SC: In attempting to solve the problems caused by a lowering

[cesar.rodriguez.blanco]

Can any instructor explain the mistakes in the following SC?

In attempting to solve the problems caused by a lowering of the price of oil, oil companies operating in the North Sea have taken a variety of approaches, which includes their reducing employment, using new technology to pump oil more efficiently from smaller fields, and finding innovative ways to cut the cost of building and operating platforms.

A. which includes their reducing employment, using new technology to pump oil
more efficiently
B. which includes reducing employment, using new technology to be more efficient in pumping oil
C. which include reducing employment, using new technology to pump oil more efficiently
D. which include the reduction of employment, their using new technology to pump oil more efficient
E. including a reduction of employment,

[vrajesh.dave]

IMO B

it uses correct tense in the sentence.

[sunny.jain]

IMO : C

....variety of approaches, <-- which
include ( Subject - verb agreement)
Parallelism:
reducing employment,
using new technology to pump oil more efficiently from smaller fields,
and finding innovative ways to cut the cost of building and operating platforms.

I think E option is incomplete, The split was in between C and E.

A,B,D are clear wrong.

[RonPurewal]

in brief:

A. which includes their reducing employment, using new technology to pump oil
more efficiently

"approaches" is plural, so the singular "which includes" is inappropriate.

B. which includes reducing employment, using new technology to be more efficient in pumping oil

"approaches" is plural, so the singular "which includes" is inappropriate.

C. which include reducing employment, using new technology to pump oil more efficiently

this is the correct answer.

notice the plural "include" (to go with the plural subject "approaches").
also notice the parallelism of "reducing", "using", and the non-underlined and therefore obligatory "finding".

D. which include the reduction of employment, their using new technology to pump oil more efficient

total lack of parallelism.

of the the three elements - "the reduction of...", "their using...", and just "finding..." - NONE are parallel. they are all different.
total parallelism disaster.

E. including a reduction of employment,

you didn't give the entirety of this choice, but "a reduction" is already nonparallel to "finding...". therefore, wrong.

[tkotw79]

Is the usage of " (comma) including" in option E correct.

If not, what is the correct usage for the same.

Thanks and Rgds

[RonPurewal]

There's no problem with "including".

[addict1ve]

Hi Ron,

My understanding so far was that we always use 'than' with comparative words such as 'more', 'less', etc.

However, the correct answer in this question makes me think whether the above stated rule is always applicable in GMAT?

Maybe I am missing some fundamentals here, would appreciate your help!

Cheers

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,

My understanding so far was that we always use 'than' with comparative words such as 'more', 'less', etc.

Only if both halves of the comparison appear explicitly. If one of them is implicit, then no "than".

E.g., a city government can enact incentives for people to drive less.
You could also say "...than they do now", but that's unnecessary for comprehension.

[eggpain24]

Hi，Ron

I have seen your post，saying the difference between “including” vs. “include”

I get the correct choices based on parallelism


but I am curious about the split of “including” vs. “include”

in correct choice C
is it ”a variety of approaches, which include reducing“ literally meaning that ” approaches inlcude sth.“（thus weird？）

I am not questioning the right answer，I am sure that C is undoubtedly the best~

Thank you!

[prepp]

Hi Ron,

Please can you explain this:,

" ,which" can modify immediate preceding noun or noun + prep phrase

How should we approach this?

is " ,which" modifying variety of approaches -- then the subject will be variety and thus the verb will be singular?

VS

Shall we consider it as modifying approaches?

When should the distinction be made - please help explain

If we always look for the nearest eligible word then it must modify approaches, but then again how does one know that?

In the below example - which modifies lake or Earth? Why isn't Earth the eligible noun because logically it can't cover more than four times the surface... only the lake can?

It is called a sea, but the landlocked Caspian is actually the largest lake on Earth, which covers more than four times the surface area of its closest rival in size, North America's Lake Superior.

A. It is called a sea, but the landlocked Caspian is actually the largest lake on Earth, which covers
B. Although it is called a sea, actually the landlocked Caspian is the largest lake on Earth, which covers
C. Though called a sea, the landlocked Caspian is actually the largest lake on Earth, covering
D. Though called a sea but it actually is the largest lake on Earth, the landlocked Caspian covers
E. Despite being called a sea, the largest lake on Earth is actually the landlocked Caspian, covering

in brief:

A. which includes their reducing employment, using new technology to pump oil
more efficiently

"approaches" is plural, so the singular "which includes" is inappropriate.

B. which includes reducing employment, using new technology to be more efficient in pumping oil

"approaches" is plural, so the singular "which includes" is inappropriate.

C. which include reducing employment, using new technology to pump oil more efficiently

this is the correct answer.

notice the plural "include" (to go with the plural subject "approaches").
also notice the parallelism of "reducing", "using", and the non-underlined and therefore obligatory "finding".

D. which include the reduction of employment, their using new technology to pump oil more efficient

total lack of parallelism.

of the the three elements - "the reduction of...", "their using...", and just "finding..." - NONE are parallel. they are all different.
total parallelism disaster.

E. including a reduction of employment,

you didn't give the entirety of this choice, but "a reduction" is already nonparallel to "finding...". therefore, wrong.

[RonPurewal]

the point is that "which covers..." SHOULD be placed next to "the Caspian" -- since that's the thing that it's actually describing.

"the largest lake on earth" is a DESCRIPTION OF the Caspian.
thus, things that are meant to modify "the caspian" itself should not be attached to that.

[AnirbanM72]

the point is that "which covers..." SHOULD be placed next to "the Caspian" -- since that's the thing that it's actually describing.

"the largest lake on earth" is a DESCRIPTION OF the Caspian.
thus, things that are meant to modify "the caspian" itself should not be attached to that.

I know that a proportion of X/ percentage of X/ fraction of X- all these take plural forms. Example- proportion of women work. / X Percentage of students are all Chinese.
So, for a variety of approaches, can we assume that a variety of X always take plural forms.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Don't get tangled up here; it rather depends on the context. Your examples are somewhat ambiguous. Sure, we would say '15% of students are Chinese.', but we'd also say 'The percentage of Chinese students has increased.' The same would apply to variety.

Note, with this problem, GMAT provides more than the include / includes split in any case.