Knewton Challenge, 1/25/11 (Eucbacteria)

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umesh321: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 4; Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:53 am

by umesh321 » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:27 am

In E, most of people has doubt about usage "the only of"
My point is that only is a adjective and the same can be used in this way.
i.e.
All religions are similar ,but the difference is only of custom ,tradition ,and country.

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schumi_gmat: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 377; Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:30 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 15 times

by schumi_gmat » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:33 am

AdamKnewton wrote:Hey everyone,

Here's the LAST question in Knewton's Verbal Challenge. Once you've looked it over, reply to this thread with your answer and an explanation for how you got it. I'll choose the best explanation at 11 pm EST tonight, and the daily winner will get free access to the Beat the GMAT Practice Questions!

Congrats to yesterday's winner, stormier!

--

Question 5.

Able to synthesize chemical energy or obtain it from an external source in both the presence and the absence of oxygen, kingdom Eubacteria is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays the full range of metabolic diversity.

(A) is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays
(B) is alone out of the six-kingdom classification system since they display
(C) alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays
(D) are the only ones out of the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system in displaying
(E) only of the six-kingdom classification system displays

A - Incorrect. The costruction should be "one of the many" so correct construction would be "one of the six-kingdom classification systems"

B - "They" does not have antecedent

C - Correct - Kingdom alone among other kingdoms is correct idiom.

D - Are is incorrect. subject is Kingdom Eubacteria which is singular and has singular noun. Kingdom dont comprise classification system. This changes the meaning.

E - has the same error as A.

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sam_mitta3000: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:32 am

by sam_mitta3000 » Tue Jan 25, 2011 11:48 am

Able to synthesize chemical energy or obtain it from an external source in both the presence and the absence of oxygen, kingdom Eubacteria is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays the full range of metabolic diversity.

(A) is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays
(B) is alone out of the six-kingdom classification system since they display
(C) alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays [CORRECT]
(D) are the only ones out of the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system in displaying
(E) onlyof the six-kingdom classification system displays

This sentence describes kingdom Eubacteria as one of something means that
the entity that the singular kingdom is one of must be plural.

First Watch

(A) is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays { kingdom Eubacteria is singular}
(B) is alone out of the six-kingdom classification system since they display { kingdom Eubacteria is singular }
(C) alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays [CORRECT]
(D) are the only ones out of the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system in displaying {kingdom Eubacteria is singular so should not use plural are}
(E) only of the six-kingdom classification system displays

Second Watch

(A) is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays { kingdom Eubacteria is singular}
(B) is alone out of the six-kingdom classification system since they display { kingdom Eubacteria noun is singular so it should be singular displays }
(C) alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays [CORRECT]
(E) only of the six-kingdom classification system displays

Third Watch

(A) is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays { kingdom Eubacteria is singular}
(C) alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays [CORRECT]
(E) only of the six-kingdom classification system displays { only of is idiomatic wrong}

Fourth Watch

(A) is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays { kingdom Eubacteria is singular
Kingdom Eubacteria is the only one of...the classification system (a singular noun) is incorrect.}
(C) alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays [CORRECT][/size]
Simple and clear
Alone among is an idiomatically correct expression.
Kingdom Eubacteria, a singular noun, agrees with the singular verb displays.
" the classification system" is an adjective clause immediately following
the noun it describes, the six kingdoms.

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akash.delsaria: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 13; Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:07 am; Thanked: 4 times; GMAT Score:700

by akash.delsaria » Tue Jan 25, 2011 11:55 am

YNWA

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gnod: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 28; Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2010 11:12 am; Thanked: 7 times

by gnod » Tue Jan 25, 2011 12:44 pm

Question 5.

Able to synthesize chemical energy or obtain it from an external source in both the presence and the absence of oxygen, kingdom Eubacteria is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays the full range of metabolic diversity.

A bit confusing at first but breaking it down definitely helped:

Couple of errors -
1) "only one" - redundant
2) "kingdom Eubacteria is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system" - is kingdom Eubacteria a classification system? Or one of the six kingdoms?
3) "only one of" - think of "one of many" - "singular of plural" ... so "kingdom" should be "kingdoms"

(A) is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays
"only one" is redundant, "six-kingdom classification system" makes it sound like "kingdom Eubacteria" is a system and not an actual kingdom.

(B) is alone out of the six-kingdom classification system since they display
"is alone out of" makes it sound like kingdom Eubacteria is alone by itself somewhere in a corner. Awkward and unclear meaning

(C) alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays
CORRECT: kingdoms = plural, to correctly connect "alone among" to denote 'one of many"
"displays" (singular) agrees with "kingdom Eubacteria" (also singular)
it's clear that kingdom Eubacteria is one of six kingdoms that comprise the classification system and NOT one of six kingdom classification system...

(D) are the only ones out of the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system in displaying
"in displaying" is awkward, "are" should be "is" to refer back to kingdom Eubacteria

(E) only of the six-kingdom classification system displays
Should be "kingdoms", but irrelevant since it still makes it sound like it's a classification system as opposed to a kingdom.

i hope i get this!!!

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GMATMadeEasy: Legendary Member; Posts: 768; Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:46 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 21 times

by GMATMadeEasy » Tue Jan 25, 2011 1:43 pm

Answer should be A .

Structure of the sentence : <modifier> , subject <auxiliary verb: is> <subject compliment>.

A > Incorrect : Subject <Eubacteria> is a type of kingdom in the kigdom classification system not the classification system in itself.
B> Incorrect : They incorrectly refers to a singluar noun "Eubacteria" .

C> Correct : the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system correctly explains the classification system , and displays correctly refers to singular subject Eubacteria .

D> are is incorrect for singular subject Eubacteria .

E> only is misplaced. It should be before kingdom Eubacteria .

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Adam@Knewton: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 132; Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:26 pmFollowed by: 37 members; Location: New York City; Thanked: 68 times; GMAT Score:780

by Adam@Knewton » Tue Jan 25, 2011 8:07 pm

And for our final question...

This was a tricky one with some really good explanations, even among some of the wrong answers. I like BastiG's edited comment for its simple rejection of choice (A), which was the most popular choice other than the correct answer. (A) is not right because, even though it conveys the right meaning, it would be wrong to say that "Kingdom X is ... out of the system" at all. Kingdom Eubacteria is one of the six kingdoms in the six kingdom system, and it's the only one out of all those other kingdoms, not alone out of the system.

In terms of (C), which is the correct answer, most people seemed to find "alone among" awkward and then hunted for other errors. Don't do this! In fact, it's not awkward. Commas might make it clearer, but are of course not necessary because commas aren't tested on the GMAT:

...Kingdom Eubacteria, alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system, displays...

This is correct. The commas aren't necessary, but I put them in above so that it's clearer to anyone who doubts it.

The best explanation today belongs to jaymw, who got the right answer and properly explained away the wrong ones. This second thing was hard to do, especially with (A). Please read jaymw's explanation below for further details.

Congrats to jaymw, and thanks to everyone who contributed to the Knewton Verbal Challenge Week!

jaymw wrote:It was easy to get this one down to C and E but then it got hard.

The sentence tells us that in this six kingdom system, there is only one kingdom that has full metabolic diversity. The modifier "able to... oxygen" does not have any bearing on the sentence's structure, so we can safely ignore it.

Moreover, kingdom Eubacteria is really just the name of that kingdom, so we can replace it with kingdom X.
The sentence gets reduced to:

Kingdom X...

(A) ...is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays (something)

Incorrect. Subject (kingdom) and verb (displays) agree in number, so no trouble there. But by replacing "six-kingdom classification system" with just "system", the error becomes obvious. "Kingdom X is the only one of the system...", that surely does not sound right. It should be "is the only one of the six kingdoms in the system", but it isn't. Therefore, A is out.

(B) ...is alone out of the six-kingdom classification system since they display (something)

Incorrect. "Alone out of" is unidiomatic. Furthermore, the pronoun "they" has no correct antecedent. Logically, when we start this part with "is alone" then we must be talking about the kingdom (the only singular subject of the sentence) and can't just switch to "they" (which is supposed to refer to Eubacteria) in the middle of the sentence.

(C) ...alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays (something)

Correct. Subject and verb agree in number. "kingdom X alone among the 6 kingdoms" also makes sense.

(D) ...are the only ones out of the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system in displaying (something)

Incorrect. Again, this is a subject/verb agreement problem. We should compare the kingdom with the six kingdoms and not the bacteria with the six kingdoms. Therefore, "are" cannot correctly refer to kingdom Eubacteria.

(E) ...only of the six-kingdom classification system displays (something)

Incorrect. As in A, "kingdom X of the 6-kingdom system" is a faulty comparison. Kingdom X should be in comparison with the kingdoms in the system, not with the system itself.

My pick is C.

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jsasipriya: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 50; Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:28 amFollowed by: 1 member

by jsasipriya » Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:54 pm

Able to synthesize chemical energy or obtain it from an external source in both the presence and the absence of oxygen, kingdom Eubacteria is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays the full range of metabolic diversity.

(A) is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays
(B) is alone out of the six-kingdom classification system since they display
(C) alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays
(D) are the only ones out of the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system in displaying
(E) only of the six-kingdom classification system displays

My pick is choice A.

A is grammatically correct and conveys the intended meaning properly. Other answer choices either do not convey the meaning or do not comply with grammar rules.

B:Incorrect because
subject-verb do not agree. Eubacteria..display
There is a pronoun error. ...they...
There is also meaning error.
Use of alone is incorrect.

