African Wildcat

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African Wildcat

by Sher1 » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:10 pm
Descending approximately 4,000 years ago from the African wildcat, it has been an exceedingly short time for the domestic cat with respect to genetic evolution and it scarcely seems sufficient to allow the marked physical changes that transformed the animal.
A Descending approximately 4,000 years ago from the African wildcat, it has been an exceedingly short time for the domestic cat with respect to genetic evolution and it scarcely seems sufficient to allow the marked physical changes that transformed the animal.
B The domestic cat descended from the African wildcat approximately 4,000 years ago, which is an exceedingly short time for the domestic cat's genetic evolution and scarcely sufficient for the marked physical changes that transformed the animal.
C Descending from the African wildcat approximately 4,000 years ago, the domestic cat has had an exceedingly short time for its genetic evolution and has been scarcely sufficient for the marked physical changes in the animal.
D Having descended from the African wildcat approximately 4,000 years ago, the domestic cat has had an exceedingly short time for its genetic evolution that has scarcely been sufficient for the marked physical changes that transformed the animal.
E The domestic cat descended from the African wildcat approximately 4,000 years ago, an exceedingly recent divergence with respect to genetic evolution and one which scarcely seems sufficient to allow the marked physical changes in the animal.
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by ManSab » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:44 pm
Will go for B:

Some body please explain.

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by Musicolo » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:44 pm
its B

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by Musicolo » Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:45 pm
Musicolo wrote:its B
I'm not sure I know how to explain why B, it just seems grammatically correct.

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by Sher1 » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:52 pm
The OA is E

Problem with B is "which is an exceedingly short time" has no referrant in the sentence.
I chose B as well to my peril. This is a tough one.

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by iwant700plus » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:34 pm
I learned in my GMAT class that in sentences like these, usually the GMAT tried to introduce new words that are better than those used in the original sentence. They introduce the new language so that the sentence might sound more concise than without the language.

I had chosen B over E because I was thrown off by recent divergence.

Food for thought.

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by ST » Wed Mar 04, 2009 8:00 pm
I think answer is C since the cat or noun is close the the modifier.

what do you think guys?

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by uymba » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:39 pm
I choose D.

Having descended from the African wildcat approximately 4,000 years ago, the domestic cat has had an exceedingly short time for its genetic evolution that has scarcely been sufficient for the marked physical changes that transformed the animal.

Modifier applies well. Short time for genetic evolution that has been sufficient to transform the animal. has had and has been are parallel.
Anyway... i might be wrong :)

In E:

The domestic cat descended from the African wildcat approximately 4,000 years ago, an exceedingly recent divergence with respect to genetic evolution and one which scarcely seems sufficient to allow the marked physical changes in the animal.

In case OA is E, i have some questions:
- divergence doen't change the meaning?? divergence <> short.
- seems - distort meaning. in original sentence it is a fact.
- to allow - isn't that wordy?

Does someone has an explanation why OA is E??

Thank you very much.[/i]
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by Sher1 » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:11 pm
The original sentence begins with a misplaced modifier. It is the domestic cat that descended from the wildcat. We need to find a choice that expresses this correctly.

(A) This choice is the same as the original sentence.

(B) The original modifier issue has been corrected. However, the phrase "which is an exceedingly short time" has no referent ("4,000 years ago" is not a time span but a specific moment).

(C) The original modifier issue has been corrected. However, the phrase "has been scarcely sufficient..." incorrectly refers to the domestic cat.

(D) The original modifier issue has been corrected. However, the phrase "that has scarcely been sufficient..." incorrectly modifies "genetic evolution". Also "the marked physical changes that transformed the animal" is redundant. Compare to E: "the marked physical changes in the animal," a much tighter way of conveying the same information.

(E) CORRECT. This choice correctly rearranges the opening modifier to place the words "the domestic cat" immediately next to the modifier "descended from the African wildcat."

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by pakaskwa » Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:28 pm
I agree with Sher1 and his analysis. I choose E.

I was hesitating on choosing E at the beginning, because of "recent divergence". But as Sher1 analysed, all other choices have errors. So I had to look at E again, and realized that "recent divergence" means "recent change of evolution path for wild cat", which makes sense in the sentence. So I go for E.

Regard to yumba's questions:
In case OA is E, i have some questions:
- divergence doen't change the meaning?? divergence <> short.
No it doesn't. See my thoughts above.
- seems - distort meaning. in original sentence it is a fact.
In original sentence, there's "seems" too. Please double check.
- to allow - isn't that wordy?
Since the subject has been changed to "recent divergence", it makes sense to use "allow".

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by uymba » Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:30 pm
thanks.
in the last question I must looked to one of the answers and not the original sentence :D hope it doesn't happen in the exam!
thanks again!
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