The computer company has announced that it will purchase the

[RonPurewal]

I also assumed that if a modifier modifies a clause, a comma will separate it and the clause.

No, not necessarily.
Many people work two jobs to make ends meet.
I like to read books in the car.
Etc.

You may be thinking about "no comma + __ing" vs. "comma + __ing", in which the comma (or lack of one) signals the distinction between those two modifiers. But, in general, no.

[RonPurewal]

#1:
The GMAT doesn't test punctuation, so this question is irrelevant to the exam.

You'll only have to acknowledge punctuation if it actually creates a different grammatical element. E.g., an __ing modifier without a comma is different from an __ing modifier with one.

[RonPurewal]

#2:
Basically, you can follow a sentence with "as + NOUN" if NOUN somehow describes, explains, or sums up the information in the preceding sentence.

"As a result" is probably the most common version of this construction, but there are many others.
Bebe gave Dan a book as a gift.
As a way of identifying and protecting its intellectual property, Google includes in its maps many small, unobtrusive geographical features that do not actually exist in the real world.

[RonPurewal]

By the way, I still not sure if it's a good way to learn GMAT SC by summarizing and remembering grammar principles.

Learning rules as generalizations is definitely a bad idea. Even if you've learned a huge number of generalizations, it's not possible to recognize the situations to which they apply, and then to apply them, within a decent time.

Instead, you should remember easy examples of the constructions you learn"”until you know those constructions well enough to use them instinctively, without reference to the examples.

Think about how you learned your first language as a child. How many "rules" or "generalizations" did you learn?
Zero.
You just saw and heard thousands and thousands and thousands of examples"”and made analogies to them"”until you had "absorbed" the constructions to which you had been exposed.
If you learned "rules", you learned them only in retrospect. (E.g., kids already make subjects and verbs agree, long before they have any idea what "subject" and "verb" mean.)

[RonPurewal]

Finally"”As far as the GMAT is concerned, you should make sure that you're tailoring your learning to a multiple-choice test.

Specifically...

* Don't worry about how to edit or re-write sentences.
Of all the ways in which students waste their time, this is easily the most significant.
You'll never have to "edit" or "fix" anything. Every problem is multiple-choice. (Even if you do come up with a "fixed" version of the sentence, the chance that it will match one of the answer choices is very low.)

* Focus on RECOGNITION.
You're emphasizing "grammar principles". That's the wrong emphasis.
Most of the "grammar principles" tested on the GMAT"”including all of the major ones (S-V agreement, parallelism, pronoun agreement, overall structure)"”are straightforward. The problem doesn't lie in knowing the "principles"; the problem lies in seeing what's actually tested in each problem.

* Look for the big things first.
Look for the following before you think about anything else, ever:
"” Parallelism (always #1"”always. If you don't see parallel structures, you'll mistake them for individual decisions.)
"” Pronoun agreement
"” S-V agreement
"” Overall sentence structure (Is the whole thing actually a sentence?)
"” Placement (Are chunks of words moved around to different locations?)
"” Use of modifiers.

If you can find these six things every time, you will already be able to get almost every SC problem correct.
Everything else is mostly distractions.

[RonPurewal]

As far as avoiding distractions, make sure you've read the following.

post96657.html#p96657

[thanghnvn]

The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million, which is part of a deal that will make it the largest manufacturer in the office color-printing market.
A) million, which is part of a deal that will make
B) million, a part of a deal that makes
C) million, part of a deal making
D) million as a part of a deal to make
E) million as part of a deal that will make

What does "as part of" modify? The entire preceding clause?

Thanks in advance.

it is incorrect that "a part/part" in B and C must modify $950 grammartically

the main problem in B and C is that "part/a part" can modify the main clause "has announced" or subordinate clause " will purchase" . this modification is ambiguous.

in E, it is clear that "as part..." modify the "will purchase" .

this is very hard problem. though I choose the correct answer I do so , using intuition/my ear not using logic reasoning.

it is hard for us to use logic reasoning for the problems like this one. if this problem is not at 40 verbal level, the problem is not good because getting it correct is based on intuition more than on logic reasoning, solving it by using logic reasoning too hard.

who can solve this problem for 2 minute if they do not use intuition/ear ?

