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13 Jul 2021, 22:08
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C
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
65%
(hard)
Question Stats:
52% (02:02) correct
48%
(02:00)
wrong
based on 510
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically being that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
A) An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically being that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
B) A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
C) That there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
D) An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age, that is difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically, is there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods
E) Difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically, that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods, is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
13 Jul 2021, 22:10
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
THE PROMPT
What was this effect?
Presumably, cold temperatures during an ice age froze water, built up glaciers and drained oceans.
The result was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land.
THE OPTIONS
→ being is not a verb. The subject of the main clause, an effect, is not paired with any working verb. The sentence is a fragment.
ELIMINATE A
→ Either (1) eliminate the is after but, or (2) add that is after Ice Age to fix the strange "is" that seems to come from nowhere.
#1, Correct but somewhat abrupt: A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land ... is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
-- in that sentence, the words difficult and predictable are adjectives that derive from reduced relative clauses.** (see footnote below)
#2, Correct, better diction than #1, and creates sensible context for the repeated IS:
A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land ... is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
We need one structure or the other, but we have neither.
That is, the is after but requires a preceding that is to create a sensible descriptor that comports with good diction. Alternatively, the word is after but could be eliminated.
As it stands, this sentence is strange, confusing, and messy.
ELIMINATE B
• Correct. Although starting sentences with the word that is fairly rare, doing so is correct.
→ In this context and others, that = "the fact that."
→ For an official question [SPOILER ALERT!] in which a that-clause leads off the sentence, click on this link, here.
• That can refer to a fairly distant noun.
→ Let's reframe this Modifier Touch Rule. Let's call it a guideline.
→ Some of you have been taught that which and that always modify the immediately preceding noun and/or that those words can never be somewhat distant from their noun.
Wrong.
→ that refers to effect, not to Ice Age.
The construction is perfectly acceptable.
Why? Because two essential modifiers cannot both be placed right next to the noun.
We have two essential modifiers of the noun "effect":
(1) of the Pleistocene Ice Age, and
(2) that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
One of those modifiers must be placed before the other.
Prepositional modifiers cannot be placed anywhere else. (The prepositional modifier starts with of the.)
So two modifiers are placed one after the other. The that modifier follows the prepositional modifier.
See Notes, below, for official examples in which that does not modify the immediately preceding noun and in which that is a bit distant from its noun.
• The sentence, rewritten:
An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it [the effect] logically is [the fact] that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
In the logical context of the sentence, the that clause refers to effect.
It is not the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually. (It is impossible to observe that ice age.)
That refers to effect. The effect under discussion is a massive transfer of water from oceans to land.
This sentence is fine.
KEEP
→ As of 2021, that and which are not interchangeable on the GMAT.
This situation may change. For now, the distinction holds. See the footnote for more information.**
→ Be careful. In British English, which and that are interchangeable.
In particular, in B.E., the word which can be used to introduce essential information and need not be flanked by commas—not so in SWE and not so on the GMAT.
In SWE and on the GMAT
→ which is a nonessential modifier that introduces dispensable information and is set off by commas
→ that is an essential modifier that introduces indispensable information and is not set off by commas
• the subject complement (the thing on the other side of the linking verb is) should be an adjective; a noun, noun clause, or noun-like clause; or an adverb of time, location, or direction. See footnote for more on subject complements.**
The subject complement is the clause there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
→ there was a massive transfer is not an adjective, noun, or special adverb and cannot function as the subject complement of an effect
→ [i]that there was a massive transfer of water from ocean to land[/i] is a noun clause (also known as a substantive clause, which you can read about by clicking here) and thus can function properly as a subject complement.
ELIMINATE D
→ Difficult to observe . . . is really a description of "an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age."
We could argue that "that there was a massive transfer of water" IS the effect.
At best, the construction is confusing.
→ The modifier issue is a tough call.
• do not unnecessarily place a comma between a subject and its verb
→ remove the comma after periods, because the subject [the fact] that there was a massive transfer of water should not be separated from its verb, is, by a comma.
→ If we inverted the sentence, we would not place a comma between subject and verb.
