Unlike amateur clammers, who usually dig clams by hand

Question

Unlike amateur clammers, who usually dig clams by hand during the summer, professional clammers  work year-round, using all-weather instruments such as the hydraulic dredge or a 20-foot-long implement known as a bull rake .

(A) work year-round, using all-weather instruments such as the hydraulic dredge or a 20-foot-long implement known as a bull rake

(B) work year-round by using all-weather instruments like hydraulic dredge or 20-foot-long implements known as a bull rake

(C) working year-round and using such all-weather instruments as a hydraulic dredge or a 20-foot-long implement known as a bull rake

(D) working year-round use all-weather instruments like hydraulic dredges or 20-foot-long implements known as a bull rake

(E) work year-round using all-weather instruments, for example, a hydraulic dredge or 20-foot-long implements known as bull rakes

GMATPrep Code  :  VSC003211

Zarrolou · Accepted Answer

Unlike amateur clammers, who usually dig clams by hand during the summer, professional clammers  work year-round, using all-weather instruments such as the hydraulic dredge or a 20-foot-long implement known as a bull rake

First split: work VS working. "  Work  " is a verb, "  working  " is a modifier. Consider C and D:

C.    working    year-round and   using   all-weather instruments such as a hydraulic dredge or a 20-foot-long implement known as a bull rake
This sentence has no verb. Cannot be right
D.   working   year-round use all-weather instruments like hydraulic dredges or 20-foot-long implements known as a bull rake
This sentence has a structure issue. The overall sentence is not clear : "Unlike amateur clammers, who usually dig during the summer professional clammers use all-weather instruments ". Moreover "like" should be replaced by "such as", as we want to give examples

We are left with A B and E:

A. work year-round,   using   all-weather instruments such as the hydraulic dredge or a 20-foot-long implement known as a bull rake
B. work year-round by   using   all-weather instruments like hydraulic dredge or 20-foot-long implements known as a bull rake
E. work year-round   using   all-weather instruments, for example, a hydraulic dredge or 20-foot-long implements known as a bull rake

All those use work correctly. But they differ in the usage of " using ". What is the sentence trying to express?
The structure should be "they work,   HOW   they work", the construct  COMMA + ING  expresses this idea correctly.
In E " using " is used without the comma and modifes the preceding noun, does not express how they work.

BTW, there are also other reasons to pick A over B and E ( implement  VS  implements  for example or  such as  VS  like )

vishnuns39620 · Answer

IMHO, the answer should be option A - Options D & E can be eliminated rightaway because of the incorrect plural noun (20 foot long implements such as bull rake - correct version should be'bull rakes') . Option C is out because its wierd, it does not conclude the statement and seems to end abrubtly. Between A & B, its clearer in option A. Option B seems to imply that they need those instruments to work all-year round (changing the meaning..). So thats it! Option A. Hope it helps!

vs007 · Answer

I think it's "A". It should be in simple present tense.

honchos · Answer

C and D are out because working is not a verb. The correct verb form is work(Plural).

Among A B and C, such as is the best to compare example and is better than 'like' and 'for example'.

Participial Phrase is correctly used with a comma, modifying the preceding clause.  A  is direct, sleek idiomatically correct and therefore the best answer choice.

vietmoi999 · Answer

what is the difference between "by doing " and "comma doing" when they follow the main clause, pls, explain

honchos · Answer

Verb+ing(example: being, having, using) modifier with comma modifies preceding clause and without comma modifies preceding noun.

bjh · Answer

in
but in E, there is no noun preceed "using( without comma)". what does it modify in this case?

mbaapplicant2019 · Answer

Hi all,

I am not clear about the difference between "comma + Ving" and "by Ving". Why, in this case, "comma + Ving" is better than "by Ving". How does "by Ving" distort the meaning of this sentence.

Anyone can help. Thanks.

aim730 · Answer

Hi thingocanhnguyen

work year-round using all-weather instruments - using without comma modifies the previous noun which is year-round
work year-round, using all-weather instruments - where as (,+ Ving ) modifies the previous clause which is how the work was done it was done using all the weather instruments.

mbaapplicant2019 · Answer

Hi aim730,

Thanks for your explanation. However, my question is: there is any difference in meaning or grammatically structure between "work year-round by using all-weather instruments..." and "working year-round, using all-weather instruments..."

