OG12 - Diagnostic Test - 43

[liuyff]

Manhattan GMAT Guide 8 mentions that "A NOUN and its MODIFIER should TOUCH each other"

The question 43 in Diagnostic Test of OG12 has C "...., the proportion of judges and partners at major law firms who are women has not risen comparably" as correct answer and explains as below,

"Who are women" next to law firms but the explanation is "The modifying clause who are women follows (1) judges and (2) partners at major law firms as closely as is possible given the content of the sentense; this positioning has the virtue of being clear in its meaning"

Then what's the rule to judge "as closely as is possible"?

choice (B) "......, the proportion of women judges and partners at major law firms have not risen comparably" seems to put modifier "as closely as is possible"

But OG further explains "women applies only to judges, not to partners at major law firms" I am puzzled on why "X and Y" can't be treated as one thing here. Is it right to say "the proportion of women judges and women partners at major law firms has not risen comparably"? Then is it better than choice C since women touch the noun now?

[RonPurewal]

Then what's the rule to judge "as closely as is possible"?

Kill the choices that have definite errors.
Look at the choices that remain.
Keep the one(s) in which the modifier is closest to the thing it's describing.

In the problem you're citing, choice (B) is gone because "the proportion ... have" doesn't work. Subject-verb disagreement.

But OG further explains "women applies only to judges, not to partners at major law firms" I am puzzled on why "X and Y" can't be treated as one thing here. Is it right to say "the proportion of women judges and women partners at major law firms has not risen comparably"? Then is it better than choice C since women touch the noun now?

The problem is that you have to say "the proportion of X who do Y / are Y".
So, "the proportion of women judges..." implies that you're taking a percentage of the pool of women judges. E.g., the proportion of women judges who own dogs is the answer to the question "Of all women judges, what % own dogs?"

The problem with just saying "the proportion of women judges" is that (a) it doesn't convey the intended meaning, and, in fact, (b) it doesn't mean anything, since it's missing the "who do Y / are Y" part described above.