Narwhals can be called whales of ice: in icy channels, ponds and ice-s

@skamal

Pl follow this example.

1. X ate water melon, his children looking at him —This is a simple sentence where x is the subject, and ate is the verb and the fruit, the object; What follows after the comma is a simple phrase, without a verb( looking’ is a present participle , not a verb) . We cannot use an ‘and’ in this case after the watermelon because and we can join only two equal things, be it two clauses or phrases or simply words. The word ‘and’ prevents the modifier phrase from being grammatically attached to the IC.
2. X ate watermelon as his children looked at him --- This is complex sentence, involving an independent clause (IC) and a dependent clause, both of which have their own verbs and hence they are called clauses. The word ‘as’ is a subordinate conjunction and now after having used a subordinate conjunction, we cannot use again another co-ordinate conjunction such as ‘and’.
3. When you follow an IC with and, then what must follow must also be an IC. Since ‘and’ is not underlined and since that will be part of any answer, then the only choice that will go with that structure is a clause that has a verb in the second arm ; only C has that structure.

I hope it is clear now why A violates sentence structure
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C is the most concise and straight choice to choose from

B is wrong because adding which, then the meaning is completly changed. If you use which follow you need to specify something related to, such as:

their annual migrations, which have a specific pattern, follow the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.

Moreover, GMAT always uses which proceeded by a comma. Never as B shows

Hope is clear
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I'm always happy for a gmatprep-gmat-original sentence.

Why do you have problems with C. It is pretty straightforward.

A is wrong brcause the verb following doesn't make sense at all in the context

B is wrong for the reason that \(which\) is preceded always by a comma in american english or at least in gmatland

D and E with the usage of whose is wrong because is the possessive of who, and refers to who or ewhat ??'

C is clear and straight: narvals \(follow\) the seasonal movements of the ice

Hope this helps
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This has something to do with the structure of a sentence. Generally compound sentences involving the coordinator 'and' will have to balance the structure on either sides of the said conjunction parallelly. You may find that in the clauses follows the semicolon, the first part is a full-fledged while you expect the same such clause in the second part after ‘and’ having a full verb. . Unfortunately choices A, B, D and E contain simple phrases involving participles or sub clauses having which or whose. Only C sticks to the basic grammar of structure.
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Can some one explain what is the problem in FOLLOWING in option A with an explanantion???

carcass can you explain the d/w b/w C and E. I chose C b/c it sounded right but I need to understand the specific reason. Thanks in advance !

Sure with pleasure but as for the bold part I ca infer the meaning but maybe someone else does not so write a complete sentence without abbreviations

Back to the question

A) their annual migrations following - here we have not a verb : are following if the case. Moreover, it seems that the migrations follow something per se and not the narwhals that is the real meaning

B) already discussed

C) already discussed

D) whose annual migrations following - lacks of verb and also whose is a nasty word. Whose is the possessive form of both who and which. It could refer both to persons and animals and inanimate things, such as trees. Here it refers to animals so it must have an antecedent but which one ?? whales, predator ?? is not clear

E) same as D

Refer to this for further clarification https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/educat ... te-objects

Hoe is clear
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Narwhals can be called whales of the ice: in icy channels,ponds,and ice-shielded bays they seek sanctuary from killer whales, their chief predator,and their annual migrations following the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.

A) their annual migrations following -- We have a structure clause + and + modifier -> which is wrong and this sentence requires a clause. Hence We require a verb.
B) their annual migrations which follow -> which refers to migrations and follow is the correct verb to follow which. But the subject of the clause "their annual migrations" just hangs by itself.
C) their annual migrations follow -> Correct
D) whose annual migrations following -> whose indicates an dependent clause. We require an independent clause. And we require a verb - follow.
E) whose annual migrations follow -> whose indicates an dependent clause. We require an independent clause

Sorry.

My approach is really holystic to this exam. When a student tries to stick a problem following rigid patterns, sorry but is the worst scenario. Before or after you will be stuck somewhere.

My approach is global to a problem, flexible. I do not follow a dogma or preconceived rules. I try to visualize the whole picture, basically.

This is also confirmed by the strategy showed in the new Verbal Guide 6th edition by MGMAT.