→ Inverted sentence with a comma, wrong: An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age IS , [the fact] that there was a massive transfer of water.
Do not separate the subject from its verb.
Compare. This sentence is not as good as option C.
ELIMINATE E
The correct answer is C.
NOTES
• Can THAT refer to a faraway noun? Absolutely.
Some of you are taught that there are no exceptions to the Modifier Touch Rule.
The latter is not a rule in the way that, say, subject/verb agreement is a rule.
The latter is a guideline.
This guideline states that a modifier should be as close as possible to the noun that it modifies.
I have no idea how that guideline turned into a rigid insistence that words such as which and that, or participle adjectives, must modify the immediately preceding word. That belief is inaccurate.
Yes, for the most part, the closer noun modifiers are to their nouns, the better.
Not always.
PyjamaScientist , I hope that others' explanations, this explanation, and the examples I provide put your question to rest.
I am sure that quite a few other people had the same question.
Let's hope that everyone who needs to do so reads the material.
→ THAT - can modify a noun without being right next to that noun
Both that and which and other kinds of noun modifiers can modify the head noun in a noun phrase such as effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
In case you do not wish to view official questions in which that modifies a slightly faraway noun, the first example is my own.
(1) The underground corridor system at Harvard Law School that was built to protect students from bitter winter cold routinely confounded my sense of direction; during my first year, I finally just stayed close to section mates who knew where our next class was located.
That refers to an underground corridor system. This much I promise: Harvard Law School was not built to protect students from bitter winter cold.
Again, we have two essential modifiers.
At which law school are the underground corridors?
Stanford Law and Yale Law do not have a system of underground corridors through which students can get from class to class in different buildings without having to go outside.
(Well, at least not any that I saw when I visited those schools.)
In other words, those corridors are at Harvard Law School. (And yes, I got lost constantly.)
Why were and are students running around beneath the buildings of a law school in corridors?
What is distinctive about this system of corridors?
Answer: The system of corridors was built to protect students from brutally cold New England winters.
That refers to to a slightly distant noun.
(2) You can read an official question example in which that modifies a slightly faraway noun if you click here.
That question was published in every official guide from 2011 to 2020.
(3) Another official question example in which that is ten words away from its noun can be found by clicking here.
(This question was in the Official Guide Diagnostic test from 2012 to 2020.)
Numbers 2 and 3 are but two examples that I found by flipping through one OG.
I remembered keywords and knew what I was looking for.
Long prepositional or adjectival phrases "bump" the words that and which farther toward the end of the sentence, but the latter two modifiers are still allowed to modify their nouns.
• Thoughts on tone in a couple of posts
I understand that SC can be frustrating.
Language is not math.
But language is learnable.
Start reading U.S. based high end journals and newspapers. Read fiction.
Read every single day for at least 20 minutes. That suggestion applies to native speakers, too.
If you have more time, read for a longer period of time. Read in two 20- or 30-minute stretches.
Wanna beat this test? Channel some of your energy into reading.
Find a way to get engaged.
Kvetching is not going to beat this test.
Arguing with the correct answer is not going to help you beat this test.
And I want all of you to beat this test.
COMMENTS
To all who helped and engaged constructively on the thread: thank you.
Kudos to those who posted correct answers or who helped.
**
Option B, adjectives derived from reduced relative clauses.
From above, this sentence is
#1, correct but somewhat abrupt: A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land ... is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
→ in that sentence, the words difficult and predictable are adjectives that derive from "reduced relative clauses."
In this sentence, the original relative clauses are intact: A massive transfer of water . . . is an effect . . . THAT IS DIFFICULT to observe visually but THAT IS quite PREDICTABLE if one thinks about it logically.
To reduce this kind of relative clause,
(1) remove the relative pronoun (that),
(2) remove the to be verb (is), and
(3) keep the adjective.
→ Again, the sentence now contains "reduced relative clauses": A massive transfer of water . . . is an event difficult to observe but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
THAT/WHICH
Some experts believe that GMAC no longer maintains a distinction between which and that.
