Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 10:18 It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 10:18
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
   1   2   3   4   5   6   
655-705 Level|   Meaning/Logical Predication|   Modifiers|   Parallelism|                     
User avatar
ExpertsGlobal5
User avatar
Experts' Global Representative
Joined: 10 Jul 2017
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,195
Own Kudos:
4,765
Given Kudos: 43
Location: India
GMAT Date: 11-01-2019
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,195
Kudos: 4,765
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 29 Sep 2022, 05:44
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
himanshu0123
please review my confusion below

(B) with the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

''strained'' is an ed verbal so should it just modify the closest noun 'network' ?

(C) with its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

how is the usage of ed verbal different from option B]

How do I pin point the difference of intended meaning b/w B] and C]. Please highlight how should I see this sentence

(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

is 'relieving the congestion' is an -ing noun form. Is ' to try relieving' a wrong grammatical construction. How to spot that?
Show more

Hello himanshu0123,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the construction of the phrase “the patience of its customers and its network” is such that "the patience of" can be interpreted to modify both "its customers" and "its network", thus illogically implying that the patience of both the company’s customers and that of its network were strained to the breaking point; the intended meaning is that both the company’s network and the patience of the company's customers were strained to the breaking point; option C solves this issue by reversing the order of the nouns.

Further, the phrase "to try relieving" also alters the meaning of the sentence; its construction incorrectly implies that it is certain that the company is able to relieve the congestion, but is not certain what result doing so will produce; the intended meaning is that the company attempted to relieve the congestion, but it is not certain whether it succeeded.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
User avatar
RonTargetTestPrep
User avatar
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 19 Jul 2022
Last visit: 07 Nov 2022
Posts: 430
Own Kudos:
537
 [4]
Given Kudos: 1
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V51
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V51
Posts: 430
Kudos: 537
 [4]
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 29 Sep 2022, 23:53
4
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
himanshu0123

(B) with the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

''strained'' is an ed verbal so should it just modify the closest noun 'network' ?
Show more

By default, you should include the whole compound noun ("X and Y"). Here, that's "the patience of its customers and its network".

If the modifier is only intended to modify the second of the two nouns, then there are ways to restructure the sentence to make that intention clear and unambiguous.
Depending on the exact context, one of the following could accomplish this goal:
with X and with Y __ed...
or
with Y __ed... and X...


(C) with its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

how is the usage of ed verbal different from option B][/quote]

In this case, as in the last case, the default referent is the compound noun ("X and Y"). So the resulting meaning isn't significantly different.


Quote:
How do I pin point the difference of intended meaning b/w B] and C]. Please highlight how should I see this sentence

"Intended meaning" isn't something that differs from one choice to another. The intended meaning of the sentence is what it 'WANTS' to tell you, or what it SHOULD REASONABLY be saying, according to the combination of common sense and context.

Different answer choices may actually indicate different meanings, depending on the rules and conventions for the structures they contain. It's when that actual, indicated meaning differs from the common-sense intended meaning that you've got problems.


Quote:
(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

Is ' to try relieving' a wrong grammatical construction. How to spot that?

This is idiomatic. The proper idiomatic pairing is try + TO [verb].
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 16 Nov 2022, 11:33
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.


(A) the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve

(B) the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving
Show more
Hi Experts,
May I know the difference between the following versions?

1. With its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point...
2. With its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point...

Does strained modify both 'network' and 'customers' in both versions?
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 16 Nov 2022, 14:44
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
RonTargetTestPrep
himanshu0123

(B) with the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

''strained'' is an ed verbal so should it just modify the closest noun 'network' ?

By default, you should include the whole compound noun ("X and Y"). Here, that's "the patience of its customers and its network".

If the modifier is only intended to modify the second of the two nouns, then there are ways to restructure the sentence to make that intention clear and unambiguous.
Depending on the exact context, one of the following could accomplish this goal:
with X and with Y __ed...
or
with Y __ed... and X...


(C) with its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

how is the usage of ed verbal different from option B]
Show more

In this case, as in the last case, the default referent is the compound noun ("X and Y"). So the resulting meaning isn't significantly different.


