Narwhals can be called whales of the ice: in icy channels, ponds, and ice-shielded bays they seek sanctuary from killer whales, their chief predator, and their annual migrations following the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.
(A) their annual migrations following
(B) their annual migrations which follow
(C) their annual migrations follow
(D) whose annual migrations following
(E) whose annual migrations follow
Narwhals
This topic has expert replies
-
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 116
- Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 10:50 am
- Followed by:1 members
- Bill@VeritasPrep
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 1248
- Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:57 pm
- Location: Everywhere
- Thanked: 503 times
- Followed by:192 members
- GMAT Score:780
After the colon, we have two clauses:
1. they seek sanctuary...
2. their migrations *verb*
The second one must be parallel to the first, so we need an answer that matches "seek".
Following in A and D is incorrect.
B and E place the verb we need (follow) into a relative clause, but we need to pair with "their migrations"
C works: "they seek sanctuary from killer whales..., and their annual migrations follow..."
1. they seek sanctuary...
2. their migrations *verb*
The second one must be parallel to the first, so we need an answer that matches "seek".
Following in A and D is incorrect.
B and E place the verb we need (follow) into a relative clause, but we need to pair with "their migrations"
C works: "they seek sanctuary from killer whales..., and their annual migrations follow..."
Join Veritas Prep's 2010 Instructor of the Year, Matt Douglas for GMATT Mondays
Visit the Veritas Prep Blog
Try the FREE Veritas Prep Practice Test
Visit the Veritas Prep Blog
Try the FREE Veritas Prep Practice Test
- Patrick_GMATFix
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 1052
- Joined: Fri May 21, 2010 1:30 am
- Thanked: 335 times
- Followed by:98 members
Notice that the underlined part starts with "and", so what follows is the end f a parallel structure. we must accurately complete "they seek sanctuary and...their migrations follow". The full solution below is taken from the GMATFix App.
-Patrick
-Patrick
- Check out my site: GMATFix.com
- To prep my students I use this tool >> (screenshots, video)
- Ask me about tutoring.
-
- Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:34 am
- Thanked: 7 times
Hi Patrick,
Your explanations are very helpful. I get to learn a lot from your videos. Thanks!
Could you please elaborate(if possible, with examples) why did you strike out choices containing whose and which again? I didn't quite understand it. Thanks.
Your explanations are very helpful. I get to learn a lot from your videos. Thanks!
Could you please elaborate(if possible, with examples) why did you strike out choices containing whose and which again? I didn't quite understand it. Thanks.
- Patrick_GMATFix
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 1052
- Joined: Fri May 21, 2010 1:30 am
- Thanked: 335 times
- Followed by:98 members
Parveen thank you for your kind words. I still have a few licenses to the GMATFix App to give away and it looks like you are eligible; if you find my videos helpful, you will have access to tons of helpful material within the App. See my post here for more info.
Ok let's get back to the question at hand. Focusing on the sentence core, let's examine choices that use "whose" and "which"
B) [Narwhals] seek sanctuary from whales, and their migrations which follow the rythm
This is a sentence fragment; we would expect a verb after migrations to make the 2nd part match the first ("they seek sanctuary"). Pronoun "which" interferes with the parallel structure (compare to C).
D) [Narwhals] seek sanctuary from whales, and whose migrations following the rythm
E) [Narwhals] seek sanctuary from whales, and whose migrations follow the rythm
As D & E are written, "they seek...and whose migrations follow(ing)" is not a parallel construct. In both of these choices, the 2nd part is far from being parallel to the first. For "and whose" to be right, we would expect the first part of the construct to also be introduced with a relative pronoun as in the example below:
eg: Narwhals, which can be called whales of the ice, and whose migrations follow a rythm, seek sanctuary from killer whales.
By contrast, consider the right answer's parallel construct:
C) [Narwhals] seek sanctuary from whales, and their annual migrations follow the rythm.
Hope that helped,
-Patrick
Ok let's get back to the question at hand. Focusing on the sentence core, let's examine choices that use "whose" and "which"
B) [Narwhals] seek sanctuary from whales, and their migrations which follow the rythm
This is a sentence fragment; we would expect a verb after migrations to make the 2nd part match the first ("they seek sanctuary"). Pronoun "which" interferes with the parallel structure (compare to C).
D) [Narwhals] seek sanctuary from whales, and whose migrations following the rythm
E) [Narwhals] seek sanctuary from whales, and whose migrations follow the rythm
As D & E are written, "they seek...and whose migrations follow(ing)" is not a parallel construct. In both of these choices, the 2nd part is far from being parallel to the first. For "and whose" to be right, we would expect the first part of the construct to also be introduced with a relative pronoun as in the example below:
eg: Narwhals, which can be called whales of the ice, and whose migrations follow a rythm, seek sanctuary from killer whales.
By contrast, consider the right answer's parallel construct:
C) [Narwhals] seek sanctuary from whales, and their annual migrations follow the rythm.
Hope that helped,
-Patrick
- Check out my site: GMATFix.com
- To prep my students I use this tool >> (screenshots, video)
- Ask me about tutoring.
- MartyMurray
- Legendary Member
- Posts: 2131
- Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 am
- Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/
- Thanked: 955 times
- Followed by:140 members
- GMAT Score:800
Look again at D and E. Given the most logical way of reading the sentences created using those choices, the pronouns have two different logical antecedents.aflaam wrote:sorry to dig this old one,
Also D and E incorrect because their and whose (two different pronouns) have same antecedent ?
their refers to Narwhals, while whose seems to refer to killer whales.
In any case, a sentence in which their and whose refer to the same antecedent could be correctly constructed. Here's an example.
Narwhals, whose natural habitat is shrinking as the earth warms, seek sanctuary from their chief predators, killer whales.
Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.
- conquistador
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 266
- Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:00 am
- Thanked: 4 times
- Followed by:1 members
I got confused by this inverted structure of the sentence.LulaBrazilia wrote:Narwhals can be called whales of the ice: in icy channels, ponds, and ice-shielded bays they seek sanctuary from killer whales, their chief predator, and their annual migrations following the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.
(A) their annual migrations following
(B) their annual migrations which follow
(C) their annual migrations follow
(D) whose annual migrations following
(E) whose annual migrations follow
In icy channels, ponds, and ice-shielded bays
- they seek sanctuary from killer whales and
It looks like half of the sentence is inverted and half is in simple form.
I believe it would have been better if it would look as below
they seek sanctuary from killer whales, their chief predator, in icy channels, ponds, and ice-shielded bays and their annual migrations follow the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.