A question of Modifier

[soundok]

6. From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.

(A) From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.
(B) The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium.
(C) The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium.
(D) What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull.
(E) Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains.

The answer is D.

But I am confused that in D "located in the back of the skull" modifies " the bony house" or " the brain"?

Is there a rule about this " A of B" modification?

[RonPurewal]

But I am confused that in D "located in the back of the skull" modifies " the bony house" or " the brain"?

yeah, i don't like that, either.

remember, though: we can't question official answers.

apparently, the rule here is that this sort of modification is ok, despite the apparent ambiguity.

if it's any consolation:
the other answer choices are INCORRECT, because they use black-and-white entities, such as pronouns, incorrectly.

remember that there's a clear hierarchy of errors:
1) correctness
2) clarity
3) concision

we could argue that the "correct" answer fails on #2. but the other answers all fail on #1, so the "correct" answer is, so to speak, the last one left standing.

[SEPY]

Hi Ron,

Could you please explain why other choices are wrong ?

[gokul_nair1984]

Could you please explain why other choices are wrong ?

(A) From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains....This incorrectly refers to the brain as cranium(It should be the bony house of the brain which is the cranium)
(B) The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium. --You cannot know knowledge!!Futhermore, misplaced modifier "located in the back of the skull", is modifying only brain.

(C) The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium. knowledge comes(not come) S-V agreement problem. Usage of which also incorrectly modifies brain.

(D) What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull. --Correct

(E) Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains. Incorrect usage of it; makes the sentence a run on/ awkward construction

Hope this helps.

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,

Could you please explain why other choices are wrong ?

please ask a more specific question than this; thanks.

what do you already understand? what don't you?
with which specific choices (and with which specific parts of those choices) were you having trouble?

[morningdew123]

Hi Ron...
Let me know if any of my reasonings is incorrect...

Also in -From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium- "which" modifies "brain" or "the bony house of the brain". In my opinion it should be "the bony house of the brain". (Kindly make this point clear, at least)


My take:
(A) From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.- placing two modifiers back to back between the principal clause is not preferable; "come" should be "comes".

(B) The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium. - "knowledge" is followed by "have" not "know"; "the cranium" seems to modify "the back of the skull".

(C) The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium. - "come" should be "comes"

(D) What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull. - correct

(E) Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains.- "this" is incorrectly used as a pronoun.

[RonPurewal]

(A) From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.- placing two modifiers back to back between the principal clause is not preferable; "come" should be "comes".

i've bolded what is by far the most important error here; that's a genuine grammatical error.
"which" is also a problem; its first association is with "brain", a noun that works with it grammatically but is the wrong noun.

if there are any native speakers of english reading this thread -- i feel safe saying that this is the sort of answer choice that native speakers should instinctively reject as "fatally awkward". unfortunately, that's an instinct that is nearly impossible for non-native speakers to develop.

(B) The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium. - "knowledge" is followed by "have" not "know"; "the cranium" seems to modify "the back of the skull".

"knowledge" + "know" is an error of REDUNDANCY, not an error of idiom.

you are correct that "the cranium" is misplaced.

i'm also about 99% sure that this use of "that is" -- directly after a comma -- is also incorrect.

(C) The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium. - "come" should be "comes"

again, yeah, that's the one loud and clear error here.

(E) Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains.- "this" is incorrectly used as a pronoun.

yes.

"scientists know what they know" also strikes me as what they would consider a redundant construction.
this construction is probably meant to trap native speakers of english; this sort of thing is used ALL THE TIME in spoken english, but has no place in the formal written language.

[rachelhong2012]

Could you please explain why other choices are wrong ?

(A) From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains....This incorrectly refers to the brain as cranium(It should be the bony house of the brain which is the cranium)
(B) The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium. --You cannot know knowledge!!Futhermore, misplaced modifier "located in the back of the skull", is modifying only brain.

(C) The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium. knowledge comes(not come) S-V agreement problem. Usage of which also incorrectly modifies brain.

(D) What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull. --Correct

(E) Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains. Incorrect usage of it; makes the sentence a run on/ awkward construction

Hope this helps.

Hi Ron,

But isn't it true that sometimes which will skip the "mission-critical" modifier to modify the noun? The mission-critical modifier is often an of-phrase that defines the noun. The less important modifier refers to the noun and plus and first modifier.

In this case, I thought

from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull

what comes after "which" is modifying "the bony house of the brain" as a whole, no?

Actually, for some reasons, my version of C doesn't have S-V issue, it's like this:

C. The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium


Hence, I was debating between C and D, but chose C eventually because I think GMAT often times, if not, most of the times, doesn't like "what" as a subject.

D. What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull

So, here, I'm wondering what is "what"?

[rachelhong2012]

D. What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull

Now come to think of it, I think besides the awkward "what" in the beginning of the sentence, it expresses the meaning of the sentence in a more concise and elegant way, clearly showing the subject is cranium and the modifier comes after the comma is compact and clear.

I also agree that there's a slight meaning confusion with:

the bony house of the brain located

It can be "the bony house of the brain" that's located XXX
or
the bony house of "the brain located xxx"

[tim]

hi Rachel, based on your follow-up post i can't tell whether you still have a question or you figured it out. let us know if you still have questions, and we'll be glad to help..

[rachelhong2012]

hi Rachel, based on your follow-up post i can't tell whether you still have a question or you figured it out. let us know if you still have questions, and we'll be glad to help..

Hi Tim,

Yes I still have questions, which is basically:

isn't it true that sometimes relative pronouns such as "which" can skip the "mission-critical" modifier to modify the noun? The mission-critical modifier is often an of-phrase that defines the noun. The less important modifier refers to the noun and plus and first modifier.

In this case, I thought

from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull

what comes after "which" is modifying "the bony house of the brain" as a whole, no?

[RonPurewal]

hi Rachel, based on your follow-up post i can't tell whether you still have a question or you figured it out. let us know if you still have questions, and we'll be glad to help..

Hi Tim,

Yes I still have questions, which is basically:

isn't it true that sometimes relative pronouns such as "which" can skip the "mission-critical" modifier to modify the noun? The mission-critical modifier is often an of-phrase that defines the noun. The less important modifier refers to the noun and plus and first modifier.

In this case, I thought

from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull

what comes after "which" is modifying "the bony house of the brain" as a whole, no?

this is correct; "which" can refer to NOUN + prepositional phrase just as well as it can refer to a noun alone.

if you are talking about choice (c), however, then you should espy the subject-verb agreement error: the subject "knowledge" doesn't match the verb "come".
the same issue is also present in choice (a), since "what scientists know" is also singular.

[jeffrey.k.l.ho]

Hi there,
I just have a quick question about the structure "From studies......"
For A, I eliminated this choice because I thought From studies.... has to modify a noun after it, so "From....... COME what scientists" is a dangling modifer?
Is this correct or no?

[RonPurewal]

Hi there,
I just have a quick question about the structure "From studies......"
For A, I eliminated this choice because I thought From studies.... has to modify a noun after it, so "From....... COME what scientists" is a dangling modifer?
Is this correct or no?

two things are wrong here.

1/
if a prepositional phrase is an initial modifier, it won't modify a noun. it will modify the whole action/clause that follows.

2/
this sentence is not prep phrase modifier + complete sentence. it's actually a sentence in backward construction.
here are two simpler examples of sentences in backward construction, the second of which has a prepositional phrase in the same location:
there are two cars in the driveway.
in the driveway are two cars.

[thanghnvn]

I understand that "come" in A is wrong. But I do not understand other errors in A.

Pls, tell and explain the other errors in A. Thank you.