Quote:
How do I pin point the difference of intended meaning b/w B] and C]. Please highlight how should I see this sentence
Show more

"Intended meaning" isn't something that differs from one choice to another. The intended meaning of the sentence is what it 'WANTS' to tell you, or what it SHOULD REASONABLY be saying, according to the combination of common sense and context.

Different answer choices may actually indicate different meanings, depending on the rules and conventions for the structures they contain. It's when that actual, indicated meaning differs from the common-sense intended meaning that you've got problems.


Quote:
(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

Is ' to try relieving' a wrong grammatical construction. How to spot that?
Show more

This is idiomatic. The proper idiomatic pairing is try + TO [verb].[/quote]
RonTargetTestPrep
Quote:
(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve
for a bit confirmation....
So, strained modifies both 'network' and 'the patience of its customers', right?
Thanks__
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 16 Nov 2022, 16:06
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!


(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving

This option is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, it's not necessary to use the apostrophe in "customers'" because it's not being followed by a plural word (for example "customers' chairs" would be okay). It also uses the incorrect "to try relieving" which conveys the wrong meaning.

There you have it - option C is the correct answer!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
Show more
Hi Experts, It seems that we should care the highlighted part very carefully. Does it really matter?
if Mr X has just 1 book, can't we write Mr X's book? Is it necessary the book to be plural?


fyi, it seems that ''EMPOWERgmatVerbal'' is not available in the forum for long days. Can you clarify it, please?
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,108
Own Kudos:
32,886
Given Kudos: 700
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,108
Kudos: 32,886
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 17 Nov 2022, 01:21
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
TheUltimateWinner
EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!


(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving

This option is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, it's not necessary to use the apostrophe in "customers'" because it's not being followed by a plural word (for example "customers' chairs" would be okay). It also uses the incorrect "to try relieving" which conveys the wrong meaning.

There you have it - option C is the correct answer!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
Hi Experts, It seems that we should care the highlighted part very carefully. Does it really matter?
if Mr X has just 1 book, can't we write Mr X's book? Is it necessary the book to be plural?


fyi, it seems that ''EMPOWERgmatVerbal'' is not available in the forum for long days. Can you clarify it, please?
Show more


Hey TheUltimateWinner

Happy to step in.

I'm not aware of this rule. It would be nice if EMPOWERgmatVerbal gave more clarification about that. As far as I know, there's nothing wrong with "customers' patience" from a strictly grammatical standpoint. Of course, it would be more appropriate to say "the patience of its customers" because this is more rhetorical. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that "customers' patience" is wrong.

    The boy's hostel = a hostel where a particular boy stays
    The boys' hostel = a particular hostel for boys

I hope this helps.

Best,

Abhishek
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,108
Own Kudos:
32,886
 [1]
Given Kudos: 700
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,108
Kudos: 32,886
 [1]
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 17 Nov 2022, 01:37
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
TheUltimateWinner
Quote:
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.


(A) the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve

(B) the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving
Hi Experts,
May I know the difference between the following versions?

1. With its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point...
2. With its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point...

Does strained modify both 'network' and 'customers' in both versions?
Show more

Hey TheUltimateWinner

Happy to help.

"Strained" modifies both "network" and "patience" (not customers) in sentence 1. However, in sentence 2, "strained" modifies only "patience". This is because sentence 2 adopts the structure:

    With A and with B, Main clause.


So, B and A are distinct units. This is why the influence of 'strained' will not extend all the way to 'network'.


I hope this helps.

Best,

Abhishek
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
 [1]
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 21 Nov 2022, 11:22
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
egmat
TheUltimateWinner
EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!


(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving

This option is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, it's not necessary to use the apostrophe in "customers'" because it's not being followed by a plural word (for example "customers' chairs" would be okay). It also uses the incorrect "to try relieving" which conveys the wrong meaning.

There you have it - option C is the correct answer!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
Hi Experts, It seems that we should care the highlighted part very carefully. Does it really matter?
if Mr X has just 1 book, can't we write Mr X's book? Is it necessary the book to be plural?


fyi, it seems that ''EMPOWERgmatVerbal'' is not available in the forum for long days. Can you clarify it, please?


Hey TheUltimateWinner

Happy to step in.

I'm not aware of this rule. It would be nice if EMPOWERgmatVerbal gave more clarification about that. As far as I know, there's nothing wrong with "customers' patience" from a strictly grammatical standpoint. Of course, it would be more appropriate to say "the patience of its customers" because this is more rhetorical. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that "customers' patience" is wrong.

    The boy's hostel = a hostel where a particular boy stays
    The boys' hostel = a particular hostel for boys

I hope this helps.

Best,

Abhishek
Show more
egmat
Yes, I thought the same thing. We, normally, use apostrophe before s if the item is singular, and if the item is plural then apostrophe is being used after s.
Anyways, thanks a lot...
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 21 Nov 2022, 11:39
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
egmat
TheUltimateWinner
Quote:
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.


(A) the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve

(B) the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving
Hi Experts,
May I know the difference between the following versions?

1. With its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point...
2. With its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point...

Does strained modify both 'network' and 'customers' in both versions?

Hey TheUltimateWinner

Happy to help.

"Strained" modifies both "network" and "patience" (not customers) in sentence 1. However, in sentence 2, "strained" modifies only "patience". This is because sentence 2 adopts the structure:

    With A and with B, Main clause.


So, B and A are distinct units. This is why the influence of 'strained' will not extend all the way to 'network'.


I hope this helps.

Best,

Abhishek
Show more
So, both sentence are like the below:
1. With [its network and the patience of its customers] strained to the breaking point...

^^ In this example, the With and strained is applied to both, so strained modifies both "network" and "patience"

2. [With its network] and [with the patience of its customers] strained to the breaking point...
^^ As both parts are separated by and (along with) that's why the strained modifies only "patience". yes, I got it but what will be the situation in the following link?
https://gmatclub.com/forum/while-most-o ... l#p3110031
User avatar
Elite097
User avatar
Joined: 20 Apr 2022
Last visit: 08 Oct 2025
Posts: 771
Own Kudos:
553
Given Kudos: 346
Location: India
Schools: Sloan '25 Columbia '27 Haas '27
GPA: 3.64
Schools: Sloan '25 Columbia '27 Haas '27
Posts: 771
Kudos: 553
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 09 Jan 2023, 05:04
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
mikemcgarry avigutman @agmatninja egmat what is the issue with customers' patience vs patience of customers? I see empower gmat's explanation is not explained in the best way for this and reading through the forum there is not much i could find. Pls elaborate and how shold we go about picking this difference for other similar questions
User avatar
ExpertsGlobal5
User avatar
Experts' Global Representative
Joined: 10 Jul 2017
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,195
Own Kudos:
4,765
Given Kudos: 43
Location: India
GMAT Date: 11-01-2019
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,195
Kudos: 4,765
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 09 Jan 2023, 05:22
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Elite097
mikemcgarry avigutman @agmatninja egmat what is the issue with customers' patience vs patience of customers? I see empower gmat's explanation is not explained in the best way for this and reading through the forum there is not much i could find. Pls elaborate and how shold we go about picking this difference for other similar questions
Show more

Hello Elite097,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the possessive form "its customers' patience" is a bit less direct, and thus stylistically inferior, to "patience of its customers".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
User avatar
egmat
User avatar
e-GMAT Representative
Joined: 02 Nov 2011
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,108
Own Kudos:
32,886
Given Kudos: 700
GMAT Date: 08-19-2020
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 5,108
Kudos: 32,886
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 11 Jan 2023, 06:13
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Elite097
what is the issue with customers' patience vs patience of customers? I see empower gmat's explanation is not explained in the best way for this and reading through the forum there is not much i could find. Pls elaborate and how shold we go about picking this difference for other similar questions
Show more

Hey Elite097

Sorry for the delay in response.

To put it straight, there's no difference between "the patience of its customers" and "its customers' patience". In fact, it could be argued that the latter is the more economical and hence the more appropriate version of the two phrases. But the GMAT does not test such a minute difference in rhetorical construction.

Why choice E is worse than choice C has more to do with the verb-ing noun "relieving". The correct expression, in this context, is "to try to relieve" and not "to try relieving".

Quick Tip: If the action denoted by a verbal (to-verbs or verb-ing nouns) is in the future or not yet occurred, the to-verb is preferred to the verb-ing. It is only when the action has actually occurred that we prefer the verb-ing noun to the to-verb. Of course, this applies to only those cases wherein both to-verbs and verb-ing nouns can be used.

