In little more than a decade, Argentina has become the world's leading exporter of honey, with nearly 90,000 tons a year sold to foreign markets, almost half of which going to the United States. A. with nearly 90,000 tons a year sold to foreign markets, almost half of which goingB. with the sale of nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, and almost half of it that goesC. with the sale to foreign markets of nearly 90,000 tons a year, with almost half of it goingD. selling nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, and almost half of it goesE. selling nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, with almost half going

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Pierce Horne

30 September, 21:22

In little more than a decade, Argentina has become the world's leading exporter of honey, with nearly 90,000 tons a year sold to foreign markets, almost half of which going to the United States. A. with nearly 90,000 tons a year sold to foreign markets, almost half of which goingB. with the sale of nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, and almost half of it that goesC. with the sale to foreign markets of nearly 90,000 tons a year, with almost half of it goingD. selling nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, and almost half of it goesE. selling nearly 90,000 tons a year to foreign markets, with almost half going

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Krista Henry · Answer 1

Comma + present participle modifier is used to refer to the complete preceding clause - the modifier describes the result of the preceding clause or explains how the action in the preceding clause is done. Here the present participle "selling nearly ... " is required to describe how Argentina became the leading exporter. Thus option D and E are left. IN option D the pronoun "It" does not a valid antecedent. Hence E is the best option among the given.

However in option E, the prepositional phrase "with almost half going ... " refers in turn to the present participle modifier "selling ... " - such usage is generally considered awkward in GMAT. A better, more GMAT-like construction would be:

In little more than a decade, Argentina has become the world's leading exporter of honey, selling to foreign markets nearly 90,000 tons a year, half going to United States.

OR

In little more than a decade, Argentina has become the world's leading exporter of honey, selling to foreign markets nearly 90,000 tons a year, half of them going to United States.

OR

In little more than a decade, Argentina has become the world's leading exporter of honey, selling to foreign markets nearly 90,000 tons a year, half of which went to United States.

The above three alternatives show the correct usage of three different forms of subgroup modifier (referring to "90,000 tons").