In an effort to shorten the time span and cut the costs needed to rais

Question

In an effort to shorten the time span and cut the costs needed to raise full-size beef stock, many ranchers substitute cornmeal and ground bones  for their cattle’s regular diet, branded by them  to become generic-grade beef.

(A) for their cattle’s regular diet, branded by them

(B) for the regular diet of their cattle that have been branded

(C) for the regular diet of their cattle, having been branded

(D) in place of their cattle’s regular diet, for those of them branded

(E) in place of the regular diet of their cattle to have been branded by them

ChrisLele · Accepted Answer

I have an issue with this question. While we can clearly eliminate (D) and (E) because they violate the idiom 'substitute for', (B) is not technically correct. In American English, the use of 'which' as a relative pronoun modifying a preceding noun must always be preceded by a comma, as in 'noun, which.' Here there is no comma before the 'which.' My theory, which could be totally off, is that the person who wrote this was following British English, which does not require a comma before the 'which.' Perhaps a more likely explanation, if I invoke Ockham's razor, is that the person simply forgot to put the comma before 'which' when they entered this question into the thread.

Either way, we need a comma before 'which' for this to be a valid question.

Hope that helps

.

ConnectTheDots · Answer

@ChrisLele

I do not think there is any difference in usage of "Which" in American and British style.
And the option is completely fine.

1. If "Which" is used for a restrictive clause, we don't need any comma. i.e. qualifies the noun
2. If "Which" is used for a non-restrictive clause, we need a comma. i.e. provides additional information about the noun

Cattle which have been branded -> This means: Of all, the ones which are branded, excluding the non-branded ones
Cattle, which have been branded -> This means: All the individuals in the group are branded, there are none non-branded

@ HeyGMAT: 
Cattle is not a collective noun, It is a plural noun.
For collection we use: Herd of Cattle, Drove of Cattle etc.

When we refer to individual of a collective noun we use singular verb. 
The Jury were in his favor -> Entire group was in favor
The Jury was divided in opinion. -> Individuals

Though, here you might observe differences in British and American English. 
The British use the plural form and the Americans use the singular, in all cases.

ConnectTheDots · Answer

"Which" referes to immediately preceding noun. Here Cattle.

a. Diet is not branded
b. Fine
c. Changes meaning: necessary for cattles to be branded first, for following the diet
d. Substitute+for , for those of them incorrect pronoun reference
e. Substitute+for , in place -redundant, wordy and imprecise.

20 seconds. Is this really a 700 level ??

heygmat · Answer

i like the explanation

here another thing needs to be noted down
 that cattle VS have DOES NOT agree

so this should be CATTLE HAS....BCZ it's a collective noun.

Dmitriy · Answer

As I know, "WHICH" is not used in a restrictive clause and must be replaced by "THAT". Therefore, a comma is needed or "which" must be changed on "that".

ramannanda9 · Answer

No this conception is incorrect which can be used for restrictive clauses as in the scenario mentioned

anje29 · Answer

The answer would have been correct only if there would be comma before which

b) for the regular diet of their cattle  ,  which have been branded

Therefore poorly typed question

Bunuel · Answer

MANHATTAN REVIEW OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Choices A, C and E are ambiguous as it is not clear who or what has been branded. D is wordy and the phrase ‘for those of them branded’ is not idiomatically correct in this sentence. Choice B is the correct answer.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

In an effort to shorten the time span and cut the costs needed to rais

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

In an effort to shorten the time span and cut the costs needed to rais

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards