Your statements are in blue text; my answers, in black text:
19. Many studies of new drugs are funded by major pharmaceutical firms, which suggests the possibility of bias in their conclusions.
(A) which suggests the possibility of bias in their conclusions
(B) thus the possibility of bias to their conclusions is suggested
(C) a state of affairs that suggests the possibility of bias in their conclusions
(D) and the possibility of bias in their conclusions being suggested
(E) this fact suggests the possibility of bias in their conclusions
*the answer is C
The answer is C because there is an error in relative pronoun use. Relative pronouns are noun substitutes that serve to introduce subordinate clauses. Replace which with a state of affairs that.
I thought the answer was A. Furthermore, I found this explanation very confusing and was hoping you could help me. Thank you.
D is obviously a wrong answer because of its bad syntax; the second coordinate clause “the possibility of bias in their conclusions being suggested” dangles because it doesn’t have an operative verb.
B and E are possible correct answers but they are not in the proper format for complex sentence construction. Specifically, B is supposed to be a conjunctive adverbial clause, but the obligatory semicolon between it and the main clause is missing, and the obligatory comma after “thus” is likewise missing—thus making the clause grammatically wrong in construction. E is a wrong answer because it is supposed to be a coordinate clause of the main clause but is set off from it only by a comma, making it a comma splice and thus grammatically wrong; a semicolon instead of a comma would have made it correct.
So that leaves A and C as the only possible correct answers. On closer inspection, though, A turns out to be grammatically wrong because its relative pronoun “which” wrongly--and absurdly--refers to the noun form “major pharmaceutical firms” as its antecedent, making the relative clause a dangling modifier. It is not the major pharmaceutical firms that suggested the possibility of bias but the “many studies of new drugs,” summing up the sense of the entire main clause “
That leaves us only A, “a state of affairs that suggests the possibility of bias in their conclusions,” as the only possible correct answer. But is A indeed a correct answer? Yes, it is. It is an elegant answer to a usually troublesome form of relative “which”-modifying phrases that are always in danger of dangling because they couldn’t properly connect with their correct antecedent in the main clause. The form of A is what is called the summative modifier, an admittedly advanced semantic device in English that introduces an altogether new word or phrase that sums up a core idea of the preceding clause, then makes that word or phrase the thematic subject of succeeding relative clauses. In this particular case, the phrase “a state of affairs” is the summative modifier, summing up the sense of the entire main clause, “many studies of new drugs are funded by major pharmaceutical firms.” As we can see, a summative modifier is meant to help avoid ambiguity and monotony in our prose, make it flow better—and, of course, prevent relative modifying clauses from dangling and ruining the construction of the sentence.
Summative modifiers are just one of the many advanced tools and techniques in English for crafting more readable sentences and better flowing expositions. My book Give Your English the Winning Edge (Manila Times Publishing, 486 pages) devotes 12 chapters to a discussion of these expository devices. Studying these expository devices definitely will make anyone a much better and more interesting writer in English.
Intended to promote safety in the workplace, the regulation stipulates that protective goggles must be worn while welding.
(A) that protective goggles must be worn while welding
(B) that protective goggles while welding must be worn
(C) that, while welding, protective goggles must be worn
(D) that one must wear protective goggles while you weld
(E) that you must wear protective goggles when you are welding
*The answer is E because it is a dangling modifier. Ask yourself who is welding. Certainly not the goggles!
I was confused of this explanation too. I thought that the answer A.
A, B, and C are obviously wrong answers because as relative “that”-modifying clauses, none of them has a doer of the action of wearing goggles while welding; for this reason, all three are dangling modifiers.
D is correctly constructed as a “that”-relative clause, but it is grammatically flawed because it wrongly uses the indefinite third-person pronoun “one” with the second-person pronoun “you” to refer to the same subject.
That leaves E as the only possible correct answer. But is it indeed a correct answer? Yes, it is, both grammatically and structurally. Note, in particular, that it avoids the grammatical error in D by consistently using the second-person pronoun “you” to refer to the same subject.
