Public-access cable television

[greatps24]

Public-access cable television, created in the 1970s, allows the public to broadcast over private television cables laid on public land.

a.the public to broadcast over private television cables laid
b.public broadcasting from the laying of private television cables
c.public broadcasts made from private television cables that were laid
d. that the public can broadcast using private television cables, which are laid
e. the public to broadcast because of the laying of private television cables

My doubts:

1. Shouldn't we use "allows that"?
2. In ans explanation for option D, it is written that "the modifier at the end of the sentence is changed from an essential modifier to a nonessential modifier, changing the meaning to suggest that the sentence is referring to all television cables (while the original sentence includes only those cables that are laid on public land)."

I am not able to understand , why the meaning has changed? Both

1. laid on public land.
2.which are laid on public land

are modifying "cables"

[jnelson0612]

Public-access cable television, created in the 1970s, allows the public to broadcast over private television cables laid on public land.

a.the public to broadcast over private television cables laid
b.public broadcasting from the laying of private television cables
c.public broadcasts made from private television cables that were laid
d. that the public can broadcast using private television cables, which are laid
e. the public to broadcast because of the laying of private television cables

My doubts:

1. Shouldn't we use "allows that"?
2. In ans explanation for option D, it is written that "the modifier at the end of the sentence is changed from an essential modifier to a nonessential modifier, changing the meaning to suggest that the sentence is referring to all television cables (while the original sentence includes only those cables that are laid on public land)."

I am not able to understand , why the meaning has changed? Both

1. laid on public land.
2.which are laid on public land

are modifying "cables"

Hi,
To answer your questions:

1) Consider this sentence:
"My driver's license allows me to drive."
Who is allowed? Me.

It's concise and efficient to just say "allows me" since I am the one allowed. We do not have to have "that".

In this case, the public-access cable television allows THE PUBLIC . . . "the public" is who is being allowed to do something.

2) There is one important thing to remember about the construction "comma+WHICH". The word "which" creates what is called a nonessential modifier. This is different from an essential modifier. Here are some examples:

Essential modifier: "The house that is red is mine."
In this case, the modifying phrase "that is red" is very important since it gives us essential information to help us determine which house we are talking about.

Non-essential modifier: "The house, which is red, is mine."
In this case, we are just giving additional description about the house by using the "which is red" modifier. Notice that we could easily drop "which is red" and not change the important parts of the sentence at all.

Here, the part about the cables laid on public land is not something we want to make less important by using a non-essential modifier starting with "which". Thus, we leave the modifier in an essential construction: "laid on public land".