parallelism for modifiers ?

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hey_thr67: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 299; Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:27 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 9 times

by hey_thr67 » Tue May 29, 2012 11:40 am

Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty-eight states that still has a sizable wolf population. and where this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep.

(A) that still has a sizable wolf population, and where
(B) that still has a sizable wolf population, where
(C) that still has a sizable population of wolves, and where
(D) where the population of wolves is still sizable;
(E) where there is still a sizable population of wolves and where

OA: E

[spoiler]I have a doubt. why not C is the solution ? explanation in OG says modifiers have to parallel in order to modify Minnesota ? Is it really necessary. I had negated E just because it uses "there is" phrase, which GMAT doesn't prefer... please explain..[/spoiler]

Last edited by hey_thr67 on Tue May 29, 2012 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue May 29, 2012 11:40 am

hey_thr67: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 299; Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:27 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 9 times

by hey_thr67 » Tue May 29, 2012 11:51 am

How does Insead suit to a person with exp in high-tech industry and wanting to pursue entrepreneurship/product management ?

Also comment on the above statement. Here I have modified person with a preposition noun phrase and used conjunction to connect another modifier starting with participle?

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Wed May 30, 2012 3:52 am

hey_thr67 wrote:Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty-eight states that still has a sizable wolf population, and where this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep.

(A) that still has a sizable wolf population, and where
(B) that still has a sizable wolf population, where
(C) that still has a sizable population of wolves, and where
(D) where the population of wolves is still sizable;
(E) where there is still a sizable population of wolves and where

OA: E

In A and C, THAT still has...and WHERE this predator is not parallel. A conjunction such as AND must connect parallel structures. Eliminate A and C.

In B, where seems to refer to population. Where must refer to A PLACE. Eliminate B.

In D, this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep does not convey the intended meaning. The intended meaning here is that ONLY IN MINNESOTA does the wolf remain the archenemy of cattle and sheep. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is E.

Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Wed May 30, 2012 7:44 am, edited 3 times in total.

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dhonu121: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 316; Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:18 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 16 times

by dhonu121 » Wed May 30, 2012 5:28 am

Hi Mitch,
Is there any rule for statements of such types:
X is one of the Ys(Plural) that...
Should the prounoun be singular or plural here ?

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dhonu121: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 316; Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:18 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 16 times

by dhonu121 » Wed May 30, 2012 5:42 am

Mitch,
Isnt "has" incorrectly referring to 48 states.?
I think has should be have here and that is why A,B and C are incorrect.

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1947: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 215; Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:24 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 13 times

by 1947 » Wed May 30, 2012 6:48 am

Questions like these are very dicey...
I agree with Mitch that answer should be A ...but ppl say it is Oggicial question and answer is E not A.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/min ... t4285.html

read this link for detail and share your thoughts.

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Wed May 30, 2012 7:30 am

I misspoke earlier. Check my amended post above.

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Wed May 30, 2012 7:41 am

dhonu121 wrote:Mitch,
Isnt "has" incorrectly referring to 48 states.?
I think has should be have here and that is why A,B and C are incorrect.

THE ONLY ONE takes a SINGULAR verb.
To see the situation more clearly, we can reverse the order:
Of the 48 contiguous states, Minnesota is THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS.

For more on the distinction between THE ONLY ONE and ONLY ONE, check my post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/number-rule-t105096.html

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hey_thr67: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 299; Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 10:27 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 9 times

by hey_thr67 » Wed May 30, 2012 8:14 am

In choice C do we have any problem with

(C) that still has a sizable population of wolves, and where

Do we have any grammatical/comma problem also ?

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1947: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 215; Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:24 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 13 times

by 1947 » Wed May 30, 2012 10:55 am

Thanks Mitch this clears the usage of AND in maintaining paralelism.......

GMATGuruNY wrote:I misspoke earlier. Check my amended post above.

If my post helped you- let me know by pushing the thanks button. Thanks

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RBBmba@2014: Legendary Member; Posts: 944; Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 8:21 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 8 times

by RBBmba@2014 » Mon Nov 02, 2015 7:21 am

GMATGuruNY wrote:
hey_thr67 wrote:Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty-eight states that still has a sizable wolf population, and where this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep.

(A) that still has a sizable wolf population, and where
(B) that still has a sizable wolf population, where
(C) that still has a sizable population of wolves, and where
(D) where the population of wolves is still sizable;
(E) where there is still a sizable population of wolves and where

OA: E
In A and C, THAT still has...and WHERE this predator is not parallel. A conjunction such as AND must connect parallel structures. Eliminate A and C.

In B, where seems to refer to population. Where must refer to A PLACE. Eliminate B.

In D, this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep does not convey the intended meaning. The intended meaning here is that ONLY IN MINNESOTA does the wolf remain the archenemy of cattle and sheep. Eliminate D.

The correct answer is E.

Hi Mitch,
NOT able to clearly understand how the option D doesn't convey the intended meaning that ONLY IN MINNESOTA does the wolf remain the archenemy of cattle and sheep ?

Is it because of the FACT that the portion after semicolon -- this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep -- DOESN'T CLEARLY imply that whether this predator remains the archenemy ONLY in MINNESOTA or in some other states as well. Am I correct ?

Please help!

As for the OA(E), where there is... -- is such a CONSTRUCTION frequent on GMAT ? Do we have any other Official instances ?

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RBBmba@2014: Legendary Member; Posts: 944; Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 8:21 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 8 times

by RBBmba@2014 » Wed Nov 18, 2015 6:52 am

Mitch - any update on my above concerns Sir ?

Would you please share your feedback on these questions ?

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Wed Nov 18, 2015 1:52 pm

RBBmba@2014 wrote: NOT able to clearly understand how the option D doesn't convey the intended meaning that ONLY IN MINNESOTA does the wolf remain the archenemy of cattle and sheep ?

Is it because of the FACT that the portion after semicolon -- this predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep -- DOESN'T CLEARLY imply that whether this predator remains the archenemy ONLY in MINNESOTA or in some other states as well. Am I correct ?

Your understanding is correct.
In D, the portion after the semi-colon reads as follows:
This predator remains the archenemy of cattle and sheep.
Here, the danger posed by this predator is not constrained to Minnesota.
As a result, the intended meaning of the original sentence is not conveyed.

As for the OA(E), where there is... -- is such a CONSTRUCTION frequent on GMAT ? Do we have any other Official instances ?

Offhand, I cannot cite another OA with where there.
But this construction is not unusual.
Two common sayings in the US:
Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Where there's a will, there's a way.

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