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Most Nutritious Parts of Plant

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by Onell » Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:50 pm
In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.
(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen

OA :D



20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material. Doesn't it sound illogical... how can 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material be the most nutritious parts of the plant....
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by nisha.menon294 » Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:56 pm
i think it is d.

A) which is - incorrect"
B) incorrect due to subject verb agreement
c)will - incorrect
d)correct
e) incorrect
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by Onell » Mon Nov 15, 2010 7:06 pm
nisha.menon294 wrote:i think it is d.

A) which is - incorrect"
B) incorrect due to subject verb agreement
c)will - incorrect
d)correct
e) incorrect
[spoiler]
how can 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material be the most nutritious parts of the plant....what about remaining 80%
Last edited by Onell on Mon Nov 15, 2010 8:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by saurabh_maths » Mon Nov 15, 2010 7:45 pm
IMO it shd be D

A - 'which' incorrectly refers to stem material only.
B- wordy and awkward
C - incorrect use of future tense.
E - wordy and awkward
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by beat_gmat_09 » Mon Nov 15, 2010 8:34 pm
I think it is better to consider the question in simple present tense when the option answers create confusion about the tense. In this question those options are A,C,E.
I am actually confused in identifying the subject, 20% of leaf... or the parts of the plant (B or D)
I'll go with D.
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by kapur.arnav » Tue Nov 16, 2010 9:50 am
Onell wrote:In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.
(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen
D for the following reasons:

(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell - of all parts makes it wordy and akward... usage of shattered and fell is incorrect since as much as .... is singular...
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall - of all - makes the sentence wordy
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall - future tense is not reqd..
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls - correct...
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen - indicates an event that has already taken place... while that is not the case here...

hope it helps....
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by Salman Ghaffar » Tue Nov 16, 2010 1:28 pm
In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.
(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen

The sentence is talking about a general truth, hence all verbs should be in the present tense (the infinitive). So options A, C and E can be cancelled for using the wrong tenses. Between B and D, since both use the correct tense, the issue is whether to use "shatter" or "shatters". This will depend upon whether the subject "20 percent of the leaf and small stem material" is considered singular or plural. "20 percent of the leaf and small stem material" is actually considered singular. Hence the correct verb will be "shatters and falls". So the answer is D.
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by gmatmarch2010 » Mon Nov 22, 2010 7:32 am
Salman Ghaffar wrote:In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.
(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen

The sentence is talking about a general truth, hence all verbs should be in the present tense (the infinitive). So options A, C and E can be cancelled for using the wrong tenses. Between B and D, since both use the correct tense, the issue is whether to use "shatter" or "shatters". This will depend upon whether the subject "20 percent of the leaf and small stem material" is considered singular or plural. "20 percent of the leaf and small stem material" is actually considered singular. Hence the correct verb will be "shatters and falls". So the answer is D.
Hi Salman,

I would like to highlight something which is part of your explanation. "20 percent of the leaf and small stem material" should be plural but according to D - most is part of SANAM pronoun and therefore in -most nutritious parts of the plant - plant is the subject therefore singular - shatters and falls.

Salman Bhai please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks
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by Salman Ghaffar » Fri Dec 10, 2010 2:57 am
Dear Gmatmarch

As per GMAT rules, a percent of a singular (which in this case is "the leaf and stem material") would always be singular.

This question is from an old GMAT official guide printed by the ETS in 1992 and i possess a copy of it. The book mentions the same - and D as the correct answer. Hope this clarifies.[/quote]
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