With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have an

Question

With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and nursing homes that care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials estimate the United States' population to have  grown by 150 million people over the last sixty years.

(A) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and nursing homes that provide care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials estimate the United States' population to have

(B) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes that provide care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials’ estimate of the population in the United States has

(C) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes where the elderly are provided with care, the United States' population, Census Bureau officials estimate, has

(D) Without a policy restricting the number of children a family can have and the elderly provided with care in nursing homes, the United States has a population that Census Bureau officials estimate to have

(E) Without a policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes where the elderly are provided with care, Census Bureau officials estimate that the United States' population has

Updated with OA. Explanation in a post below.

Source: Knewton.

martie11 · Accepted Answer

Hi all...thanks for your participation...this is great to see!

The correct answer is C .

Looks like all of you were fooled...unless OA is incorrect? Here is the Knewton explanation:

daagh · Answer

With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and nursing homes that care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials estimate the United States' population to have  grown by 150 million people over the last sixty years.

(A) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and nursing homes that provide care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials estimate the United States' population to have
(B) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes that provide care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials’ estimate of the population in the United States has
(C) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes where the elderly are provided with care, the United States' population, Census Bureau officials estimate, has
(D) Without a policy restricting the number of children a family can have and the elderly provided with care in nursing homes, the United States has a population that Census Bureau officials estimate to have
(E) Without a policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes where the elderly are provided with care, Census Bureau officials estimate that the United States' population has

As per norms of modification, the introductory modifier, “With no policy …….that care for the elderly” must modify the US population. So A, B and E are dropped. In D, the problem is the opposite meaning the choice means after dropping the preposition ‘with’ before the elderly, as it would now mean that the elderly are not provided any care in the nursing homes. Therefore, by elimination finally, C remains.

Incidentally, one can see a GMAT Prep question that is on similar lines.

With no natural predators and expanses of green suburban neighborhoods that allow no hunting, wildlife officials estimate the New Jersey deer population to have  grown to exceed 175,000

A. With no natural predators and expanses of green suburban neighborhoods that allow no hunting, wildlife officials estimate the New Jersey deer population to have

B. With no natural predators and with expanses of green suburban neighborhoods that do not allow hunting, wildlife officials' estimate of the deer population in New Jersey has

C. With no natural predators and with expanses of green suburban neighborhoods where there is no hunting, the deer population in New Jersey, wildlife officials estimate, has

D. Without natural predators and no hunting allowed in expanse of green suburban neighborhoods, New Jersey has a deer population that wildlife officials estimate to have

E. Without natural predators and with expanses of green neighborhoods where there is no hunting, wildlife officials in New Jersey estimate a deer population that has

The OA is C

PTK · Answer

With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and nursing homes that care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials estimate the United States' population to have  grown by 150 million people over the last sixty years.

(A) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and nursing homes that provide care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials estimate the United States' population to have -  must be has , the population has grown 
(B) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes that provide care for the elderly, Census Bureau officials’ estimate of the population in the United States has -  wrong modifier starting with no policy , modifies  estimate  of Census Bureau officials, so estimate does not have policies.  
(C) With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes where the elderly are provided with care, the United States' population, Census Bureau officials estimate, has - wrong modifier starting with no policy , modifies  population  of the United States, so population does not have policies.  
(D) Without a policy restricting the number of children a family can have and the elderly provided with care in nursing homes, the United States has a population that Census Bureau officials estimate to have -  must be has , the population has grown 
(E) Without a policy restricting the number of children a family can have and with nursing homes where the elderly are provided with care, Census Bureau officials estimate that the United States' population has -  correct Census Bureau officials are without a policy, and "population has grown"

whiplash2411 · Answer

There seems to be a conflict of meaning. You might want to ask yourself:

1. If the sentence is saying there's no restriction on (number of children) + (nursing homes providing care)

OR

2. If the sentence is saying no restriction on babies + there are nursing homes that provide care.

If we are to go with the second meaning, then the answer is E. But I'm still undecided. OA?

daagh · Answer

As per norms of modification, the United States is supposed to have no restriction on the number of children and also the nursing homes that nurse the elderly. Any other noun such as Census Bureau officials in A and E, the Census Bureau officials’ estimate in B, the United States' population in C are all wrong. The obvious answer is D. Compared to this significant point, others turn trivial. If D is the answer then it must be that the officials estimate the population “to have grown” also is acceptable over its alternative - “population has grown”.

But between ‘has grown’ and ‘to have grown’, - has grown is categorical and hence does not have the essence of approximation that is inherent in estimation. On the contrary ‘to have grown’ has some uncertainty built around it and can therefore be the right accompaniment for the verb ‘estimate’. But before that modification is important.

gmat1011 · Answer

Think it should be D. The others seem to have modifier problems. Only d has "united states" right after the comma, relating back to "without a policy restricting+elderly provided..."

Posted from my mobile device

daagh · Answer

i thought a population has people. Now I understand it has policies too. Great going.

martie11 · Answer

Nice to finally find one that you found challenging :wink:

MBAhereIcome · Answer

'nusring homes that provide' .. wait, nursing homes can't provide care. this can't be correct.

'with no policy' is a better expression than 'without a policy'. moreover, AND indicates parallelism, so both sides should be structurally and logically parallel.

'with no policy ... AND with nursing homes' .. are both logically parallel.

gmatopoeia · Answer

went with E, initially. :oops:

further close reading uncovers the following:- 2 ways to deal with: 1. * 'population...have' - wrong. Should be 'population...has' - eliminates A and D * Parallelism: "with and with " - eliminates E * Modifier - 'With no policy...' should modify 'United States' population and not modify Census Bureau. ---> So we take C over B. 2. * Modifier - who is the modifier (front portion) pertaining to? United States population or Census Bureau? ---> United States population. So, eliminates A, B and E, leaving us C and D. * Parallelism - it should be 'With and with ' ---> we eliminate D, thus arriving at answer C.

jitbec · Answer

I also think its E. OA is not clear enough

mvictor · Answer

tough one, any expert to comment on this one?

broall · Answer

This is a tough one for me. I went to choice E, but it seems clearer that "with no policy" modifies "US population"

AshutoshB · Answer

As per my knowledge the structure: With +   + Participle is wrong, if doer of both actions is different

SonalSinha803 · Answer

....this was hilarious !! I initially went with C and when I saw daagh saying it is E and I couldn't figure out why...I got frustrated with myself then saw the OA is C. Man it was a relief.

Sent from my Lenovo K53a48 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Mpuneet · Answer

A B and E all share the same problem. In all of them the ‘With no policy…’ phrase modifies’ Census Bureau officials’ instead of ‘the US population. D has the problem of SV agreement. ‘have’ should be ‘has’. So, C is right.

avinashiitp · Answer

I would be grateful if someone can explain why this sentence in not run.

In below Answer C, I have marked underlined all the main verbs(Not marked in Relative Clause) without having conjunctions.

With no policy restricting the number of children a family   can have   and with nursing homes where the elderly are provided with care, the United States' population, Census Bureau officials   estimate  ,   has grown   by 150 million people over the last sixty years.

Why the mentioned,below part of sentence is not run on? Containing Verb Estimate, Has Grown.
 
the United States' population, Census Bureau officials   estimate  ,   has grown   by 150 million people over the last sixty years

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With no policy restricting the number of children a family can have an

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