wasps

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gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; GMAT Score:710

by gmat740 » Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:18 am

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?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:18 am

real2008: Legendary Member; Posts: 527; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 12:06 am; Thanked: 7 times

Re: wasps

by real2008 » Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:07 am

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?

@740:

Because that is defining social wasps. E is wrong as 'it' is wrongly modifying to social wasp(s)

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:03 am

can we refer society with where in A ?

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scoobydooby: Legendary Member; Posts: 1035; Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:56 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 104 times

by scoobydooby » Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:59 am

in A, guess it is not proper to use "where" to refer to society. "in which" would have been better.

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goelmohit2002: Legendary Member; Posts: 1799; Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:03 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 36 times

by goelmohit2002 » Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:46 am

scoobydooby wrote:in A, guess it is not proper to use "where" to refer to society. "in which" would have been better.

Thanks Scooby !!!

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poseid101: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:34 am

by poseid101 » Mon Jan 18, 2010 8:54 am

by the way, just found the origin of this made-up wrong sentence here:

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/17/scien ... wanted=all

Yellow jackets are also waspish, literally speaking. They number among the 900 or so species of the world's social wasps, Edith Wharton wasps if you will, which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of females -- the queen and her sterile female workers.

"social wasps, wasps that ..." --> wasps that is a noun phrase, right?

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gmatapril: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 50; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:08 pm

by gmatapril » Sat Feb 26, 2011 2:01 pm

why is E WRONG. Isn't LIVING modifying the subject YELLOW JACKETS.

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clock60: Legendary Member; Posts: 759; Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:15 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 85 times

by clock60 » Sat Feb 26, 2011 2:38 pm

hi gmatapril
Living here for sure modifiers Yellow Jackets, as well as preceding clause and there is no mistake,
the problem with E that the rest of the sentence is not ||

E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all
it consists is not || with cooperative and organized
better version must looks like
society that is highly cooperative, organized and consisting of almost.....

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gmatapril: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 50; Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 1:08 pm

by gmatapril » Sat Feb 26, 2011 3:09 pm

clock60 wrote:hi gmatapril
Living here for sure modifiers Yellow Jackets, as well as preceding clause and there is no mistake,
the problem with E that the rest of the sentence is not ||

E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all
it consists is not || with cooperative and organized
better version must looks like
society that is highly cooperative, organized and consisting of almost.....

thanks for the explanation

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Sat Feb 26, 2011 4:53 pm

gmat740 wrote:Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the worldï¿½s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of femalesï¿½the 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. 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!

Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

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navami: Legendary Member; Posts: 540; Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:24 pmFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 37 times

by navami » Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:29 am

GMATGuruNY wrote:
gmat740 wrote:Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the worldï¿½s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of femalesï¿½the 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.

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:39 am

navami wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
gmat740 wrote:Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the worldï¿½s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of femalesï¿½the 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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GMATMadeEasy: Legendary Member; Posts: 768; Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 3:46 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 21 times

by GMATMadeEasy » Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:03 pm

@Mitch : For options C and D you have mentioned that "which" does not have a clear noun to refer to .

However, OG explanation does not mention this. Could we safely remove answer choices with such usage of which ? I was not sure when i did this question, so want to confirm.

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

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GMATGuruNY: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 15539; Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pmFollowed by: 1906 members; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 13060 times; GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:38 am

GMATMadeEasy wrote:@Mitch : For options C and D you have mentioned that "which" does not have a clear noun to refer to .

However, OG explanation does not mention this. Could we safely remove answer choices with such usage of which ? I was not sure when i did this question, so want to confirm.

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

Yes. Like all pronouns, which requires a clear referent. If it's unclear what noun is being replaced by the pronoun which -- or if which is referring to the wrong noun -- eliminate the answer choice.

Last edited by GMATGuruNY on Fri Mar 24, 2017 9:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

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navami: Legendary Member; Posts: 540; Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:24 pmFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 37 times

by navami » Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:37 am

GMATGuruNY wrote:
navami wrote:
GMATGuruNY wrote:
gmat740 wrote:Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the worldï¿½s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of femalesï¿½the 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...

Thanks!!!

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