An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of

Question

An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting  test results.

A) An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting

B) An educational curriculum originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats makes inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S. to boost

C) An educational curriculum originally catering to the children of globe-trotting diplomats and making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S. to boost

D) An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats is making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting

E) Originally catering to the children of globe-trotting diplomats, public schools across US are using the educational curriculum to boost

Found a similar sentence in WSJ: An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats is making rapid inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting test results and academic readiness even at inner-city schools.

Source: e-gmat

generis · Answer

pineapple123456  (great username), as far as I know, the WSJ does not publish GMAT questions.
I researched a bit to confirm. I see no such question anywhere in the WSJ.
We need to know the source of material in part because we need to abide by copyright issues.
In other words, from what source did this question come?

Major concepts tested
• complete sentences vs. fragments (verbs)
• meaning
• modifiers

Strip this sentence. Dump the excess, create variable names, and use brackets with question marks around questionable parts of the sentence

An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting  test results.

An educational curriculum that originally catered to Cs of Ds   inroads in schools across the U.S.,   test results.

The most likely logical meaning of this sentence is: 
An educational curriculum originally designed for students outside the United States is making inroads   across the U.S.; as a result of having made inroads  , the curriculum is boosting test scores.

Split #1: Complete sentences vs. fragments

Find the subject. Find the working verb. 
Participles   are not working verbs.

Option A states: An educational curriculum  that  . . . catered to Cs of Ds . . . makING inroads, boostING test results
-- The subject, educational curriculum, has no verb
-- the verb "catered" in the THAT clause does not act as the working verb for the subject because the that-clause is an essential modifier
of the subject and the modifying clause MUST contain its own verb
-- Try writing just the first part
 An educational curriculum that catered to Cs of Ds.  
That sentence is a fragment.
Does the rest of the sentence cure the error? We need a working verb
 An EC that catered to Cs of Ds . . . making . . . boosting 
No. Option A is incomplete (is a fragment).

Option C states: An educational curriculum originally  catering  to Cs of Ds and  making  inroads in schools  to boost  test scores
The subject, curriculum, has no working verb.
Rather, we have 
 verbING and verbING + infinitive. None of those is a verb with a tense. 
Shorten it further. 
 An EC catering to Cs of Ds . . . making . . . to boost   
Option C is a fragment.

Eliminate options A and C

Split #2: Meaning: Choose the most sensible

Option B states: An EC originally catered to Cs of Ds makes inroads . . . to boost test scores.
 Be very careful about rejecting infinitives. 
In this case it is correct to eliminate based on "infinitive of purpose."

Infinitives can (1) suggest intent or purpose and 
(2) describe a result (not consciously intended, especially by inanimate objects)
Example of infinitive use #2,  absolutely correct :  Gale force winds and unseasonable rainstorms combined to create a massive hurricane.

And now that I have qualified rejection of infinitives, 
reject B because the spreading did not occur IN ORDER TO boost test results.
Boosting of test scores was the result of the spreading of the curriculum.
 
  Split #3 - modifiers

Option E states: Originally catering to Cs of Ds, public schools . . . are using the curriculum to boost test scores.
Public schools did not cater originally to Cs of Ds.
Modifier error. 
 Originally catering  should modify  curriculum .
A participial modifier (a verbING) that precedes the main subject MUST refer to the subject of the next phrase or clause.

D) An educational  curriculum  that originally catered to Cs of Ds  is making  inroads in schools across the U.S. , boosting  test scores.
That's correct.
The subject,  curriculum , has a verb,  is making . The participial modifier (the comma + verbING)  boosting  correctly modifies the previous clause.
Participial modifiers often are used to express the result of a previous clause.

Answer D is correct.

adkikani · Answer

generis   aragonn   VeritasKarishma   AjiteshArun

Can I eliminate (B) on below grounds:
I need conjunction AND to connect two main verbs in a sentence.
E.g. I jog and play in evening.  correct  
I jog play in evening.  incorrect

I can not have two main verbs  catered  and  makes  without AND in (B)

AjiteshArun · Answer

I think that's a valid reason to remove B

hiranmay · Answer

An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting  test results.

A) An educational curriculum  that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats  making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting --> no main verb

B) An educational curriculum  originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats  makes inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S.  to boost  --> "boosting" is the results of " the curriculum making inroad", not the purpose, so "to boost" is wrong

C) An educational curriculum  originally catering to the children of globe-trotting diplomats  and making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S. to boost --> no main verb

D) An educational curriculum  that originally catered to the children of globe-trotting diplomats  is making inroads in K-12 public schools across the U.S., boosting -->  correct

E) Originally catering to the children of globe-trotting diplomats,  public schools  across US are using the educational curriculum to boost --> "catering" should modify the "educational curriculum", not "public schools"

VerbalBot · Answer

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An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of

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An educational curriculum that originally catered to the children of

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