In general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parki

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

In general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parking lots  is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence  drivers' behavior in those surroundings.

A) is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence

B) are overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions are heavily influencing

C) are overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence

D) is overseen by traffic engineers, which heavily influences

E) is overseen by traffic engineers, of whom the decisions heavily influence

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

THE PROMPT

The trap: a buried subject.
What is overseen by the engineers?

The design. 
The words "parking lots" come right before the verb, but the noun  parking lots  is not the subject.
 The design  is the subject.

THE OPTIONS  
 
• I see no error

• singular  design  does not match plural verb  are  
•  are heavily influencing  is not the right verb tense. 
-- The _ING part suggests that something is still unfolding or still continuing. We are not talking about influence that is currently in progress (i.e., right this moment). 
-- the sentence describes a general truth ("In general) about the design of automotive spaces. We use simple present tense to talk about general statements that are not situated in any particular 
time frame.
-- Correct:  is overseen,  and  influence 
Eliminate B

• singular subject  design  does not match plural verb  are 
Eliminate C
 
•  which  is missing a referent: it cannot refer to a whole clause, and no noun matches that  which 
•  Which  needs a  noun . A stated noun.
• in other words,  which  refers to  the fact that  the design of automotive spaces is overseen by engineers—but the words  the fact that  do not show up
Eliminate D
 
• Wow. This sentence is horrible.
•  of whom the decisions heavily influence is  is awkward and strange—it almost sounds as though the engineers' decisions heavily influence the engineers
•  whose  rather than  of whom  should be used to indicate possession
Eliminate E

The correct answer is A

COMMENTS

tyildirim92  , I like the detail that you included!

If you explained, you get kudos. If you asserted, you get a smiley face.
Could an aspirant read your solution and be able to replicate your work herself?
If so, she has an explanation.
If not, she has an answer but no idea how to get to that answer.

Be safe.

dushyantkanal · Answer

Simple subject is, "design of automotive  spaces ", which is plural, straight away removing all options starting with 'is'

A) is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence - Incorrect

B) are overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions are heavily influencing - Incorrect Tense with 'are heavily influencing' - Incorrect

C) are overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence - Fixes the 'is' to 'are' and uses the correct tense in 'whose decisions heavily influence' - CORRECT ANSWER

D) is overseen by traffic engineers, which heavily influences - Incorrect

E) is overseen by traffic engineers, of whom the decisions heavily influence - Incorrect

NeverEverGiveUp11 · Answer

In general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parking lots  is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence  drivers' behavior in those surroundings.

Here subject is singular, the design. Hence, singular verb, IS.

A) is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence
: Correct use of verb and whose refer to engineers.
Hence, the answer.

B) are overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions are heavily influencing
:S-V agreement error.

C) are overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence
: S-V agreement error.

D) is overseen by traffic engineers, which heavily influences
: Which cannot be used to refer to people.

E) is overseen by traffic engineers, of whom the decisions heavily influence
:Of whom construction is incorrect here

Posted from my mobile device

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

In general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parking lots  is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence  drivers' behavior in those surroundings.

The singular subject ''design'' cannot be matched with plural verb. Since (B) and (C) matches the singular subject with the plural verb ''are'', we can   eliminate (B) and (C) . 
 
A) is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence - has no error. hence,    (A) is the right answer choice.  
   
D) is overseen by traffic engineers, which heavily influences  -  we cannot use ''that'' or ''which'' to refer to people
  
E) is overseen by traffic engineers, of whom the decisions heavily influence  -  (E) implies that the ''decisions'' are a part of the category of ''engineers''. It does not make sense to claim that a non human characteristic is a member of a human group.

Kritisood · Answer

the design of is singular hence B and C out.
whose correctly modifies engineers in A
in D, which cant be used for traffic engineers (people) and influenceS is SV error
in E, of whom the decisions heavily influence completely wrong meaning.

Hence, A.

monk123 · Answer

In general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parking lots is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence drivers' behavior in those surroundings.

POE:
Stop sign - 'is', check for subject.
Eliminate (B) & (C) - the singular subject 'design' requires a singular verb 'is'
Hold (A), seems good.
Eliminate (D) & (E)- 'which' & 'of whom' are referring to engineers.
 
A) is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence -   CORRECT

B)  are  overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions are heavily influencing

C)  are  overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence

D) is overseen by traffic engineers,  which  heavily influences

E) is overseen by traffic engineers,  of whom  the decisions heavily influence

vipulshahi · Answer

In general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parking lots  is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence  drivers' behavior in those surroundings.

Lets analyze each & every part of the sentence.

* Subject Verb Agreement   
- Singular subject has singular verb. Correct

* Tense Form   
- present tense conveys intended meaning.Correct

* If-then condition  - not used

* Subjunctive Verb  - not used

* Pronoun   
- pronoun has logical antecedent. Correct.

* Modifier   
- modifier modifies "traffic engineers". Correct.

* Parallelism   "and"  parking lots ]
- parallelism marker "and" logically connects " highways" & "parking lots"

* Comparison  - not used

* Idioms   "such as"  highways and parking lots]
- "such as" used for examples and it used logically . Correct

While analyzing the whole sentence,   no error   identified.

A) is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence
 
- no error is identified.

- Correct.

B)   are   overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions are heavily influencing
 
- Subject verb agreement error.

- Incorrect
 
C)   are   overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence
 
- Subject verb agreement error.

- Incorrect

D) is overseen by traffic engineers,   which   heavily influences
 
- relative pronoun error; "which" should not used for living things.

- Incorrect

E) is overseen by traffic engineers,   of whom   the decisions heavily influence
 
- usage of " of whom" changed the meaning of the sentence.

- Incorrect 
 
 IMO(A)

tyildirim92 · Answer

This question reminded me of the time when I was dealing with a road design project.**

In general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parking lots  is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence  drivers' behavior in those surroundings.

A) is overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence  // nothing sounds imperfect here. let's move to option B

B) are overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions are heavily influencing  // a subject and a verb disagree. the design  is.   are  Moreover, I do not see a reason to use present continuous tense here. a present tense, which implies a general fact, is a much better alternative.

C) are overseen by traffic engineers, whose decisions heavily influence  // a subject and a verb disagree. the design  is.   are

D) is overseen by traffic engineers, which heavily influences  // well, the traffic engineers are obviously not animals or inanimate subjects, right? so, the use of "which" is a kind of insult here.

E) is overseen by traffic engineers, of whom the decisions heavily influence  // wow, this option is grammatically correct and conveys the intended meaning. but guess what? Option A is more concise, and thus elegant.

**traffic engineering is a sub-field of civil engineering. To be honest, we used to follow ASTM standards, which thoroughly take the driver's behavior into consideration. The situation was quite the opposite, the driver's behavior shapes the decisions of the traffic engineers.

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here

In general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parki

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 general, the design of automotive spaces such as highways and parki

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