Sentence Correction

I know the following question has been answered in the forum but no discussion explains the query I have about E & A options. Please help.

Sunspots, vortices of gas associated with strong electromagnetic activity, are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.
(A) are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on
(B) are visible as dark spots that never have been sighted on the surface of the Sun
(C) appear on the surface of the Sun as dark spots although never sighted at
(D) appear as dark spots on the surface of the Sun, although never having been sighted at
(E) appear as dark spots on the Sun's surface, which have never been sighted on



Hi,

I have one confusion here about the option E. I'm not able to rule out E out of E & A.
Here's my reasoning:

spots on sun's surface, which have .. --> "which have" clearly refers to spots (plural) rather than sun's surface (singular). Also, grammar says:
In "x preposition y, which ..", "which" would refer to the most logically connecting & grammatically correct noun of X & Y. So, E shd be right. Please help me understand why it is not so.

"plural X + preposition + singular Y, which have"- which refers X, NO?

Thanks
Divine

divineacclivity wrote:I know the following question has been answered in the forum but no discussion explains the query I have about E & A options. Please help.

Sunspots, vortices of gas associated with strong electromagnetic activity, are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.
(A) are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on
(B) are visible as dark spots that never have been sighted on the surface of the Sun
(C) appear on the surface of the Sun as dark spots although never sighted at
(D) appear as dark spots on the surface of the Sun, although never having been sighted at
(E) appear as dark spots on the Sun's surface, which have never been sighted on



Hi,

I have one confusion here about the option E. I'm not able to rule out E out of E & A.
Here's my reasoning:

spots on sun's surface, which have .. --> "which have" clearly refers to spots (plural) rather than sun's surface (singular). Also, grammar says:
In "x preposition y, which ..", "which" would refer to the most logically connecting & grammatically correct noun of X & Y. So, E shd be right. Please help me understand why it is not so.

"plural X + preposition + singular Y, which have"- which refers X, NO?

Thanks
Divine

You're right. In E, which refers to 'dark spots', and that is precisely what makes E wrong. E implies that DARK SPOTS have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator, but intended meaning (which A implies correctly) is that the SUNSPOTS have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.

Hi,

grammatically, you have treated choice E very well.There is absolutely no problem with the sentence. But, know that you have to also make sure that the answer choice conveys the intended meaning

Sunspots, vortices of gas associated with strong electromagnetic activity, are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.

The intended meaning of the sentence is to provide two contrasting facts about the sunspots hence the need of BUT.

However, in the choice E

Sunspots, vortices of gas associated with strong electromagnetic activity, appear as dark spots on the Sun's surface, which have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator

By marking have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator as a non essential modifier we have lost the contrast that sentence wants to convey

divineacclivity wrote:I know the following question has been answered in the forum but no discussion explains the query I have about E & A options. Please help.

Sunspots, vortices of gas associated with strong electromagnetic activity, are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.
(A) are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on
(B) are visible as dark spots that never have been sighted on the surface of the Sun
(C) appear on the surface of the Sun as dark spots although never sighted at
(D) appear as dark spots on the surface of the Sun, although never having been sighted at
(E) appear as dark spots on the Sun's surface, which have never been sighted on



Hi,

I have one confusion here about the option E. I'm not able to rule out E out of E & A.
Here's my reasoning:

spots on sun's surface, which have .. --> "which have" clearly refers to spots (plural) rather than sun's surface (singular). Also, grammar says:
In "x preposition y, which ..", "which" would refer to the most logically connecting & grammatically correct noun of X & Y. So, E shd be right. Please help me understand why it is not so.

"plural X + preposition + singular Y, which have"- which refers X, NO?

Thanks
Divine

though grammatically correct,e changes the meaning of the sentence.
the sentence,originally,emphasizes equally on both the parts.

are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sunbuthave never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.
the sentence e implies that "sunspots are visible as dark spots" is the only major thing in this sentence. E makes "which have never............"non essential. making it non essential means that only the first part is important and the part after which is not.
the original sentence has equal emphasis on the two parts,but E has emphasis on only one of the parts.
hope this helps

Sunspots, vortices of gas associated with strong
electromagnetic activity, are visible as dark spots on
the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on
the Sun's poles or equator.
(A) are visible as dark spots on the surface of the
Sun but have never been sighted on
(B) are visible as dark spots that never have been
sighted on the surface of the Sun
(C) appear on the surface of the Sun as dark spots
although never sighted at
(D) appear as dark spots on the surface of the Sun,
although never having been sighted at
(E) appear as dark spots on the Sun's surface,
which have never been sighted on

In C and D, sighted AT the Sun's poles does not convey the intended meaning: it implies that sunspots have never been sighted by anyone located AT the Sun's poles. The intended meaning of the SC is that sunspots have never been sighted ON the Sun's poles. Eliminate C and D.

