Sales of wines declined in the 1980s

[joehurundas]

Sales of wines declined in the late 1980s, but they began to grow again after the 1991 report that linked moderate consumption of alcohol, and particularly of red wine, with a reduced risk of heart disease.

A)...
B) after the 1991 report that linked a reduced risk of heart disease with a moderate alcohol consumption, particularly red wine, they began growing again
C) in a 1991 report, moderate alcohol consumption, and particularly of red wine, which was linked with a reduced risk of heart disease, caused them to begin to grow again
D) with a reduced risk of heart disease linked in a 1991 report with moderate alcohol consumption, in particular red wine, they began growing again
E) a reduced risk of heart disease linked to moderate alcohol consumption in a 1991 report, and in particular red wine, started them growing again

I would appreciate an assistance here as it relates to general concepts when attacking this type of question; the "sales of wines..., but they..." "they", I can infer, refers to "sales". However, I am unable to get a clear-cut understanding of: NOUN + PREPOSITION...PRONOUN structure.

Please, I would be grateful for an expert opinion.

[mschwrtz]

I don't think that I understand your question. Here, the subject pronoun "they" of the subordinate clause refers to the subject "sales" of the main clause. The prepositional phrases "of wines" and "in the late 1980s" don't affect that.

If you have a main clause and a subordinate clause, this relationship will generally obtain: subject pronouns will have subject antecedents, and object pronouns will have object antecedents. There are exceptions. If the subject pronoun doesn't match the other subject (one is plural the other singular, one is personal the other impersonal, etc.) then the pronoun will have another antecedent. But such subtleties won't often distinguish right from wrong on the GMAT. Ambiguity of pronoun reference is a pretty unusual issue on the GMAT

Were you wondering whether the pronoun "they" might refer to "wines"? No, not unless "sales" were grammatically ineligible. Consider, "The mother of the bride was anxious because she was twenty minutes late." "She" should be understood to refer to the "the mother," because both are subjects. It makes for a pretty lousy sentence though, especially since some people spuriously suppose that a pronoun refers to whatever eligible noun is closest. I've never seen a correct answer on the GMAT that that was that hard to follow. On the other hand, consider, "The father of the bride was anxious because she was twenty minutes late." "She" can't very well refer to the "the father," and so must refer to "the bride." That would be fine.

[natzmyid]

Can you please explain if the use of 'and' in 'and particularly of alcohol' is correct(required). The sentence seems fine without it.

I cannot imagine getting such questions with ambiguities right. Is there any specific grammar rules that may be useful.Appreciate if you can tell me a way around it. Thanks.

[Viswanathan.harsha]

Is the correct answer B for this question?

[sm.proclivity]

The correct answer is is choice A. The phrase "particularly of red wine" modifies the "moderate consumption of alcohol". Its understood that it is the consumption and not the red winethat is responsible for the reduced heart risk and hence correct ans is option A.

But what if the sentence say:
Sales of wines declined in the late 1980’s, but they began to to grow again after t h e 1991 report that linked moderate consumption of alcohol,particularly red wine, with a reduced risk of heart disease.

What is wrong with the above format?
In the above format i infer that red wine is considered as a preference of alcohol and so in entirety the sentence means its the consumption of alcohol/red wine that does the essential.

[mschwrtz]

Can you please explain if the use of 'and' in 'and particularly of alcohol' is correct(required). The sentence seems fine without it.

You're right. Correct either way.

[mschwrtz]

sm.proclivity, I too think that that would be fine.

[prepgmat09]

I have seen several experts mention that whenever one sees "comma + and" on GMAT SC, one should always check that the parts of sentence before and after the "comma + and" are independent clauses. However, this is one sentence that violates this rule, because "comma + and" is followed by a noun modifier.

For a noun modifier to be effective (with some exceptions as given in strategy guide), the modifier should touch the noun that it modifies. In this question, this is also not the case, because of the presence of "and" between "alcohol" and "particularly red wine".

