Alaska and Central America

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amysky_0205: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 193; Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:53 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 4 times

by amysky_0205 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:20 pm

Though subject to the same wild-animal control efforts that killed off almost all the wolves in North America over the past century, the coyote's amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans has enabled it to expend its range into Alaska and Central America.

A. coyote's amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans has enabled it to expend its
B. coyote, because of its amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans, have been able to expand their
C. coyote, because of its amazing ability to adapt to the presence of humans, has been able to expand its
D. amazing ability of the coyote to adapt to the presence of humans have enabled it to expand the
E. amazing ability of the coyote to adapt to the presence of humans has enabled it to expand the

OA: C

I only eliminated B and D.
Chose A instead.

can someone explain?

thank u!

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:20 pm

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brianlange77: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 417; Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:49 pmFollowed by: 93 members; Location: Chapel Hill, NC; Thanked: 132 times; GMAT Score:750

by brianlange77 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:56 pm

amysky_0205 wrote:Though subject to the same wild-animal control efforts that killed off almost all the wolves in North America over the past century, the coyote's amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans has enabled it to expend its range into Alaska and Central America.

A. coyote's amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans has enabled it to expend its
B. coyote, because of its amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans, have been able to expand their
C. coyote, because of its amazing ability to adapt to the presence of humans, has been able to expand its
D. amazing ability of the coyote to adapt to the presence of humans have enabled it to expand the
E. amazing ability of the coyote to adapt to the presence of humans has enabled it to expand the

OA: C

I only eliminated B and D.
Chose A instead.

can someone explain?

thank u!

Good one!

A few thoughts:

--Idiom -- ability... "to" adapt, rules out B

--D and E are ruled out, b/c you want to get the comparison of wolves to coyote to be as close as possible, D and E put them too far away

--A, the noun 'coyote' is never there... it shows up as 'coyote's', therefore, the 'it' doesn't have an antecedent it is referring to.

And you are left with.. drum roll... C.

Thoughts?

-Brian

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patanjali.purpose: Legendary Member; Posts: 784; Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:51 amFollowed by: 12 members; Thanked: 114 times

by patanjali.purpose » Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:28 am

amysky_0205 wrote:Though subject to the same wild-animal control efforts that killed off almost all the wolves in North America over the past century, the coyote's amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans has enabled it to expend its range into Alaska and Central America.

A. coyote's amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans has enabled it to expend its
B. coyote, because of its amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans, have been able to expand their
C. coyote, because of its amazing ability to adapt to the presence of humans, has been able to expand its
D. amazing ability of the coyote to adapt to the presence of humans have enabled it to expand the
E. amazing ability of the coyote to adapt to the presence of humans has enabled it to expand the

OA: C

I only eliminated B and D.
Chose A instead.

can someone explain?

thank u!

A - what does IT refer to(COYOTE cant be the antecedent as its in possessive form)
B - ITS and THEIR both are used to refer COYOTE. We cannot define NOUN as SINGULAR and PLURAL at the sametime
D - ABILITY is the subject...then plural verb HAVE ENABLED not correct
E - expand THE RANGE is incorrect as we are not talking about a specific range. ITS RANGE is required

In addition, A uses EXPEND (expand is needed); The use of SUBJECT TO...ANIMALS...requires use of ANIMAL immediately after comma (so from that perspective we could also drop A/D/E)

imo C

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:10 pm

amysky_0205 wrote:Though subject to the same wild-animal control efforts that killed off almost all the wolves in North America over the past century, the coyote's amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans has enabled it to expend its range into Alaska and Central America.

A. coyote's amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans has enabled it to expend its
B. coyote, because of its amazing ability of adapting to the presence of humans, have been able to expand their
C. coyote, because of its amazing ability to adapt to the presence of humans, has been able to expand its
D. amazing ability of the coyote to adapt to the presence of humans have enabled it to expand the
E. amazing ability of the coyote to adapt to the presence of humans has enabled it to expand the

OA: C

I only eliminated B and D.
Chose A instead.

can someone explain?

thank u!

If the original sentence contains an error, always look for REPEATERS: answer choices that repeat the error.

In A, subject seems to modify the coyote's amazing ability, implying that the coyote's ABILITY is subject to WILD-ANIMAL control efforts.
The intended meaning is that the COYOTE itself is subject to these efforts.
D and E repeat this error.
Eliminate A, D and E.

In B, have (plural) does not agree with the coyote (singular). Eliminate B.

The correct answer is C.

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