og17 sc750 32 species

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og17 sc750 32 species

by toro86717498 » Wed Jul 27, 2016 8:00 pm

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The 32 species that make up the dolphin family are closely related to whales and in fact include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is famous for its aggressive hunting pods.

A) include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow t be 30 feet long and is

B) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and

C) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being

D) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow as big as 30 feet long and is

E) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and it is

Does anyone can explain (A), why there is a comma before which? Is "..as the killer whale which can grow to be..." correct?

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by ceilidh.erickson » Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:15 am

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Dependent clauses beginning with "which" are always considered NON-ESSENTIAL modifiers (in modern American English, anyway. This rule has changed over time, and you will see different usages of "which" if you read 18th or 19th century prose such as Jane Austen, for example. On the GMAT, this will be consistent). A non-essential modifier will be set between commas.

In fact, the only time that there should not be a comma before "which" is if it is the object of a preposition: to which..., for which..., etc.

In general, though, you shouldn't worry about commas on the GMAT. An answer in SC will never be wrong simply because there's a comma there that shouldn't be, or there isn't one that should be. The only bits punctuation that are consistently tested are SEMICOLONS and COLONS.
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by ceilidh.erickson » Fri Jul 29, 2016 6:24 am

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For a breakdown of each answer choice:

The 32 species that make up the dolphin family are closely related to whales and in fact include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is famous for its aggressive hunting pods.
A) include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow t be 30 feet long and is
B) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and
C) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being
D) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow as big as 30 feet long and is
E) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and it is


Whenever an underlined portion begins with a verb in the present tense, look for SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT. The subject of the sentence is "species":
The 32 species (that make up the dolphin family) are (closely) related to whales and (in fact) include the animal known as the killer whale...

The verb should be the plural "include." Eliminate D and E.

Next, look at the modifier: "which can grow" or "growing." A modifier beginning with "which" must always modify the noun (or noun phrase) directly before it. Since the killer whale is the thing growing 30 ft, this noun modifier makes sense.

A modifier beginning with a present participle like "growing," when following a comma, must be an ADVERBIAL modifier - it must modify the verb / the entire clause before it. Here's an example of this used correctly:
The 32 species of the dolphin family are related to whales and include the killer whale, making them a diverse and interesting group of animals.
Here, the phrase beginning with "making" modified the entire clause before it.

In the original sentence, though, "growing" does not correctly modify the clause "the species are related and include." We want it to be a noun modifier, not an adverbial modifier. Eliminate B and C.

The correct answer is A.
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by ceilidh.erickson » Fri Jul 29, 2016 8:52 am

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For more on "which," here's a fun video I just saw from the New Yorker Magazine: https://thescene.com/watch/thenewyorker/whichcraft
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by toro86717498 » Sat Jul 30, 2016 11:51 pm

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Hi, Ceilidh

Really appreciated for your lights.

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by Irene Orleansky » Mon Aug 08, 2016 1:14 am

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In answers B and C ', growing ...' is a participial modifier, and therefore relates to the subject 'the 32 species'. In A the relative pronoun ',which... ' relates to the preceding noun the killer whale. We use a comma because it is an extra information relative clause, that is, it does not provide any essential information for understanding what the killer whale is.

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by AbdurRakib » Tue Aug 09, 2016 3:08 am

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toro86717498 wrote:The 32 species that make up the dolphin family are closely related to whales and in fact include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is famous for its aggressive hunting pods.

A) include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow t be 30 feet long and is

B) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and

C) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being

D) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow as big as 30 feet long and is

E) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and it is

Does anyone can explain (A), why there is a comma before which? Is "..as the killer whale which can grow to be..." correct?
yeas it is.

COMMA + WHICH automatically refer to the immediate noun.If it doesn't make sense logically the "which" could refer to the far noun.

Remembering this will develop common sense that GMAT frequently tests.For example, Different use "which":
"""Which"" can do either of these things.

(a)New treatments for cancer, which are often prohibitively expensive, are only seldom covered by medical insurance.
(""which"" = ""new treatments for cancer"")

(b)New treatments for cancer, which ranks among the leading causes of death in North America, are a high priority for research budget administrators.
(""which"" = ""cancer"")
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by AbdurRakib » Tue Aug 09, 2016 3:10 am

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toro86717498 wrote:The 32 species that make up the dolphin family are closely related to whales and in fact include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is famous for its aggressive hunting pods.

A) include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow t be 30 feet long and is

B) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and

C) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being

D) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow as big as 30 feet long and is

E) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and it is

Does anyone can explain (A), why there is a comma before which? Is "..as the killer whale which can grow to be..." correct?
yeas it is.

COMMA + WHICH automatically refer to the immediate noun.If it doesn't make sense logically the "which" could refer to the far referent .

Remembering this will develop common sense that GMAT frequently tests.For example, Different use "which":
"""Which"" can do either of these things.

(a)New treatments for cancer, which are often prohibitively expensive, are only seldom covered by medical insurance.
(""which"" = ""new treatments for cancer"")

(b)New treatments for cancer, which ranks among the leading causes of death in North America, are a high priority for research budget administrators.
(""which"" = ""cancer"")
What is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.

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by [email protected] » Wed Apr 03, 2019 12:51 pm

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Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and narrow it down to the correct choice! First, here is the original question with any major differences highlighted in orange:

The 32 species that make up the dolphin family are closely related to whales and in fact include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is famous for its aggressive hunting pods.

(A) include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is
(B) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and
(C) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being
(D) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow as big as 30 feet long and is
(E) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and it is

After a quick glance over the options, a few key differences jump out:

1. include vs. includes
2. which can grow vs. growing
3. and / and is / and being / and it is


Let's tackle #1 on our list first: include vs. includes. No matter which one we choose, we'll eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly. To start, we need to figure out what the verb "include/includes" is referring to:

The 32 species that make up the dolphin family are closely related to whales and in fact include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is famous for its aggressive hunting pods.

Since the subject of the sentence is plural, and we also see that the writer used the plural verb "are" earlier on, we need to make sure that all verbs referring to it are also plural:

(A) include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is
(B) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and
(C) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being
(D) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow as big as 30 feet long and is
(E) includes the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and it is

There you go - we can eliminate options D and E because they use a singular verb, which doesn't agree with the plural subject!

Now that we have it narrowed down to only 3 options, let's tackle #2 on our list: which can grow vs. growing. This is a case of making sure that we use the proper type of modifier to match up with its antecedent. Here is how that works:

Noun modifier = modifies a noun; must start with "which" or "that"
Adverbial modifier = modifies any phrase or word except a noun; starts with -ing verb

In this case, the modifier is supposed to modify the noun "the killer whale." Therefore, we MUST choose the options that use a noun modifier to match the antecedent (a noun). Here is how they break down:

(A) include the animal known as the killer whale, which can grow to be 30 feet long and is
(B) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing as big as 30 feet long and
(C) include the animal known as the killer whale, growing up to 30 feet long and being

We're in luck - only one option used a noun modifier here! We can eliminate options B and C because they use adverbial modifiers to modify a noun, which doesn't match.

Option A is our correct choice because it uses the proper subject-verb agreement with "include," and it uses the correct form of modifier to modify the noun "the killer whale." We don't even need to tackle #3 on our list because we already narrowed it down to the correct choice.


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