求助，OG 13 SC 48 - ChaseDream

48. 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

有谁可以帮我解释下为什么后面要用Covering而不是which covers吗？是因为which一般指代靠近的词吗？还有个问题能帮我分析下插入语，同位语还有定语之间的差别吗？我语法比较薄弱，谢谢大家的帮忙。

-- by 会员 liangcha325 (2012/6/12 10:37:47)

Here is a similar problem from Prep:
For the first time in the modern era,non-Hispanic Whites are officially a minority inCalifornia

,which amounts to a littleless than half the population of the state, down from nearly three-quartersonly a decade ago.
A. which amounts to a little less than half thepopulation of the state, down from nearlythree-quarters only a decade ago
B. which amounts to a little less than half thepopulation of the state, down from a decadeago, when it was nearly three-quarters
C. and that amounts to a little less than halfthe population of the state, down from a decadeago, when they were nearly three-quarters
D. amounting to a little less than half thepopulation of the state, down from nearly three-quartersa decade ago
E. amounting to a little less than half thepopulation of the state, down from what it wasa decade ago by nearly three-quarters

Ron: http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/for-the-first-time-t4359.html?sid=f90f891c59a4351840cdf86d5ddd725b
(Regarding Choice A)
since "california" is grammatically eligible, yes, "which" should be assigned to "california".
that, of course, is illogical, and so "which" is incorrect.

Link: http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post31162.html#p31162

the gmat tends to write sentences in which "which" stands for theELIGIBLE noun that's closest to the comma.
by"eligible", i mean that the noun has to AGREE IN TERMS OFSINGULAR/PLURAL with the FOLLOWING VERB.

here's an example:

the box of nails, which is on the counter, is to be used on thisproject.

in this case, "which" CANNOT refer to"nails", since the verb "is" is singular. therefore, thenearest eligible noun is "box (of nails)". so, "which"unambiguously stands for that.

in our observation, the gmat has been VERY goodabout this.
whenever i've seen a "which" thatrefers to "X + preposition + Y" rather than just Y, it has ALWAYSbeen the case that X was singular and Y was plural (or X was plural and Y wassingular), and the verb had a form that matched X and didn't match Y.

-- by 会员 liangcha325 (2012/6/12 10:37:47)

-- by 会员 babybearmm (2012/6/12 17:37:55)