OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
Quote:
Undercover police detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end of the Meadowvale district, which is consistent to the growth of crime there.
• Meaning?
Observations by police of large concentrations of gang members in an area are consistent with the growth of crime in that area.
• Things to know
→ how the word
which may be used
→ possessive poison is not an issue in this question and regardless, is not ironclad rule
→ I really want you to understand what a reduced relative clause is.
I don't care about the jargon. I do care about whether you understand these things, because GMAC uses them frequently.
→ the correct idiom is
consistent with, not
consistent toTHE OPTIONSQuote:
A) Undercover police detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end of the Meadowvale district, which is consistent to the growth of crime there
•
which has no antecedent
→
which must refer to an actual noun that precedes it.
→ the verb after which is singular and the only
possible antecedent is plural
--
which could refer to
large concentrations of gang members in the west end of the Meadowvale district but the verb following
which would have to be plural.
--
which cannot refer to "police detectives have observed XYZ."
Those words are not a noun.
→
Which could modify
observations, for example, but the actual word
observations does not exist in this sentence.
•
consistent to is not idiomatic. The idiom is
consistent with.
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
B) Undercover police detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end of the Meadowvale district, where the crime’s growth is consistent with these findings.
• compared to
the growth of crime in A, D, and E, in this option,
THE crime's growth is weird.
→ The word "the" makes
growth of "the" crime too specific; it seems as though we are reading about a certain kind of crime.
Watch:
Correct, crime is a general noun:
The committee delivered a report on crime in Kansas.Probably wrong, crime is a specific noun:
The committee delivered a report on the crime in Kansas.→ In English, the article "the" can distort the meaning of a noun. We often do not use "the" in front of "general" nouns such as
crime, people, states (in the U.S.), cities, pollution, women, men, children, teenagers, industry• On the GMAT, inanimate nouns do not usually take the possessive form with an apostrophe-S
Careful, though. What I just wrote is a guideline that works most of the time. Not always.
• I see no other errors.
KEEP, but look for a better answer
Quote:
C) Undercover police detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end of the Meadowvale district, findings consistent to its growth of crime.
• "ITS growth of crime" is weird. The phrasing is not exactly wrong, but it's weird. And awkward.
• the correct idiom is
consistent with, not
consistent to • the possessive pronoun
its can refer to the non-possessive noun
the west end→ Correct:
The small business could not afford to keep its employees.→ Correct:
The New Zealand rugby team is known for its ferocious haka dance.→ some of you are referring to "possessive poison," which is not an issue in this sentence, though I can understand how you might think it were an issue
-- "possessive poison" means that a possessive
noun allegedly may not be referred to by a non-possessive pronoun
-- I wrote a post about this subject and used quite a few official examples to demonstrate that this "rule" is by no means ironclad.
-- You can read that post if you click
here.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) Undercover police detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end of the district of Meadowvale, findings consistent with the growth of crime in the area[/color] the growth of crime there.
• I see no errors
• in this option,
the growth of crime is better than
crime's growth in option B. Eliminate (B).
•
findings consistent is short for
findings that are consistent.→ we are dealing with a reduced relative clause (see Notes)
→ we are also dealing with a summative modifier
•
findings is a good way to summarize what the previous clause is talking about.
→ The "findings" phrase (which summarizes the idea in the preceding clause) is called a
summative modifier.Summative modifiers rename and elaborate on another part of the sentence. Summative modifiers are appositives.
KEEP
Quote:
E) Undercover police detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end of the district of Meadowvale, consistent with the growth of the crime there.
•
the growth of the crime not only distorts meaning but also makes no sense.
→ Now we are really tied to a specific crime. The growth of
which crime? Thievery? Assault? Drug dealing?
ELIMINATE E
The answer is D.NotesThe phrase
findings consistent comes from a reduced relative clause, namely,
findings that are consistent.Reduced relative clauses are
very common in good writing and on the GMAT.
Let's break down "reduced relative clause":
→
Reduced means
shortened.
→ The "relative" part refers to a relative pronoun such as
that, who, or
which.→ These relative pronouns are followed by clauses -- by groups of words that contain a subject and verb.
In order to shorten the relative clause
findings that are consistent and change it into the summative modifier
findings consistent:
1) remove the relative pronoun (
that);
2) remove the TO BE verb,
are3) do not move the word consistent, which should follow
findings.
Original: Undercover police detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end . . ., findings that are consistent with the growth of crime in the area.
Reduced clause: Undercover police detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end . . . , findings consistent with the growth of crime in the area.
Findings is a summative modifier of
Undercover detectives have observed large concentrations of gang members in the west end . . .Findings is a "new" word that describes (summarizes) the idea in the previous clause.
You can read a short and very good overview about reduced relative clauses
HERE.COMMENTSChandan5793 , welcome to SC Butler.
I like the dialogue on the thread.
I also like the answers, even if there were a couple of reasoning errors here and there.
Kudos to all who explained, even if the explanation wobbled occasionally. This question is challenging. Nicely done.
Stay safe, all.
20 Aug 2020, 23:28
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