A tough question

BW · Guest

Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it seem that elk are mountain dwellers, while they once ranged over virtually all of the continental United States except for a small strip in the extreme Southwest.

A. Elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, which would make it seem that elk are mountain dwellers, while
B. The fact that elk now live almost solely in the Rocky Mountains would make it seem that they are mountain dwellers, but
C. It would seem that elk would be mountain dwellers because of their living now solely almost in the Rocky Mountains, but still
D. Now living almost solely in the Rocky Mountains, it would seem that elk were mountain dwellers, although
E. It seems that elk would be mountain dwellers from the fact that they now live solely almost in the Rocky Mountains, since Twisted Evil

camitava · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 1:02 am Post subject:

I will go for B. Whats the OA?

BW · Guest

Some people suggest A, although " which" problem exits.

But in B, if you change "it" with " that clause", " make something seem"

" their living " in C may not be grammatic

Need help

soomodh · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:00 pm Post subject:

Good qn, I am only convinced with B though it is troubling me. The use of "but" to contrast two part sentences is good. All other looks awful. Any other thoughts. With A, which refers to Rocky Mountains, so wrong.

Danielle · Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:53 pm Post subject:

It's B. It's the best choice.

A) too long and awkward
C) "would seem...would be" is incorrect "would seem... are" is the correct way to phrase this
D) "although" is not a strong enough word to contrast the two statement, makes the sentence ambivalent
E) same as D -- sentence is no longer a contrast; meaning has changed

muks · Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 6:24 am Post subject:

My Pick is B.
Its the best among all d choices.

ranji · Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 2:17 pm Post subject:

A) which refers to rocky mountains which is not correct
C) 'because of their living' is awkward
D) first clause should modify elk. usage of 'it' is ambigious here
E) usage of since doesnt provide contrast.

My pick is also B

Guest · Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:52 pm Post subject:

my answer is B

Guest · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:07 am Post subject:

It shud be B.....every thing else makes it uneasy....

jan08 · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:35 pm Post subject:

Guys: Isnt "it" redundant in the choice B? or am I thinking too much..most of the forums say that the use of "it" (except when it is used as pronoun) is redundant and should be avoided...

Please help.

Thanks

Danielle · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:10 pm Post subject:

It isn't redundant, it's necessary. Think of it this way -- what if you just deleted 'it' out of the answer choice? 'Make seem' is absolutely incorrect. The usage here is idiomatic -- 'it' refers to the nameless situation of where elks live. It's usually to be found in that expression because there is a nameless situation which is being made to seem a certain way.

Is this helpful?

jan08 · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:14 pm Post subject:

Thanks Danielle: I still have couple of questions
- Do you agree that in most of the cases "it" is redundant?
- How do I decide that "it" is redundant or not?

Danielle · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:18 pm Post subject:

I don't agree that in most cases it is redundant -- that seems way too strong a statement. Also I am not sure exactly which usages/situations you are talking about.

General rule: if, as I demonstrated above, you can't delete 'it' without making the sentence wrong or nonsensical, it is essential to the construction and not redundant.

Some examples would go a long way towards fine-tuning this example though -- have any that we can go through together to understand this 'it' situation??

jan08 · Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks Danielle..I am sure I read it somewhere...I will look in my notes and surely discuss this further..