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VR - 92 - the non-underlined part (Experts, please help)

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ice_rush GMAT Destroyer! Default Avatar
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VR - 92 - the non-underlined part (Experts, please help) Post Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:11 am
Elapsed Time: 00:00
  • Lap #[LAPCOUNT] ([LAPTIME])
    Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and it has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle.

    (A) the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle

    (B)the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts in part of their life cycle

    (C)freshwater snails which become the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycles

    (D)freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during the parasite's life cycle

    (E) parasite's hosts, freshwater snails which become their hosts during their life cycles

    My question is not regarding the underlined, but rather the Non-Underlined part that I have highlighted. Why do we need an "it" to refer back to Schistosomiasis when we clearly know that we are talking about Schistosomiasis. On several occasions GMAT has made it clear that such type of pronoun reference is considered redundant. Seems like GMAT is violating its own rule..unless I am missing something here



    Last edited by ice_rush on Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:20 am; edited 1 time in total

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    Bill@VeritasPrep GMAT Instructor
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    Post Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:17 am
    The sentence is using two independent clauses linked with ", and..."

    This means that we need a subject after the conjunction. We can use "it" rather than repeating the name of the disease.

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    Post Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:18 am
    ice_rush wrote:
    Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and it has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle.

    Schistosomiasis(subject),..., is(verb) prevalent and it( it acts as subject) has become...

    Hence the two elements joined by AND are Parallel

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    ice_rush GMAT Destroyer! Default Avatar
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    Post Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:48 am
    Hi Bill,
    I see the point you are making, but how about we look at a simpler sentence:

    John is a graduate of Stanford and he works at Facebook.

    John is a graduate of Standford and works at Facebook.


    Which out of the 2 would be correct on the GMAT?



    Thanks,

    patanjali.purpose GMAT Destroyer! Default Avatar
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    Post Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:15 am
    ice_rush wrote:
    Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and it has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle.
    The sentence could go either way - we can take a clue from USE OF COMMA. Following sentences are CORRECT:

    1) Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and IT has become more widespread as irrigation projects - NOTE: USE OF COMMA BEFORE AND. THIS SIGNIFIES THAT AN INDEPENDENT CLAUSE IS NEXT TO COME

    2) Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates AND has become more widespread as irrigation projects - NOTE: USE OF NO-COMMA BEFORE AND. THIS SIGNIFIES THAT A NEW VERB IS NEXT TO COME


    Therefore, IMO (Bill pls correct me)

    Quote:
    John is a graduate of Stanford and he works at Facebook - NOT CORRECT

    John is a graduate of Standford and works at Facebook. - CORRECT

    John is a graduate of Stanford ,and he works at Facebook - CORRECT (WE NEED COMMA BEFORE AND)

    ice_rush GMAT Destroyer! Default Avatar
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    Post Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:40 am
    don't think comma is an issue here...personally, i think both are correct, but the 2nd sentence is more concise..Waiting for Bill to provide his inputs.

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    Post Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:23 pm
    ice_rush wrote:
    Hi Bill,
    I see the point you are making, but how about we look at a simpler sentence:

    John is a graduate of Stanford and he works at Facebook.

    John is a graduate of Standford and works at Facebook.


    Which out of the 2 would be correct on the GMAT?



    Thanks,
    Both are fine grammatically, and on the GMAT it is extremely unlikely that you would ever have to choose between them. If you did, though, I would go with the one that is closer to the original sentence.

    We do need a comma before "and" in the first example. Whenever a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, etc.) is used to link two independent clauses, it should be preceded by a comma.

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