wasps

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by amar66 » Tue May 31, 2011 8:52 pm
E also lacks parallelism: that is highly cooperative, organized is not parallel with it consists. To maintain parallelism, E should say:

...a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and consisting of...
Hey Mitch,

Can you pls explain how the above stated sentence maintains parallelism??

How "consisting" (present participle) is parallel with "cooperative" & "organized"(both adjectives)???

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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Jun 01, 2011 4:07 am
amar66 wrote:
E also lacks parallelism: that is highly cooperative, organized is not parallel with it consists. To maintain parallelism, E should say:

...a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and consisting of...
Hey Mitch,

Can you pls explain how the above stated sentence maintains parallelism??

How "consisting" (present participle) is parallel with "cooperative" & "organized"(both adjectives)???
An -ing word can function as an adjective. The example above offers three adjectives: cooperative, organized, and consisting.

Consider this excerpt from Q42 in the OG12:

...a filigree of tentacles spawned by a single fertilized spore some 10,000 years ago and extending for more than 30 acres in the soil of a Michigan forest.

In the OG12 example, spawned (past participle) and extending (present participle) function as adjectives. Each modifies the filigree of tentacles.
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by amar66 » Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:48 am
Thanks a lot Mitch. It cleared my doubt.

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by dellaboemia » Tue Mar 27, 2012 4:07 pm
The OA description states "The three descriptors of social wasps (cooperative, organized and consisting almost entirely of females) are most effectively expressed in parallel structures. Having worked this problem and selected the correct answer choice, I don't get this "parallel structure" that is being referred to. Is there a "parallel structure" here?? organized, cooperative and CONSISTING??

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by GmatKiss » Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:08 pm
Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world's social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females-the queen and her sterile female workers.

A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society, almost all
D. which means that their society is highly cooperative, organized, and it is almost entirely
E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all

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by vardhankirti » Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:27 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
navami wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
gmat740 wrote:Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world�s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females�the queen and her sterile female workers.
A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society, almost all
D. which means that their society is highly cooperative, organized, and it is almost entirely
E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all

Oa- B
IMO E : Why do we need wasps to precede living?
In C and D, it is unclear what noun is being replaced by the pronoun which. Eliminate C and D.

In E, the pronoun it is ambiguous. Eliminate E.

In A, the pronoun they suggests that the wasps consist almost entirely of females; the intended meaning is that the society consists almost entirely of females. Also, where should used to refer only to a place. Eliminate A.

The correct answer is B.

In B, wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of females is a resumptive modifier. A resumptive modifier:

-- repeats a key word in the sentence
-- adds additional information about that key word
-- often includes the pronoun that
-- usually appears at the end of the sentence

Hope this helps!
Can't It of option E, refer to the nearest noun that is society in this case? GMATGuru please explain.
A subject pronoun (such as it, which is the subject of the verb consists) should not be used to refer to the object of a preposition (in the phrase living in a society, society is the object of the preposition in).

E also lacks parallelism: that is highly cooperative, organized is not parallel with it consists. To maintain parallelism, E should say:

...a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and consisting of...

Hi Mitch,

You mentioned that the parallel structure for E would be "highly cooperative,organised and consisting.."

parallelism is between adjectives i.e highly cooperative || organised should be parallel to an adjective.

consisting is not an adjective.

Could you please let me know whether my line of reasoning is correct?

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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Aug 30, 2015 2:09 am
vardhankirti wrote: consisting is not an adjective
A VERBing such as consisting can serve as an adjective.
The OA includes the following phrase:
a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of females.
Here, consisting is an adjective serving to modify society.
What KIND of society?
A society CONSISTING almost entirely of females.
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by vardhankirti » Sun Aug 30, 2015 2:17 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
vardhankirti wrote: consisting is not an adjective
A VERBing such as consisting can serve as an adjective.
The OA includes the following phrase:
a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of females.
Here, consisting is an adjective serving to modify society.
What KIND of society?
A society CONSISTING almost entirely of females.

thanks

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by Md.Belal Hossain » Fri Mar 24, 2017 4:58 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
In A, the pronoun they suggests that the wasps consist almost entirely of females; the intended meaning is that the society consists almost entirely of females. Also, where should used to refer only to a place. Eliminate A.

Sir,
Please discuss why the intended meaning is that the society consists almost entirely of females.

How is it illogical to say that wasps consist almost entirely of females?

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Mar 24, 2017 8:21 am
Md.Belal Hossain wrote:Sir,
Please discuss why the intended meaning is that the society consists almost entirely of females.

How is it illogical to say that wasps consist almost entirely of females?
John lives in a house where he has a mother and a father.
Conveyed meaning:
The house is where John has a mother and a father, implying that OUTSIDE THE HOUSE John might not have a mother and a father.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Regardless of his location, John has a mother and a father.

A: wasps living a highly cooperative and organized organized society where they consist almost entirely of females
Conveyed meaning:
The society is where the wasps are composed almost entirely of females, implying that OUTSIDE THE SOCIETY the wasps might not be composed almost entirely of females.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Regardless of their location, the wasps are composed almost entirely of females.
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by Md.Belal Hossain » Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:29 am
John lives in a house where he has a mother and a father.
Conveyed meaning:
The house is where John has a mother and a father, implying that OUTSIDE THE HOUSE John might not have a mother and a father.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Regardless of his location, John has a mother and a father.

A: wasps living a highly cooperative and organized organized society where they consist almost entirely of females
Conveyed meaning:
The society is where the wasps are composed almost entirely of females, implying that OUTSIDE THE SOCIETY the wasps might not be composed almost entirely of females.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Regardless of their location, the wasps are composed almost entirely of females.
Thank you, Sir.
This issue is clear now.
But, i have another problem with Option A. According to your explanation and my life-long learning, where should used to refer only to a place. Recently, I have got a GMAT Prep SC question in which the correct answer has used where to refer in society.
The Question is given below.
Many population studies have linked a high-salt diet to high rates of hypertension and shown that in societies where they consume little salt, their blood pressure typically does not rise with age.

(A) shown that in societies where they consume little salt, their

(B) shown that in societies that have consumed little salt, their

(C) shown that in societies where little salt is consumed,

(D) they showed that in societies where little salt is consumed,

(E) they showed that in societies where they consume little salt, their

Correct answer choice C


I thought that where could only refer to places. Apparently it also can refer to societies. Are there any other similar nouns to which where can refer?

Thanks in advance

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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Mar 24, 2017 10:11 am
Md.Belal Hossain wrote:Recently, I have got a GMAT Prep SC question in which the correct answer has used where to refer in society.
The Question is given below.
Many population studies have linked a high-salt diet to high rates of hypertension and shown that in societies where they consume little salt, their blood pressure typically does not rise with age.

(A) shown that in societies where they consume little salt, their

(B) shown that in societies that have consumed little salt, their

(C) shown that in societies where little salt is consumed,

(D) they showed that in societies where little salt is consumed,

(E) they showed that in societies where they consume little salt, their

Correct answer choice C

I thought that where could only refer to places. Apparently it also can refer to societies. Are there any other similar nouns to which where can refer?

Thanks in advance
We must play by GMAC's rules.
Here, where serves to refer to society, implying that -- in the eyes of GMAC's test-writers -- a society is the equivalent of a place and thus constitutes an acceptable referent for where.
To allay confusion, references to this issue have been removed from my posts above.
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by aji12 » Sun Apr 09, 2017 5:21 am
Hi Mitch,

For option E, can I interpret 'subject pronoun can't refer object' rule as following:

- 'in society' is modifying phrase

Pronoun can't refer to noun in preposition phrase. I have read somewhere it's myth. Could you explain this rule bit more?

Regards,
Ajitesh
GMATGuruNY wrote:
navami wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
gmat740 wrote:Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world�s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females�the queen and her sterile female workers.
A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society, almost all
D. which means that their society is highly cooperative, organized, and it is almost entirely
E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all

Oa- B
IMO E : Why do we need wasps to precede living?
In C and D, it is unclear what noun is being replaced by the pronoun which. Eliminate C and D.

In E, the pronoun it is ambiguous. Eliminate E.

In A, the pronoun they suggests that the wasps consist almost entirely of females; the intended meaning is that the society consists almost entirely of females. Also, where should used to refer only to a place. Eliminate A.

The correct answer is B.

In B, wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of females is a resumptive modifier. A resumptive modifier:

-- repeats a key word in the sentence
-- adds additional information about that key word
-- often includes the pronoun that
-- usually appears at the end of the sentence

Hope this helps!
Can't It of option E, refer to the nearest noun that is society in this case? GMATGuru please explain.
A subject pronoun (such as it, which is the subject of the verb consists) should not be used to refer to the object of a preposition (in the phrase living in a society, society is the object of the preposition in).

E also lacks parallelism: that is highly cooperative, organized is not parallel with it consists. To maintain parallelism, E should say:

...a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and consisting of...

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by GMATGuruNY » Tue Apr 11, 2017 12:10 pm
aji12 wrote:Hi Mitch,

For option E, can I interpret 'subject pronoun can't refer object' rule as following:

- 'in society' is modifying phrase

Pronoun can't refer to noun in preposition phrase. I have read somewhere it's myth. Could you explain this rule bit more?

Regards,
Ajitesh
A subject pronoun can refer to a noun contained within a prepositional phrase.
I cite two official examples in my second post here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/parallel-str ... 83199.html

A better reason to eliminate E:
a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all females
Here, that (relative pronoun) and it (subject pronoun) both serve to refer to society.
Generally, a relative pronoun and a subject pronoun cannot have the same referent.
Eliminate E.
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by Md.Belal Hossain » Wed May 10, 2017 8:01 am
John lives in a house where he has a mother and a father.
Conveyed meaning:
The house is where John has a mother and a father, implying that OUTSIDE THE HOUSE John might not have a mother and a father.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Regardless of his location, John has a mother and a father.

A: wasps living a highly cooperative and organized organized society where they consist almost entirely of females
Conveyed meaning:
The society is where the wasps are composed almost entirely of females, implying that OUTSIDE THE SOCIETY the wasps might not be composed almost entirely of females.
This meaning is nonsensical.
Regardless of their location, the wasps are composed almost entirely of females.
Sir,
In line with your reasoning discussed here, can we make following inference?
Safety regulations were generally not being enforced in white lead factories, where there were no unions (and little prospect of any) to pressure employers to comply with safety regulations.
= Where there were unions to pressure employers to comply with safety regulations, safety regulations were enforced in white lead factories.
=Unions succeeded in pressuring employers to comply with such safety regulations.

Thanks in advance.
Belal.