Top 100 Official SC Revision Question #2

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 698
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:12 am
Location: Noida, India
Thanked: 32 times
Followed by:26 members
GMAT Score:740
First discovered more than 30 years ago, Lina's sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Philippines and that resembles a hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye.

A. found in the Philippines and that resembles
B. found in the Philippines and that, resembling
C. found in the Philippines and resembling
D. that is found in the Philippines and it resembles
E. that is found in the Philippines, resembling
R I C H A,
My GMAT Journey: 470 → 720 → 740
Target Score: 760+
[email protected]
1. Press thanks if you like my solution.
2. Contact me if you are not improving. (No Free Lunch!)

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 698
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:12 am
Location: Noida, India
Thanked: 32 times
Followed by:26 members
GMAT Score:740

by richachampion » Sun Jun 25, 2017 11:35 pm
OA: C
R I C H A,
My GMAT Journey: 470 → 720 → 740
Target Score: 760+
[email protected]
1. Press thanks if you like my solution.
2. Contact me if you are not improving. (No Free Lunch!)

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2095
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pm
Thanked: 1443 times
Followed by:247 members

by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Jun 26, 2017 7:34 am
This sentence is a nice, intricate example of layered PARALLELISM.

Here's a schematic of the sentence:
Image

One parallel list is of the OBJECTS that the sunbird has:
1. colors
2. patch
3. eye

The other list - relevant to the underlined portion - describes the "four-and-a-half-inch animal":
- found...
- and resembling...
It's ok that one is a past participle and one is a present participle. They both give us modifying information about the same noun - they are functionally parallel. They don't have to be structurally identical.

A. found in the Philippines and that resembles
Here, "that" is not parallel. There is no other dependent clause beginning with "that" for "and that..." to match with.

B. found in the Philippines and that, resembling
Same "and that" problem as in A. Turning "resembling" into a modifier does not fix the problem.

C. found in the Philippines and resembling
Correct! "found" and "resembling" are both modifying "animal."

D. that is found in the Philippines and it resembles

If we say "that is found..." we must say "... and that resembles." The word "it" makes this an independent clause, not parallel to the dependent clause.

E. that is found in the Philippines, resembling
Here, we have a series of "stacked" modifiers. "Found in the Philippines" and "resembling a hummingbird" are both ideas modifying the sunbird. Two such noun modifiers should be put in a parallel list.

The answer is C.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 698
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:12 am
Location: Noida, India
Thanked: 32 times
Followed by:26 members
GMAT Score:740

by richachampion » Tue Jun 27, 2017 2:08 am
Thanks for the detailed analysis mam. can we discuss option E in more detail?
R I C H A,
My GMAT Journey: 470 → 720 → 740
Target Score: 760+
[email protected]
1. Press thanks if you like my solution.
2. Contact me if you are not improving. (No Free Lunch!)

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 32
Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2017 5:55 am

by Pratishtha21 » Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:03 am
A. found in the Philippines and that resembles - usage of that is not correct as it has nothing to be parallel with.
B. found in the Philippines and that, resembling - unnecessary adding a 'that'
C. found in the Philippines and resembling - correct. Both found and resembling are modifying the animal.
D. that is found in the Philippines and it resembles - adding another 'it' without any need
E. that is found in the Philippines, resembling - conjunction linking found and resembling is missing[/i]