GMAC may well be relaxing its rules about this distinction, but GMAC has not abandoned it.
In Official Guides from 2020, 2021, and 2022, GMAC still tested the issue.
SPOILER ALERT In OG 2020, SC #824 explicitly tested the which/that distinction.
OGs 2021 and 2022 both contain that question.
The recent official question that tests this distinction can be found by clicking here.
Subject complement: adjective, noun/noun clause, special adverb
Is is a linking verb similar to an "equals" sign.
Is links a subject to its subject complement. A subject complement is something that describes the subject.
Subject complements can be
→ adjectives: Rebekah is tall.
→ nouns or noun clauses ("what constitutes"): Misinformation is what constitutes the biggest threat to this country.
→ adverbs of time, location, or direction: The meeting was yesterday.
Subject complements cannot begin with existential there.
→ Wrong: According to a recent book by two Pulitzer Prize winners, the ugly truth about January 6, 2021 is there was very nearly a coup.
→ Correct: According to a recent book by two Pulitzer Prize winners, the ugly truth about January 6, 2021 is that there was very nearly a coup, about which military leaders were worried.
The italicized part is a noun clause. That noun clause begins with that. Not there. Noun clauses do not begin with there.
Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
THE PROMPT
Quote:
• The sentence describes an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
What was this effect?
Presumably, cold temperatures during an ice age froze water, built up glaciers and drained oceans.
The result was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land.
THE OPTIONS
Quote:
• Missing Verb - Fragment
→ being is not a verb. The subject of the main clause, an effect, is not paired with any working verb. The sentence is a fragment.
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
• the adjective phrase used to describe an effect (it is difficult to observe but logical and predictable) contains a strange IS that seems to come out of nowhere..
→ Either (1) eliminate the is after but, or (2) add that is after Ice Age to fix the strange "is" that seems to come from nowhere.
#1, Correct but somewhat abrupt: A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land ... is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
-- in that sentence, the words difficult and predictable are adjectives that derive from reduced relative clauses.** (see footnote below)
#2, Correct, better diction than #1, and creates sensible context for the repeated IS:
A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land ... is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
We need one structure or the other, but we have neither.
That is, the is after but requires a preceding that is to create a sensible descriptor that comports with good diction. Alternatively, the word is after but could be eliminated.
As it stands, this sentence is strange, confusing, and messy.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
• Correct. Although starting sentences with the word that is fairly rare, doing so is correct.
→ In this context and others, that = "the fact that."
→ For an official question [SPOILER ALERT!] in which a that-clause leads off the sentence, click on this link, here.
• That can refer to a fairly distant noun.
→ Let's reframe this Modifier Touch Rule. Let's call it a guideline.
→ Some of you have been taught that which and that always modify the immediately preceding noun and/or that those words can never be somewhat distant from their noun.
Wrong.
→ that refers to effect, not to Ice Age.
The construction is perfectly acceptable.
Why? Because two essential modifiers cannot both be placed right next to the noun.
We have two essential modifiers of the noun "effect":
(1) of the Pleistocene Ice Age, and
(2) that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
One of those modifiers must be placed before the other.
Prepositional modifiers cannot be placed anywhere else. (The prepositional modifier starts with of the.)
So two modifiers are placed one after the other. The that modifier follows the prepositional modifier.
See Notes, below, for official examples in which that does not modify the immediately preceding noun and in which that is a bit distant from its noun.
• The sentence, rewritten:
An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it [the effect] logically is [the fact] that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
In the logical context of the sentence, the that clause refers to effect.
It is not the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually. (It is impossible to observe that ice age.)
That refers to effect. The effect under discussion is a massive transfer of water from oceans to land.
This sentence is fine.
KEEP
Quote:
• unless absolutely necessary, such as when a short phrase intervenes, the essential modifier that should not be set off by commas
→ As of 2021, that and which are not interchangeable on the GMAT.
This situation may change. For now, the distinction holds. See the footnote for more information.**
→ Be careful. In British English, which and that are interchangeable.
In particular, in B.E., the word which can be used to introduce essential information and need not be flanked by commas—not so in SWE and not so on the GMAT.
In SWE and on the GMAT
→ which is a nonessential modifier that introduces dispensable information and is set off by commas
→ that is an essential modifier that introduces indispensable information and is not set off by commas
• the subject complement (the thing on the other side of the linking verb is) should be an adjective; a noun, noun clause, or noun-like clause; or an adverb of time, location, or direction. See footnote for more on subject complements.**
The subject complement is the clause there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
→ there was a massive transfer is not an adjective, noun, or special adverb and cannot function as the subject complement of an effect
→ [i]that there was a massive transfer of water from ocean to land[/i] is a noun clause (also known as a substantive clause, which you can read about by clicking here) and thus can function properly as a subject complement.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
• Introductory modifier is questionable
→ Difficult to observe . . . is really a description of "an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age."
We could argue that "that there was a massive transfer of water" IS the effect.
At best, the construction is confusing.
→ The modifier issue is a tough call.
• do not unnecessarily place a comma between a subject and its verb
→ remove the comma after periods, because the subject [the fact] that there was a massive transfer of water should not be separated from its verb, is, by a comma.
→ If we inverted the sentence, we would not place a comma between subject and verb.
→ Inverted sentence with a comma, wrong: An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age IS , [the fact] that there was a massive transfer of water.
Do not separate the subject from its verb.
Compare. This sentence is not as good as option C.
ELIMINATE E
The correct answer is C.
NOTES
• Can THAT refer to a faraway noun? Absolutely.
Some of you are taught that there are no exceptions to the Modifier Touch Rule.
The latter is not a rule in the way that, say, subject/verb agreement is a rule.
The latter is a guideline.
This guideline states that a modifier should be as close as possible to the noun that it modifies.
I have no idea how that guideline turned into a rigid insistence that words such as which and that, or participle adjectives, must modify the immediately preceding word. That belief is inaccurate.
Yes, for the most part, the closer noun modifiers are to their nouns, the better.
Not always.
PyjamaScientist , I hope that others' explanations, this explanation, and the examples I provide put your question to rest.
I am sure that quite a few other people had the same question.
Let's hope that everyone who needs to do so reads the material.
→ THAT - can modify a noun without being right next to that noun
Both that and which and other kinds of noun modifiers can modify the head noun in a noun phrase such as effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
In case you do not wish to view official questions in which that modifies a slightly faraway noun, the first example is my own.
(1) The underground corridor system at Harvard Law School that was built to protect students from bitter winter cold routinely confounded my sense of direction; during my first year, I finally just stayed close to section mates who knew where our next class was located.
That refers to an underground corridor system. This much I promise: Harvard Law School was not built to protect students from bitter winter cold.
Again, we have two essential modifiers.
At which law school are the underground corridors?
Stanford Law and Yale Law do not have a system of underground corridors through which students can get from class to class in different buildings without having to go outside.
(Well, at least not any that I saw when I visited those schools.)
In other words, those corridors are at Harvard Law School. (And yes, I got lost constantly.)
Why were and are students running around beneath the buildings of a law school in corridors?
What is distinctive about this system of corridors?
Answer: The system of corridors was built to protect students from brutally cold New England winters.
That refers to to a slightly distant noun.
(2) You can read an official question example in which that modifies a slightly faraway noun if you click here.
That question was published in every official guide from 2011 to 2020.
(3) Another official question example in which that is ten words away from its noun can be found by clicking here.
(This question was in the Official Guide Diagnostic test from 2012 to 2020.)
Numbers 2 and 3 are but two examples that I found by flipping through one OG.
I remembered keywords and knew what I was looking for.
Long prepositional or adjectival phrases "bump" the words that and which farther toward the end of the sentence, but the latter two modifiers are still allowed to modify their nouns.
• Thoughts on tone in a couple of posts
I understand that SC can be frustrating.
Language is not math.
But language is learnable.
Start reading U.S. based high end journals and newspapers. Read fiction.
Read every single day for at least 20 minutes. That suggestion applies to native speakers, too.
If you have more time, read for a longer period of time. Read in two 20- or 30-minute stretches.