Could you please explain if there is a rule that I am missing here?

[cnliujiang]

I have same questions here as well. Can the "particularly red wine" be a apposition to further explain "alcohol consumption"?

From OG's explain, it looks like "alcohol consumption" is incorrect but must use "consumption of alcohol". I do remember in the strategy book there is a section talking about this. Is this correct?

For "D", can i say in particular red wine (consumption), consumption is omitted here?

[mschwrtz]

I have seen several experts mention that whenever one sees "comma + and" on GMAT SC, one should always check that the parts of sentence before and after the "comma + and" are independent clauses. However, this is one sentence that violates this rule, because "comma + and" is followed by a noun modifier.

This sentence is not the only exception to that rule.

[edit: it's not even really an exception -- if you notice, the parts before and after the comma + and are genuinely complete sentences in their own right. sure, one of them is preceded by some sort of modifier, but don't forget that modifiers are grammatically disposable -- if the construction is grammatically viable without the modifier, then it's also grammatically viable with the modifier in place.]

Another obvious exception is a sentence in which the and precedes the last element in a list of at least three elements. A less obvious exception is a sentence like the one below, in which the comma before the and marks a pause and is necessary to prevent the reader from treating fixed and crashed as parallel.

He borrowed the car before the owner fixed the brakes, and crashed.

There are a couple of similar sentences in the OG or on GMATPrep.

For a noun modifier to be effective (with some exceptions as given in strategy guide), the modifier should touch the noun that it modifies. In this question, this is also not the case, because of the presence of "and" between "alcohol" and "particularly red wine".

In a series of parallel modifiers only the first will touch the noun. See page 235 of the SC guide.

[maribelsalazar02]

why isn't the answer B? I still can't see it exactly.. Thanks!

[RonPurewal]

why isn't the answer B? I still can't see it exactly.. Thanks!

the main issue with choice (b) is the following modifier construction:
"... moderate alcohol consumption, particularly red wine, ..."

if you're going to use an appositive modifier (basically, comma + NOUN), then the appositive modifier must actually describe what is to the left of the comma.
this doesn't happen here: "(particularly) red wine" is not an example of "alcohol consumption". note that it's an example of alcohol itself, but not an example of alcohol consumption.

for more details about these appositive modifiers, check out the study hall recording for september 23 at the following link:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/thursdays-with-ron.cfm

--

on the other hand, notice that the modifier in the correct answer circumvents this issue by using "particularly of red wine". this time, this is something that really does describe consumption of alcohol, rather than alcohol itself -- consumption of red wine.

[vijayjakhotia]

As per the MGMAT SC Guide Page - 55, it clearly tells that if we have just two things in the list ' X and Y' then we don't require a comma.

Can someone please explain Option A based on the above context?

consumption of alcohol, and particularly of red wine, with a..

Here we have two things:
Consumption of Alcohol and Consumption of Red wine -> Why do we require a comma?

[RonPurewal]

As per the MGMAT SC Guide Page - 55, it clearly tells that if we have just two things in the list ' X and Y' then we don't require a comma.

Can someone please explain Option A based on the above context?

consumption of alcohol, and particularly of red wine, with a..

Here we have two things:
Consumption of Alcohol and Consumption of Red wine -> Why do we require a comma?

there are lots and lots and lots and lots of exceptions to punctuation "rules" -- mostly based on rhetorical concerns (emphasis, irony, etc.).
fortunately, punctuation is NOT tested on the gmat.

basically, you should use punctuation as a guideline for understanding sentences, but you should NOT try to eliminate choices by using "punctuation errors". that is not something that is tested on this exam.

one less thing for you to worry about!

[samwong]

Under test conditions, what would be a good approach to attack this question?
When you can't find any error in the first choice, do you check the remaining choices to make sure that you didn't miss any errors?
Since there is no error in the first choice, how do you do a quick split for B, C, D, and E for this problem?

Thank you.