The number of people flying first

[amit1234]

Sorry for bumping into the old thread here. I didn't quite get the idea of appositive modifier. 'Twice' is actually an adverb. Doesn't 'twice - followed by a comma' work as a adverbial modifier and therefore will modify the entire clause preceeding the comma?

if you want, you can just memorize this an idiom, but "twice Y" / "X times Y" can definitely be used as an appositive.

" Doubling the increase ..." in choice a is sounding like previous year is getting increased by itself. Can someone please clarify ?

nope. ironically, this is the adverbial modifier.
COMMA + -ING is ALWAYS an adverbial modifier, and ALWAYS modifies the entirety of the preceding clause (whether you want it to or not!)
in this case, that's precisely what we want to do, so this is the winner.

--

by the way, you can strike (d) and (e) without even seeing the prompt.
as soon as you see "twice as many as the increase...", these choices are automatically incorrect (since "increase" is not a countable quantity).

Hi Ron,
you said INg modifier modifies whole clause preceding it. But I thought ING modifiers should modify the noun it follows.

Also, Appositive absolute type modifiers can modify the whole idea in the following clause.

I am right?

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,
you said INg modifier modifies whole clause preceding it. But I thought ING modifiers should modify the noun it follows.

well, you're neglecting the massive difference between (comma + ING) and (no comma + ING).

the former modifies the preceding clause, if it's actually preceded by a clause. if it's only preceded by a noun (see OG12 #21), then it modifies the noun.

the latter modifies the noun.

Also, Appositive absolute type modifiers can modify the whole idea in the following clause.

I am right?

no such thing as an "appositive absolute" modifier; those two names represent two different types of modifiers.

[amit1234]

Hi Ron,
you said INg modifier modifies whole clause preceding it. But I thought ING modifiers should modify the noun it follows.

well, you're neglecting the massive difference between (comma + ING) and (no comma + ING).

the former modifies the preceding clause, if it's actually preceded by a clause. if it's only preceded by a noun (see OG12 #21), then it modifies the noun.

the latter modifies the noun.

Also, Appositive absolute type modifiers can modify the whole idea in the following clause.

I am right?

no such thing as an "appositive absolute" modifier; those two names represent two different types of modifiers.

I mean to say appositive modifier. structure like one below.

The magician pulled a rabbit out of a hat, a trick he perfected over many years of practice.

here 'a trick ' modifies the entire preceding clause 'The magician pulled a rabbit out of a hat'

I am still not clear when ING modifier modifies noun and when it modifies clause. can you give few examples plz.

[jp.jprasanna]

Hi Ron,
you said INg modifier modifies whole clause preceding it. But I thought ING modifiers should modify the noun it follows.

well, you're neglecting the massive difference between (comma + ING) and (no comma + ING).

the former modifies the preceding clause, if it's actually preceded by a clause. if it's only preceded by a noun (see OG12 #21), then it modifies the noun.

the latter modifies the noun.

Also, Appositive absolute type modifiers can modify the whole idea in the following clause.

I am right?

no such thing as an "appositive absolute" modifier; those two names represent two different types of modifiers.

I mean to say appositive modifier. structure like one below.

The magician pulled a rabbit out of a hat, a trick he perfected over many years of practice.

here 'a trick ' modifies the entire preceding clause 'The magician pulled a rabbit out of a hat'

I am still not clear when ING modifier modifies noun and when it modifies clause. can you give few examples plz.

Dude 2 things -

Abstract nouns modifying the entire clause (after a comma)

The coach tried to put 5 receivers on the line, a strategy that failed.

Appositives rename noun phrases and are usually placed beside what they rename.

I dated salma hayek, a great actor

The Bold after the comma modifier the bold before the comma in the above examples

COMMA ING modifying Noun -

Driving through the wood, jake reached home an hour early
Language variations originating from the west are very difficult to comprehend

Driving through the wood modifies "JAKE"
originating from the west modifies "Language variations"

COMMA VERBING MODIFYING the complete clause

I studied 2 hrs extra every day during semesters, graduating a year early from college.

graduating a year early from college modifies "I studied 2 hrs extra every day during semesters" , is also the effect of clause "I studied..." , MODIFIES THE ENTIRE ACTION of the preceding clause and APPLIES TO THE SUBJECT of that clause.

DONE. :-)

[jp.jprasanna]

Ron - Need your help in understanding usage of "twice"

I'm quoting what you had mentioned earlier -

"appositives must modify some noun that comes IMMEDIATELY before the comma, which in this case would have to be whatever figure is twice whatever other figure. since no such figure is given, you can't use this construction"

The number of people flying first class on domestic flights rose sharply in 1990, doubling the increase of the previous year.

