Marconi’s conception of the radio

[JustinCKN]

Hi Ron:
Choice D:
Marconi conceived of the radio to be a tool for private conversation, a substitute for the telephone, which has become precisely the opposite,...

Can "which has become.." "modify "a tool for private conversation" rather than the telephone.
Namely can I remove the middle part "a substitute for the telephone." ,then "which has..." can modify "a tool for private conversation."

My line of thought comes from example from Manhattan Sentence Correction : Mary buys cookies made with SugarFree, an artificial sweetener,which tastes as sweet as the corn syrup.
Which tastes ... modify "SugarFree." rather than sweetener.

Thanks .
Sincerely.
JustinCKN.

[RonPurewal]

there's no precedent in any GMAC problem for doing something like that.

GMAC has only used "which" in the two ways i described here:
usage-of-which-t746-15.html#p104933

if the SC guide does that, then that problem needs to be taken out of there, since, again, there's no precedent for that (and the whole power of "which", for elimination purposes, relies on the fact that it can't be used in ways beyond those two). hmm. thanks.

[JustinCKN]

there's no precedent in any GMAC problem for doing something like that.

GMAC has only used "which" in the two ways i described here:
usage-of-which-t746-15.html#p104933

if the SC guide does that, then that problem needs to be taken out of there, since, again, there's no precedent for that (and the whole power of "which", for elimination purposes, relies on the fact that it can't be used in ways beyond those two). hmm. thanks.

Thanks Ron!
The sentence comes from [ Sentence Correction 5th : Chapter Modifier - Problem Set No5.]:
Mary buys cookies made with SugarFree, an artificial sweetener, which tastes as sweet as the corn syrup that her brother loves but which contains fewer calories than does an equivalent amount of corn syrup.

Explanation of Sentence Correction is:
"which tastes as sweet..." this clause modifies SugarFree. Normally a relative clause should touch the noun that it modifies,but we are generally allowed to place an appositive between a relative clause and the modified noun.

I think the explanation is reasonable. Can I think "appositive is placed between the noun and the relative clause" is an exception to the usage-of-which-t746-15.html#p104933
, or the sentence should be removed from the Sentence Correction?

Sorry to ask the question for the second time.
Thanks.
Sincerely.
JustinCKN.

[RonPurewal]

there's no precedent for that kind of thing in any official problem. so, yeah, you should ignore that.

[ZoeZ42]

hi ron
you say: (b) contains this "which..." that's clearly not parallel to anything.
Isn't "which...." parallel to "a tool for private conversation"? Why do you think that "which" is not parallel to anything?
Because "a tool for private conversation" is appositive modifier and "which..." isn't appositive modifier?
Thanks!

Sorry, I don't know the terminology.

They're not even modifying the same thing, though. "A tool..." is the telephone, but "which is xxx" describes the radio. Clearly it's not possible to put two descriptions of different things into a parallel structure.

Hi RON,
please clarify my misunderstanding

Marconi conceived of the radio as a substitute for the telephone, a tool for private conversation, but which is precisely the opposite, a tool for communicating with a large, public audience.

IMO, "a tool for private conversation," is set off by a pair comma, it is additional info, so i think "a substitute for the telephone" and "which is precisely the opposite" are parallel, clearly, both description are radio,

i have no idea about my misunderstanding, please help....


one more question: the antecedent of which in B and D.

(B) Marconi conceived of the radio as a substitute for the telephone, a tool for private conversation, but which is precisely the opposite, a tool for communicating with a large, public audience
which stand for tool , right? why doesn't stand for telephone.....

(D) Marconi conceived of the radio to be a tool for private conversation, a substitute for the telephone, which has become precisely the opposite, a tool for communicating with a large, public audience
which stand for telephone, right? or stands for tool?

how to identify antecedent if insert a modifier set off a pair commas.



thanks a lot

have a nice day...

hope won't wait for a long time

>_~

[RonPurewal]

IMO, "a tool for private conversation," is set off by a pair comma, it is additional info, so i think "a substitute for the telephone" and "which is precisely the opposite" are parallel, clearly, both description are radio,

if that's your interpretation, then you have...
• He conceived of the radio as a substitute for the telephone
• He conceived of the radio as which is precisely the opposite
this clearly doesn't work. so, not parallel.

[RonPurewal]

thus far, GMAC has only used "which xxxx" in two different ways in the correct answers. those are here:
usage-of-which-t746-15.html#p104933

choice D does neither of these things. (in fact, accordingly, choice D would be suggesting that the telephone is a tool for communicating with huge audiences!)
so... nope.

[RonPurewal]

also—i am just now realizing that this is an OG problem, not a GMAT Prep problem. there can be NO further discussion of this problem until someone posts a SCREEN SHOT FROM THE GMAT PREP FREE SOFTWARE.

this thread should not have been allowed to go on for as long as it has.

thank you.

[MdAbuAsad]

Marconi’s conception of the radio was as a substitute for the telephone, a tool for private conversation; instead, it is precisely the opposite, a tool for communicating with a large, public audience.
A. Marconi’s conception of the radio was as a substitute for the telephone, a tool for private conversation; instead, it is
B. Marconi conceived of the radio as a substitute for the telephone, a tool for private conversation, but which is
C. Marconi conceived of the radio as a tool for private conversation that could substitute for the telephone; instead, it has become
D. Marconi conceived of the radio to be a tool for private conversation, a substitute for the telephone, which has become
E. Marconi conceived of the radio to be a substitute for the telephone, a tool for private conversation, other than what it is

When I see this question first time, i've seen that there is a 'it' in three option e.g., A. C, and E but their intended noun is two (may be it is Radio, or may be it is Telephone). So, I immediately thought that there is a pronoun ambiguity in A, C, and E. So, I cross out these three options because there is no pronoun in B and in D. But, at the end of the time I picked wrong answer choice. I'm really bothered in pronoun issue. So, can you please help me WHY 'it' refers to radio not Television. If I emphasize on meaning, then it is easily understood that 'it' is used to refer 'radio'. But, the guy who did not understand the meaning of this sentence, HOW can s/he pick C by seeing grammar issue?
Thanks...

[RonPurewal]

it's IMPOSSIBLE for "the guy who did not understand the meaning of this sentence" to solve these problems. this is THE ENTIRE POINT OF GMAT SENTENCE CORRECTION—it REQUIRES a common-sense understanding of the intended meaning.

[GinaL401]

Hi,
Can I split the sentences for " conceived of the radio as a substitute for telephone"?
because I think radio should be compare with tool rather than substitute.
radio is a tool - looks nice
radio is a substitute - awkward

[RonPurewal]

no, both of those interpretations make sense.

"conceived" is just a fancy way of saying "thought".

He thought of the radio as a tool for private conversation —> makes sense
He thought of the radio as a substitute for the telephone —> also makes sense