Unlike the automobile company, whose research was based on crashes

Question

Unlike the automobile  company, whose research was based on  crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

(A) company, whose research was based on
(B) company, which researched
(C) company, in its research of
(D) company's research, having been based on
(E) company's research on

Automobile vs. Insurance Co.  
 
 (A) Comparison ( Unlike X, Y )

(B) Comparison ( Unlike X, Y )

(C) Comparison ( Unlike X, Y )

(D) Structure / Meaning ( having been based…vehicles )

(E) CORRECT  
 
  First glance

The underline begins either with the  company  or the  company’s research . When reading the sentence, pay attention to clues that will tell you whether the sentence should focus on the company or its research.
 
  Issues

(1) Comparison:  Unlike X, Y

The word  unlike  at the beginning of the sentence signals a comparison. What are the X and Y elements of the comparison?

The original sentence compares the  automobile company  to the  research conducted by the insurance company , not to the insurance company itself. Eliminate choices (A), (B), and (C) for this   faulty comparison  .

(2) Structure / Meaning:  having been based…vehicles

Answers (D) and (E) both make a proper comparison (one company’s research to another company’s research), so compare the remaining parts of these two answers to find another difference. What is the difference between  having been based on  and just  on ?

Answer (E) makes clear that the research on sport utility vehicles was the auto company’s research. Answer (D), by contrast, introduces a comma and a construction ( having been based on ) that allows this modifier to refer to the noun before the comma (the auto company’s research) or the noun after the comma (the insurance company’s research). Eliminate choice (D) for an ambiguous sentence structure.

The Correct Answer

Correct answer (E) properly compares the   research   of one company to the   research   of another company. This choice also makes clear that the sports utility vehicle research was conducted by the auto company.

daagh · Accepted Answer

Whereas A, B, and C can be dispensed with easily for using a faulty comparison, D has a problem of changing the meaning. Many a time, 'having been based implies a causal connotation as if because the company's research had been based on some XYZ factors, the insurance company took up a different route. This is not the intention of the topic. Therefore E.

egmat · Answer

Hello Prashant10692 , I will be glad to help you out with this one.

The modifier having verb-ed/ having been verb-ed has a very specific usage. It is used express the first action out of the two actions done in the past. This modifier modifies an action by presenting another action performed by a noun entity. The action denoted by the having modifier presents the action done prior to the modified action denoted by the verb associated with the noun. For example: Having finished his breakfast , Joy went to play tennis. . In the above-mentioned sentence, the highlighted modifier modifies the following clause. The sentence means that Joy first finished his breakfast and then went to play tennis. Now let's see how this modifier has been used in Choice D: company's research, having been based on Clearly, this modifier has not been used correctly in the sentence. The modifier having been based on modifies the preceding noun the automobile company's research . Choice D seems to suggest that the first the research was based on something, and then something else was done with it. However, this after action is not mentioned in the sentence for the obvious reason that no such information is intended to be conveyed by the original sentence. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

abhimahna · Answer

Unlike X, Y --> Here X and Y must be ||.

Y : Research , so X must be research only. Hence, option A, B and C out.

Unlike the automobile  company, whose research was based on  crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver'a age, sex, and previous driving record.

(A)  company , whose research was based on
(B)  company , which researched
(C)  company , in its research of
(D) company's research,  having been based on -->  Awkward and weird.  
 (E) company's research on

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem: 
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the sentence is that the automobile company's research on crashes involving sport utility vehicles is unlike the research on crashes involving sport utility conducted by the insurance company in that the insurance company's research took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Comparisons

• Comparisons must always be made between similar things.

A:  This answer choice incorrectly compares "the automobile company" to "the research conducted by the insurance company"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.

B:  This answer choice incorrectly compares "the automobile company" to "the research conducted by the insurance company"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.

C:  This answer choice incorrectly compares "the automobile company" to "the research conducted by the insurance company"; remember, comparisons must always be made between similar things.

