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by sameerbhagwatmba1 » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:39 am
HI,

please help me with this question

123. As a result of the ground-breaking work of Barbara McClintock, many scientists now believe that all of the information encoded in 50,000 to 100,000 of the different genes found in a human cell are contained in merely three percent of the cell’s DNA.
(A) 50,000 to 100,000 of the different genes found in a human cell are contained in merely
(B) 50,000 to 100,000 of the human cell’s different genes are contained in a mere
(C) the 50,000 to 100,000 different genes found in human cells are contained in merely
(D) 50,000 to 100,000 of human cell’s different genes is contained in merely
(E) the 50,000 to 100,000 different genes found in a human cell is contained in a mere


thanks
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

by Carlo75 » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:01 am
I will go with B.
The subject is "all of the information" that's plural and we need an adjective in order to modify "three percent" so marely is wrong because its an adverb.

What is the OA?
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by jsl » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:02 am
Is the answer E?

The number range must be parallel to "the information". In addition, "the information" is singular - thus you need "is".
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by sameerbhagwatmba1 » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:11 am
Yes the answer is E. Thank you.
I have one more query, if we use merely in place of mere in E then will E option still be coreect??
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by codesnooker » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:30 am
sameerbhagwatmba1 wrote:Yes the answer is E. Thank you.
I have one more query, if we use merely in place of mere in E then will E option still be coreect??
You can use mere (adjective) and merely (adverb) to mean 'simply' or 'only':

he's a mere boy, only a boy; for the sake of a mere $2,000, for the sake of a small sum like $ 2,000; the mere sight of grass makes me sneeze, just the sight/simply the sight of grass makes me sneeze; instead of answering he merely smiled; I merely asked for a glass of water.

Adverb modifies Adjective/Verb only. Adverb usually does not modifies noun except for Gerund. It is unusual to have an adverb modify a noun. It is possible with a gerund, because it keeps many of its verb characteristics. It is also possibly with nouns that are formed from adjectives.

In this question mere/merely has to modify "three percent of the cell’s DNA" which is noun but not gerund. Hence, "mere" would be the correct choice.

Hope this helps...
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by sameerbhagwatmba1 » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:37 am
Thanks a lot for your help :D
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