求助，OG 13 SC 48

liangcha325

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。

HarrisZheng

which并不一定指代最近的词，这里的on earth是修饰成分，which可以指代lake，并不会引起歧义。

但gmat是选最优答案的，这题显然C更好。

主系表结构后面的分词状语，不表示伴随，而是起补充说明作用。

liangcha325

谢谢。最后句点醒了我。但是书上好像说which在这里指代的是earth，所以我表示很疑惑。继续请求大家帮我分析分析下插入语，同位语还有定语之间的差别。

babybearmm

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

, 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.

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)

gui59106375

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.

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)

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

请教baby同学，这里的C选项中的covering是做主句的伴随还是主句的结果状语从句呢

thelilyonly

baby说的好啊，解了我的疑问

zcdzheng

gui59106375 发表于 2012-6-14 18:39
Here is a similar problem from Prep:For the first time in the modern era,non-Hispanic Whites are  ...

我觉得纠结这个没啥意义吧。。。

zcdzheng

babybearmm 发表于 2012-6-12 17:37
Here is a similar problem from Prep:For the first time in the modern era,non-Hispanic Whites are off ...

baby姐 那这个意思就是说对于which指代的问题，GMAT主要是根据单复数来判断。
所以做题的时候就根据单复数来判断which指代的是最近的哪一个词，然后再判断这个指代合理不合理？

zzwho

babybearmm 发表于 2012-6-12 17:37
Here is a similar problem from Prep:For the first time in the modern era,non-Hispanic Whites are off ...

baby姐，我理解Ron大神的话之后，还是有下面这个疑问：
Manhattan chap12提到过，如果主语修饰语过长，那么可以将修饰语后置，例子：
Right: A new CEO has been hired who will transform the company by decentralizing authority to various division heads while increasing their accountability through the use of public scorecards.
Awkward: A new CEO who will transform the company by decentralizing authority to various division heads while increasing their accountability through the use of public scorecards has been hired.  主谓离得太远


依此来看，B似乎也不是错的，因为这里的修饰句确实太长了；OG上说 covers more than four times the surface...让人无法确定到底是earth还是Caspian Lake，但我觉得一般常识来看，都知道这不会是在说earth的啊（我知道GMAT是要求不具备常识也能读懂句子的，但最最基本的常识它还是要求的啊，不然CR题怎么做），所以，我对B项还是有疑问。或者是不是这样说，C项是更优选择，所以我们选C？我当时只是觉得C读得有点别扭，所以按照上面的逻辑坚持了有些疑问的B，然后就错了...谢谢你的解答啦~~~

Eleanorrr

zzwho 发表于 2013-8-22 20:37
baby姐，我理解Ron大神的话之后，还是有下面这个疑问：
Manhattan chap12提到过，如果主语修饰语过长，那 ...

HHH,不是baby姐，不过希望表达一点自己的看法
我认为原题和你的例子的区别在于：
1.Though called a sea, the landlocked Caspian is actually the largest lake on Earth, which covers
2.A new CEO has been hired who will transform the company by decentralizing authority to various division heads while increasing their accountability through the use of public scorecards.       你的这个例子虽然将定语后置，但是由于前句中没有其他的名词，所以不会使读句子的人产生疑惑，而原句在which前恰好有一个earth，读句子的人就会觉得很疑惑，这个which说的是谁，所以我认为改成covering，不会产生这种对于句子的疑惑