Wanna beat this test? Channel some of your energy into reading.
Find a way to get engaged.
Kvetching is not going to beat this test.
Arguing with the correct answer is not going to help you beat this test.
And I want all of you to beat this test.
COMMENTS
To all who helped and engaged constructively on the thread: thank you.
Kudos to those who posted correct answers or who helped.
**
Option B, adjectives derived from reduced relative clauses.
From above, this sentence is
#1, correct but somewhat abrupt: A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land ... is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
→ in that sentence, the words difficult and predictable are adjectives that derive from "reduced relative clauses."
In this sentence, the original relative clauses are intact: A massive transfer of water . . . is an effect . . . THAT IS DIFFICULT to observe visually but THAT IS quite PREDICTABLE if one thinks about it logically.
To reduce this kind of relative clause,
(1) remove the relative pronoun (that),
(2) remove the to be verb (is), and
(3) keep the adjective.
→ Again, the sentence now contains "reduced relative clauses": A massive transfer of water . . . is an event difficult to observe but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
THAT/WHICH
Some experts believe that GMAC no longer maintains a distinction between which and that.
GMAC may well be relaxing its rules about this distinction, but GMAC has not abandoned it.
In Official Guides from 2020, 2021, and 2022, GMAC still tested the issue.
SPOILER ALERT In OG 2020, SC #824 explicitly tested the which/that distinction.
OGs 2021 and 2022 both contain that question.
The recent official question that tests this distinction can be found by clicking here.
Subject complement: adjective, noun/noun clause, special adverb
Is is a linking verb similar to an "equals" sign.
Is links a subject to its subject complement. A subject complement is something that describes the subject.
Subject complements can be
→ adjectives: Rebekah is tall.
→ nouns or noun clauses ("what constitutes"): Misinformation is what constitutes the biggest threat to this country.
→ adverbs of time, location, or direction: The meeting was yesterday.
Subject complements cannot begin with existential there.
→ Wrong: According to a recent book by two Pulitzer Prize winners, the ugly truth about January 6, 2021 is there was very nearly a coup.
→ Correct: According to a recent book by two Pulitzer Prize winners, the ugly truth about January 6, 2021 is that there was very nearly a coup, about which military leaders were worried.
The italicized part is a noun clause. That noun clause begins with that. Not there. Noun clauses do not begin with there.
General Discussion
13 Jul 2021, 23:09
Kudos
Bookmarks
A) An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically being that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically being that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
"It" refers to An effect or Pleistocene Ice Age ??
Being is wrongly used
That clause, jumping over the prepositional noun phrase, is modifying an effect
B) A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
Ice age difficult to observe ...and "massive...." is quite changes meaning
C) That there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
Subject : That there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods
that refers to effect and sentence is parallel
Correct choice IMO with No ambiguous Pronouns
D) An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age, that is difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically, is there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods
The introductory modifier is a dangling modifier with no assigned subject -Eliminate
"That" clause enclosed b/w commas is also not structurally right
E) Difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically, that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods, is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
The introductory modifier is a dangling modifier with no assigned subject -Eliminate
"That" clause enclosed b/w commas is also not structurally right
An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically being that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods.
"It" refers to An effect or Pleistocene Ice Age ??
Being is wrongly used
That clause, jumping over the prepositional noun phrase, is modifying an effect
B) A massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
Ice age difficult to observe ...and "massive...." is quite changes meaning
C) That there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age that is difficult to observe visually but is quite predictable if one thinks about it logically.
Subject : That there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods
that refers to effect and sentence is parallel
Correct choice IMO with No ambiguous Pronouns
D) An effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age, that is difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically, is there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods
The introductory modifier is a dangling modifier with no assigned subject -Eliminate
"That" clause enclosed b/w commas is also not structurally right
E) Difficult to observe visually but quite predictable if one thinks about it logically, that there was a massive transfer of water from the oceans to the land during the glacial periods, is an effect of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
The introductory modifier is a dangling modifier with no assigned subject -Eliminate
"That" clause enclosed b/w commas is also not structurally right
