The source of this question is Princeton Review – Crack the GMAT. I understand that “which” must be immediately preceded by the word it modifies (although prepositional phrases can be exceptions). Why isn't (A) the correct choice? Doesn’t “which” modify $167B? Additionally, which numerical idiom is appropriate with percentages: “14 percent higher” or “14 percent more than”?

Sales of United States manufactured goods to non-industrialized countries rose to $167 billion in 1992, which is 14 percent more than the previous year and largely offsets weak demand from Europe and Japan.

A) which is 14 percent more than the previous year
B) which is 14 percent higher than it was the previous year
C) 14 percent higher than the previous year's figure
D) an amount that is 14 percent more than the previous year was
E) an amount that is 14 percent higher than the previous year's figure

In answer A, the word right before the comma is 1992, not $167B. It literally needs to be the word right before.

Generally, you'd use 14% higher than here.

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Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director of Online Community
ManhattanGMAT

Can you explain why Answer E is not correct?

Thanks!

Eric,

Is C the Official Answer ?

I think it´s E, isn´t it?

I think E is the correct answer, too. Eric, can you confirm?

_________________
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director of Online Community
ManhattanGMAT

Stacey,

Would you please clarify this issue. I learned that the clause ( adjective or noun) should literally comes after the word it modifies. If i am understanding it correctly, Answer choice E) : " an amount that is 14 percent higher than the previous year's figure" is modifying the word $167 billion while the word before it is 1992.
Although, if I just follow my ears, E sounds the correct answer;however, if i follow the rules, E seems to be incorrect.

If you could clarify this issue, that will be a great help.

Regards.

Only noun modifiers have to touch the nouns they're talking about. Not all clauses are noun modifiers, as is the case with E. A noun modifier specifically has to be referring to some noun without including that noun, or another noun or pronoun that refer to it, in the modifier.

E says "an amount that is 14 percent higher than the previous year's figure"

"An amount" refers back to the original noun we're talking about. So I don't need to have this whole clause touch "167 billion" - it's already got a noun in there that tells me what it's talking about.

_________________
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director of Online Community
ManhattanGMAT

Stacey,

I would like to genuinely thank you for your efforts in responding the MGMAT students’ issue and clear their doubts. I have started getting right answer to lot more problems after this explanation.

Regards.

I have a problem with the choice E. If it's correct then the sentence reads as

Sales of United States manufactured goods to nonindustrialized countries rose to $167 billion in 1992, an amount that is 14 percent higher than the previous year’s figure and largely offsets weak demand from Europe and Japan.

Shouldn't the word 'that' be placed before 'largely offsets....' to make the verb-predicate parallel to the verb-predicate 'is 14 percent...'?

Shouldn't the correct sentence be

Sales of United States manufactured goods to nonindustrialized countries rose to $167 billion in 1992, an amount that is 14 percent higher than the previous year’s figure and that largely offsets weak demand from Europe and Japan.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Kaplan 800
[deleted - kaplan is a banned source on these forums. see the forum rules. thanks.]

that would work, too, but it's not necessary here. the current version may also be taken as parallel:
Sales of United States manufactured goods to nonindustrialized countries rose to $167 billion in 1992, an amount that is 14 percent higher than the previous year’s figure and largely offsets weak demand from Europe and Japan

this is why you should ALWAYS FIGURE OUT PARALLEL STRUCTURES BEGINNING WITH THE RIGHT-HAND ONE, and proceeding leftward. if your signal word is simply "and" or "or", then there's no way of telling where the left-hand part of the parallelism starts until you've seen the right-hand part.

--

on the other hand, the context here is problematic: it's not possible for a figure to offset a demand. this literal meaning is not up to the standards of the real exam.

Hi Instructors,

What is we would have been given following as a choice:

an amount that is 14 percent more than the previous year’s figure.

Will that be a preference over (e)? I'm not clear about usage of higher vs more. Any inputs from you will be helpful.

Thanks,
Niks

Sales of United States manufactured goods to non-industrialized countries rose to $167 billion in 1992, which is 14 percent more than the previous year and largely offsets weak demand from Europe and Japan.

A) which is 14 percent more than the previous year
B) which is 14 percent higher than it was the previous year
C) 14 percent higher than the previous year's figure
D) an amount that is 14 percent more than the previous year was
E) an amount that is 14 percent higher than the previous year's figure


I just want to understand this rule better:

Is it safe to say that If I have a clause such that:

========Main Clause=======, ===Modifier=====
Subject + Verb + Object Noun1 , Noun2 + Modifier

Assuming Noun2 is a similar and logical to Noun1

Are you saying that because we restated the Noun a second time in the modifier, the modifier need not touch the noun it logically refers to?

Here is a similar CORRECT example:
The Madagascar periwinkle, a derivative of which has proved useful in decreasing mortality among young leukemia patients, is cultivated in China as part of a program to integrate traditional herbal medicine into a contemporary system of health care.

Here is an INCORRECT example:

The Madagascar periwinkle, which has proved useful in decreasing mortality among young leukemia patients, is cultivated in China as part of a program to integrate traditional herbal medicine into a contemporary system of health care.

ASSUMING: The derivative was what proved useful and NOT the Periwinkle.

Am I correct in saying that if the "Comma+ Modifier" starts out the noun we are referring to from the start the touch rule no longer applies and the modifier is "free" to move around in the sentence structure?

First, your "incorrect" example is only incorrect if you bring in outside knowledge. In other words, there is nothing wrong with the sentence as presented. Second, your example does not actually present the subject-verb-noun,noun-modifier structure you introduce. Finally, in the structure you introduce, there is no reason to try to connect the modifier to the first object noun, because presumably the modifier will apply just as well to the final noun. Perhaps if you provide an example we might be able to shed some additional light on this one..

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Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor