A few of my best students have gotten their asses thoroughly kicked by this one, so please don’t feel badly if you struggled with it. (And most of the early responses look great!) Success on this question is mostly about your ability to be incredibly literal with the meaning, particularly as it relates to the pronouns in the sentence. (For more on pronouns, check out our good old
YouTube webinar on the topic.)
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A. wild animals have less total fat than do livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat they think is
“They” has to refer back to a plural noun, but our only options are “studies” (which makes no sense, because studies can’t think) or “wild animals” (which also makes no sense, unless you think wild animals moonlight as nutritionists. (A) is out.
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B. wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain and more of a kind of fat thought to be
There’s no pronoun here, so that’s cool. And I think the meaning works: “wild animals have less total fat than livestock fed on grain” is fine. The second part seems fine, too: “wild animals have… more of a kind of fat thought to be good for cardiac health.”
I don’t see any huge issues, so let’s keep (B).
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C. wild animals have less total fat than that of livestock fed on grain and have more fat of a kind thought to be
As described in
our rambling guide to the word “that”, “that” is a singular pronoun in this type of situation. In (C), I guess it has to refer to “total fat,” but that doesn’t really make sense: “wild animals have less total fat than
the total fat of livestock fed on grain…”
That’s kind of a mess. Wild animals have less fat than livestock, but it wouldn’t make sense to say that “wild animals have less total fat.. than the total fat…” That comparison is thoroughly wrong. (C) is out.
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D. total fat of wild animals is less than livestock fed on grain and they have more fat of a kind thought to be
This comparison is very clearly wrong: “total fat… is less than livestock.” You could, I suppose, also argue that the “they” isn’t 100% clear – but the illogical comparison is the most straightforward issue. (D) is out, too.
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E. total fat is less in wild animals than that of livestock fed on grain and more of their fat is of a kind they think is
There’s a lot of clunkiness here, but the biggest issue is the word “they”: the only possible referents are “wild animals”, “livestock”, or “studies.” And none of those are likely to “think [that fat] is good for cardiac health.” (E) is gone, and (B) is the best answer.
How can we say that in B, even though given as the right answer, clearly compare the total fat of wild animals with the fat of livestock?
Furthermore, what is wrong with statement C and why here 'that of' is awkward? Is it because C is not the answer and B is?
PS: Kindly explain it in simple words. I am not looking for grammar jargon. Thank you.