For example:

  • She remembered meeting me on her previous birthday.
      Meaning: I met her on her previous birthday. She remembered that I had met her on her previous birthday.
  • Did she remember to call you?
      Meaning: She was supposed to call you. We do not know whether she called you. So, we say, "did she remember to call you?".
  • Did she remember calling you?
      Meaning: She did in fact call you. But did she remember that she had indeed called you?

Application:
With its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve...
  • The initiatives have only been announced.
  • The initiative will try to accomplish something.
  • That accomplishment is in the future or yet to occur.
  • Hence, we need "to relieve" and not "relieving".
  • This is why 'try to relieve' is more rhetorical.

I hope this answers your question and helps improve your understanding of the application of verbals.

Happy Learning!

Abhishek
User avatar
S1ny1s
User avatar
Joined: 29 Nov 2022
Last visit: 08 Jun 2024
Posts: 28
Own Kudos:
6
Given Kudos: 40
Location: United States
Posts: 28
Kudos: 6
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 15 May 2023, 06:45
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.
Show more

(A) the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve
the repetition of with. parallelism issues. with is already in the first place.

(B) the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to
relieve
it looks like the patience of its customer and patience of its network. what patience of network?
it doesn't makes sense. that's why B is out.

(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve.
With its network and
With the patience of its customer, it looks good. keep it.

D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving
Same issues with A


E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving
There, is no parallelism issues here but try to relieve vs try to reliving.
Try to do something means: putting your efforts to do something you already know
Try doing something: to do something as on experiment. that's why E is wrong.

(C) is winner here.
User avatar
KarishmaB
User avatar
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 16,267
Own Kudos:
76,995
 [1]
Given Kudos: 482
Location: Pune, India
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 16,267
Kudos: 76,995
 [1]
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 16 May 2023, 23:36
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
AbdurRakib
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.


(A) the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve

(B) the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving


Show more


This is what the sentence wants to say:

The network and the patience of its customers was strained so the on-line service announced new initiatives to try to relieve the congestion.

The ‘that clause’ after congestion modifies congestion and is not relevant to the rest of the sentence so we will ignore it (it is not underlined)

Who is trying to relieve the congestion? Not the new initiatives! The company is trying to relieve the congestion. The company announced new initiatives to try to relieve congestion. The intent was of the company. Why did the company announce new initiatives? To make an effort to relieve congestion. To try to relieve congestion. Hence, when ‘try to relieve congestion’ modifies ‘new initiatives,’ the option is incorrect.

(A) the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve

Here, ‘trying to relieve…’ is a present participle modifier modifying new initiatives. As we discussed above, this is incorrect.
Also notice the prepositional phrase in the beginning:
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced new initiatives…

The two prepositional phrases are parallel:
- With the patience of its customers
- with its network strained to the breaking point

But what does the first phrase mean with the rest of the sentence?
With the patience of its customers, the on-line service company announced new initiatives…
This makes no sense. What we want to say is that the patience of its customers is strained to the breaking point.

(B) the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

‘that try to relieve…’ is a relative clause modifying ‘new initiatives.’ As we discussed before, this is incorrect. Also, we will not use simple present ‘try’ in the ‘that clause.’ The initiatives are not a standard set of initiatives that habitually try to relieve congestion. They are a set of initiatives that the company has introduced.

(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

This is correct. No errors.

(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

The same parallelism error as in option (A).

‘With’ is repeated after ‘and’ so the two prepositional phrases that are parallel are:
- With its network
- with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point

But what does the first phrase mean with the rest of the sentence?
With its network, the on-line service company announced new initiatives…
This makes no sense.

Also, the use of ‘to try to do A’ is better in GMAT than ‘to try doing A.’ The infinitive form is preferred when applicable (though not necessary). It is more formal.

(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving

Is this option really wrong, I can’t say. But option (C) is certainly preferable. With plural ‘customers,’ possessive becomes odd. It is more formal to say ‘the patience of its customers’ than to say ‘customers’ patience.’