D:  The sentence formed by this answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "having been based on crashes involving sport utility vehicles"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the automobile company's research   on an unspecified topic   is unlike the research conducted by the insurance company in that the insurance company's research took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record   because   it was based on crashes involving sport utility; the intended meaning is that the automobile company's research   on crashes involving sport utility vehicles   is unlike the research on crashes involving sport utility conducted by the insurance company in that the insurance company's research took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

E:   Correct.  The sentence formed by this answer choice uses the phrase "research on crashes involving sport utility vehicles", conveying the intended meaning - that the automobile company's research   on crashes involving sport utility vehicles   is unlike the research on crashes involving sport utility conducted by the insurance company in that the insurance company's research took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record. Further, Option E correctly compares "the automobile company's research" with "the research conducted by the insurance company".

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

ashudhall · Answer

E, as in the sentence automobile company's research has been compared with the research conducted by insurance company.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

vityakim@gmail.com · Answer

Unlike the automobile company, whose research was based on crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver'a age, sex, and previous driving record.

(A) company, whose research was based on
(B) company, which researched
(C) company, in its research of
(D) company's research, having been based on
(E) company's research on

My 2 cents.
It is important to identify what this q is testing.

This q is testing comparison - whether we are comparing things correctly.
If you look at the not underlined part, you can see that subject after comma is research.
So, the underlined part's subject should be research.
Then you are left with D and E.
D is wrong as the verb's form is wrong.
E is correct.

Vezax27 · Answer

Isn't E completely changing the meaning of the sentence?

A / D) -> research based on crashes w/ spot vehicles (meaning the result was based on the subset of observations within those crashes)

E) -> research on crashes (meaning the crashes, not any other results were the focus of the sentence)

Clearly D is awkward, but shouldn't such a drastic change in meaning render option E) wrong?

gmatwarrior9117 · Answer

^ Same as above. I'm not sure why option E is correct, since I think "research based on xx" and "research on xx" have 2 different meanings.

"Research on xx" means you're researching xx subject, whereas research based on xx might mean you're researching on other topic, but using evidences from xx subject

yukidaruma · Answer

^^^^
I agree with  Vezax27  and  gmatwarrior9117 .

After seeing that A, B and C were comparing the wrong things, I had choice D and E left.
I just automatically saw "research on" and eliminated E, because I was taught that on the GMAT, the word "research" followed by a preposition is always incorrect. The second portion of choice D "having been based on" sounds awkward, but because it there was no preposition after "research" I ended up picking D.

Maybe I'm not understanding the use of "research" + preposition?

If anybody can shed some light on the usage of |research" + preposition, that would be great!

Prashant10692 · Answer

(D) company's research,  having been based on

What is wrong with the bold part except for awkwardness can anybody shed some light on this?

abhimahna · Answer

Hi  Prashant10692  ,

There is a very good explanation given  here .

Please let us know in case of any further queries.

egmat · Answer

Hello gmatwarrior9117 , I am not sure if you still have this doubt. Here is the explanation nonetheless.

This official sentence presents incorrect contrast between t he automobile company and the research . In order to maintain this incorrect contrast but to convey the intended meaning, the sentence uses the expression whose research was based on crashes . The expression actually means that the topic of the research was certain types of crashes. The expression does not mean that the company was doing some other research and used the results of these types crashes for its research. So there is no meaning change in the correct answer choice E. Because the correct answer presents correct contrast, the structure becomes precise. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Hello Everyone!

It looks like there have been some great discussions on this question already! Let's break things down even further to determine which option is the best one. Before we get started, here is the original question with the most important differences between each option highlighted in  orange :

Unlike the automobile  company, whose research was based on  crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

(A)  company,  whose research was based on
(B)  company,  which researched
(C)  company,  in its research of
(D)  company's research,  having been based on
(E)  company's research  on

After a quick glance over the question and 5 options, it's clear that this is an example of a  COMPARISON  sentence.  Whenever we see comparison questions on the GMAT, the first thing we should look at is parallelism!