In B, dark spots that never have been sighted on the surface of the Sun changes the meaning. The intended meaning is that SUNSPOTS (not dark spots) have never been sighted on THE SUN'S POLE OR EQUATOR (not the surface of the sun). Eliminate B.

In E, which have refers to dark spots, implying that dark spots have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator. The intended meaning of the SC is that SUNSPOTS have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is A.

7777 wrote:

divineacclivity wrote:I know the following question has been answered in the forum but no discussion explains the query I have about E & A options. Please help.

Sunspots, vortices of gas associated with strong electromagnetic activity, are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.
(A) are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on
(B) are visible as dark spots that never have been sighted on the surface of the Sun
(C) appear on the surface of the Sun as dark spots although never sighted at
(D) appear as dark spots on the surface of the Sun, although never having been sighted at
(E) appear as dark spots on the Sun's surface, which have never been sighted on



Hi,

I have one confusion here about the option E. I'm not able to rule out E out of E & A.
Here's my reasoning:

spots on sun's surface, which have .. --> "which have" clearly refers to spots (plural) rather than sun's surface (singular). Also, grammar says:
In "x preposition y, which ..", "which" would refer to the most logically connecting & grammatically correct noun of X & Y. So, E shd be right. Please help me understand why it is not so.

"plural X + preposition + singular Y, which have"- which refers X, NO?

Thanks
Divine

though grammatically correct,e changes the meaning of the sentence.
the sentence,originally,emphasizes equally on both the parts.

are visible as dark spots on the surface of the Sunbuthave never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.
the sentence e implies that "sunspots are visible as dark spots" is the only major thing in this sentence. E makes "which have never............"non essential. making it non essential means that only the first part is important and the part after which is not.
the original sentence has equal emphasis on the two parts,but E has emphasis on only one of the parts.
hope this helps

Thank you! That helps me choose A over E

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Sunspots, vortices of gas associated with strong
electromagnetic activity, are visible as dark spots on
the surface of the Sun but have never been sighted on
the Sun's poles or equator.
(A) are visible as dark spots on the surface of the
Sun but have never been sighted on
(B) are visible as dark spots that never have been
sighted on the surface of the Sun
(C) appear on the surface of the Sun as dark spots
although never sighted at
(D) appear as dark spots on the surface of the Sun,
although never having been sighted at
(E) appear as dark spots on the Sun's surface,
which have never been sighted on

In C and D, sighted AT the Sun's poles does not convey the intended meaning: it implies that sunspots have never been sighted by anyone located AT the Sun's poles. The intended meaning of the SC is that sunspots have never been sighted ON the Sun's poles. Eliminate C and D.

In B, dark spots that never have been sighted on the surface of the Sun changes the meaning. The intended meaning is that SUNSPOTS (not dark spots) have never been sighted on THE SUN'S POLE OR EQUATOR (not the surface of the sun). Eliminate B.

In E, which have refers to dark spots, implying that dark spots have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator. The intended meaning of the SC is that SUNSPOTS have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is A.

hey, please review your explanation on negating option E because:
spots on sun's surface, which have .. --> "which have" clearly refers to spots (plural) rather than sun's surface (singular). Also, grammar says:
In "x preposition y, which ..", "which" would refer to the most logically connecting & grammatically correct noun of X & Y.
Thank you!

vk_vinayak wrote:

divineacclivity wrote: Hi,

I have one confusion here about the option E. I'm not able to rule out E out of E & A.
Here's my reasoning:

spots on sun's surface, which have .. --> "which have" clearly refers to spots (plural) rather than sun's surface (singular). Also, grammar says:
In "x preposition y, which ..", "which" would refer to the most logically connecting & grammatically correct noun of X & Y. So, E shd be right. Please help me understand why it is not so.

"plural X + preposition + singular Y, which have"- which refers X, NO?

Thanks
Divine

You're right. In E, which refers to 'dark spots', and that is precisely what makes E wrong. E implies that DARK SPOTS have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator, but intended meaning (which A implies correctly) is that the SUNSPOTS have never been sighted on the Sun's poles or equator.

Oh, I get your point. I thought it was ok to refer to either of the two things, once those two have been projected as equivalent things. Is that not a right assumption?
e.g. sunspots, visible (through naked eye) as dark spots on sun's surface, which appear beginning of a century, are supposed to bring luck to humanity.
OR
Dan, also known as Dan De Quaza, whom we met yesterday in the park, jogs here every day.

Thanks for helping out!