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A troublesome scrub jay

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A troublesome scrub jay

by zaarathelab » Sun Jan 01, 2012 12:02 pm
A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place,
researchers have discovered, and tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if stored long
enough to have rotted.
A. tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if
B. they tend not to bother recovering a perishable treat
C. tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it
D. tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat
E. tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it

Pls give reasons to pick between D and E
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by mankey » Mon Jan 02, 2012 9:15 am
Looks "D" to me. More on instincts than anything else.

What is the OA?

Thanks.
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Jan 02, 2012 1:02 pm
zaarathelab wrote:A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place,
researchers have discovered, and tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if stored long
enough to have rotted.
A. tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if
B. they tend not to bother recovering a perishable treat
C. tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it
D. tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat
E. tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it

Pls give reasons to pick between D and E
In A, tend (plural) does not agree with a scrub jay (singular). The intended meaning here is that a scrub jay CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS. Eliminate A.

In B, they (plural) does not agree with a scrub jay (singular). Eliminate B.

In C and E, it refers to a scrub jay. Thus, IT stored long enough TO HAVE ROTTED implies that the SCRUB JAY rotted. The intended meaning -- that the TREAT has been stored long enough to have rotted -- is conveyed by D: a perishable TREAT stored long enough TO HAVE ROTTED. Eliminate C and E.

The correct answer is D.
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by zaarathelab » Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:11 am
'It stored long enough to have rotted'

Is it that 'stored' is a past participle here and therefore refers to scrubjay being stored itself?
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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Jan 03, 2012 4:25 am
zaarathelab wrote:'It stored long enough to have rotted'

Is it that 'stored' is a past participle here and therefore refers to scrubjay being stored itself?
The grammatical implication of IT stored long enough to have rotted is that stored long enough to have rotted --the entire structure -- refers to IT (the scrub jay). Here, stored seems to function as a VERB, the subject of which is IT. What did IT do? It STORED. HOW did it store? It stored LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE ROTTED.

The grammatical implication of a perishable TREAT stored long enough to have rotted is that stored long enough to have rotted -- the entire structure -- refers to the perishable TREAT. Here, stored functions as an ADJECTIVE modifying the treat. WHAT KIND of treat? A treat STORED LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE ROTTED.

The latter conveys the intended meaning.
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by zaarathelab » Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:21 am
Got it! Change of meaning in E makes it illogical. Why would the scrubjay store a treat long enough so that the treat rots!
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by vietmoi999 » Wed May 08, 2013 7:51 am
as usual, meaning is in focus.

the hard point inhere is to realize that the meaning is not "can remember and can tend" . this task is not easy when we are in the testing room.
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by Md.Belal Hossain » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:02 am
In A, tend (plural) does not agree with a scrub jay (singular). The intended meaning here is that a scrub jay CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS. Eliminate A



Thank you sir for your explanation.
I have some confusion on option A.

Would you please shed some lights on following issues:

>>why you are taking "CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS" as parallel parts. Why you are not taking "CACHED ....& TENDS" as parallel parts.

>>even if we take "CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS" as parallel parts, can we take CAN common (if so,is TEND okay?)

>>what "IF stored" means in option A? Is it an example of reduced adverbial clause. If yes, what is full clause?
"If stored= if + subject of the main clause + BE VERB (same tense of the main sentence)+ stored=if a scrub jay is stored" is it grammatically correct.

Thanks a lot, sir.

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by Md.Belal Hossain » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:06 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
zaarathelab wrote:A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place,
researchers have discovered, and tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if stored long
enough to have rotted.
A. tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if
B. they tend not to bother recovering a perishable treat
C. tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it
D. tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat
E. tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it

Pls give reasons to pick between D and E
In A, tend (plural) does not agree with a scrub jay (singular). The intended meaning here is that a scrub jay CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS. Eliminate A.

In B, they (plural) does not agree with a scrub jay (singular). Eliminate B.

