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beetles

by gmatguy16 » Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:44 pm
Used by many natural history museum curators in the preparation of animal skeletons for display, (((dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling))) with its mouthparts to strip the bone of any residual fat or muscle tissue.

a. dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling
b. dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and pull
c. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and pulls
d. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling
e. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and it pulls
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by mehravikas » Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:33 pm
IMO - D
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by uymba » Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:24 pm
This is a typical hard question.

My analysis:

"with its mouthparts". "its" clearly refers to a singular noun. So A & B are out.

E: "it pulls". The "it" is redundant, as the noun has been stated and it doesn't need to be stated again. "The beetle feeds and pulls" would be ok. Option E out.

Between C & D, is a meaning issue.
C: the beetle feeds and pulls or D the beetle feeds by pulling?

IMO D, because the beetles feeds. how? pulling to strip the bone.

Hope it helps!

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by ershovici » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:52 am
Agree with D
First its mouthparts requires singular beetle, and the beetle pulling its mouthparts to strip the bone. So D ideal answer choice
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by vaibhav.iit2002 » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:13 pm
Agree with D[due to its]
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Last edited by vaibhav.iit2002 on Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by gmatguy16 » Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:44 pm
OA D
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by hazelnut01 » Wed Mar 29, 2017 6:18 am
gmatguy16 wrote:Used by many natural history museum curators in the preparation of animal skeletons for display, dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling with its mouthparts to strip the bone of any residual fat or muscle tissue.

A. dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling
B. dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and pull
C. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and pulls
D. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling
E. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and it pulls

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Could verbal expert help to explain why answer choice E is incorrect? Does it appear as redundant? I have selected E, unfortunately it is incorrect. I have no idea why D could be the correct answer choice. The VERBing right after the comma, does the sentence (pulling ...... tissue) act as a modifier?
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Wed Mar 29, 2017 6:38 am
ziyuenlau wrote:
gmatguy16 wrote:Used by many natural history museum curators in the preparation of animal skeletons for display, dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling with its mouthparts to strip the bone of any residual fat or muscle tissue.

A. dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling
B. dermestid beetles feed on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and pull
C. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and pulls
D. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses, pulling
E. the dermestid beetle feeds on the decaying flesh of animal carcasses and it pulls

Source : Manhattan Prep
Could verbal expert help to explain why answer choice E is incorrect? Does it appear as redundant? I have selected E, unfortunately it is incorrect. I have no idea why D could be the correct answer choice. The VERBing right after the comma, does the sentence (pulling ...... tissue) act as a modifier?
In D, the participial phrase, "pulling with its mouthparts..." modifies the previous clause, "the domestic beetle feeds on the decaying flesh..." This is logical. How does the domestic beetle feed on decaying flesh? By pulling with its mouthparts.

E makes it sound as though the beetle is engaged in two discrete, unrelated actions. The beetle feeds on the decaying flesh, and it also performs this second unrelated action and pulls with its mouthparts. So that's the logical question. Does it make more sense to say, as in D, that the beetle feeds by pulling things apart with its mouthparts? Or does it make more sense to say the beetle feeds and the beetle also does this second unrelated thing that involves pulling bone apart with its mouthparts?

D just seems more logical.

(And if you want a more concrete grammar rationale, generally speaking, if we have two independent clauses separated by a conjunction, there should be a comma. Dave does x, and he does y. There's no comma in E before the "and" that separates the clauses.
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