Also, the use of ‘to try to do A’ is better in GMAT than ‘to try doing A.’ The infinitive form is preferred when applicable (though not necessary). It is more formal.

Hence, keeping both these points in mind, we prefer (C) over (E).

Answer (C)
User avatar
NakulDiwakar10
User avatar
Joined: 14 Jun 2021
Last visit: 16 Nov 2025
Posts: 141
Own Kudos:
33
Given Kudos: 65
Location: India
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 141
Kudos: 33
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 27 Jun 2023, 21:53
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
egmat if i remember right Abhishek sir solved this question during a video on egmat youtube channel. If yes can you please share the link?
User avatar
SG_008
User avatar
Joined: 12 Aug 2022
Last visit: 28 Mar 2025
Posts: 9
Own Kudos:
4
Given Kudos: 31
Posts: 9
Kudos: 4
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 08 Jul 2023, 06:51
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
ExpertsGlobal5
Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
AbdurRakib
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.


(A) the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve

(B) the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving



Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the on-line service company's network and the patience of its customers were strained to the breaking point, and it announced a series of new initiatives for the purpose of trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Parallelism

• Any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

A: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “trying to relieve”; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that the company announced a series of new initiatives that were trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers; the intended meaning is that the company announced a series of new initiatives for the purpose of trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers. Further, Option A fails to maintain parallelism between “the patience of its customers” and “with its network”; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

B: Trap. This answer choice alters the meaning of this sentence through the phrase “the patience of its customers and its network”; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that the patience of both the company’s customers and that of its network were strained to the breaking point; the intended meaning is that both the company’s network and the patience of the company's customers were strained to the breaking point. Moreover, Option B further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “that try to relieve”; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that the company announced a series of new initiatives that were trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers; the intended meaning is that the company announced a series of new initiatives for the purpose of trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.

C: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase “its network and the patience of its customers”, conveying the intended meaning – that both the company’s network and the patience of the company's customers were strained to the breaking point. Moreover, Option C uses the phrase “to try to relieve”, conveying the intended meaning – that the company announced a series of new initiatives for the purpose of trying to relieve the congestion, but it is not certain whether it succeeded. Further, Option C correctly maintains parallelism between “its network” and “the patience of its customers”.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of this sentence through the phrase “to try relieving”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that it is certain that the company is able to relieve the congestion, but is not certain what result doing so will produce; the intended meaning is that the company attempted to relieve the congestion, but it is not certain whether it succeeded. Further, Option D fails to maintain parallelism between “its network” and “with the patience of its customers”; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction (“and” in this sentence) must be parallel.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of this sentence through the phrase “to try relieving”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that it is certain that the company is able to relieve the congestion, but is not certain what result doing so will produce; the intended meaning is that the company attempted to relieve the congestion, but it is not certain whether it succeeded.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.
Show more


Hi,

Can you please explain how the meaning is getting changed by the usage of the phrase "to try relieving" with some examples?
From Parallelism point of view, isn't E better than C?

Thanks!
User avatar
AcetheGMAT123
User avatar
Joined: 25 Apr 2023
Last visit: 14 Dec 2023
Posts: 5
Given Kudos: 22
Location: India
Posts: 5
Kudos: 0
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 09 Jul 2023, 03:34
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi,

GMATNinja, can you please explain the answer to this question? How do I eliminate all choices but one?

I am not able to understand despite reading other explanations. There are so many rules mentioned for each of the options and I am not sure if these rules are universally valid across all other GMAT questions.
User avatar
AcetheGMAT123
User avatar
Joined: 25 Apr 2023
Last visit: 14 Dec 2023
Posts: 5
Given Kudos: 22
Location: India
Posts: 5
Kudos: 0
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 09 Jul 2023, 04:31
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GMATNinja
duybachhpvn
GMATNinja

Hi experts,

Regarding choice A in this question, in the OG it noted that "Trying could modify either "the company" or "initiatives", and it is not clear which one is intended"

As far as I know, if V-ing modifier is placed right after a noun or noun phrase without a comma, it should modify the immediate preceding noun or noun phrase. Why does GMAT explain that the V-ing can modify "the company" here?

