Sentence Correction

Hi all,

Question: First discovered more than 30 years ago, Lina's sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Phillippines and that resembles hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye.

A. found in the Phillippines and that resembles
B. found in the Phillippines and that, resembling
C. found in the Phillippines and resembling
D. that is found in the Phillippines and it resembles
E. that is found in the Phillippines and that, resembling

OA: C

Can anybody explain it with reasons to each wrong answer choice? Nazarft7, gmat_perfetct and other experts please come and rule out this. Thanks in advance.

amir_hatef wrote:Hi all,

Question: First discovered more than 30 years ago, Lina's sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Phillippines and that resembles hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye.

A. found in the Phillippines and that resembles
B. found in the Phillippines and that, resembling
C. found in the Phillippines and resembling
D. that is found in the Phillippines and it resembles
E. that is found in the Phillippines and that, resembling

Can anybody explain it with reasons to each wrong answer choice? Nazarft7, gmat_perfetct and other experts please come and rule out this. Thanks in advance.

A tip to you:

Please post the OA by using spoiler.

The skeleton of the sentence:

Animal found in the Philippines and that resembles hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head.

See the following sentences:

The book bought from NY and that resembles Gitanjoli has a great value.

--> It means that we are talking about two books:

One that has been bought from NY and
One that resembles Gitanjoli.

We could write the sentence in the following way:

The book bought from NY and resembles Gitanjoli has a great value.

The problem:

These are not two verbs. If we were to use two verbs, we could use different verbs forms:

Example:

I have bought a book and will pay in future.

The two verbs are working as participle to modify the NOUN "the book". We should use two participle: one of them is past participle, and other one is in present participle.

We should revise the sentence as follows:

The book bought from NY and resembling Gitanjoli has a great value.

--> The same rule has been tested in this sentence.

One more thing:

Animal that is found Vs animal found

Since GMAT prefers conciseness, 'animal found" is good choice. This technique can be used in most of the cases if there is no severe mistake in the sentence containing "animal found".

Answer is C.

Past participle and present participle have been used as parallel modifier in OG as well as in GATPREP.

Thanks for the good question.

amir_hatef wrote:Hi all,

Question: First discovered more than 30 years ago, Lina's sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Phillippines and that resembles hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye.

A. found in the Phillippines and that resembles
B. found in the Phillippines and that, resembling
C. found in the Phillippines and resembling
D. that is found in the Phillippines and it resembles
E. that is found in the Phillippines and that, resembling

OA: C

Can anybody explain it with reasons to each wrong answer choice? Nazarft7, gmat_perfetct and other experts please come and rule out this. Thanks in advance.

"And" is a coordinating conjunction that needs to join things that are parallel. Note "that resembles" could have been correct if it had been paired with "that is found"; aside from being a little more wordy, it's not one of the answer choices.

Final solution at one place:

Important: The purpose of this post (and all the other posts by me) is to give a complete solution to all GMAT-Prep Verbal questions at one place. Sometimes students have to wade through dozens of posts to get to the final answer. My posts will give one complete and crisp solution required to arrive at the correct answer by eliminating the wrong ones. Some of the content in these posts may have been taken from various other sources (discussion forums).

First discovered more than 30 years ago, Lina's sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Philippines and that resembles a hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye.
(A) found in the Philippines and that resembles
(B) found in the Philippines and that, resembling
(C) found in the Philippines and resembling
(D) that is found in the Philippines and it resembles
(E) that is found in the Philippines, resembling

A. Here, the first underlined word is "found", which is an adjective for the word Lina's sunbird (animal) ... we also have the word AND ... the word after AND is "resembles" (verb). Not parallel. For "that resembles" to be correct, the earlier parallel element of the sentence would have to state "that is found."

B. Here, the first underlined word is "found", which is an adjective for the word Lina's sunbird (animal) ... we also have the word AND ... the word after AND is "that" ... if "that" is not there on the left side, it can't be on the right side (to maintain parallelism).

C. Here, the first underlined word is "found", which is an adjective for the word Lina's sunbird (animal) ... we also have the word AND ... the word after AND is "resembling", which is also an adjective for the sunbird (animal). The adjectives "found" and "resembling" are perfectly parallel.

D. "that is found" and "it resembles" - Not parallel

E. "that is found" and "resembling" - Not parallel

C: correct

Let's focus on another real GMAT sentence to understand this further:

Scientists have recently discovered what could be the largest and oldest living organism on Earth, a giant fungus that is an interwoven filigree of mushrooms and root-like tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.
A. extending B. extends C. extended
D. it extended E. is extending

Imagine the sentence:

The crumbled chair, broken and aging with each passing day, was nearing the end of its life.

'Broken (a Past Participle)' and 'aging (a Present Participle)' are both modifying (describing) chair (which is a noun). Hence, 'broken' and 'aging' are adjective forms (since adjectives describe nouns). In this sentence, it is clear that 'broken' is Past participle, since the Past tense of 'break' is 'broke' while Past participle is 'broken'. And since Past participles and present participle are considered parallel structures, this sentence is correct.

The most important clue in this sentence is AND ... the word AND mandates Right to Left strict parallelism. To the right of AND is "extending" ... to check parallelism, we have to understand the role of the word "extending". It is not a verb as -ING forms alone are never verbs. So it can be a noun or an adjective. In this sentence the word "extending" is describing something ... we need to know what it is describing.

