Sentence Correction

Source: Veritas Prep

Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, which is why sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA, but other populations share DNA with Neanderthals, as discovered by a palaeogenetiscist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany that sequenced the Neanderthal genome.

(A) Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, which is why sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA, but other populations share DNA with Neanderthals, as discovered by a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany that sequenced the Neanderthal genome.

(B) Having sequenced the Neanderthal genome, a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany has concluded that any human whose ancestral group developed outside Africa has inherited DNA from Neanderthals; since Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA.

(C) Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, which is why sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA, but a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany who sequenced the Neanderthal genome has concluded that other humans share DNA with Neanderthals.

(D) After sequencing the Neanderthal genome, the Max Planck Institute in Germany where a paleogeneticist researched the Neanderthal-human link, has concluded that any human whose ancestral group developed outside Africa has inherited DNA from Neanderthals; since Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA.

(E) The sequencing of the Neanderthal genome by a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany has led to the conclusion that humans whose ancestral group developed outside Africa has inherited DNA from Neanderthals and sub-Saharan Africans have no trace of Neanderthal DNA due to Neanderthals not living in Africa.

Since this a Veritas Prep question I wanted to post the official explanation below.

Correct answer: (B)

Official Explanation: The original sentence contains a Modifier error. The relative clause beginning with "which" needs to describe Africa. The clause may not be used to describe the entire idea that "Neanderthals didn't live in Africa." The placement of "as discovered" allows for the inaccurate interpretation that Neanderthals were discovered by the scientist. There is another Modifier error where "That sequenced the Neanderthal genome" incorrectly modifies "the Max Planck Institute." Answer (B) is correct because it consists of two independent clauses separated by a semicolon, and "Having sequenced..." correctly modifies "a paleogeneticist." Answer (C) is incorrect because it still contains a Modifier error. The relative clause beginning with "which" needs to describe Africa. The clause may not be used to described the entire idea that "Neanderthals didn't live in Africa." Answer (D) is incorrect because it also still contains a Modifier error. "After sequencing the Neanderthal genome" should modify "a paleogeneticist" but is instead modifying "the Max Planck Institute." Answer (E) has an Agreement error and an Equivalent Elements error. The subject humans does not agree with the verb has [inherited DNA]. Elements in a series (two things were concluded) require parallel structure. The correct construction would be "the conclusion that humans......and that sub-Saharan Africans....."

vote for B

DanaJ wrote:Source: Veritas Prep

Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, which is why sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA, but other populations share DNA with Neanderthals, as discovered by a palaeogenetiscist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany that sequenced the Neanderthal genome.

(A) Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, which is why sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA, but other populations share DNA with Neanderthals, as discovered by a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany that sequenced the Neanderthal genome.

(B) Having sequenced the Neanderthal genome, a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany has concluded that any human whose ancestral group developed outside Africa has inherited DNA from Neanderthals; since Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA.

(C) Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, which is why sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA, but a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany who sequenced the Neanderthal genome has concluded that other humans share DNA with Neanderthals.

(D) After sequencing the Neanderthal genome, the Max Planck Institute in Germany where a paleogeneticist researched the Neanderthal-human link, has concluded that any human whose ancestral group developed outside Africa has inherited DNA from Neanderthals; since Neanderthals didn't live in Africa, sub-Saharan African populations have no trace of Neanderthal DNA.

(E) The sequencing of the Neanderthal genome by a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Germany has led to the conclusion that humans whose ancestral group developed outside Africa has inherited DNA from Neanderthals and sub-Saharan Africans have no trace of Neanderthal DNA due to Neanderthals not living in Africa.

Quickest approach:

In A and C, the pronoun which incorrectly refers to Africa. Eliminate A and C.

In D, the modifier sequencing incorrectly refers to the Max Plank Institute; the institute did not sequence the genome. Eliminate D.

In E, the plural subject humans does not agree with the singular verb has inherited. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is B.

Hello GMATGuryNY,

Humans , Human - wanted to know which is singular and which is plural .

I considered Humans to be collective noun hence ignored option E as the verb referring to humans is 'have'.

If humans need a plural verb, does human need a singular one?

Deepthi Subbu wrote:Hello GMATGuryNY,

Humans , Human - wanted to know which is singular and which is plural .

I considered Humans to be collective noun hence ignored option E as the verb referring to humans is 'have'.

If humans need a plural verb, does human need a singular one?

Yes, humans is plural:

Humans are an interesting species.

Human is singular:

The human is an interesting species.

Thank you.

Hi,

I have a question, though. When we use the phrase - 'Which is why', does not it modify the entire preceding clause/ sentence? Normally, which/ who etc modify the preceding noun touching them. Does it hold true even for 'which is why'?

I picked B too, purely by elimination. But I do have a doubt in option B.

Isn't 'since' used to refer to a time period ?

Can someone comment on usage of "due to" in option E. Is it correct ?
Due to followed by a clause - is this a valid construction ?

e-GMAT wrote:

abhisheksamantasenior wrote:Hi,

I have a question, though. When we use the phrase - 'Which is why', does not it modify the entire preceding clause/ sentence? Normally, which/ who etc modify the preceding noun touching them. Does it hold true even for 'which is why'?

"which" always modifies the preceding noun. This also includes constructions such as "which is why". Grammatically, the following two sentences are similar:
The reason why you may consider this to be correct usage is that we typically use such language in spoken English. But per grammatically correct written English, the idea in (1) should be expressed as:
The car is red, leading to higher insurance than that of a white colored car.

Thanks,
Payal

Cant which be used to modify a noun phrase

David@VeritasPrep wrote:Since this a Veritas Prep question I wanted to post the official explanation below.

Correct answer: (B)

Official Explanation: The original sentence contains a Modifier error. The relative clause beginning with "which" needs to describe Africa. The clause may not be used to describe the entire idea that "Neanderthals didn't live in Africa." "

Hi Brian do u intend to say that the relative clause which can not be used to describe ideas.They can only modify a single word noun.The which clause cant be used to modify a noun phrase

i chose the correct answer option B