Sentence Correction

Arctic terns, being true long-distance migrants, they nest in coastal wetlands of northern Europe but fly south for thousands of miles to spend the European winters in Antarctica

A. Arctic terns, being true long distance migrants , they nest in coastal wetlands of northern Europe
B. Arctic terns are true long distance migrants, nesting in coastal wetlands of northern Europe
C. Being that they are true long distance migrants, arctic terns nest in coastal wetlands of northern Europe
D. Nesting in coastal wetlands of northern Europe, arctic terns are true long distant migrants
E. True long distance migrants, arctic terns nest in coastal wetlands of northern Europe

OA: E

GMAT Prep Exam Pack Question.

1. It is not natural in English to introduce the subject first as a noun (TERNS) and then as a pronoun (THEY). Another way to look at this problem would be to say that the noun subject ARCTIC TERNS lacks a verb: the verb goes with THEY. In either case, the construction is not correct. Eliminate A.

2. The simplest approach to option B would be to notice that it fails to give the sentence a parallel structure: NESTING ...BUT FLY is anything but effective sentence construction. Eliminate this option.

3. Always eliminate any option containing the phrase BEING THAT, as in option C.

4. Option D has a less obvious problem that is basically one of logical sentence construction. The clause arctic terns are true long-distance migrants but fly south uses the conjunction BUT illogically. The meaning seems to be that birds that ARE LONG-DISTANCE MIGRANTS would not normally FLY SOUTH, or that there is something incongruous or surprising in their doing so.

5. By elimination, you have the correct answer. Option E begins with a phrase that logically modifies the subject ARCTIC TERNS. The sentence then goes on to use the verbs NEST and FLY in parallel form, and there are no errors or ambiguities. And the idea makes sense: these birds nest in one area of the world but then fly south to another to spend the winter.

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