As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on

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RBBmba@2014: Legendary Member; Posts: 944; Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 8:21 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 8 times

by RBBmba@2014 » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:41 am

As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was bombarded on February 23, 1987, by about 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact very weakly with matter.

(A) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that
(B) neutrinos, which are harmless, are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which
(C) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which
(D) these harmless elementary particles are produced in nuclear reactions, and neutrinos
(E) these elementary particles, harmless products of nuclear reactions, are neutrinos that

OA: A

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:41 am

bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:32 pm

RBBmba@2014 wrote:As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was bombarded on February 23, 1987, by about 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact very weakly with matter.

There are two dependent clauses joined by a semicolon. First is correct and second is underlined.

(A) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that
Subject verb perfect; parallelism perfect - CORRECT

(B) neutrinos, which are harmless, are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which
There is an issue with parallelism. The first part is a clause while the second not (and which .. ). Besides wordy as well.

(C) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which
Which has no antecedent in second part - ELIMINATE.

(D) these harmless elementary particles are produced in nuclear reactions, and neutrinos
While these in first half refers to neutrinos, the neutrinos in second half is inappropriate. Usage of these in second half should have marked parallelism. - ELIMINATE.

(E) these elementary particles, harmless products of nuclear reactions, are neutrinos that
Wordy! ELIMINATE.

OA: A

Regards,

Pranay

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RBBmba@2014: Legendary Member; Posts: 944; Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 8:21 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 8 times

by RBBmba@2014 » Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:59 am

@ Verbal Experts - could you please share your analysis and explanation for this SC ?

Thanks in advance!

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KarenVH: MBA Admissions Consultant; Posts: 11; Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:52 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 3 times

by KarenVH » Tue Sep 01, 2015 2:05 pm

(B) has a flaw in parallelism: "neutrinos...are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which..." It says "and which," so this phrase must be parallel to something else, but what is the "which" supposed to be parallel to? Also important: (B) buries the point -- that neutrinos are harmless and that they interact weakly with matter -- by turning both of those into modifiers. (B) seems to be saying only that it's fortunate that they're elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions.

(C) has the same kind of error with "which"

(D) also shifts the focus onto the idea that it's fortunate that these particles are produced in nuclear reactions, and the repetition of the word "neutrinos" sounds as if neutrinos is being contrasted with something else -- even though the whole sentence is about neutrinos

(E) just garbles the message -- the harmlessness is buried. Also, by saying "neutrinos that interact weakly..." it implies that there's some other kind of neutrinos out there that *don't* interact weakly. I.e. we're only talking about some neutrinos, not all.

So the best answer is (A), which makes the point clearly and without any errors in parallelism.

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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 » Wed Sep 02, 2015 4:35 am

RBBmba@2014 wrote:As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was bombarded on February 23, 1987, by about 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact very weakly with matter.

(A) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that
(B) neutrinos, which are harmless, are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which
(C) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which
(D) these harmless elementary particles are produced in nuclear reactions, and neutrinos
(E) these elementary particles, harmless products of nuclear reactions, are neutrinos that

Focus on the intended MEANING.
On February 23, 1987, every human being on Earth was bombarded by about 100 billion neutrinos.
What is FORTUNATE about this event?
It is FORTUNATE that neutrinos ARE HARMLESS.

Generally, an introductory adverbial modifier such as fortunately serves to modify the VERB in the following clause.
B: FORTUNATELY, neutrinos...ARE ELEMENTARY PARTICLES.
D: FORTUNATELY, these harmless elementary particles ARE PRODUCED IN NUCLEAR REACTIONS.
E: FORTUNATELY, these elementary particles ARE NEUTRINOS.
None of these options expresses the intended meaning (that it is fortunate that neutrinos ARE HARMLESS).
Eliminate B, D and E.

A conjunction such as and must serve to connect PARALLEL FORMS.
C: neutrinos ARE...and WHICH
Here, are (verb) and which (pronoun) are not parallel forms.
Eliminate C.

The correct answer is A.

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nikhilgmat31: Legendary Member; Posts: 518; Joined: Tue May 12, 2015 8:25 pm; Thanked: 10 times

by nikhilgmat31 » Thu Sep 03, 2015 5:03 am

Moreover
that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact are parallel in Option A.

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