species vanishing

[ranjeet75]

[u]Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth, nearly 99
percent of them vanishing[/u].
A. Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth, nearly 99
percent of them vanishing.
B. Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on
Earth have vanished.
C. Vanished are nearly 99 percent of the five hundred million different species of living creatures
that appeared on Earth.
D. Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly
99 percent of them have vanished.
E. Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth,
nearly 99 percent have vanished

Please explain your answer

[mathbyvemuri]

IMO "E"

A => second part "nearly 99 percent of them vanishing" is not complete
B => reference of "that" has ambiguity between "99%" and "five hundred million"
C => Indirect way of expression
D => "of them" in the second part is redundant

[ihatemaths]

whats the OA ? stuck btw D and E . D though sounds wordy looks good.

[Amishvyas]

D is correct answer.

[e-GMAT]

Hi All,

Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them vanishing.

POE:

Choice A: Five hundred million different species of living creatures have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them vanishing. Incorrect. This sentence is not written in a proper manner to convey the intended meaning properly.

Choice B: Nearly 99 percent of five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on Earth have vanished. Incorrect. 1. Placement of "Nearly 99% of" in the beginning of the sentence creates ambiguity for the reference of the relative pronoun "that". 2. Use of past tense "appeared" is not correct because it denotes that this action is over. We do need present perfect "have appeared" to convey the intended meaning that stands correct in the present context.

Choice C: Vanished are nearly 99 percent of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that appeared on Earth. Incorrect. 1. Same verb tense error as in choice B. 2. The sentence is written in an awkward manner. It's not direct and clear.

Choice D: Of five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent of them have vanished. Incorrect. Pronoun "them" is not required in the sentence.

Choice E: Of the five hundred million different species of living creatures that have appeared on Earth, nearly 99 percent have vanished. Correct.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

[karthikgmat]

Hi Shraddha,

Regarding the explanation given by you for D, I agree that sentence is good with out "them".

But I couldn't understand what's wrong with "them" if it is in the sentence?

[bacchewar_prashant]

what is problem with pronoun in D not able to understand.

[soulonfire]

The "Of five" would make "them" redundant.