Thank you
Great question! This is an excellent illustration of why the OG explanations have to be taken with a grain of salt. I agree with you - because "trying to relieve" comes after "new initiatives", (A) seems to communicate that the initiatives are attempting to relieve congestion, when it seems more logical to write that the company is trying to do so. In other words, the problem with the modifier isn't really that it's ambiguous -- the problem is that it creates an illogical meaning.

However, there's a more concrete problem with (A). Take another look:

    "With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced..."

If I write, "With X and with Y," I'm referring to two independent phenomena. Now it sounds as though the online company made the announcement with 1) the patience of its customers, and it also made the announcement with 2) the network strained to the breaking point. So the network got together with the patience of its customers and made an announcement? That doesn't make any sense.

Instead, we want to communicate that the patience of the customers and the network are both strained to the breaking point. Because that opening modifier fails to do this, it's illogical, and we can toss (A) without worrying about the placement of "trying to relieve."

I hope that helps!
Show more


Hi GMATNinja,

In A, if we take AND as a parallelism trigger, and see that network (noun) is parallel with patience (noun), we can apply both these nouns to ''strained to the breaking point''. We can say, with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point and with its network strained to the breaking point, the company announced..

Why can't we do this?
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 7,443
Own Kudos:
69,784
 [1]
Given Kudos: 2,060
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
GMAT Club Tests Forum Quiz
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,443
Kudos: 69,784
 [1]
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 23 Jul 2023, 09:51
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
AcetheGMAT123
Hi GMATNinja,

In A, if we take AND as a parallelism trigger, and see that network (noun) is parallel with patience (noun), we can apply both these nouns to ''strained to the breaking point''. We can say, with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point and with its network strained to the breaking point, the company announced..

Why can't we do this?
Show more
We attempted to address this point in an earlier post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/with-the-pat ... l#p2247358.

Yes, the two "with" parts are technically parallel, but at best it makes the meaning terribly unclear. Why repeat the "with" if you want to apply the "strained" modifier to both parts? The construction in (C) is much clearer.

AcetheGMAT123
Hi,

GMATNinja, can you please explain the answer to this question? How do I eliminate all choices but one?

I am not able to understand despite reading other explanations. There are so many rules mentioned for each of the options and I am not sure if these rules are universally valid across all other GMAT questions.
Show more
Check out the posts below, and let us know if you have any specific follow-up questions!

Choice (A): https://gmatclub.com/forum/with-the-pat ... l#p2247358

Choice (B): https://gmatclub.com/forum/with-the-pat ... l#p3076230

Choice (D): "with its network and with the patience" - same issue we saw in choice (A)

Choice (E): https://gmatclub.com/forum/with-the-pat ... l#p2548299
avatar
TheUltimateWinner
avatar
Schools: Harvard '24 Judge '23 LBS '24 McCombs '24 Mendoza Tepper '24 Ross '24 Cox Marshall '24 Fisher Kelley '24 Jones McDonough '24 Owen '24 Terry BU Simon '24 Katz GWU Mason Babson Gabelli Foster '24 Goizueta '24 Scheller Stern '23 CBS '23 Booth '23 Haas '25 Wharton '25 Stanford '26 Johnson'23 Fuqua '23 Kellogg '23 Kenan-Flagler'23 INSEAD Aug 22 intake Olin '23 Said '23 Sloan '23 Carey Arizona "22 Yale '23 UC Davis Madison '23 Anderson '23 Carroll Carlson '23 Darden '23
Posts: 2,489
Kudos: 2,387
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to 02 Nov 2023, 15:11
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
With the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve the congestion that has led to at least four class-action lawsuits and thousands of complaints from frustrated customers.

(A) the patience of its customers and with its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives trying to relieve

(B) the patience of its customers and its network strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives that try to relieve

(C) its network and the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try to relieve

(D) its network and with the patience of its customers strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of initiatives to try relieving

(E) its network and its customers’ patience strained to the breaking point, the on-line service company announced a series of new initiatives to try relieving
Show more

Q1:
In choice A, does it mean the patience of network?
In choice D, does its network fail to reached the breaking point?
In choice E, customers’ is plural. So, should it be followed by plural word (patience is singular here) here in this case?
   1   2   3   4   5   6   
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7443 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
231 posts
miag
189 posts