Winemaking during the Prohibition era, a period when the consumption a

Question

Winemaking during the Prohibition era, a period when the consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal, suffered for two main reasons:  the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, sacrificing quality but better suited to long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, taking  with them the knowledge of how to create wine.

A) the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, sacrificing quality but better suited to long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, taking
B) because the few winemakers operating were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which sacrifice quality but are better suited for long distance transport, and because many winemakers emigrated and they took
C) the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which sacrifices quality but are better suited to long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, thereby taking
D) the few winemakers operating were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which are of a low quality but are better suited for long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, taking
E) because the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes—quality had been sacrificed but the grapes were better suited for long distance transport—and many winemakers emigrated, thereby taking

daagh · Accepted Answer

Winemaking during the Prohibition era, a period when the consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal, suffered for two main reasons:  the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, sacrificing quality but better suited to long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, taking with them the knowledge of how to create wine.
 
A) the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, sacrificing quality but better suited to long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, taking ---  The adverbial modifier modifies the action that the winemakers ‘were forced’. But the second part ‘but were better suited’ discordantly modifies thick skinned grape; Use of apposite modifiers or relative pronouns is a must here.

B) because the few winemakers operating were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which sacrifice quality but are better suited for long distance transport, and because many winemakers emigrated and they took ---  because is redundant here, since the cause has already been mentioned in the use of the preposition ‘for’;

C) the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which sacrifices quality but are better suited to long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, thereby taking -- ‘ grapes which sacrifices’ is grammatically wrong. 
 
D) the few winemakers operating were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which are of a low quality but are better suited for long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, taking— the best of the lot.

E) because the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes—quality had been sacrificed but the grapes were better suited for long distance transport—and many winemakers emigrated, thereby taking --  cause and effect is redundant.

Psiva00734 · Answer

suited for idiom is better than suited to .
so option A and C are out.
only B, D and E left.
sentence first itself metions reasons, follow by because is redundant.
so option B and E are out.
Option D is correct.

mvictor · Answer

Great question, tests modifiers and parallelism, and why not even meaning.

Let's understand the meaning first:
Winemaking suffered for 2 main reasons:
a) few winemakers were forced to use thick-skinned grapes
b) many winemakers emigrated - they took with them knowledge of how to create wine.

The thick-skinned grapes were of a lower quality, but were better suited for long distance transport.

the rest are long modifiers that might confuse someone who believes that ing modifier might be appropriate in this case.

Error analysis:
ING modifier is not correct. Comma+ing modifier is used correctly to modify the preceding clause in 2 cases: 
1. presents the result of the preceding clause 
2. or gives more details

Nevertheless, when used, the modifier should associate with the subject and the verb of the preceding clause. Since we have "suited to long distance transport", we can clearly notice that saying that winemakers (subject of the preceding clause) are better suited to long distance transport is illogical.

A) the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, sacrificing quality but better suited to long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, taking 
incorrect as mentioned above.

B) because the few winemakers operating were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which sacrifice quality but are better suited for long distance transport, and because many winemakers emigrated and they took 
Because - not desirable after semi-colon. When we use because - we need to present the result as well. 
But is used as a coordinating conjunction, yet it is not properly connected.
And - same mistake as with but => coordinating conjunction not properly connected.
 
 C) the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which sacrifices quality but are better suited to long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, thereby taking 
first of all, relative pronoun refers to the grapes - thus the verb sacrifices should be sacrifice, since the subject is in plural form.
thereby taking - i'm not 100% sure, but this is almost the same as using present perfect, which is definitely not correct when discussing about events which took place in the past.
 
 D) the few winemakers operating were forced to use thick-skinned grapes, which are of a low quality but are better suited for long distance transport, and many winemakers emigrated, taking 
the modifier error is corrected.

E) because the few winemakers in operation were forced to use thick-skinned grapes—quality had been sacrificed but the grapes were better suited for long distance transport—and many winemakers emigrated, thereby taking 
Because - as in B. Not clear why past perfect is used. But - coordinating conjunction not properly connected to the IC.
thereby taking - incorrect.

D for me.

chesstitans · Answer

this "sacrificing quality but better suited to long distance transport" is tricky. 
Why? It is because " better suited to long distance transport" must modify grapes, => Thus, A is illogical.
On the other hand, "sacrificing quality" modifies winemakers. -> C is wrong.
B and E are out b/c of "because"

aragonn · Answer

MAGOOSH Official Explanation

False split

The “thereby taking” and “taking” both work fine in this instance. “Thereby” is only needed if one action clearly results from another action. That the winemakers emigrated implies that whatever happened resulted from this action. These are the kind of distinctions that you don’t want to get hung up on (the GMAT probably wouldn’t even test anything that subtle). Remember: look for the usual suspects.

(A) illogically implies that the “few winemakers” are better suited for long distance transport.

(B) the “which” modifies grapes. However, it is the winemakers, not the grapes, who sacrifice quality. The “and they took” is not a deal-breaker, but is a little fishy, since the GMAT will typically go for something more succinct, e.g., “winemakers emigrated, taking”

(C) same error as (B).

(D) The “which” indicates that the grapes are “of low quality” and “better suited…”—two adjectival phrases that correctly modify grapes.

(E) Notice the non-underlined part says two reasons. These two reasons should be in parallel. However, there is only one “because” at the very beginning of the underlined part. There should be another “because” immediately before the phrase “many winemakers”. The “quality had been sacrificed” is also a little fishy, since it is very passive and the past perfect tense is not necessary. This error is subtler than the more obvious flaw in parallelism.

thangvietnam · Answer

look at choice D. i think D is not good because "operating" dose not mean happening" and the logic require a happening.

vk1307 · Answer

Why is option E wrong ? The official Magoosh explanation mentions that one reason is that " because " is not repeated before the phrase "many winemakers emigrated". However, doesn't ellipsis play a role here and hence we need not repeat because the second time ?

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

We can't invoke ellipsis if we're supposed to be providing TWO reasons. Without "and because" it looks like one big reason. Adding that second marker separates out the two different parts as distinct reasons. Of course, if actually try to read the thing as one big reason, it doesn't make sense (how does grape type cause emigration?), but that's just one more reason to add the marker. It adds structure and thereby makes the intended relationship of the different elements clearer.

kakakakaak · Answer

in this question my doubt is how (taking with them knowledge....) a effect of previous clause winemakers emigrated ...

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Winemaking during the Prohibition era, a period when the consumption a

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