Question in the attachment

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 157
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2016 5:55 am
Thanked: 1 times

Question in the attachment

by eitijan » Fri Mar 04, 2016 9:24 pm
Source: GMATPrep

Here, subject is in the form X(list) of Y(animals), and X(list) is in singular form so verb(exhibit) should also be in singular form i.e. exhibits and so option B should be correct considering parallelism as well. Please resolve.
Attachments
SC_SubVerb.JPG

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 105
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2016 3:40 am
Thanked: 57 times
Followed by:2 members

by fabiocafarelli » Sat Mar 05, 2016 12:57 pm
1. If the subject of the verb in option B really were LIST, the sentence would be saying that a list exhibits a preference: an obviously absurd idea. What the sentence wants to convey is that certain ANIMALS that figure in a LIST exhibit a preference for using either the right or the left hand: the verb must therefore be the plural EXHIBIT to agree with ANIMALS. (LIST is of course the subject of the following verb HAS BEEN EXPANDED, which is singular to agree with that subject.)

2. Something else that could have helped you to discard option B is the idiom: the preference to use is unidiomatic, and should be in the form that appears in the correct answer: a preference for using. One has a PREFERENCE FOR something, and if that something is an action, the verb that expresses it must appear, after the preposition FOR, as a present participle. Thus, PREFERENCE FOR USING.

3. Yet another decision point that option B offers you is the final verb: the intended meaning as given in the correct answer is that the list has been expanded so that the lower vertebrates may be included: thus, HAS BEEN EXPANDED TO INCLUDE expresses this idea. On the other hand, HAS BEEN EXPANDED AND INCLUDES presents two actions that seem to have little to do with each other: the list has at some time been expanded, and the list habitually includes, in the present, the lower vertebrates. That idea is hardly effective. What we want here is a statement of the OBJECTIVE of expanding the list, which is TO INCLUDE the lower vertebrates.

If you like this post, please click on the THANK icon.

You can also visit us at https://www.xgmat.com/

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2095
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:22 pm
Thanked: 1443 times
Followed by:247 members

by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Mar 07, 2016 9:24 am
The assumption that you've made here is identical to the one you made in this problem: https://www.beatthegmat.com/question-in- ... tml#767098

As Fabio points out, meaning dictates that the word THAT must be modifying ANIMALS, not LIST.

Whenever there is a question of "what should this modifier be modifying," look first to MEANING before trying to apply grammar rules. There can be a danger in applying rules too formulaically!
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education