In C and E, it refers to a scrub jay. Thus, IT stored long enough TO HAVE ROTTED implies that the SCRUB JAY rotted. The intended meaning -- that the TREAT has been stored long enough to have rotted -- is conveyed by D: a perishable TREAT stored long enough TO HAVE ROTTED. Eliminate C and E.

The correct answer is D.
Thank you sir for your explanation.

I have some confusion on option A.
Would you please shed some lights on following issues:

>>why you are taking "CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS" as parallel parts. Why you are not taking "CACHED ....& TENDS" as parallel parts.

>>even if we take "CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS" as parallel parts, can we take CAN common (if so,is TEND okay?)

>>what "IF stored" means in option A? Is it an example of reduced adverbial clause. If yes, what is full clause?
"If stored= if + subject of the main clause + BE VERB (same tense of the main sentence)+ stored=if a scrub jay is stored" is it grammatically correct.

Thanks a lot, sir.

Belal
From Bangladesh
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by Akrita@Jamboree » Wed Apr 04, 2018 3:10 am
zaarathelab wrote:A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place,
researchers have discovered, and tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if stored long
enough to have rotted.
A. tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if
B. they tend not to bother recovering a perishable treat
C. tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it
D. tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat
E. tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it

Pls give reasons to pick between D and E
Upon eliminating the non-essential phrase between the two commas - researchers have discovered- the sentence reads:

A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place and tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if stored long

We want the second verb after and to be parallel with can remember. Also, 'a scrub jay' is singular, and any option containing a plural pronoun or verb is incorrect. Let us go through the options one by one:

A - tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if: INCORRECT - This option has a subject-verb mismatch; tend is a plural verb whereas 'a scrub jay' is singular
B. they tend not to bother recovering a perishable treat: INCORRECT - This option has a pronoun issue; they is a plural pronoun whereas 'a scrub jay' is singular
C. tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it: INCORRECT - This option has a parallelism error; can remember and tending are not in parallel
D. tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat: CORRECT - This is the best answer; can remember and tends are in parallel, and the singular verb 'tends' with the singular subject. Furthermore, D uses the verb form ' to bother ', which is the most precise construction, and superior to any noun or '-ing' forms
E. tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it: INCORRECT - As mentioned earlier, whenever we have to choose between a verb form and an -ing form, provided everything else is the same, we want to go with the verb rather than the '-ing' form. For this reason, E - although correct grammatically and logically - is inferior to D.

D is the best and most precise answer.

Please let me know in case anything doesn't make sense.
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:20 pm
Md.Belal Hossain wrote:>>why you are taking "CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS" as parallel parts. Why you are not taking "CACHED ....& TENDS" as parallel parts.
to tend to do X = to be inclined to do X.

A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place and tends not to bother to recover a perishable treat it stored long enough to have rotted.
If tends is construed to be parallel with cached, we get the following:
A scrub jay can remember when it CACHED...[and when it] TENDS not to bother to recover a perishable treat.
The red portion conveys the following meaning:
A scrub jay is able to remember when it is inclined not to bother to recover a perishable treat.
This meaning is nonsensical.
>>even if we take "CAN REMEMBER...and TENDS" as parallel parts, can we take CAN common (if so,is TEND okay?)
Proposed interpretation:
A scrub jay can tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat.
Conveyed meaning:
A scrub jay is able to be inclined not to bother to recover a perishable treat.
This meaning is nonsensical.
>>what "IF stored" means in option A? Is it an example of reduced adverbial clause. If yes, what is full clause?
"If stored= if + subject of the main clause + BE VERB (same tense of the main sentence)+ stored=if a scrub jay is stored" is it grammatically correct.
A: a perishable treat if stored
The construction in red -- NOUN + VERBLESS if-clause -- does not seem viable.
Correct: NOUN + COMMA + VERBLESS if-clause
For an OA with this construction, check my post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/aqaba-jorda ... 85786.html
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