Hi ankuraga,

In the future, you should include just one prompt per post. That way, you can keep the discussion focused on that one prompt and avoid multiple conversations about multiple prompts (which might be confusing).

1st SC:

This SC is based on some standard verb and parallelism rules:

1) Verbs: Since the elephant is an animal that is alive right now, we should refer to it in the present tense (re "the elephant IS descended from..."). Eliminate B, C and D.

2) Parallelism: This sentence discusses 2 aspects of the elephant, so we need to make sure that both of those "pieces" are written in Parallel "format." Answer E presents the 2 pieces correctly ("THAT the elephant.....and.....THAT its trunk). Answer A is not parallel ("THAT the elephant....and ITS trunk").

Final Answer: E

2nd SC:

This SC is based on a list of items, so it involves parallelism rules. We have to be careful about determining the END of the list though.

1) Parallelism: From the original prompt, we can see that the list is EITHER 3 or 4 items. The first two items ("reduced......sickness, sleeping on the job...." are 2 "negative" nouns that have been "reduced" by recently implemented shift-work equations. Any additional items must ALSO be "negative" nouns that were reduced by the recently implemented equations.

Looking at the latter part of the sentence, there is clearly a third "negative" noun that should have been reduced: "fatigue..." However, the fourth item ("production efficiency") is NOT a negative item, so it should not be a part of the list, BUT it should still be written in parallel format.

The correct answer will use the word "and" to introduce the third/last item in the list. Eliminate A, B and D.

2) Style/Redundancy: Between Answers C and E, you should notice that Answer E includes the words "was lowered", which is redundant language since we were already told that the 3 items in the list were "reduced." Eliminate E.

Final Answer: C

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich