Although at one time children’s programming had been

[RonPurewal]

I can see C has a miplaced modifer.

yes it does. however, the misplaced modifier is not the one that you've identified; the initial modifier is misplaced.

specifically, "once limited..." + comma needs to modify the noun immediately following it. for more information on this kind of modifier (and related modifiers), see here:
post49102.html#p49102

Is there any exception to touch modification using - "that" ? I've read Ron's post that describes how a prepostional phrase may separate "which" from its subject. Are any such constructions allowed with "that" ?

there are lots and lots of them. in fact, the constructions that are allowed to intervene between an antecedent and "that" are sometimes rather lengthy.
for a good example, see problem #50 in the diagnostic section (not the regular sentence correction. section) of og12.

[pushkalk]

Thanks a ton Ron, I always rejected options that did not have the placement of "that" right next the object it refers. But now another place where I need to spot the prepositional phrase - is in the placement of relative pronouns.

The diagnostic example really helped to clear the misconception.

[RonPurewal]

i'm glad that the examples helped you.

in general, you should try to move away from abstract rules and toward specific examples as soon as you can. i.e., don't try to examine language by thinking about it in the abstract with a bunch of memorized rules; that's way too hard. instead, once you get to a certain level of understanding of the language (once you have a basic grasp of its rhythm, its general syntax, and its general "feel"), then just remember a couple of examples corresponding to each principle and judge future examples by analogy.
non-coincidentally, this happens to be the way in which every single person in the world learns his or her native language -- i.e., nobody, not even the nerdiest of nerds, grows up learning a language according to rules -- so there must be something to it. (:

[pratapravi.singh19]

Hi Instructors,

In this question, "now dedicated" is taken as a recent activity and not past. However, in another GMAT prep problem, you had mentioned that "now realized" is taken as past.

In the current problem, the usage of 'had' becomes wrong but in the 'ozone' problem, the usage of 'had' was correct.

Please clarify the confusion.

ozone-reaches-high-concentrations-twelve-miles-t3584.html
---
when you say "we have realized", though, this actually means that the realization took place in the PAST. (probably the recent past, but in the past nonetheless.) --- Ron
---

[namnam123]

pls help,
is the use of "although" in A correct?

[RonPurewal]

pls help,
is the use of "although" in A correct?

the presence of both "although" and "however" creates redundancy; that's an error. however, either of these constructions would be ok by itself.

[sabharwal.bhavna]

I would like to point flaws in the answer choices and the ways of improvement. Users and experts are welcome to provide their suggestions:

A.Although at one time children’s programming had been limited to a few hours a week, now, however, there are at least four cable
networks that dedicate themselves

--Wrong because of the usage of Although and However.
Will it be correct if we remove the unnecessary however?

B.With children’s programming having been limited at one time to a few hours a week, now at least four cable networks have dedicated themselves

--Having been is incorrect incorrect here...
Will it be correct if it is written as :
With children's programming been limited at one time to a few hours a week, there are now at least..

C. Once limited to a few hours a week, there are now at least four cable networks with children’s programming that dedicate themselves

--I believe that the wording children's programming is redundant here. If we write it as :
Once limited to a few hours a week, children's programming now constitute....


E. While children’s programming had once been limited to a few hours a week, at least four cable networks are now dedicated

If we write the above as :
While children's programming had once been limited to a few hours a week, there are now at least..

Kindly provide your valuable feedback.
Thanks

[RonPurewal]

I would like to point flaws in the answer choices and the ways of improvement. Users and experts are welcome to provide their suggestions:

A.Although at one time children’s programming had been limited to a few hours a week, now, however, there are at least four cable
networks that dedicate themselves

--Wrong because of the usage of Although and However.
Will it be correct if we remove the unnecessary however?

no.
the sentence describes a point observation made "at one time" -- i.e., at a specific time in the past -- so the past perfect is incorrect.

B.With children’s programming having been limited at one time to a few hours a week, now at least four cable networks have dedicated themselves

--Having been is incorrect incorrect here...
Will it be correct if it is written as :
With children's programming been limited at one time to a few hours a week, there are now at least..

definitely not. in fact, "with + NOUN + been..." would be incorrect under any circumstances.