Thanks.

egmat · Answer

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

The comma + verb-ing modifier placed after a clause modifies the preceding action in the preceding clause. In modifying the preceding action, the comma _ verb-ing modifier performs one of the two functions: 1. It presents the HOW aspect of the modified clause. For example: Paul dug the hole, using a spade. How did Paul dig the hole? By using a spade. 2. It presents the RESULT of the modified action. For example: Paul invested wisely in the stock market, earning huge profits. The sentence says that because Paul invested wisely in the stock market, he earned huge profits as a result. Now let's talk about the official sentence at hand. In this sentence, the context makes it very clear that comma + verb-ing modifier using... presents the HOW aspect of the modified action work . How do the professional clammers work year-round? They do so by using all-weather instrument. So yes, we can use both the expressions - comma + using... and by using..., to present the HOW aspect of the action work . However, option B suffers from other flaws. It is not incorrect for the usage of by using .... To learn more about the correct usage of comma + verb-ing and the verb-ing modifiers (not preceded by a comma), please click on the following link: https://e-gmat.com/secure/mod/lti/view.php?id=3709 To access the link, you just need to log on to e-gmat.com and register free of cost. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

duybachhpvn · Answer

Hi  generis

I would like to ask for option D in this question, if we consider just the part "professional clammers working year-round use all-weather instruments.....". Is this a correct structure?

From my opinion, "working" is modifying clammers and that part can be rewritten as "professional clammers who work year-round use all-weather instruments...". Is this an acceptable grammar?

Thanks

generis · Answer

duybachhpvn  , as usual, you ask an interesting question.

Yes, if we isolate the part you describe, you are correct that  working = who work 
Jargon: what you describe is a reduced relative clause.*

I see two issues with (D)'s verb.
(1) AS IS: there is probably a parallelism problem.  Unlike X, Y.  
What makes X (amateur clammers) and Y (professional clammers) different? Answer A:
Amateurs . . . dig  by hand  during the summer. 
Professionals  work   year-round .

Compare A to D:
Amateurs . . .  dig  by hand during the summer 
Professionals  working  year-round use (?)

(2)  Meaning problems.  
We have these phrases:
. . . professional clammers working year-round use ABC, or 
 hypothetically . . . professional clammers   year-round use ABC

The description of professional clammers is not as clear as the description of them in (A).
Oddly enough, that haziness comes from the explicit or implied relative pronoun  who  
that modifies  professional clammers.

If option D is inserted, the sentence implies that not all professional clammers work year-round,
but that those professional clammers who  do  work year-round use certain kinds of tools to do so.

I hope that helps.

*As you note, we can "reduce"  professional clammers who work:  
-- remove the who 
-- change the verb to the present participle (change  work  to  working )
-- and place the participle "working" in front of the modified noun  clammers .
We can reverse the process, too; we can change "clammers working" to "clammers who work."

rnn · Answer

Hi

Why is "by using" in option B incorrect? COuld you kindly share other examples of the same please? Thank you

sssanskaar · Answer

Hi  egmat  Shraddha,

In your example, " Paul dug a hole, using a spade " - what if there were no comma before "using" ?

Paul dug a hole using a spade.

In this case, do we infer that a hole was using a spade? (because -ing verb is before the noun 'hole')

Please clear the confusion.

ah1028 · Answer

Hi my question on this one is on option E. I understand why B, C , and D are all incorrect.

E -   "work year-round using all-weather instruments,  for example , a hydraulic dredge or 20-foot-long implements known as bull rakes"

Is option E incorrect because the way "for example" is used in the sentence is grammatically incorrect? "For example" means by way of illustration / for instance and is used to introduce and emphasize something that shows that something is true - meaning you wouldn't use it to introduce a list? So substituting "such as" for "for example" could make E a grammatically correct option?

AbhishekDhanraJ72 · Answer

What is wrong with E? How are we supposed to know we can't use bull rakes as singular. Or even implements as singular word.

Posted from my mobile device

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  AbhishekDhanraJ72 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the phrase "the hydraulic dredge or a 20-foot-long implement", used in Option A, is more parallel than "a hydraulic dredge or 20-foot-long implements", used in Option E, as the former has two singular nouns on either side of the conjunction ("or" in this case), while the latter has one singular noun and one plural noun.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

jim441 · Answer

In option B, what if there was "such as" instead of "like"??
would it be correct?

Unlike amateur clammers, who usually dig clams by hand

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Unlike amateur clammers, who usually dig clams by hand

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