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Need expert help - MGMAT toughie- Key Takeaway here?

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by kaps786 » Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:50 am
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 in order to pull

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


OA follows.....







OA provided by MGMAT is choice D..

I want to better understand why E is not correct and what is the concept or key takeaway to remember.

One reasoning given is that E adds an additional 'it' making the sentence unnecssarily wordy...but I felt that wasn't a whole lot wordy .....

The other is around actions being together but I couldnt grasp that completely if somebody can shine some light....

Thanks
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Source: — Sentence Correction |
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by Frankenstein » Fri Aug 19, 2011 4:27 am
Hi,
Apart from changing the meaning, E is a run-on sentence.
'it pulls with its mouthparts to strip the bone of any residual fat or muscle tissue' - This is an independent clause->This has its own subject(it) and verb(pulls).
We cannot connect two Independent clauses using just a coordinating conjunction(FANBOY) 'and'.
We need to use 'comma+FANBOY' to connect two Independent clauses.
So, if we remove 'it' the part after and is not more an independent clause. So, it can be connected to the preceding independent clause using just 'and'(without comma). That would be grammatically correct although the intended meaning differs from that of original sentence(A).

I don't know if you know this. You can always refer to MGMAT forums as well. I guess most of the MGMAT questions are discussed in detail in those forums. You can just type first few words of your questions in the search engine and check the explanations. I don't intend to discourage you from posting on BTG forums, but I just want to let you know about those forums as well.
Cheers!

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by 786 » Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:07 am
Agrre with Frankenstein .
D it is . Good Question .

Frankenstein , What is FANBOY ?
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by Frankenstein » Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:12 am
786 wrote:Agrre with Frankenstein .
D it is . Good Question .

Frankenstein , What is FANBOY ?
Hey,
That was a typo. It's actually FANBOYS.
FANBOYS is nothing but a mnemonic to remember coordinating conjunctions - For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.
Cheers!

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by saketk » Sat Aug 20, 2011 7:59 am
Hi -- First of all look at the word 'it' after the underline part. It tells us that the subject we are talking about is 'Singular'.. This eliminates options A & B. As Frankenstein said E is a case of run-on sentence. Eliminate E. option C is awkward. Only D conveys the intended meaning correctly.
kaps786 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 in order to pull

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


OA follows.....







OA provided by MGMAT is choice D..

I want to better understand why E is not correct and what is the concept or key takeaway to remember.

One reasoning given is that E adds an additional 'it' making the sentence unnecssarily wordy...but I felt that wasn't a whole lot wordy .....

The other is around actions being together but I couldnt grasp that completely if somebody can shine some light....

Thanks
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