Last night our air conditioner broke

[ParthJ26]

Dear Instructors,

Hi.

I have searched innumerable posts on the forum before posting this but I'm struggling with a couple of points. Kindly help me on this one.


A. SC guide, Pg 73, Q11 and Pg 67

1. Crime has recently decreased in our neighbourhood, leading to a rise in property values.

Ron, in innumerable posts on the Verbal Forum, has agreed that the above sentence is incorrect even though it is marked RIGHT in the guide.

If this sentence is incorrect, then why is the following sentence correct?

Q11. Last night our air conditioner broke, causing great consternation.

1. COMMA + ING :- Causing great consternation acts as an adverbial modifier (present participial phrase) and modifies the entire clause (SUBJECT + CLAUSE) of the preceding sentence. the AC broke ---> causing great consternation.

2. it is also a direct consequence of the previous clause.

3. However, my problem with the sentence is that the subject of the previous clause (air conditioner) - IS NOT the agent of the - ING clause. Our air conditioner did not cause great consternation. Since this condition was not satisfied, I couldn't understand how this sentence is correct.

B. Pg 59 - BOTTOM

1. The box of nails, which is nearly full, belongs to Jean.

the guide says that the essential modifier (of nails) trumps a non-essential modifier ( COMMA + WHICH).

In this case, the which modifier refers to the closest preceding main noun - BOX. It does not refer to NAILS because nails is the object of preposition "of".

Clear till here. However, then I came across the following sentence in the problem set:

Q8.

The tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, which is on the border between Nepal and Tibet. RIGHT.

My question:

How can "WHICH" refer back to Mount Everest and not mountain -- since Mount Everest is also the direct object of a verb?

Main point: what will be and will not be considered a closest preceding main noun for "which" to refer back to?

Would really like your thoughts on this one.

Thanks.

Parth Jain

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Ron, in innumerable posts on the Verbal Forum, has agreed that the above sentence is incorrect even though it is marked RIGHT in the guide.

I'm not aware of this sentence being wrong and I can't find Ron's posts saying so.

Q11. Last night our air conditioner broke, causing great consternation.
3. However, my problem with the sentence is that the subject of the previous clause (air conditioner) - IS NOT the agent of the - ING clause. Our air conditioner did not cause great consternation. Since this condition was not satisfied, I couldn't understand how this sentence is correct.

The point of comma -ing modifiers is that they modify the clause that comes before. The fact that the air conditioner broke caused the consternation, not the air conditioner itself.

The tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, which is on the border between Nepal and Tibet. RIGHT.
My question:
How can "WHICH" refer back to Mount Everest and not mountain -- since Mount Everest is also the direct object of a verb?

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p128494

It looks like you have a tendency to over-complicate things.

[ParthJ26]

Ron, in innumerable posts on the Verbal Forum, has agreed that the above sentence is incorrect even though it is marked RIGHT in the guide.

I'm not aware of this sentence being wrong and I can't find Ron's posts saying so.

Q11. Last night our air conditioner broke, causing great consternation.
3. However, my problem with the sentence is that the subject of the previous clause (air conditioner) - IS NOT the agent of the - ING clause. Our air conditioner did not cause great consternation. Since this condition was not satisfied, I couldn't understand how this sentence is correct.

The point of comma -ing modifiers is that they modify the clause that comes before. The fact that the air conditioner broke caused the consternation, not the air conditioner itself.

The tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, which is on the border between Nepal and Tibet. RIGHT.
My question:
How can "WHICH" refer back to Mount Everest and not mountain -- since Mount Everest is also the direct object of a verb?

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p128494

It looks like you have a tendency to over-complicate things.

Hi Sage.

I am sorry if I have troubled you over the last few days. I will focus on what you have said.

This is the link to Ron's post saying that the "Crime --leading to a rise in property values" example from the Guide is Incorrect.

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... sed#p97012

Hope you can now clarify.

Thanks so much, Sage!

Best,

Parth Jain

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Well, I disagree with Ron on this one, although I don't think it matters for GMAT (I've never seen a problem testing that particular issue of comma -ing modifiers). Look at problems 714 and 759 from the Official Guide 2018 for the way that GMAT problems use such modifiers.