The results of two recent unrelated studies support the idea

Agree with duttsit, E it is

Indicate "that" is needed. ||ism...."of....of"

P.s. Hope all of you guys had a wonderful X'mas!

E for m(E) too.

A/B/C have no verb
D. "ability of" is not idiomatic. Also parallelism is lost.

About E, can't say anything better than duttsit and TeHCM.

capable of X .... and of Y is the right construction

+1 E

Splits:
"Indicate" requires "that". A, B, and C out.
"Consider" doesn't need "as". D out.
Parallelism. A, B.and C out.

E is the answer.

the official ans states that--"In the context of the sentence ,the studies indicate must introduce a clause"
my question is- is there any rule like the above,why it MUST introduce a clause??

Hi Kinjal,

It's fine to eliminate option D on the basis of "as". Since this part of the sentence is pretty long, it just helps to make the parallelism clear when "of" is repeated.

In fact, the OG explanation states that the two items on the list are not parallel if "of" is not repeated. While it's possible to say that ellipsis can be applied in this case and "of" can be omitted, it's clear from sentences such as this one that official questions prefer to repeat prepositions in parallel items.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Meghna

the results of two recent unrelated studies support the idea that dolphins may share certain cognitive abilities with humans and great apes; the studies indicate dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously the mood or intention of humans.
A.dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

B.dolphins' ability to recognize themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

C.dolphins to be capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

D. that dolphins have the ability of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and spontaneously grasping

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping


I rejected option d because ability of is unidiomatic.But the explanation in the Og says that there is one more error in the sentence that of recognizing is not parallel to grasping.
I think that they are parallel. of can be taken as comman as it is taken in many of the other OG questions.

eg.
Lawmakers are examining measures that would require banks to disclose all fees and account requirements in writing, provide free cashing of government checks, and to create basic savings accounts to carry minimal fees and require minimal initial deposits.

(A) provide free cashing of government checks, and to create basic savings accounts to carry
(B) provide free cashing of government checks, and creating basic savings accounts carrying
(C) to provide free cashing of government checks, and creating basic savings accounts that carry
(D) to provide free cashing of government checks, creating basic savings accounts to carry
(E) to provide free cashing of government checks, and to create basic savings accounts that carry
The explanation of this question says that both "to disclose,to provide ,and to create" and "to disclose,provide ,and create" are correct.

please help.


Also wanted to know that which one of the following questions is correct.
1)sid thinks that rahul is the best batsman and that nayan is he best bowler.
2)sid thinks that rahul is the best batsman and nayan(is) the best bowler.

i think that the 2nd sentence is correct as the clause starts from rahul and that is only a connector.

please help.

While in this case, both are correct, but we cannot have a blanket rule that in every case, we can remove the preposition, and the sentence would still be correct. For example:

i) Rahul is as comfortable with Shoaib as with Shane Warne.

The above sentence is not the same, when the second preposition with is removed:

ii) Rahul is as comfortable with Shoaib as Shane Warne.

Statement ii) has two interpretations:

a) Rahul is as comfortable with Shoaib as (Rahul is comfortable with) Shane Warne
b) Rahul is as comfortable with Shoaib as Shane Warne (is comfortable with Shoaib)

Coming on to this question, I would agree that there does not seem to be an explicit need of repeating the of with spontaneously grasping, since there does not seem to be any ambiguity in the sentence. However, if you notice, there is another preposition in before spontaneously grasping, and so, by repeating of, the sentence just becomes very easy and unambiguous to read.

Also, I noticed that none of the posters above pointed out that D uses the incorect idiomatic construct considered as. The correct idiom is just considered.

"Considered" is never used with a preposition such as "as" or with an infinitive form such as"to be". It is on its own. This helps eliminate B and D.

Parallelism helps eliminate A and C

Hence, E

The results of two recent unrelated studies support the idea that dolphins may share certain cognitive abilities with humans and great apes; the studies indicate dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously the mood or intention of humans.

A. dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously-- the studies indicate needs THAT ; parallelism issue - capable of recognizing and to grasp are not parallel

B. dolphins' ability to recognize themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping -- same as A

C. dolphins to be capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously -- same as A

D. that dolphins have the ability of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and spontaneously grasping -- ability of is unidiomatic ; considered as is incorrect

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping- Correct

Answer E

A,B,C - "that" is needed to make the sentence unambiguous
D - Breaks parallelism of... and.. without of

Hence, E is the answer.

Hi egmat

If the sentence was short, can we then apply ellipsis?

For e.g,

1. Dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors and of spontaneously grasping the mood or intention of humans.

2. Dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors and [of] spontaneously grasping the mood or intention of humans.

Are both the sentences above correct?

Regards

The results of two recent unrelated studies support the idea that dolphins may share certain cognitive abilities with humans and great apes; the studies indicate dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously the mood or intention of humans.

A. dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

B. dolphins' ability to recognize themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

C. dolphins to be capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously

D. that dolphins have the ability of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and spontaneously grasping

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping

The main concept tested here is parallelism, which when identified can lead you to the right option.

What is the idiomatic structure here?
… capable of X… and of Y

Let’s look at the options one after the other:

A. dolphins as capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously
‘indicate that’ is the idiomatic expression. ‘and to grasp’ breaks the parallelism with ‘capable of’. The intent here is that the dolphins are capable of (A) recognizing and (B) grasping Eliminate.

B. dolphins' ability to recognize themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping
‘indicate that’ is the correct expression. It is unidiomatic to say ‘considered as’ on the GMAT. Moreover, if you substitute this option back in the sentence, you’ll see that the main verb is missing. Eliminate.

C. dolphins to be capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and to grasp spontaneously
Same as B – absence of ‘that’ and lack of parallelism ‘to grasp’ Eliminate.

D. that dolphins have the ability of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered as a sign of self-awareness—and spontaneously grasping
‘considered as’ is unidiomatic. This option also breaks parallelism with the preposition ‘of’. Eliminate.

E. that dolphins are capable of recognizing themselves in mirrors—an ability that is often considered a sign of self-awareness—and of spontaneously grasping
Idiomatic expression ‘often considered a’. ‘indicate’ is followed by ‘that’. This is the best option.

Hope this helps!

Hello experts!

Quick question within B, is the "themselves" wrong because "dolphins'" is in the possessive?

Many people would consider that reference incorrect, but personal pronouns referring to nouns in the possessive form have appeared in correct answers to GMAT SC questions. So, it wouldn't make sense to eliminate a choice because it included such a reference.

I believe I saw similar instances. But in this answer choice, would it not be wrong? Something about "themselves" referring back to "dolphins'" (in the possessive) seems off.

if i remember correctly, in a gmatprep problem, "considered as+noun" appears in 5 answer choices. so, "considered as+noun" is inferior and could be incorrect only in presence of 'considered +noun"