Sentence Correction

Foraging at all times of the day and night, but interspersing their feeding with periods of rest that last between one and eight hours, a sperm whale could eat so much as a ton of squid a day.

A) between one and eight hours, a sperm whale could eat so
B) between one and eight hours, sperm whales can eat as
C) between one and eight hours, sperm whales could eat as
D) from one to eight hours, sperm whales could eat so
E) from one to eight hours, a sperm whale can eat so

Can and could both talk about the possibility or ability. Only difference is Can is present and could is past.

Also note the modifier Foraging and interspersing talk about the characteristics of whale so it is a fact and hence we need to use present tense to talk about facts therefore, we will use can. So, A,C and D are gone.

Out of B and E uses the wrong comparison idiom so much as. We need as much as.

B

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one issue at a time, and find the correct choice as quickly as possible! This is a pretty straightforward question that focuses mainly on idioms and pronoun-antecedent agreement, so let's start by doing a quick scan over the options, and highlight the major differences in orange:

Foraging at all times of the day and night, but interspersing their feeding with periods of rest that last between one and eight hours, a sperm whale could eat so much as a ton of squid a day.

(A) between one and eight hours, a sperm whale could eat so
(B) between one and eight hours, sperm whales can eat as
(C) between one to eight hours, sperm whales could eat as
(D) from one to eight hours, sperm whales could eat so
(E) from one to eight hours, a sperm whale can eat so

After a quick glance over the options, we have a few things we can focus on:

1. between vs. from (idioms)
2. a sperm whale vs. sperm whales (pronoun-antecedent agreement)
3. so much as vs. as much as (idioms)

Let's take a look at #2 on our list first, since it deals with pronoun-antecedent agreement. If we look at the original sentence, we see that there is a pronoun that's not underlined:

Foraging at all times of the day and night, but interspersing their feeding with periods of rest that last between one and eight hours, a sperm whale could eat so much as a ton of squid a day.

This pronoun MUST match in number to its antecedent. It's a plural pronoun, so it should have a plural antecedent. Let's see how the options handle this:

(A) between one and eight hours, a sperm whale could eat so
(B) between one and eight hours, sperm whales can eat as
(C) between one to eight hours, sperm whales could eat as
(D) from one to eight hours, sperm whales could eat so
(E) from one to eight hours, a sperm whale can eat so

We can eliminate options A & E because they use a plural pronoun to refer to a singular antecedent, which doesn't agree!

Now that we've eliminated a couple options, let's deal with #1 & #3 on the list: idioms. There are two we need to focus on, so let's dive in!

(B) between one and eight hours, sperm whales can eat as

This is CORRECT! It uses the following idioms correctly:

between X and Y
X can eat as much as Y

(C) between one to eight hours, sperm whales could eat as

This is INCORRECT because the phrase "between X to Y" is NOT the correct way to phrase that idiom. It should be "between X and Y."

(D) from one to eight hours, sperm whales could eat so

This is INCORRECT because the phrase "from X to Y" isn't the right idiom to use here, and it's also not idiomatically correct to say "X can eat so much as Y."

There you have it - option B is the correct choice! Its pronoun and antecedent agree in number, and it uses the correct idiom structures throughout.


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

look at "could" in choice c.
could is past tense of "can". this can be used in past time. choice c is not in the past, so, could used this way is wrong

"could" can be used in subjective , talking about unreal hypothetical action.
if you learned gmat, you could pass it.

choice c can not be in this case.

we are talking about a general fact, so, "can" is used. choice b is correct

am I correct ?

"could " can be the past time of can, which show ability, possibility and request
"could" can be used in present time, showing possibility and request in more polite way. at present, "could" can not show an ability.
choice c is gone