Sentence Correction

A new strategy for releasing the seals into the wild has been created; the question is if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back in the ocean.

(A) if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back
(B) whether marine biologists will be able to track it once they are back in
(C ) whether marine biologists will be able to track one after the seal has been returned to
(D) if marine biologists will be able to track and follow the seals after the seals have been returned to
(E) whether marine biologists will be able to track the seals once the creatures have been returned to

Source- Kap
OA- to follow

i want to talk about C and E. Please give explanations.

between C and E i prefer E
only because of meaning
i am not sure but in C: they release many seals, but will track only one particular seal

note - whether is preferred to 'if' in a question embedded sentence
in A it's not clear 'they' refers to whom
in B 'it' cannot refer to plural 'seals'
in C 'one' cannot refer to plural 'seals'
in D 'if' use (see note), 'after' implies sequence tense in future and must use not present perfect BUT future perfect
E is correct (to me)

IMO E

Op C, 2nd part means only one seal has been released while the 1st part suggest many seals to be released.

Moreover, "will be able to track one after the seal"...this seems nonsensical...as u can say track out of many...but track one out of just one seal...seems nonsensical...wats the OA

force5 wrote:A new strategy for releasing the seals into the wild has been created; the question is if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back in the ocean.

(A) if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back
(B) whether marine biologists will be able to track it once they are back in
(C ) whether marine biologists will be able to track one after the seal has been returned to
(D) if marine biologists will be able to track and follow the seals after the seals have been returned to
(E) whether marine biologists will be able to track the seals once the creatures have been returned to

Is the underline part as i have modified above ?

I would go with E . Obviously whether is preferred over if . I find C awkward as it is talking about single seal .

force5 wrote:A new strategy for releasing the seals into the wild has been created; the question is if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back in the ocean.

(A) if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back
(B) whether marine biologists will be able to track it once they are back in
(C ) whether marine biologists will be able to track one after the seal has been returned to
(D) if marine biologists will be able to track and follow the seals after the seals have been returned to
(E) whether marine biologists will be able to track the seals once the creatures have been returned to

Source- Kap
OA- to follow

i want to talk about C and E. Please give explanations.

Hi!

I really hope that you copied the question incorrectly, since the non-underlined part is incorrect; it should read "A new strategy for releasing seals..." (the definite article "the" makes no sense in this sentence). If you've copied it verbatim, please let me know the source and I'll make sure that it gets corrected.

That issue aside, the posters here are all correct - (C) makes it sound like we're talking about one specific seal, which isn't what the first part of the sentence suggests. Accordingly, (E) must be correct.

Hi Stuart - Thanks for the reply. A quick question here.

In option C, what does 'one' refer to? Can it refer to 'a new strategy' - subject of the first sentence ? Is there any grammar rule around the usage of 'one' and its antecedent ?

Thanks in advance!

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:

force5 wrote:A new strategy for releasing the seals into the wild has been created; the question is if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back in the ocean.

(A) if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back
(B) whether marine biologists will be able to track it once they are back in
(C ) whether marine biologists will be able to track one after the seal has been returned to
(D) if marine biologists will be able to track and follow the seals after the seals have been returned to
(E) whether marine biologists will be able to track the seals once the creatures have been returned to

Source- Kap
OA- to follow

i want to talk about C and E. Please give explanations.

Hi!

I really hope that you copied the question incorrectly, since the non-underlined part is incorrect; it should read "A new strategy for releasing seals..." (the definite article "the" makes no sense in this sentence). If you've copied it verbatim, please let me know the source and I'll make sure that it gets corrected.

That issue aside, the posters here are all correct - (C) makes it sound like we're talking about one specific seal, which isn't what the first part of the sentence suggests. Accordingly, (E) must be correct.

samarpan_bschool wrote:Hi Stuart - Thanks for the reply. A quick question here.

In option C, what does 'one' refer to? Can it refer to 'a new strategy' - subject of the first sentence ? Is there any grammar rule around the usage of 'one' and its antecedent ?

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

in the context of this sentence, it must be referring to a seal, as in "one of the seals".

So, if the choice had read "...track one after the seals..." it would have been slightly better, but still more ambiguous than (E).

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:

samarpan_bschool wrote:Hi Stuart - Thanks for the reply. A quick question here.

In option C, what does 'one' refer to? Can it refer to 'a new strategy' - subject of the first sentence ? Is there any grammar rule around the usage of 'one' and its antecedent ?

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

in the context of this sentence, it must be referring to a seal, as in "one of the seals".

So, if the choice had read "...track one after the seals..." it would have been slightly better, but still more ambiguous than (E).

So geting the right answer here depends on use of common sense ?

Hi Stuart thanks for the reply The OA is E and the source is Kaplan. i have checked the Question and there is no Typo. the question is stated as it is.
However the question i have is- are we allowed to introduce a new phrase in the correct sentence. Choice E is adding a new pronoun "creatures" to address "the seals". can we introduce a new word? besides C is not technically wrong. they can talk about seals in general but talk about one specific seal. please see that these are two independent clauses separated by a semi colon.

A new strategy for releasing the seals into the wild has been created; the question is if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back in the ocean

Hence we don't need to maintain the same idea and singularity in the other part.
So the two question are-
(1) can i change singularity or plurality in the second clause which is separated from the first clause by semi colon.
(2) can we introduce a new word (phrase , modifier or pronoun) in the answer choice which is not mentioned in the other choices.

please suggest.

Hi,

what's the specific source? If you provide the details, I'll get the question edited.

We can definitely introduce new words into the correct answer. Here's the rule to follow:

The correct answer to a sentence correction question will always clearly indicate the author's intended meaning.

So, if the new word clears up ambiguity but doesn't change the meaning of the sentence, then it improves on the original.

That rule is the same reason why we can't start talking about one specific seal as does (C) - doing so changes the meaning of the sentence, since the original sentence spoke of seals in general.

force5 wrote:Hi Stuart thanks for the reply The OA is E and the source is Kaplan. i have checked the Question and there is no Typo. the question is stated as it is.
However the question i have is- are we allowed to introduce a new phrase in the correct sentence. Choice E is adding a new pronoun "creatures" to address "the seals". can we introduce a new word? besides C is not technically wrong. they can talk about seals in general but talk about one specific seal. please see that these are two independent clauses separated by a semi colon.

A new strategy for releasing the seals into the wild has been created; the question is if marine biologists will be able to track the seals once they are back in the ocean

Hence we don't need to maintain the same idea and singularity in the other part.
So the two question are-
(1) can i change singularity or plurality in the second clause which is separated from the first clause by semi colon.
(2) can we introduce a new word (phrase , modifier or pronoun) in the answer choice which is not mentioned in the other choices.

please suggest.

Thanks Stuart. the Source is Kaplan work book (latest edition).

your explanation clears my doubt. Actually its a little bit tricky because according to what you are saying the we can't deviate from the meaning of the original sentence. The tricky part is that even the original sentence can be grammatically wrong and in that scenario it gets a little tricky to know what is the real meaning. The meaning of the sentence can drastically change even by shifting the position of a small "comma".
but still i am insync with what you saying.

thanks a lot.