The 151 member governments of the World Bank

[RonPurewal]

sentence structures in B and C are exactly the same:
B says: site an X (=a concern) as Y
C says: site as Y the X

So, how do we decide which one of the two is better?
thanks in advance

you're missing a very major principle here: when something describes stuff, it should be as close as possible to that stuff.

here:
"... that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses" describes "the concern".
in (c), this construction is directly next to "the concern" -- where it belongs.
in (b), it is placed needlessly far away from "the concern".

so (c) is better than (b).

[divineacclivity]

sentence structures in B and C are exactly the same:
B says: site an X (=a concern) as Y
C says: site as Y the X

So, how do we decide which one of the two is better?
thanks in advance

you're missing a very major principle here: when something describes stuff, it should be as close as possible to that stuff.

here:
"... that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses" describes "the concern".
in (c), this construction is directly next to "the concern" -- where it belongs.
in (b), it is placed needlessly far away from "the concern".

so (c) is better than (b).

I'll remember that, thank you very much.

[tim]

:)

[jyothi h]

sentence structures in B and C are exactly the same:
B says: site an X (=a concern) as Y
C says: site as Y the X

So, how do we decide which one of the two is better?
thanks in advance

you're missing a very major principle here: when something describes stuff, it should be as close as possible to that stuff.

here:
"... that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses" describes "the concern".
in (c), this construction is directly next to "the concern" -- where it belongs.
in (b), it is placed needlessly far away from "the concern".

so (c) is better than (b).

Also in B , does "that" seem to modify obstacle rather than the concern ? , Not sure if this is what you meant in your comment above.

[RonPurewal]

Also in B , does "that" seem to modify obstacle rather than the concern ? , Not sure if this is what you meant in your comment above.

that's not what i meant, but, yes, one could also argue that the usage of "that..." is unclear there.

[RonPurewal]

In choice D, "an obstacle..." is a modifier of "the concern".
As a result, choice D implies that the concern IS an obstacle.

If there were no other ideas in the sentence, then that meaning would be reasonable. However, this sentence contains "some U.S. legislators cite..."
If we meant to say that the concern IS an obstacle"”in point of fact"”then this would be nonsense. If the concern is an obstacle, then the sentence would just say that it's an obstacle; there would be no point in attributing that fact to a few legislators.

E.g.,

Many consumers have cited excess sugar as their reason for not purchasing this product. --> This makes sense; it's their personal judgment.

Many consumers have cited sugar as a carbohydrate. --> Nonsense. Sugar IS a carbohydrate; this is a fact.
If something is an incontrovertible fact, it's nonsense to attribute it to a source.

[RonPurewal]

Also, don't forget"”The GMAT does not test modifiers with commas vs. modifiers without commas.

If you see this kind of split, it's a diversion. Go find what it's trying to distract you from. (:

[VibhorS256]

Sorry to open this old thread, but can anyone please explain why has been C picked over D?

[tim]

Rey explained six years ago (!) why D is incorrect. Please read the entire thread before posting. You'll notice that Ron followed up in June 2010 regarding why D is incorrect as well. That said, you should never try to figure out why C is correct; once you have eliminated all the errors, the answer choice that is left is the one you pick.

[eggpain24]

In choice D, "an obstacle..." is a modifier of "the concern".
As a result, choice D implies that the concern IS an obstacle.

If there were no other ideas in the sentence, then that meaning would be reasonable. However, this sentence contains "some U.S. legislators cite..."
If we meant to say that the concern IS an obstacle"”in point of fact"”then this would be nonsense. If the concern is an obstacle, then the sentence would just say that it's an obstacle; there would be no point in attributing that fact to a few legislators.

E.g.,

Many consumers have cited excess sugar as their reason for not purchasing this product. --> This makes sense; it's their personal judgment.

Many consumers have cited sugar as a carbohydrate. --> Nonsense. Sugar IS a carbohydrate; this is a fact.
If something is an incontrovertible fact, it's nonsense to attribute it to a source.

so in choice D

“that” can jump to modify “concern”， since “an obstacle to congressional passage” is an non-essential modifier？

[RichaChampion]

Can someone please tell what is the problem with E ? Is it because of ambigious "it". Also can someone please tell what is the problem with A....i..e is there any reason except for kicking out based on being...

yes, the problem with (e) is "it". it's not ambiguous, though; it actually doesn't refer to anything at all. there's no noun in there, anywhere, to which "it" can refer.
("Ambiguous", in reference to pronouns, is used to refer to a pronoun that has 2 or more possible antecedents, not to refer to a noun that has no possible antecedent.)

--

"being" in (e) is not only unnecessary, but also not used idiomatically.

in general, "being" can be used in some instances where you're talking about X (specific) being a Y (general).
for instance, jake did not enjoy being a graduate student.
notice that the GENERAL category - graduate student - follows "being". the SPECIFIC (jake) doesn't.
you can't do this in reverse.
this choice tries to use the specific (the particular concern) after "being", rather than the general category (an obstacle to congressional passage). regardless of whether the usage of "being" is appropriate otherwise (which, here, it isn't anyway), you can't do that.

Mr. Purewal I checked on various forums also there is no "being" in Option E. Do you want to say "being" in Option A?
Though there is a mild confusion, but nevertheless the wisdom that you have given is of very high quality and this always make you undisputed GMAT personality over the entire world. You put these things in such a simple terminologies that makes it easy for person like me who is a Non-Native speaker of English.

[RonPurewal]

hah yeah, choice A is the only choice with the word "being", so, it's a safe bet that i was talking about that choice. (i was discussing choice E earlier in that same comment, so i probably just kept writing the same letter out of pure absent-mindedness.)

good catch, thanks. (i also fixed the original post.)

[JbhB682]

Reviving this old post ...

Question on the modifier in the red below ....

As a test taker, how can i know that the modifier refers to "concern" ....when i did this initially ...i actually thought this modifier refers to the word "Obstacle" .... why obstacle and not concern ?....... well this modifier is the reason for the obstacle ...the modifer talks about why its an obstacle

Also, alternatively, i thought the other modifier in green " congressional passage" to in fact referring to the concern...

How to avoid this mix up ?

-------------------
The 151 member governments of the World Bank are expected to increase the bank’s funding by $175 billion, though some United States legislators cite an obstacle to congressional passage being the concern that the bank’s loans will help foreign producers compete with American businesses.

B. a concern as an obstacle to congressional passage

C. as an obstacle to congressional passage the concern

D. the concern, an obstacle to congressional passage [editor: other posters have pointed out that this answer choice should also be followed by a comma]

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

The rule for modifiers starting with 'that' is quite simple and applies to all noun modifiers: they should be placed as close as possible to the noun that they're modifying. For 'that' modifiers, this means the noun just before them, as it is here.

The modifier 'to congressional passage' also follows the same rule. It's modifying the word 'obstacle'. Remember that modifiers are just ways of giving extra information about items in a sentence. We can ask the questions 'what obstacle is it?' - 'it's an obstacle to congressional passage'; 'what concern is it?' - 'it's the concern that...'

I suggest you reread the chapter on Modifiers in the SC strategy guide.