discovery

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discovery

by AnjaliOberoi » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:24 am
Biologists working in Spain say that their discovery of teeming life in a highly acidic river may
not only broaden the search for life, or for evidence of past life, no other planets but also show
that a number of forms of microscopic life can adapt to conditions that scientists have long
thought hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria.



A. show that a number of forms of microscopic life can adapt to conditions that scientists have long
thought hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria
B. may show that a number of forms of microscopic life is capable of adapting to conditions that
scientists have long thought hostile to all bacteria but the hardiest ones
C. shows a number of forms of microscopic life to be capable to adapt to conditions that scientists
have long thought had been hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria
D. showing that a number of forms of microscopic life is capable of adapting to conditions that
scientists have long thought had been hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria
E. showing that a number of forms of microscopic life can adapt to conditions that scientists have
long thought hostile to all bacteria but the hardiest

OA A
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by theCodeToGMAT » Mon Jan 20, 2014 5:49 am
AnjaliOberoi wrote:Biologists working in Spain say that their discovery of teeming life in a highly acidic river may not only broaden the search for life, or for evidence of past life, no other planets but also show that a number of forms of microscopic life can adapt to conditions that scientists have long thought hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria.

A. show that a number of forms of microscopic life can adapt to conditions that scientists have long
thought hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria


B. may show that a number of forms of microscopic life is capable of adapting to conditions that scientists have long thought hostile to all bacteria but the hardiest ones
INCORRECT; "is" is singular... a number is plural

C. shows a number of forms of microscopic life to be capable to adapt to conditions that scientists have long thought had been hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria
INCORRECT; SVA Error

D. showing that a number of forms of microscopic life is capable of adapting to conditions that
scientists have long thought had been hostile to all but the hardiest bacteria
INCORRECT; broaden is verb but showing is adjective.. Not parallel

E. showing that a number of forms of microscopic life can adapt to conditions that scientists have long thought hostile to all bacteria but the hardiest
INCORRECT; broaden is verb but showing is adjective.. Not parallel
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by [email protected] » Mon Jan 20, 2014 4:04 pm
Hi AnjaliOberoi,

This SC question is built on 2-part parallelism.

The phrase "not only....but also...." requires that the words that follow "but also...." have the same format/style as the words that follow "not only..."

In the prompt, the second part of the phrase requires a word that is parallel to the word "broaden."

Only the correct answer A provides an answer that gives us a parallel verb.

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