Sentence Correction

Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

A...
B. which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
C. and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and it marks
E. an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark

IMO for C, but OA is E

[email protected] wrote:Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

A...
B. which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
C. and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and it marks
E. an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark

IMO for C, but OA is E

Its E for sure..and C is no way even second best


A, B_ which incorrectly modifies NA..

C slammed and causing are not parallel..Also, a conjunction is not required to convey the meaning

D..It refers to what?? ambiguous pronoun...Asteroid or event?

hence E...

If we modify option D as follows:
D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks

what does which modify? I think it correctly modifies extintions...the only problem would be singular 'marks'

In option E,
E. an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark
I am not quite sure how 'mark' is correct verb form.

As i understand, an event caused plant and animal extinctions and an event 'marks' end of an era.
What am i missing here?

ashish2104 wrote:If we modify option D as follows:
D. an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, which marks

what does which modify? I think it correctly modifies extintions...the only problem would be singular 'marks'

In option E,
E. an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark
I am not quite sure how 'mark' is correct verb form.

As i understand, an event caused plant and animal extinctions and an event 'marks' end of an era.
What am i missing here?

Ashish,

The event does not mark the end of the Cretaceous period. The intent of the statement is that the plant and animal extinctions mark the end of the Cretaceous period.

Hope that helps!

Yet another absolute modifier!

Btw, I think there's a little variation from Verbal Guide and GMAT Prep when it comes to D.

In the verbal guide, it says ", which marks...", but in this version, it says ", and it marks..."

Good thing in both cases, E is still the preferred answer.

Can someone please explain the modifier issue...

65 million years, an asteroid slammed into North America, which caused extinctions marking the end of a geologic period...

versus

an asteroid slammed into North America, an event that caused extinction that marks...

isnt which caused a more appropriate modifier that refers to the asteroid that the event...or is it modifying an asteroid that slammed into north america...i.e the entire clause ?
[/u]

Adi_Pat, 'which' often modifies only the noun immediately preceding it. Hence, in this example, there is no way that 'which' could modify the whole action - asteroid slamming into North America. Hence the second option is preferred.

IMO D

Can somebody explain me how E is better that D.
I find D better than E, here are my analysis.

1. E is using "the plant and animal" , 'the' should be used if something is already stated.
So I find D, better here.

2. In D, 'it' clearly is referring to an event. Also the pronoun ambiguity is not an absolute rule to discard a SC.

3. From meaning point of view, both are making sense.

D : The event marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
E : Extinctions mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

I selected D based on point 1.

Please explain how E is better than D.

paes wrote: 2. In D, 'it' clearly is referring to an event. Also the pronoun ambiguity is not an absolute rule to discard a SC.

for the above reasoning if "it "stands for event then the s/c has another error of llelism by omitting that after and.
in all sense E is best and correct

thephoenix@

usage of 'that' after 'and' is optional.
[It will be better to have not must ]

I am ready to take E as the answer, but I am unable to justify the usage of 'the' here.

paes@, 'the' in E is not incorrect as it helps to talk in specific about the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of.... . The 'the' could have been avoided. But its inclusion does not make the answer choice incorrect.

paes wrote:thephoenix@

usage of 'that' after 'and' is optional.
[It will be better to have not must ]

I am ready to take E as the answer, but I am unable to justify the usage of 'the' here.

Actually thephoenix brought up a good point.

For and to work here, and if the sentence is trying to reference "an event", then it should be parallel using "that" and the tense should also match "caused".

"an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and [that] [marked]..."

Btw: https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/six ... t2140.html

I didn't understand what Stacey was saying earlier, maybe because it was midnight, but after thephoenix pointed out the parallelism, it makes perfect sense.

thanks thephoenix, watchout4me and unwhusky

You call have given some good reasoning to select E over D.

uwhusky wrote:

paes wrote:thephoenix@

usage of 'that' after 'and' is optional.
[It will be better to have not must ]

I am ready to take E as the answer, but I am unable to justify the usage of 'the' here.

Actually thephoenix brought up a good point.

For and to work here, and if the sentence is trying to reference "an event", then it should be parallel using "that" and the tense should also match "caused".

"an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and [that] [marked]..."

Btw: https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/six ... t2140.html

I didn't understand what Stacey was saying earlier, maybe because it was midnight, but after thephoenix pointed out the parallelism, it makes perfect sense.

Just a quick question is it an event that marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period. . The original question seems to refer to an event however in Option E it refers to extinction...Please explain

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 one. Some of the content in these posts may have been taken from various other sources (discussion forums).

Sixty-five million years ago, according to some scientists, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.
(A) which, causing plant and animal extinctions, marks
(B) which caused the plant and animal extinctions marking
(C) and causing plant and animal extinctions that mark
(D) an event that caused plant and animal extinctions, and it marks
(E) an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark

This sentence is about the use of an abstract noun (usually a new word that is not given in the original option) to refer to the entire preceding clause. Such a construction is almost always considered correct on the GMAT. So, most probably, we have to choose between D and E (both contain a new noun 'an event' after the comma) . Read more about abstract noun constructions below.

As per meaning clarity, the event (the slamming of the asteroid) didn't mark the end of the geologic era; rather the extinctions marked the end of the era (logical).

Also, A and B use the word 'which' ... the word 'which' is a pronoun, so it can refer only to a noun. But in these options, the word 'which' tries to go back to 'slammed (verb)' ... WRONG.

In C, and 'slammed' and 'causing' are not parallel.

In D, 'event' refers to the 'slamming' and 'it' refer to the event (and so to 'the slamming') ... wrong meaning. Also, D is not parallel (that caused and it marks). Also, the comma usage is wrong in D.

E corrects the meaning: 'extinctions that mark' ... the word 'that' refers to the 'extinctions'. Perfect.

Correct: E

Abstract nouns modifying the entire preceding clause (after a comma)

(If you have an appositive modifier that's an abstract noun - such as "strategy", "figure", "statistic", "findings", "situation", "change", "difference", etc. - then such an appositive may be allowed to describe the entire situation described in the previous clause.)

1. I only have one onion, a deficiency that will make it impossible to cook this dish.

2. The scientists discovered whale-fish bones in the Arctic, findings that prove the existence of whale-fish.

3. Scientists have found high levels of iridium in certain geographical formations around the world, results that suggest the cataclysmic impact of a meteor millions of year ago.

4. An asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into North America, Sixty-five million years ago, an event that caused the plant and animal extinctions that mark the end of the geologic era known as the Cretaceous Period.

5. The coach tried to put 5 receivers on the line, a strategy that failed.

6. X observed large concentrations of metals in the sediments, findings consistent with the history of deposits in the region.

7. Recent studies have shown that X is 60 percent of Y, a finding that has shocked many in the scientific community. OR Recent studies have shown that X is 60 percent of Y, a statistic that has shocked many in the scientific community.

8. Neanderthals had a vocal tract resembling an ape's and so were probably without language, a shortcoming that may explain why they were supplanted by our own species.

9. Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of sediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area.

10. I went to the bar with John Smith, an excursion that was much more fun than working all night.

11. The general tried to get his troops to retreat before being surrounded, a strategy that ultimately failed.

Such abstract noun constructions are preferred on the test ... almost always correct.