Kaplan GMAT Premier 2011-SC#50

[tintinusa]

Museum-goers who glanced up into the building's five-story atrium often notice birds nesting in the rafters,whose behavior was being studied by the museum's staff.

A.notice birds nesting in the rafters,whose behavior was being studied by the museum's staff
B.notice birds nesting in the rafters,which were being studied by the museum's staff
C.notice that birds,whose behavior was being studied by the museum's staff,are nesting in the rafters
D.noticed that birds,whose behavior was being studied by the museum's staff,were nesting in the rafters
E.noticed that birds,with the behavior that was being studied by the museum's staff,were nesting in the rafters

D

Why??

Not sure if I can post Kaplan questions. If not please let me know and I will remove

[Isaac@EconomistGMAT]

Hiya!

The main reason that D is correct is that it properly places the clause starting with 'whose' next to the noun it is modifying, namely, birds. In the original sentence, that same clause is incorrectly placed next to rafters and the behavior is not the rafters' behavior but that of the birds.

In addition, in the original sentence, the verb 'notice' is in the present simple; this makes no sense as the rest of the verbs are in the past.

[tintinusa]

Thanks for explaining however "were nesting in the rafters" is placed next to "the museum's staff" so I got confused. How do you tackle such problems when you have couple of modifying phrase in a sentence?

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Hiya!

The main reason that D is correct is that it properly places the clause starting with 'whose' next to the noun it is modifying, namely, birds. In the original sentence, that same clause is incorrectly placed next to rafters and the behavior is not the rafters' behavior but that of the birds.

In addition, in the original sentence, the verb 'notice' is in the present simple; this makes no sense as the rest of the verbs are in the past.

hi,

can any one please explain does not "Often" indicates that we need present tense "notice" here instead of "noticed".

[e-GMAT]

can any one please explain does not "Often" indicates that we need present tense "notice" here instead of "noticed".

Consider the following sentence:

Two years back when Mary was still a college student, she often engaged in multiple extra-curricular activities.
When Tom was a kid, he often played in solitude, but now in his thirties, he is often seen networking in business and social settings.

"often" does not require a present tense. The verb tense depends on the context of the sentence. If we are explaining a certain event that happened more frequently (often) in the past, then we will use past tense. Likewise, if the event happens more frequently in the present tense, we will use present tense.

Thanks,

Payal

[garuhape]

Thanks for explaining however "were nesting in the rafters" is placed next to "the museum's staff" so I got confused. How do you tackle such problems when you have couple of modifying phrase in a sentence?

At first, I only read the main clause of the sentence. Therefore you know that "the birds were nesting in the rafters" and that the sentence makes sense.

Cheers