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Dolphins

by jainrahul1985 » Sat Oct 15, 2011 8:29 am

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Dolphins lack vocal cords, nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated system of whistles, Squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks are produced by sphincter muscles inside the blowhole.
A. nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks are produced by
B. nevertheless creating sounds: they produce a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks with
C. but they do create sounds, producing a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks with
D. but they do create sounds, a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks being produced
E. but nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks produced by

OA B
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by essaysnark » Sat Oct 15, 2011 8:47 am

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EssaySnark would think the answer is C; B sounds really wrong!
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by GmatKiss » Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:17 am

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+1 for c
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by Brian@VeritasPrep » Mon Oct 17, 2011 11:19 am

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Got a PM on this one, which I'd normally leave alone because this one looks like a game of "Telephone". If you Google the first few words of the sentence and add "GMAT", you'll find this exact same question but with different forms of the answer choices, so I wouldn't put too much stock in the "OA" on this one, since I don't think you can know which version the author intended (in the other I saw, C has a massively-fatal flaw at the end of the answer choice as it doesn't connect at all with the fixed portion at the end of the sentence).

As this one is written, I don't think you can select anything but C. C is correct - "but" is used properly to invoke a "surprise" transition (even though they don't have vocal cords, they still do produce sound). "Producing", then, is a modifier for "create sounds" (it tells how). And "lack vocal cords" and "do create sounds" are both in the same tense (indicative) which is a logical way to phrase a scientific phenomenon.

In B, there's no real justification for using the present tense "creating". And if I'm comparing B with C, I'd also worry about the pronoun "they", which should fairly clearly refer back to "dolphins", but could create some concern. You could also say:

Dolphins, while lacking vocal cords, nevertheless create sounds; they emit from the blowhole and take on the form of speaks and clicks, serving the sea mammals' need for communication.

And there "they" could refer to "sounds". So I don't think it's 100% obvious that "they" in choice B refers to "dolphins", and so if I'm comparing those two I'd see that as a knock against B while C doesn't have such a problem.
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by essaysnark » Mon Oct 17, 2011 12:14 pm

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Brian, thank you! EssaySnark is no GMAT expert and it was really useful to see your very thorough reply. :-)

Much appreciated!
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by prodizy » Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:59 am

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Hi Brian,

What is the use of "do" in the answer choice C? It doesn't sound correct.
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by Brian@VeritasPrep » Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:19 am

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Hey Prodizy,

That "do" is there to further the distinction between "I don't _____________ but I **do** ___________ (something similar, which you wouldn't expect based on the previous clause". Some examples of how the "do (VERB)" is used:

I don't listen to headphones when I run, but I do listen to them when I ride the stationary bike. (You'd think since both are exercise activities that I'd have the same headphones policy for both, so the "do" adds that transition element)

I don't always drink beer, but I do make an exception for Dos Equis. ("do" adds emphasis to the exception-to-the-rule that I'll drink Dos Equis)

In the sentence above, the surprising twist is that, even though they don't have vocal cords, dolphins **do** find a way to communicate via other sounds. The word **do** exists to emphasize that seeming discrepancy.
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by meenakshimiyer » Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:34 pm

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"Nevertheless" is a connector meaning "yet" or "but". You can see the futility and redundancy of "but" in E. Again, when we use a connector like "nevertheless", both arms of the connector should be parallel. Choices A, B and E use a clause on one side and a participial phrase on the other.
We must say 'Dolphins lack vocal cords, nevertheless create sounds' using verbs on both sides.
A also falters on Subject -Verb agreement.
The choice has to be between C and D while D lacks the use of 'by' at the end. "being produce sphincter" is wrong usage and awkward. Hence, C is the answer.
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by vietnam47 » Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:05 am

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jainrahul1985 wrote:Dolphins lack vocal cords, nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated system of whistles, Squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks are produced by sphincter muscles inside the blowhole.
A. nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks are produced by
B. nevertheless creating sounds: they produce a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks with
C. but they do create sounds, producing a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks with
D. but they do create sounds, a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks being produced
E. but nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks produced by

OA B
comma+doing show another aspect of the main action. there are no 2 actions. there is one action. the action has two aspects.
comma+doing can show anothe aspect of the main clause such as result, cause and detail of the main verb.
if 2 actions are in contrast, they must be separate actions. they can not be the same action. so, but is good and comma doing is wrong
in d, produced sphincter is ungramatical . being is redundant.
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