V01-23

Question

The announced relocation of the hospital has been welcome news for the  city, where economic growth has been stagnant  for the past several years.

A. city, where economic growth has been stagnant
B. city whose economic growth has been stagnant
C. city where economic growth has been stagnated
D. city, whose economic growth as been stagnated
E. city, the site of stagnated economic growth

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

The announced relocation of the hospital has been welcome news for the  city, where economic growth has been stagnant  for the past several years.

A. city, where economic growth has been stagnant
B. city whose economic growth has been stagnant
C. city where economic growth has been stagnated
D. city, whose economic growth as been stagnated
E. city, the site of stagnated economic growth

The proper use of the words  where  and  whose  is being tested in this sentence.  Whose  refers to a being capable of making a decision, whereas  where  refers to a place. The sentence is also testing the correct use of a comma to join a subordinate clause to an independent clause.   The sentence correctly uses the word  where  to modify  city , and also properly joins a subordinate clause to an independent clause using a comma. 
 This option lacks a comma and creates a run-on sentence; it also misuses the word  whose . 
 A comma is missing in this sentence, and a run-on sentence has been created. 
 This option misuses the word  whose  to modify  city . 
 The phrase  the site of stagnated economic growth  is wordy and confusing.

Answer: A

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

I feel city is metaphorical location and where is not preferred. 
Also OE says that whose is not correct here. 
can someone explain?

dspiniak · Answer

I think this is a  poor-quality  question and the explanation isn't clear enough, please elaborate. The explanation for the B answer incorrectly states that whose is only for beings capable of making decisions. Whose can be used for both people and things.

souvik101990 · Answer

Hi

What do you mean by a "metaphorical location"?

I am going to go ahead and post Stacy's thoughts on this one which makes the confusion between whose and where clearer.

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

I felt since city did not specify any particular place whose presence has been assumed, it may be metaphorical place according below info from MGMAT SC book. Thanks for the explanation.

VikashAlex · Answer

Hi,

'Whose' is used for possessive i.e one owns the thing. City can not own things. 
Let me explain this for giving two simple examples:
1) The city, where the roads are smooth, is awesome.
2) The city, whose roads are smooth, is awesome.
The second means that 'city has its own road' , but this is not the case. The road is under that city. City does not own the road or building or economic growth.
Hence using whose in option B and D are out. Option E is fragment plus other errors. C is out because original meaning does not constraint/conditioned the city, but rather provided the extra information.  Hence correct option is A.

jamesav · Answer

Hi, 
with ref. to your explanation, is the following sentence correct?
1. The company whose economic growth has been stagnant

Here the company can have economic growth.

Mascarfi · Answer

jamesav

I think in this case you would have something like:

The company, which economic growth has been stagnant, is going bakrupt.

"Whose" is generally used with people, although exceptions may apply.

srkatikala · Answer

According to MGMAT SC book (Fifth edition Pg 87) "Surprisingly, the pronoun whose can modify people or things. Eg: the town whose water supply was contaminated". I doubt there is anything wrong with option B.

swanidhi · Answer

I think this is a  high-quality  question and I don't agree with the explanation. I agree that A is the correct answer for the reasons mentioned. But C is not wrong because its a run on sentence. Run on sentences are NV-NV separated by a comma, and need a conjunction to fix the problem. 
Here, however, 'where' is adjacent to 'city' and modifies it correctly. Both A and C seem correct on these grounds. Just that C has the word 'stagnated', which is incorrect.

sahilmalhotra01 · Answer

Hi

I have gone through the explanation and the above posts, but i still feel that B is the correct answer. Here is my reasoning for the same.

Original Sentence

The announced relocation of the hospital has been welcome news for the city, where economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years.

if the above sentence is slightly modified as below:

The hospital has been relocated to the city, where economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years.

In the above sentence the city is aptly functioning as a location, where is correct to refer to the location.

Substituting the original sentence with option choice B

The announced relocation of the hospital has been welcome news for the city whose economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years.

I don't think so that city is functioning as a location in the above sentence. "whose economic growth has been stagnant for the past several years" is a relative pronoun modifier and correctly modifies the city.

I agree with the above post by Nevernevergiveup
  
"I felt since city did not specify any particular place whose presence has been assumed, it may be metaphorical place according below info from MGMAT SC book.

Quote:
The pronoun where can be used to modify a noun place, such as area, site, country or Nevada. Where cannot modify a “metaphorical” place, such as condition, situation, case, circumstances, or arrangement.
In these cases, use in which rather than where.
Wrong: We had an arrangement WHERE he cooked and I cleaned.
Right: We had an arrangement IN WHICH he cooked and I cleaned.
"

egmat , Experts kindly clarify.

Thanks 
Sahil

sayantanc2k · Answer

We are withdrawing this question from the question bank for a revision.

V01-23

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