The question has a pronoun reference problem.
those can not refer back to vocal tract
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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction |
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Stuart@KaplanGMAT
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With both "neanderthals" and "apes" in the sentence, the pronoun "they" is ambiguous. By changing "apes" to "ape's" it's no longer possible for the "they" at the end to refer to anything but neanderthals.mleviko wrote:Neanderthals had a vocal tract that resembled those of the apes and so were probably without language, a shortcoming that may explain why they were supplanted by our own species.
(A) Neanderthals had a vocal tract that resembled those of the apes
(B) Neanderthals had a vocal tract resembling an ape’s
(C) The vocal tracts of Neanderthals resembled an ape’s
(D) The Neanderthal’s vocal tracts resembled the apes’
(E) The vocal tracts of the Neanderthals resembled those of the apes
So, only (b) clears up the issues arising from "they" at the end of the sentence.
Last edited by Stuart@KaplanGMAT on Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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can we argue that on answer choice a and b, we have Neanderthals (plural) and tract (singular). I stayed away from c and d because both have a possessive poison problem. I believe that I am using the possessive poison rule incorrectly. Usually possesives render the wrong answer unless I can completely justify the choice! Any help?
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