Sentence Correction

In a crowded, acquisitive world, the disappearance of lifestyles such as those once followed by southern Africa's Bushmen and Australia's aborigines, requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seem inevitably doomed.
(A) requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seem inevitably doomed
(B) requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seems to be inevitably doomed
(C) which require vast wild spaces and permit little accumulation of goods, seems to be inevitably doomed
(D) life-styles that require vast wild spaces and permit little accumulation of goods, seem inevitable
(E) life-styles requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seems inevitable.

Why is D wrong? Is it because the 'disappearance' is inevitable and this singular subject need to have singular verb 'seems'?

David@GMATPrepNow wrote:Not quite. The reason D is wrong is that the first part of the sentence already contains the word "lifestyles" - the subject of the sentence - and does not need to be repeated in the second part of the sentence. The second part of the sentence helps us better understand WHY the disappearance of the lifestyles seem inevitable, but we do not need to repeat the word "lifestyles" to do so. Repeating the word makes the sentence confusing.

Good job noting that a singular form of the verb "seem" is correct, but actually that is because "lifestyles" is plural, not because it is singular.

Use "seems" for "lifestyle."
Use "seem" for "lifestyles."

This is a tricky question, requiring a deep breath! Keep at it, you can do it!

David

Hi David,

Thanks for the reply. I came across this question as an example for a Resumptive modifier- picks up a word or phrase from a sentence that seems to be finished and then adds information and takes the reader into new territory of thought.

and the OA is E. Can you explain me why is E right? Also can you cite more examples for Resumptive modifier and the cases where we need to use that.


Thanks

maruthisandeep wrote:In a crowded, acquisitive world, the disappearance of lifestyles such as those once followed by southern Africa's Bushmen and Australia's aborigines, requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seem inevitably doomed.
(A) requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seem inevitably doomed
(B) requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seems to be inevitably doomed
(C) which require vast wild spaces and permit little accumulation of goods, seems to be inevitably doomed
(D) life-styles that require vast wild spaces and permit little accumulation of goods, seem inevitable
(E) life-styles requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seems inevitable.

Why is D wrong? Is it because the 'disappearance' is inevitable and this singular subject need to have singular verb 'seems'?

In A and D, seem (plural) does not agree with disappearance (singular).

B and C: the disappearance seems to be inevitably doomed
This meaning is nonsensical.
Eliminate B and C.

I am skeptical of E.
E: The disappearance of lifestyles such as those once followed by southern Africa's Bushmen and Australia's aborigines, life-styles requiring vast wild spaces and permitting little accumulation of goods, seems inevitable.
The phrase in red seems to be functioning as a RESUMPTIVE MODIFIER.
A resumptive modifier:

-- repeats a key word in the sentence
-- is composed of COMMA + REPEATED WORD + ADJECTIVE
-- serves to provide additional information about the repeated word
-- usually appears at the END of a sentence

Note the last condition.
To my knowledge, no OA from GMAC has employed a resumptive modifier in the MIDDLE of a sentence.
Be wary of this source.

Here are two official SCs with resumptive modifiers:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/teratomas-ca ... 74656.html
https://www.beatthegmat.com/teratomas-ca ... 74656.html
In each case, the resumptive modifier appears at the END of the sentence.