurveda

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards