Found throughout Central and South America

[ektamatta]

18. Found throughout Central and South America, sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough that two species of algae grow on its coat and between its toes.
(A) sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough
(B) sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs, they sleep fifteen hours a day, and with such infrequent movements
(C) sloths use their long rubbery limbs to hang from trees, sleep fifteen hours a day, and move so infrequently
(D) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeping fifteen hours a day and moving so infrequently
(E) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeps fifteen hours a day, and it moves infrequently enough

[sibbineni]

IMO D

[ektamatta]

please explain ...OA is D

[reachac]

IMO D

First of all the part which is not underlined contains 'it'...an indication that we shud use singular 'sloth' and not plural 'sloths'

Second between E and D, D uses the correct idiom "so X that Y" ..infrequent;y enough in E is awkward

[aj5105]

so infrequently that

[sg7007]

I understand the answer should be singular, "the sloth" because of "its."

But, why is it "the sloth" as opposed to "sloths"? Obviously, the author of this sentence doesn't refer to a partucular sloth; he refers to sloths in general. Then, doesn't it have to be "sloths"?

[enniguy]

I understand the answer should be singular, "the sloth" because of "its."

But, why is it "the sloth" as opposed to "sloths"? Obviously, the author of this sentence doesn't refer to a partucular sloth; he refers to sloths in general. Then, doesn't it have to be "sloths"?

I think the statement refers to the sloth community. It is one individual community. Since, the community is being referred to as a whole, it acts singular.

[elemat]

I get that "sloth" should be singular: so the answer is between D & E. But isn't D an incorrect answer because the actions the sloth performs are not in parallel form.

"the sloth hangs..., sleeping ... and moving so infreq...". Shouldn't it be something like this instead: the sloth hangs, sleeps... and moves ...?

[biker317]

i have the same question as elemat..anyone care to clarify?

thanks!

[hrishi19884]

I get that "sloth" should be singular: so the answer is between D & E. But isn't D an incorrect answer because the actions the sloth performs are not in parallel form.

"the sloth hangs..., sleeping ... and moving so infreq...". Shouldn't it be something like this instead: the sloth hangs, sleeps... and moves ...?

This is what the first thing that came in my mind "parallelism". But later on I realized that the first priority should be for the below things :

The reason that I can choose D is because of two things :

1) " so infrequently that" ...it basically provides reason for algae growth on its coat.

2) "between its toes"(in the original question) indicates that the sentence is talking about single animal(sloth). If it was "between their toes" , it would have been plural and then we would have used "sloths".

This eliminates A,B,C ...left are D and E. As said in 1) above "so infrequently that" is the correct combiner. which is there in D.

But still as indicated by "elemat" and "biker317" parallelism is still a problem here. But do we have any other options left.
From D and E , parallelism problem occurs in both. So why not choose D(given the above reasons).

I may be wrong, I think instructors would throw more light on this one. Ron, Stacey, can anybody please help?

[Sampits]

Hi all,

I have exactly the same problem?

Why not D? The parallelism is correct...

I would appreciate some light on this.

Thanks in advance

[akhpad]

sloth should be singular because of "its coat" and "its toes.

Correct Idiom: so + ... + that
Idiom "Enough that" has less preference. Correct idiom is "enough to".

sleeping and moving are modifiers (comma + ing setup) and are parallel in D.

[kvcpk]

in D, in the statement "the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs",
"long rubbery limbs" refers to trees or sloth? Is the sentence clear on that?

[wayofjungle]

But still as indicated by "elemat" and "biker317" parallelism is still a problem here. But do we have any other options left.
From D and E , parallelism problem occurs in both. So why not choose D(given the above reasons).[/color]

The parallelism error is more visible in option E, which inserts the pronoun 'it' in the third part of the series. However, on closer inspection there is no parallelism error in D because "sleeping 15 hours a day and moving so infrequently" is acting as an adverbial modifier.

[wayofjungle]

in D, in the statement "the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs",
"long rubbery limbs" refers to trees or sloth? Is the sentence clear on that?

Yes because of pronoun agreement in number. 'Its' is a singular pronoun therefore it must agree with 'the sloth' and not 'trees'.