D. twice as many as the increase in
E. twice as many as the increase of

As per you advise i have eliminated D and E but for the below question, which is also a GMAT prep question

According to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, about 20 percent of young adults used cocaine in 1979, doubling those reported in the 1977 survey.

A. doubling those reported in the 1977 survey - I see why this wrong
E. twice the number reported in the 1977 survey

Why is E correct! - Obviously from the correct ans "twice" cant modify 1979 so what am i missing here?

I guess in E "twice the number" is modifying the whole idea of the preceding clause ;If so then twice is sometime taken to modify the preceding noun and sometimes not.

Can you let us know what's the logic here!?

Cheers

[RonPurewal]

ok, basically the deal is that it should modify the closest statistic. looks like that statistic doesn't have to be the word right in front of the comma, but it should be the single statistic that's closest to the comma.

[JaneYin]

In B, what does "that of" refer to?

Given "that" usually refers to a noun or noun phrase, would "that of" refer to 'the number'?

it doesn't refer to anything. that's one of the wrong answers!

in fact, you have probably happened upon the most salient reason why that choice is wrong.

Ron, i don't understant why we can't think that "that" refers to "the number"?

[jlucero]

Ron, i don't understant why we can't think that "that" refers to "the number"?

"The number" that you are referring to, is "the number of people." Plugging that into the end modifier:

b. doubling "the number of people" of the increase in the previous year.

Also note that the correct answer replaces "that" with "increase." You're saying the increase doubled, not the number of people flying first class. Important meaning shift.

[georgepaul0071987]

Ron ,

In many of your posts you mentioned that a 'COMMA+ ING modifier' should refer back to the subject of the previous clause

Eg :

Joe slapped his brother , angering his father .
-->Here 'the father' is angry at Joe .

So in the original sentence mentioned in the thread , what exactly does 'doubling' refer back to ?

'doubling' appears to refer to the 'number' , so does the 'number' actually do the 'doubling' ?

I'm not clear about this.

[tim]

please quote Ron's post if you think he said this. comma-"ing" should be an adverbial modifier referring to something OTHER than a noun..

[xiaonvhai123]

Hi, experts:
Have a question here. If we choose A, then we get:

The number...rose.., doubling the increase...

How can the "number" double "increase"?

I am expecting that "the number" double "another number" ..
So when I saw choice B, I replace "that" with "number", so I got "the number" double " the number of the increase", sounds reasonable, at least we are comparing two numbers, instead of compare "the number" with "increase".


By the way, what is the meaning the scentence want to express?
If we put
A= the number of people flying first class on domestic flight in 1990;
B=the increase of people flying first class on domestic fligh in 1989(I consider 1989 as the previous year of 1990)

The meaning of the scentence is :A=2*B
Am I right?

[thanghnvn]

The number of people flying first class on domestic flights rose sharply in 1990, doubling the increase of the the previous year.

a.
b. doubling that of the increase in
c. double as much as the increase of
d. twice as many as the increase in
e. twice as many as the increase of

it is great to know that ",double as many as", ", twice as many as" is appositive. Thank you Ron.

if A is correct
A means
the rising of 1990 doubles the increase of previous year.
This makes no sense. the risingof 1990 can not change the increase of the previous year. The logic meaning is that the increase of 1990 doubles the increase of the previous year.

pls, comment.

[jlucero]

The number (of people flying first class on domestic flights) rose sharply in 1990, doubling the increase of the the previous year.

The fact that the number rose sharply (main clause of the sentence) is why the increase in 1990 doubled that from the previous year.

That makes mathematical sense, because of the number of people flying first class stayed the same as last year, the increase would not doubled the previous year's increase.

[xiaonvhai123]

The number (of people flying first class on domestic flights) rose sharply in 1990, doubling the increase of the the previous year.

The fact that the number rose sharply (main clause of the sentence) is why the increase in 1990 doubled that from the previous year.

That makes mathematical sense, because of the number of people flying first class stayed the same as last year, the increase would not doubled the previous year's increase.

So do you mean the meaning of the scentence actually is :

The increase of the number of people flying first class in 1990 double the increase of previous year?

Why I cannot understand this meaning from reading the scentence...T T

[thanghnvn]

thank you Ron,

twice as many as
can modifies ONLY noun
because "many" can only modifies noun

in contrast

twice as much as
can modify verb or noun
because "much" can modifies noun or verb

amount of water twice as much as that used before is enough noun
I study gmat twice as much as you do

is my thinking correct?