Sentence Correction

Less than 400 Sumatran rhinos survive on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, and they occupy a small fraction of the species' former range.

A) Less than 400 Sumatran rhinos survive on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, and they occupy a small fraction of the species' former range.

B) Less than 400 Sumatran rhinos, surviving on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, occupy a small fraction of the species' former range.

C) Occupying a small fraction of the species' former range, the Malay peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo are where fewer than 400 Sumatran rhinos survive.

D) Occupying a small fraction of the species' former range, fewer than 400 Sumatran rhinos survive on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

E) Surviving on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, less than 400 Sumatran rhinos occupy a small fraction of the species' former range.

[spoiler]OA:D[/spoiler]

[spoiler]IF in B) and E) we used Fewer instead of Less, would that make them error free answers??[/spoiler]

joealam1 wrote:[spoiler]IF in B) and E) we used Fewer instead of Less, would that make them error free answers??[/spoiler]

With fewer instead of less, they both look good to me, though I prefer E, because in E the subject of the sentence isn't placed far from the main verb, as the subject is in B.

The misuse of less is not the only error in B and E.

In B and E, surviving serves to modify rhinos occupy, implying that act of SURVIVING is HOW the rhinos OCCUPY a small fraction of the species' former range.
This meaning is illogical.
In the OA, occupying serves to modify rhinos survive, implying that the act of OCCUPYING a small fraction of the species' former range is HOW the rhinos SURVIVE.
This meaning is logical.

Hi Mitch,

So in other words B and D are saying that the Rhinos Occupy by surviving

while the correct answer is saying that the rhinos survive by occupying? Which makes sense

I think "modifier" is the trickiest topic on SC, at least for non natives cz it covers deep meaning issues, which might be easily ignored during the 1.5 min time constraint.

Thanks.

Regards,

Joe

joealam1 wrote:So in other words B and D are saying that the Rhinos Occupy by surviving

while the correct answer is saying that the rhinos survive by occupying? Which makes sense

Correct.

I think "modifier" is the trickiest topic on SC, at least for non natives cz it covers deep meaning issues, which might be easily ignored during the 1.5 min time constraint.

On the modern GMAT, meaning is as important as -- if not more important than -- grammar.

GMATGuruNY wrote:The misuse of less is not the only error in B and E.

In B and E, surviving serves to modify rhinos occupy, implying that act of SURVIVING is HOW the rhinos OCCUPY a small fraction of the species' former range.
This meaning is illogical.
In the OA, occupying serves to modify rhinos survive, implying that the act of OCCUPYING a small fraction of the species' former range is HOW the rhinos SURVIVE.
This meaning is logical.

Hi Mitch,

I thought about the explanation you've given pertaining to the modifier usage in B and E.

Can't it be inferred like this : because they (Rhinos)survive only then they could occupy . I see this option attaching the act of surviving to the Rhinos (as is done via a modifier) as a quality and in turn putting the resultant (of this act) in the verb form.

Somehow it does seem to make sense to me.
Can you please help me with this.

Regards
SR

D is the answer.
But I have a doubt. We use 'less' in places where numbers are present. Here, 200 is given. So shouldn't 'less' be used?

As in, shouldn't the D option have 'less' in place of 'fewer'?

Pratishtha21 wrote:D is the answer.
But I have a doubt. We use 'less' in places where numbers are present. Here, 200 is given. So shouldn't 'less' be used?

As in, shouldn't the D option have 'less' in place of 'fewer'?

The rule in red is incorrect.
Generally:
less serves to refer to any noun that takes a SINGULAR VERB.
fewer serves to refer to any noun that takes a PLURAL VERB.
D: Fewer than 400 Sumatran rhinos survive on the Malay peninsula.
Here, fewer correctly serves to refer to 400 Sumatran rhinos, a subject that takes a PLURAL VERB.

For more on less vs. fewer, check my two posts here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/india-s-rice ... 91214.html

A) Less than 400 Sumatran rhinos survive on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, and they occupy a small fraction of the species' former range. - 2 clauses joined by and. Incorrect.

B) Less than 400 Sumatran rhinos, surviving on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, occupy a small fraction of the species' former range. - an important information is in between commas thereby making it irrelevant and this this choice is incorrect.

C) Occupying a small fraction of the species' former range, the Malay peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo are where fewer than 400 Sumatran rhinos survive.
- major modifier error

D) Occupying a small fraction of the species' former range, fewer than 400 Sumatran rhinos survive on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. - PERFECT

E) Surviving on the Malay peninsula and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, less than 400 Sumatran rhinos occupy a small fraction of the species' former range. - awkward construction