C: Incorrect because
Use of alone is incorrect.
Use of"six kingdoms that comprise the classification system " is non-sensical

D: Incorrect because
subject-verb do not agree
Also there is meaning error

E: Incorrect becuase
missing verb for main subject
missing pronoun 'that'. Hence meaning error

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diebeatsthegmat: Legendary Member; Posts: 1119; Joined: Fri May 07, 2010 8:50 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 29 times

by diebeatsthegmat » Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:11 pm

AdamKnewton wrote:And for our final question...

This was a tricky one with some really good explanations, even among some of the wrong answers. I like BastiG's edited comment for its simple rejection of choice (A), which was the most popular choice other than the correct answer. (A) is not right because, even though it conveys the right meaning, it would be wrong to say that "Kingdom X is ... out of the system" at all. Kingdom Eubacteria is one of the six kingdoms in the six kingdom system, and it's the only one out of all those other kingdoms, not alone out of the system.

In terms of (C), which is the correct answer, most people seemed to find "alone among" awkward and then hunted for other errors. Don't do this! In fact, it's not awkward. Commas might make it clearer, but are of course not necessary because commas aren't tested on the GMAT:

...Kingdom Eubacteria, alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system, displays...

This is correct. The commas aren't necessary, but I put them in above so that it's clearer to anyone who doubts it.

The best explanation today belongs to jaymw, who got the right answer and properly explained away the wrong ones. This second thing was hard to do, especially with (A). Please read jaymw's explanation below for further details.

Congrats to jaymw, and thanks to everyone who contributed to the Knewton Verbal Challenge Week!

jaymw wrote:It was easy to get this one down to C and E but then it got hard.

The sentence tells us that in this six kingdom system, there is only one kingdom that has full metabolic diversity. The modifier "able to... oxygen" does not have any bearing on the sentence's structure, so we can safely ignore it.

Moreover, kingdom Eubacteria is really just the name of that kingdom, so we can replace it with kingdom X.
The sentence gets reduced to:

Kingdom X...

(A) ...is the only one of the six-kingdom classification system that displays (something)

Incorrect. Subject (kingdom) and verb (displays) agree in number, so no trouble there. But by replacing "six-kingdom classification system" with just "system", the error becomes obvious. "Kingdom X is the only one of the system...", that surely does not sound right. It should be "is the only one of the six kingdoms in the system", but it isn't. Therefore, A is out.

(B) ...is alone out of the six-kingdom classification system since they display (something)

Incorrect. "Alone out of" is unidiomatic. Furthermore, the pronoun "they" has no correct antecedent. Logically, when we start this part with "is alone" then we must be talking about the kingdom (the only singular subject of the sentence) and can't just switch to "they" (which is supposed to refer to Eubacteria) in the middle of the sentence.

(C) ...alone among the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system displays (something)

Correct. Subject and verb agree in number. "kingdom X alone among the 6 kingdoms" also makes sense.

(D) ...are the only ones out of the six kingdoms that comprise the classification system in displaying (something)

Incorrect. Again, this is a subject/verb agreement problem. We should compare the kingdom with the six kingdoms and not the bacteria with the six kingdoms. Therefore, "are" cannot correctly refer to kingdom Eubacteria.

(E) ...only of the six-kingdom classification system displays (something)

Incorrect. As in A, "kingdom X of the 6-kingdom system" is a faulty comparison. Kingdom X should be in comparison with the kingdoms in the system, not with the system itself.

My pick is C.

if C is right and correct so can you please tell me where the predicative is in this sentence??? it lacks " is " or a verb to make a full sentence. i dont understand
i chose
A

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Adam@Knewton: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 132; Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 12:26 pmFollowed by: 37 members; Location: New York City; Thanked: 68 times; GMAT Score:780

by Adam@Knewton » Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:16 pm

diebeatsthegmat wrote:
AdamKnewton wrote: correct so can you please tell me where the predicative is in this sentence??? it lacks " is " or a verb to make a full sentence. i dont understand
i chose
A
In (C), the "alone...system" clause becomes a modifying phrase, but, because we've removed the "that," the word "displays" becomes the main verb. So the main sentence reads:

"kingdom Eubacteria ... displays the full range of metabolic diversity."

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btgyes: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 101; Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:44 am; Thanked: 1 times

by btgyes » Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:25 am

C is correct...!

A is most INCORRECT....! It changes the meaning of sentence by exactly 180 degree

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Reva: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 93; Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:52 am; Thanked: 1 times

by Reva » Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:34 pm

AdamKnewton wrote:
diebeatsthegmat wrote:
AdamKnewton wrote: correct so can you please tell me where the predicative is in this sentence??? it lacks " is " or a verb to make a full sentence. i dont understand
i chose
A
In (C), the "alone...system" clause becomes a modifying phrase, but, because we've removed the "that," the word "displays" becomes the main verb. So the main sentence reads:

"kingdom Eubacteria ... displays the full range of metabolic diversity."

how did we know that "alone.......system" becomes a modyfying phrase

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