This sentence uses the structure "Unlike X, Y..." to indicate this is a comparison. Both X and Y need to be parallel for this to be correct. Let's look at each sentence with the option added in to see how each answer stacks up:

(A) Unlike  the automobile company , whose research was based on crashes involving sport utility vehicles,  the research conducted  by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

This is  NOT PARALLEL  because it's trying to compare the automobile company to research, which are not parallel in nature.

(B) Unlike  the automobile company , which researched crashes involving sport utility vehicles,  the research conducted  by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

This is  NOT PARALLEL  for the same reason as option A: it's attempting to compare a company to research, which are two completely different things.

(C) Unlike  the automobile company , in its research of crashes involving sport utility vehicles,  the research conducted  by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

Again, this is  NOT PARALLEL  because it's trying to compare a company to research, which aren't parallel in kind.

(D) Unlike  the automobile company's research , having been based on crashes involving sport utility vehicles,  the research conducted by the insurance company  took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

This is  PARALLEL  because it is comparing two things of the same type: the automobile company's  research  and the insurance company's  research !

(E) Unlike  the automobile company's research  on crashes involving sport utility vehicles,  the research conducted by the insurance company  took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

This is  PARALLEL  because it is comparing two things of the same type: the automobile company's  research  and the insurance company's  research !

We can eliminate options A, B, and C because they don't use parallel structure to create a proper comparison!

Now that we're left with only options D & E, let's take a closer look to find which one is the better option:

(D) Unlike the automobile  company's research, having been based on  crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

This option is  INCORRECT  because it's overly wordy and slightly misleading. There is no reason to say "having been based on" when simply saying "on" means the same thing. It also subtly suggests that we should be comparing what both sets of research  are based on , rather than just saying that both studies are about sport utility vehicle crashes that cover different topics.

(E) Unlike the automobile  company's research on  crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

This option is  CORRECT  because it's clear and concise! It's clear that both studies are about sport utility vehicle crashes, but that they each cover different factors. It's also much easier to say "on" rather than "having been based on."

There you go - option E is the correct answer because it's clear, concise, and uses parallel structure to show a comparison!

Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

BijayKru · Answer

Unlike the automobile company, whose research was based on crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

(A) company, whose research was based on
(B) company, which researched
(C) company, in its research of
(D) company's research, having been based on
(E) company's research on

By looking at the question we can see two things clearly : research of/on: Correct is you do research on something. 
So: C out.
D. having been not acceptable in GMAT.
A. not parallel, same for B.

avigutman · Answer

Video solution from Quant Reasoning starts at 00:50:41 Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/QuantReasoning? ... irmation=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MmFniFGem4

saby1410 · Answer

AjiteshArun 
in option c 
in it's research modifying the automobile company or the main clause ‘the research conducted by the insurance company took…’,

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  saby1410 ,

You're right. That modifier is ambiguous, as we can't be sure what  in its research of  points to. It could refer either to  the automobile  company   or to  the  research  conducted by the insurance company .

naveeng15 · Answer

Unlike the automobile company, whose research was based on crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver'a age, sex, and previous driving record.

(A) company, whose research was based on
(B) company, which researched
(C) company, in its research of
(D) company's research, having been based on
(E) company's research on

My 2 cents.
It is important to identify what this q is testing.

This q is testing comparison - whether we are comparing things correctly.
If you look at the not underlined part, you can see that subject after comma is research.
So, the underlined part's subject should be research.
Then you are left with D and E.
D is wrong as the verb's form is wrong.
E is correct.

nisthagupta28 · Answer

Unlike the automobile company, whose research was based on crashes involving sport utility vehicles, the research conducted by the insurance company took into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

Unlike (used for noun) the automobile company, 
 - whose (modifying co.) research was based on crashes involving sport utility vehicles, 
the research (sub) conducted (ed-mod.) by the insurance company took (verb) into account such factors as a driver's age, sex, and previous driving record.

error - AC is compared to research

(B) company, which researched
which also modifies company. same as A

(C) company, in its research of
incorrect comparison

(D) company's research, having been based on
having been implies sequence. eg - having been scolded, I decided to leave.

(E) company's research on
correct- research to research

Unlike the automobile company, whose research was based on crashes

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Unlike the automobile company, whose research was based on crashes

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