If we read further ... "extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest" can describe the largest organism (30 acres is really LARGE), which is the same as "giant (large) fungus" or "interwoven (interconnected, large) filigree". "Mushrooms and root-like tentacles" of a single plant can't extend for 30 acres ... their filigree (wire formed into delicate tracery such as filigree foliage) can. So the word "extending" surely describes "organism".

As the word "extending" describes something, it is an adjective. And the word "extending" is written after the word AND ... so we must find another adjective (that describes the organism) to the left of AND. We have the word "spawned" before AND. "Spawn" (meaning: produce or generate, especially in large numbers and undesirably) cannot describe tentacles, as tentacles of a plant cannot extend for 30 acres and can't get generated in large numbers. Also, the fact that "a single spore" was responsible for the whole 30-acre growth (happening for the last 10,000 years) makes sure that the word "spawned" describes the organism ...

So we have 2 adjectives: "spawned" and "extending", both describing the organism ... perfectly parallel ... option A must be correct.

Option B: "extends" is a verb ... but there is no verb parallel to "extends" before the word AND ... Incorrect.

Option C: "extended" is also an adjective. But this signifies intention whereas the given action of extending is completely unintended. So this is the wrong adjective.

Imagine the two sentences:

The road extended from A to B was found to be skewed by the local authorities. Here, the word "extended" means that somebody intentionally extended the road. Past participles show intention.

The smoke coming out of the building corroborated the suspicion that the building had caught fire. Here the word "coming" is unintended. Present participles show no intention.

Option D: "it extended" is a verb ... but there is no verb parallel to "extended" before the word AND ... Incorrect.

Option E: "is extending" is a verb ... but there is no verb parallel to "is extending" before the word AND ... Incorrect.
Consider another sentence:

Another such sentence:

In the search for alien life, astronomers have recently begun studying a promising region, a solar system that is populated by a number of potentially life-friendly planets formed by fragments of an exploding star some 7 million years ago and features many of the geological and climatic prerequisites for the evolution of life.
A. features B. featured C. had featured
D. featuring E. feature

Here, the word formed is an adjective parallel to featuring. Ans. D (Use the same logic as given above).

Another sentence:

The increased popularity and availability of televisions has led to the decline of regional dialects, language variations which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated by geographic isolation.
A. which originate from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
B. that originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
C. originated from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
D. originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuated
E. originating from diverse ethnic and cultural heritages and perpetuating

Imagine the sentence: He saw a man injured (somebody else was responsible) by a bullet and limping in pain.

'The man was injured by the bullet.' is correct ...

'The man was injuring by the bullet'. is nonsensical.

So 'injured' is the right adjective.

'The man was limping in pain.' is correct ...

'The man was limped in pain.' is nonsensical.

So 'limping' is the correct adjective.

So 'injured (past participle, -ed adjective)' is parallel to 'limping (present participle, ING adjective)'.

Consider the sentence: Because of strained budgets and fading public support, some sports are dying a slow death.

In this case, 'strained' is the adjective (past participle - intended action) for the word budgets; 'fading' is the adjective (present participle - unintended action) for the word support.

In the given question, we need to know 2 things:

Something originates on its own (unintended action). So the correct adjective is 'originating'.

'Perpetuate' (make an unfounded belief continue indefinitely) is an intended action. So the correct adjective is 'perpetuated'.

For example:

Originating in Europe and perpetuated by immigrant Europeans to spread their dominance, Spanish had become a major language in the Americas by 1900s.

Languages originate on their own (by the way people speak different dialects in various parts of the world). The origin of a language at a particular place is not an intended activity.

Perpetuation of the Spanish language was an intended activity by the Europeans. It could not have happened on its own.

So, in the above sentence, we cannot use 'originated' in place of 'originating' and 'perpetuating' in place of 'perpetuated'.

In this question, the word AND mandates parallelism.

In option A, originate (verb) and perpetuated (adjective) are not parallel.

In option B, originated (verb) and perpetuated (adjective) are not parallel.

In option C, originated (wrong adjective) and perpetuated (right adjective) are not parallel.

In option D, originating (right adjective) and perpetuated (right adjective) are parallel (CORRECT).

In option E, originating (right adjective) and perpetuating (wrong adjective) are not parallel.

Let's take another such sentence:

The growth of the railroads led to the abolition of local times, which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing from city to city, and to the establishment of regional times.

A. which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
B. which was determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and which differed
C. which were determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing
D. determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differed
E. determined by when the sun reached the observer's meridian and differing

Imagine 2 different cities where local times were determined in 1800s:

Determination is an intended activity, so the right adjective is 'determined'.

The difference in the times in 2 cities is an unintended activity, so the right adjective is 'differing'.

Also, if we use WAS / WERE ...

The times were determining in the 2 cities. Nonsensical!

The times were determined in the 2 cities. Correct ... so the right adjective is 'determined'.

"The times were differed in the two cities." This will mean as if someone intentionally made the two times different. Nonsensical!

"The times were differing in the two cities." Grammatically Correct ... so the right adjective is 'differing'.

As per meaning clarity, only 'local times' could have been determined by the movement of the sun, so the word 'which' refers to 'local times' (plural). The word 'was' cannot be correct in A and B.

In C, 'were determined' is a passive verb and 'differing' cannot be a verb (ING forms alone are never verbs). Not parallel.

In D, 'determined' is the right adjective but 'differed' is the wrong adjective.

In E, 'determined' and 'differing' are the right adjectives, both of which refer to 'local times'. CORRECT.