sondenso wrote:
Unlike most severance packages, which require workers to stay until the last day scheduled to collect, workers at the automobile company are eligible for its severance package even if they find a new job before they are terminated.
(A) the last day scheduled to collect, workers at the automobile company are eligible for its severance package
(B) the last day they are scheduled to collect, workers are eligible for the automobile company's severance package
(C) their last scheduled day to collect, the automobile company offers its severance package to workers
(D) their last scheduled day in order to collect, the automobile company's severance package is available to workers
(E) the last day that they are scheduled to collect, the automobile company's severance package is available to workers
Source : GMATPrep Default Exam Pack
Answer (E) is problematic as a result of the illogical meaning caused by the grammar and usage.
Issue: The meaning conveyed by the relative clause as a result of word placement
Concept: when a relative pronoun refers to the antecedent noun as a direct object, the relative clause is required to have its own Subject noun.
Many times, the signal showing that this concept is being tested is one of the following constructions immediately following the antecedent noun / noun phrase:
(Preposition) + WHICH + (subject noun of relative clause)
“at which (noun)” ; “for which (noun)” ; “during which (noun)” ; etc.
It also may occur when the relative pronoun “that” is used to restrictively modify the noun.
(Referent Noun) + THAT + (subject noun of relative clause)
In both cases, a SUBJECT follows the relative pronoun (either “which” or “that”) and the referent noun functions as an OBJECT within the modifying relative clause.
Quoting the relevant part of E:
“… (most severance packages) require workers to stay until the last day THAT they are required to collect….
The noun phrase + modifier:
….”the last day THAT they (= workers) are required to collect…”
The following are sentences that include a similar modification:
(1) I must pick up the car THAT you graciously bought me.
(2) The rate AT WHICH your children continue to grow is astonishing.
In (1) and (2), the relative clause is functioning as a noun modifier of the preceding noun: “car” and “rate”, respectively.
Just as importantly, in each case, the referent noun functions as a DIRECT OBJECT of the tensed verb within the relative clause in (1) and and object of the preposition in (2).
One should be able to change this type of “inverted” structure and have a logical clause, such as:
(1) You graciously bought me THE CAR.
(2) Your children continue to grow AT THE RATE.
If you look at the end of the noun modifier in answer E, conspicuous by its absence is exactly WHAT the workers are “scheduled to collect.”
If this implied term were something such as “paycheck”, then the workers would be collecting the paycheck ON the last day. (see below)
(II) ….. until the last day THAT they are scheduled to collect…..
Since the relative pronoun “that” is used and not a (preposition) + (relative pronoun) type of structure such as “on which,” the reference to “last day” is as a DIRECT OBJECT of the verb and we have:
(II) they are scheduled to collect THE LAST DAY.
——-> an illogical clause
If “paycheck” were in fact the intended but omitted direct object of the relative clause, the structure might follow something such as:
(iii) …..the last day ON WHICH they are scheduled to collect a paycheck….
—-where “on which” refers to “last day” as an object of the prepositional phrase.
The clause would be read as:
(III) They are scheduled to collect a paycheck ON THE LAST DAY.
However, we do not have such a structure in answer E. This is why it is not possible, given the word usage and grammar, to read this sentence as conveying the meaning that the workers must stay until the last paycheck is collected.
Instead, what results from the word choice and placement is a nonsensical meaning.
(E)……. the last day THAT they are scheduled to collect….
(E-restructured) They are scheduled to collect THE LAST DAY.
Obviously, workers can not collect a day.
For this reason, E is inappropriate.
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