Neurogenesis - Tough question!

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Neurogenesis - Tough question!

by metallicafan » Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:20 pm
Recently documented examples of neurogenesis, the production of new brain cells, include the brain growing in mice when placed in a stimulating environment or neurons increasing in canaries that learn new songs.

A. the brain growing in mice when placed in a stimulating environment or neurons increasing in canaries that
B. mice whose brains grow when they are placed in a stimulating environment or canaries whose neurons increase when they
C. mice's brains that grow when they are placed in a stimulating environment or canaries' neurons that increase when they
D. the brain growth in mice when placed in a stimulating environment or the increase in canaries' neurons when they
E. brain growth in mice that are placed in a stimulating environment or an increase in neurons in canaries that

OA is E.

Although there are other errors (parallelism, pronouns, etc.) in the wrong choices, I would like to focus in the following:
In choices A and E (the OA), is there an important difference in meaning between "the brain growing" and "brain growth" in the context of the sentence?, In the same sense, is there an important difference in meaning between "neurons increasing" and "an increase in neurons"?

What's wrong with B? I know that sounds awkward to mention "mice" or "canaries" as examples of neurogenesis. But I don't think it is enough reason to eliminate them.

Despite my comments above, I agree that the OA is E. It is the best in comparison with the rest.
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by vk_vinayak » Mon Jul 30, 2012 9:06 pm
Although there are other errors (parallelism, pronouns, etc.) in the wrong choices, I would like to focus in the following:
In choices A and E (the OA), is there an important difference in meaning between "the brain growing" and "brain growth" in the context of the sentence?, In the same sense, is there an important difference in meaning between "neurons increasing" and "an increase in neurons"?
As I see it, the brain growing -> Seems to indicate that someone is growing the brain!
while 'brain growth' or 'growth of brain' indicates that brain is growing (becoming bigger).
What's wrong with B? I know that sounds awkward to mention "mice" or "canaries" as examples of neurogenesis. But I don't think it is enough reason to eliminate them.
That is exactly the reason I eliminated it. I don't know how to put it, but let me try. My reasoning: Here we are discussing about neurogenesis, a process or an action of some sort. The example should also imply some kind of action. That's why I feel that an example as concrete as mice doesn't fit.

I had narrowed down to D and E. D is wrong because they doesn't have a valid referrant. They should refer to canaries, but canaries is not mentioned in the sentence. Hence E is correct.
- VK

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