This is a test of logic not rules

Regards
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IMO - C

Narwhals can be called whales of the ice: in icy channels,ponds,and ice-shielded bays they seek sanctuary from killer whales, their chief predator,and their annual migrations following the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.

>> after colon either examples are presented or explanation of the preceding argument. Here explanation is present (right?). We need ICs.
in icy channels,ponds,and ice-shielded bays they seek sanctuary from killer whales, their chief predator,and their annual migrations following the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.
X, and Y - both need to be ICs. However, Y is not IC because it's lacking a verb.

A) their annual migrations following
>> as explained above

B) their annual migrations which follow
>> which almost always need a comma before. Also, we needed Y to be an IC

C) their annual migrations follow
>> CORRECT: as explained above

D) whose annual migrations following
>> violets the parallelism+IC issue

E) whose annual migrations follow
>> as in D

Split 1:-follow vs following.
Structure has to be parallel to seek. Hence choose follow.
Eliminate --> A, D

Split 2:- Independent clause vs Dependent clause
i.e. use of whose and their.
Whose is used for dependent clause whereas their is used for independent clause.
Since it is an independent clause we need to use their.
Eliminate --> E

Split 3:- Use of which
Which as being non-essential modifier here is needed to be preceded by comma.
Eliminate -->B

Answer --> C

Hi,
According to my understanding 'their annual migrations' is about killer whales. Please clarify.

'Their' cannot refer to Narwhals in one place and to killer whales in another place. In addition, why will the second IC talk about the killer whales' migration when the scope of the passage is about Narwhals' behavior?
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Colon ":" is usually used to give more information about preciding clause. Here, it explains why Narwhals can be called whales of ice.

More importantly, Let's keep in mind that "and" in red shows "parallelism".

(A) their annual migrations following

1) Now, after "and", we have a noun, "their annual migrations". Hence, We should find another noun parallel to it. We have two possibly but illogically parallel nouns. Let's make it more clear

1) "killer whales"
2) "sanctuary"

1) Narwhals seek sanctuary from killer whales and [Narwhals seek sanctuary from] their annual migrations...
2) Narwhals seek sanctuary from killer whales and [Narwhals seek] their annual migrations...
Both are illogical.

(B) their annual migrations which follow


(C) their annual migrations follow

1) Here, after "and", we have a clause: "their annual migrations follow...". Hence, this clause must be parallel to the preciding clause "...they seek sanctuary...". CLAUSE + AND + CLAUSE. Both clause exlain why "Narwhals can be called whales of ice".

(D) whose annual migrations following

1) After "and", we have "whose". Yet, we don't have another such structure in the sentence.

(E) whose annual migrations follow

1) the same issue as with (D)

Hello experts,

It is tough to spot parallelism here.

A.B and C seems wrong because it seems as if the parallelism is between - their chief predator, and their annual migrations,which is illogical (because their annual migrations is not talking about killer wales), so A, B, C can be eliminated. cause it looks like an ambiguios parallelism.

where as in E whose can refer to Narwhales. (still ambiguos and the anticedent is so far away.)

So how A is right? how can anyone spot that theparallelism is between they and their not between their and their. one can think that its between their and their and can eliminate this choice.

Narwhals can be called whales of ice: in icy channels, ponds and ice-shielded bays they seek sanctuary from killer whales, their chief predator, and their annual migrations follow the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.

Meaning: Narwhals can be called whales of ice. Why? for two reasons.
1. Because they seek shelter in icy channels, ponds and ice-shielded bays from their chief predator, killer whales.
2. Because their annual migration is in sync with ice's seasonal advancing and retreating.

Sentence Structure:

Narwhals can be called whales of ice (IC - Narwhals - Subject; can be called - verb)
:in icy channels, ponds and ice-shielded bays they seek sanctuary from killer whales (1st reason why Narwhals are called whales of ice.
They - subject; seek - verb)
, their chief predator (modifier modifying killer whales)
, and their annual migrations follow the seasonal rhythm of advancing and retreating ice.(2nd reason why Narwhals are called
whales of ice. Migrations - subject; follow - verb)

It took me a while to understand the meaning and that's because of the sentence structure. The first part is in passive voice "In x,y, and z they seek sanctuary. While the second part is in active voice " their annual migrations follow..." Moreover "their annual migrations" is placed closed to "their chief predator". So, I had to take a step back and evlatuate what both the "thiers" logically refer to.