C. Once limited to a few hours a week, there are now at least four cable networks with children’s programming that dedicate themselves

--I believe that the wording children's programming is redundant here. If we write it as :
Once limited to a few hours a week, children's programming now constitute....

that change would make the modifier work, but the resulting construction would be incompatible with the non-underlined part of the sentence.

there is also a subject-verb error in your new version: "programming" doesn't agree with "constitute".

E. While children’s programming had once been limited to a few hours a week, at least four cable networks are now dedicated

If we write the above as :
While children's programming had once been limited to a few hours a week, there are now at least..

same problem as in (a).

[namnam123]

Manhantan experts, pls, help

what is difference between "although" and " despite". I do not realize the difference.

thank yous.

[RonPurewal]

Manhantan experts, pls, help

what is difference between "although" and " despite". I do not realize the difference.

thank yous.

"despite" is a preposition. it must be followed by a noun.

"although" is a conjunction. it is normally followed by an entire clause (Although I slept for eight hours last night, I am still tired), but it can sometimes be followed by an adjective modifier (Although exhausted from a long day's work, Josh still came to help me move my furniture).

[gmatalongthewatchtower]

I would like to point flaws in the answer choices and the ways of improvement. Users and experts are welcome to provide their suggestions:

A.Although at one time children’s programming had been limited to a few hours a week, now, however, there are at least four cable
networks that dedicate themselves

--Wrong because of the usage of Although and However.
Will it be correct if we remove the unnecessary however?

no.
the sentence describes a point observation made "at one time" -- i.e., at a specific time in the past -- so the past perfect is incorrect.

Ron,
I have a question - is this example okay?

At one point, I had been exercising hard, but then I quit because my knee started ailing.

My question is - why can't we consider "at one time" as a time marker somewhere in the past? I see that there are other blatant
issues with contrasting words. However, I am not sure why the tenses are incorrect.

Regarding your comment about E) - I agree that E) doesn't have any past tense time marker. Hence, I am good with that. Appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks
GMATAlongTheWatchtower

[tim]

YOUR use of "had been exercising" is acceptable, as it indicates an ongoing activity that started before the "one point". this is not the meaning of the example Ron commented on. for what it's worth, a "had been" construction is not technically past perfect, but like Ron i don't bother to memorize names of unusual tenses, so if you want to figure out what it is i'll invite you to look it up.. :)

[jyothi h]

I can see C has a miplaced modifer.

yes it does. however, the misplaced modifier is not the one that you've identified; the initial modifier is misplaced.

specifically, "once limited..." + comma needs to modify the noun immediately following it. for more information on this kind of modifier (and related modifiers), see here:
post49102.html#p49102

Is there any exception to touch modification using - "that" ? I've read Ron's post that describes how a prepostional phrase may separate "which" from its subject. Are any such constructions allowed with "that" ?

there are lots and lots of them. in fact, the constructions that are allowed to intervene between an antecedent and "that" are sometimes rather lengthy.
for a good example, see problem #50 in the diagnostic section (not the regular sentence correction. section) of og12.

Does this mean - the usage of "that" in option C is not an issue ? and that - it is referring to cable networks with children’s programming rather than children's programming ?

[aditya8062]

@Jyothi h i guess u must have asked Ur question to Ron ,
let me try to answer u
pronoun "that" has a capacity to refer to noun which can be far flung .this is a very special property of "that"
so yes in option C "that" is referring to "cable networks" and not to "children’s programming"
one more thing :when ever u r in doubt as in to what "that" is referring then look for the verb following "that"
in this case the verb following "that" is "dedicate" ,a plural verb so "that" ought to refer "cable networks"
ps : ron plz make corrections if i am wrong

[jyothi h]

@Jyothi h i guess u must have asked Ur question to Ron ,
let me try to answer u
pronoun "that" has a capacity to refer to noun which can be far flung .this is a very special property of "that"
so yes in option C "that" is referring to "cable networks" and not to "children’s programming"
one more thing :when ever u r in doubt as in to what "that" is referring then look for the verb following "that"
in this case the verb following "that" is "dedicate" ,a plural verb so "that" ought to refer "cable networks"
ps : ron plz make corrections if i am wrong

Thank You Aditya !