Sentence Correction

Complex human traits such as artistic talent or social skill are likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so genes in the human genome.

(A) such as artistic talent or social skill are likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so
(B) such as artistic talent or social skill are likely shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of 80,000 or so of the
(C) such as artistic talent or social skill is likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of 80,000 or so of the
(D) like artistic talent or social skill is likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so
(E) like artistic talent or social skill are likely shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so

[spoiler]OA: A[/spoiler]

How I have eliminated:

S such as/like A or B ---Verb follows X.

So, C and D are out.

X of Y of Z--IS NOT CORRECT. So, B is out.

What about A and E?

Thanks.

E cannot be correct because it uses "traits like artistic talent". "like" cannot be used to introduce an example; it is only used to make comparison. Here because the author intends to mention artistic talent and social skills as examples of complex traits, "such as" should be used. A is best.

Patrick_GMATFix wrote:E cannot be correct because it uses "traits like artistic talent". "like" cannot be used to introduce an example; it is only used to make comparison. Here because the author intends to mention artistic talent and social skills as examples of complex traits, "such as" should be used. A is best.

Are my reasonings to eliminate other options correct?

Thanks.

yes

gmat_perfect wrote:Complex human traits such as artistic talent or social skill are likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so genes in the human genome.

(A) such as artistic talent or social skill are likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so
(B) such as artistic talent or social skill are likely shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of 80,000 or so of the
(C) such as artistic talent or social skill is likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of 80,000 or so of the
(D) like artistic talent or social skill is likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so
(E) like artistic talent or social skill are likely shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so

[spoiler]OA: A[/spoiler]

How I have eliminated:

S such as/like A or B ---Verb follows X.

So, C and D are out.

X of Y of Z--IS NOT CORRECT. So, B is out.

What about A and E?

Thanks.

Reason B is wrong: likely to be is the correct idiom
C: is does not agree with traits
D and E: Like is used to compare 2 nouns,such as used for exapmles.
Hence A is correct

You can easily eliminate D and E. Rather whenever you see 'such as' try to find out 'like' in some options. I will bet that you will find the same and the same you can eliminate very easily.

Here I eliminated D and E within fraction of second. I have eliminated C because of s-v issue. B is wrong because correct idiom is 'likely to Be' and not only 'likely'

gmat_perfect wrote:Complex human traits such as artistic talent or social skill are likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so genes in the human genome.

(A) such as artistic talent or social skill are likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so
(B) such as artistic talent or social skill are likely shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of 80,000 or so of the
(C) such as artistic talent or social skill is likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of 80,000 or so of the
(D) like artistic talent or social skill is likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so
(E) like artistic talent or social skill are likely shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so

[spoiler]OA: A[/spoiler]

How I have eliminated:

S such as/like A or B ---Verb follows X.

So, C and D are out.

X of Y of Z--IS NOT CORRECT. So, B is out.

What about A and E?

Thanks.