[RonPurewal]

Yes, you need a certain amount of intuition"”but the same is true for just about any problem, on any test, ever.

[EvanL786]

I didn't find "it" in D is wrong, since it is sort of a difficult split.
I cross out D, because the meaning of E seems same to the meaning of original sentence and D changes the meaning.
Dear instructors, what do you think of this approach?
Thanks in advance.

[RonPurewal]

in terms of meaning, choice A carries no more priority than does any other answer choice.

when you're judging meaning, the only issue is "does this meaning align with context and/or common sense?" if yes, then the meaning is fine. if no, eliminate.

"the original meaning" is not really a thing.
if the original (= choice A) clashes with the context, or is just not reasonable according to ordinary common sense, then the correct answer MUST change the meaning!

[gmatkiller_24]

Remember that no GMAT question has ever depended on the use of "a"/"an"/"the".
It's extremely unlikely that GMAC will ever write a question that turns on the use of a/an/the, because doing so would discriminate heavily in favor of speakers of certain languages and heavily against those of others. (E.g., French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, etc. have words that correspond almost exactly to these, while Russian, Japanese, Korean, etc. have no such words at all.)

So, my recommendation here is not to worry about "part of" vs. "a part of". If you see a split on "a"/"an"/"the", it is almost certainly there to distract you from other, more fundamental issues.

Here, you can eliminate C on the basis of "making", which implies an action in the same timeframe as the rest of the sentence. The sentence is in the present ("has announced"), so that doesn't make sense.

For E, does as convey the same meaning as function as?

I don't understand.

a little bit doubt here.

in choice C

why should "making" adopt the tense from the preceding clause, namely that " it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company for $950 million"

is it always the case that " making " should adopt the tense from the main clause ?

Thanks, Ron!

[RonPurewal]

even in that case the "__ing" doesn't make sense, since the action is still not contemporaneous (the company will not be "the largest manufacturer in xxxxx" until the deal is concluded).

[CarrieL721]

Dear Ron,

I have two questions, please kindly reply them, thank you.
1. when I read the 6th Manhattan sentence correction, in Chapter 10- Absolute phrase, there is an example: "His head held high, Owen walked out of the store". I was wondering whether I am correct to understand that absolute phrases are composed of a noun plus a noun modifier and act as adverb. If so, then in this case, C, "making.." can modify "a part of deal", and the whole phrase is an absolute phrase and can modify the preceding sentence.

2. in your last respond to this question, you said that in C, "making it the largest..." is not contemporaneous with "it will purchase", but I remember that "comma, v-ing" can be used to describe "happen in the same time with the preceding sentence" or "the result of the preceding sentence" . Thereby, I think in this case, "a part of deal making it the largest..." is the result of the preceding, and it also share the same time-frame with the preceding sentence, having the same meaning of "will make it the largest... "

Thank you in advance!

[RonPurewal]

2. in your last respond to this question, you said that in C, "making it the largest..." is not contemporaneous with "it will purchase", but I remember that "comma, v-ing" can be used to describe "happen in the same time with the preceding sentence" or "the result of the preceding sentence" . Thereby, I think in this case, "a part of deal making it the largest..." is the result of the preceding, and it also share the same time-frame with the preceding sentence, having the same meaning of "will make it the largest... "

Thank you in advance!

no. even when the __ing describes a result, that result MUST still occur at the time of the main action. it cannot be something that occurs in any later timeframe.

e.g.,

Joshua was struck by a car, dying instantly from the impact.
--> this sentence works, because the death was instant--i.e., in the same timeframe as "joshua was struck by a car".

Joshua was struck by a car, dying from the injuries twenty minutes later.
--> this sentence is incorrect, because "dying" (the result) is no longer contemporaneous with "joshua was struck by a car".

[RonPurewal]

please kindly reply them, thank you.

as opposed to...?

(:

1. when I read the 6th Manhattan sentence correction, in Chapter 10-

* different topic = different forum thread

* this is the wrong folder for questions about the strategy guides; please post this question in the correct (MGMAT non-CAT) folder. thank you.