Trains into a metropolitan hub hold as many as five hundred passengers

Trains into a metropolitan hub hold as many as five hundred passengers and, compared with most automotive forms of transportation, cost consumers less, are better for the environment, cause people less traffic headaches, and offer a much more relaxing travel experience.

(A) Trains into a metropolitan hub hold as many as five hundred passengers and, [compared with most automotive forms of transportation], cost consumers less,
Correct.
- The [....] is modifier.
- The sentence is divided into two parts: Trains into a metropolitan hub (hold as many as ......) and (cost consumer less, are better...., cause....., and offer a much more relaxing....)

(B) Trains into a metropolitan hub, which hold as many as five hundred passengers, compared with most automotive forms of transportation, they cost consumers less,
Wrong.
- "which" modifies "a metropolitan hub" <== wrong
- "compared..." seems to modify the preceding nouns "passengers" <== ambiguous.

(C) Trains into a metropolitan hub hold as many as five hundred passengers, in comparison with most automotive forms of transportation, and have a lesser cost for consumers, they
Wrong.
- The red part is very awkward. "and" should be placed before "in comparison...." to make the sentence's meaning clear.

(D) Trains into a metropolitan hub, holding as many as five hundred passengers, compared with most automotive forms of transportation, cost consumers less,
Wrong.
- Meaning problem: "holding as many as...." is Verb-ing modifier that modifies "trains". So the meaning is: ONLY trains holding as many as five hundred passengers cost consumers less. That's wrong. "hold as many as...." is a main character of the trains into a metropolitan hub. These trains always cost consumers less, cause people less traffic headaches, and offer a much more relaxing travel experience even when they are not holding as many as five hundred passengers. ==> the usage of Verb-ing modifier leads to wrong meaning.

(E) Trains into a metropolitan hub, which hold as many as five hundred passengers, compared with most automotive forms of transportation the cost to consumers is lower, and they
Wrong.
- "which" modifies "a metropolitan hub" <== wrong
- "and" should be placed before "compared with...." to make the sentence's meaning clear.

Hope it helps.

One major erratic formation in this sentence is placement of Verb-ed modifier "compared".... In options B D E "compared" seems to modify passengers which is not the intended meaning of the sentence .....So B D E can be eliminated straight away...C can be eliminated on Parallelism issue ..introduction of they in the second parallel element mars parallelism of the sentence ...

Another point i noticed that in options B and E the usage of which is not wrong...."Which" not always modifies the preceding noun...Here the phrase "into a metropolitan hub" is essential to distinguish the train mentioned above from other trains...May be only trains which ply into a metropolitan hub have the capacity to hold five hundred passengers....So if we consider the phrase "into .." vital" for the meaning of sentence ....... "which" is correctly modifying Trains over here ..

So the best option which stands out over here is A which correctly uses " and " before compared .... As they say if we cut out the fluff the option A clearly reads
Trains into a metropolitan hub hold as many as five hundred passengers and, compared with most automotive forms of transportation, cost consumers less, are better for the environment, cause people less traffic headaches, and offer a much more relaxing travel experience..
"And" sharing the same subject with consistent verb on left and right..

Another shortcut pattern you may recognize is that the non-underlined portion of the sentence towards the end consists of action verbs:

"..are better for the environment, cause people less traffic headaches, and offer a much more relaxing travel experience."


ARE, CAUSE, and OFFER

So the verb we need is COST

From this analysis alone, you can eliminate (B) and (E).

So if, for whatever reason, you are stuck on the analysis of the first part of the sentence, you should know that even focusing on the verb pattern alone can eliminate 2 answer choices.

can you explain what is the role of this

"are better for the environment"

isn't it not connected properly in the sentence ?

"Cost less...are better...cause people less...and offer a much more" forms a completed list, with all four elements parallel (verbs and comparatives). Hope this clarifies!

POE:
A) Correct
B) Relative clause is modifying hub
C) Lesser cost is not correct. Lower is used for comparisons
D) Compared with is modifying which clause? 500 passengers or the last part of the sentence?
E) Same as B

GMATPill
Could you plz clarify the exact list of verbs
are "hold" and "cost" together ,followed by the rest of the noun with "and" at the end?
or is it " hold ,and cost,....,and"

What exactly is the list . and how do u determine which verbs are to be put together and which shoudlnt

how is option A correct. both parts of the sentence are dependent clause - run on error. thus, I chose option D. Kindly let me know where am I wrong

Thanks in advance
Snigdha

Trains into a metropolitan hub hold as many as five hundred passengers and, compared with most automotive forms of transportation, cost consumers less, are better for the environment, cause people less traffic headaches, and offer a much more relaxing travel experience.


(A) Trains into a metropolitan hub hold as many as five hundred passengers and, compared with most automotive forms of transportation, cost consumers less, --------- hold is parallel with cost and the rest of the sentence --------- CORRECT

(B) Trains into a metropolitan hub, which hold as many as five hundred passengers, compared with most automotive forms of transportation, they cost consumers less, ---- meaning error, seems like the hub is holding the passenger + meaning of they is unclear ----------------- INCORRECT

(C) Trains into a metropolitan hub hold as many as five hundred passengers, in comparison with most automotive forms of transportation, and have a lesser cost for consumers, they ---------- in comparison with: unnecessary, the later part of the sentence is not parallel e.g. “have a lesser cost for consumers” is awkwardly constructed. + the list after consumers starts with they which is not parallel with anything in non-underlined portion. ----------- INCORRECT

(D) Trains into a metropolitan hub, holding as many as five hundred passengers, compared with most automotive forms of transportation, cost consumers less, ------ here we don’t know what “holding” is working as a verb for --- train or hub? --------- INCORRECT

(E) Trains into a metropolitan hub, which hold as many as five hundred passengers, compared with most automotive forms of transportation the cost to consumers is lower, and they --------- again “which holds” wrongly modifies the hub. Also, “…..the cost to consumer is lower, and they…” is not parallel with rest of the sentence. ------------- INCORRECT