Complex human traits such as

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Complex human traits such as

by aditya8062 » Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:57 am
Complex human traits such as artistic talent or social skill are likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so genes in the human genome.

(A) such as artistic talent or social skill are likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so
(B) such as artistic talent or social skill are likely shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of 80,000 or so of the
(C) such as artistic talent or social skill is likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of 80,000 or so of the
(D) like artistic talent or social skill is likely to be shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so
(E) like artistic talent or social skill are likely shaped by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so

my doubt 1 : is the construction "thousands, if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so genes in the human genome" read the following way ---> "thousands,if not tens of thousands, of the 80,000 or so genes in the human genome.

my doubt 2 : is the construction "thousand of 80000" outright wrong without the "the" before "80000"

doubt 3: can the construction "social skill are likely to be shaped" be considered better than the construction "social skill are likely shaped" -->i had used this point to eliminate B .can i do so?

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by [email protected] » Sun Aug 24, 2014 12:25 pm
Hi aditya8062,

This SC is based on some standard verb and style rules that GMAT routinely uses on its SCs.

1) Verbs: Since "complex human traits" is a plural, we need to a plural verb ("are"). Eliminate C and D.

2) Style: When citing examples, the phrase "such as" is preferable to "like." Eliminate E.

3) Style: When referencing an approximation, the proper phrasing " _______ of the _______ or so" is correct. Eliminate B.

Final Answer:
A

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