souvik101990 wrote:
Verbal Question of The Day: Day 268: Sentence Correction
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RSSFor All QOTD Questions Click HereSchistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and it has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of
the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle.
(A)
the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts
for part of
its life cycle
Correct specificity with "the"; idiomatically, "for" is the correct preposition; "its" correctly refers to the singular parasite (B) the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts
in [for] part of
their [its] life cycle
1) in vs. for: IDIOM. "Part of a life cycle" connotes "a period of time," i.e., an "interval."
To express duration of some amount of time, the preposition is for, not it.
"For" a period of time, or "for" an interval -- not "in" a period of time, not "in" an interval.
2) Pronoun disagreement. Parasite is singular. The pronoun should be its, not their. (C)
[the] freshwater
snails which becomes [snails which become] the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle
s [cycle]1) Subject/verb agreement: snails is plural. The verb should be the singular "become"
2) Plural "cycles": a singular parasite has one life cycle, not plural life cycles
3) Needs definite article "the" - see below(D)
[the] freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during
the parasite's [its] life cycle
s [cycle]1) Plural "cycles." Same problem as that in C: A singular parasite has one life cycle.
2) Use "its" instead of repeating "the parasite" in the second part of the sentence
Somewhat minor and unpredictable - GMAT is not very consistent about concision and repetition.
If you were down to this sentence and another sentence that had "its," however,
you would choose the other sentence
3) Needs definite article "the" - see below(E) parasite's
hosts, freshwater snails which become
their hosts [its host] during
their life cycle
s [whose life cycles? the snails' or the singular parasite's? In number, must be snails: wrong antecedent]
1) Pronoun disagreement: singular parasite needs singular pronoun its, not their
2) Repetitious: . . . hosts, . . . hosts
3) The second THEIR (which oddly makes cycleS correct, but we know
cycleS is not correct from C and D). Wrong antecedent (plural = snails')
or ambiguous (snails or parasite). But second "their" should not consume much mental real
estate because the first "their" is absolutely incorrect.Although I flagged every error I saw for explanatory purposes,
I do not approach SC this way.
I wish I could convince more understandably anxious test takers
to eliminate wrong answers for ANY or ONE clear grammatical error . . .
not
more than one error, not EVERY error . . . and
move on.
My approach:
Split #1: Plural vs. singular, whether the issue concerns pronouns, S/V, or noun parallelism
Eliminate B (parasite - its/their)
C (snails/become, parasite's life cycleS)
D (parasite: its/their, parasite's life cycleS)
E (parasite - its/their)
Done.
Answer A.I think I have seen this question connected
with discussions about the definite article "the."
I caught it, but did not use it to eliminate answers.
For the curious . . .
Split #1 in an alternative universe: definite article THE
(a much harder error to catch, IMO, than singular/plural)
We need a THE for "freshwater snails."
This writer is very specific at each point of causality about the spread of the disease.
The use of "
the freshwater snails" accords with this specificity.
WHICH kind of snails are involved in this mess?
The freshwater snails that host the parasite that carries this disease.
Start with what the sentence means and the writer intends to convey.
Certain irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat
of a specific kind of snail (freshwater snails).
These freshwater snails host the parasitic worm
that carries a disease called "Schistosomiasis."
That disease has become more widespread because
the enlarged habitat of the freshwater snails
increases the area in which the snails can carry the disease.
Causality requires specificity here.
X (Schistosomiasis) is caused by a Y (parasitic worm) that infects [a particular kind of =]
THE Zs
(Zs = freshwater snails, where "freshwater" are the snails in question)
X is caused by a Y that infects the Zs
This "catch" might be easier for a native ear to hear.
THE appears in three options (A, B, and E).
THE does not appear in two options (C and D).
That disparity should make the reader suspect that some issue
probably lurks around the use or non-use of THE.
C and D can be dismissed because both lack THE.
We have A, B, and E
Split #2 in an alternate universe: Pronoun/noun disagreement
B and E contain plural possessive THEIR instead of ITS
Answer A
close
20 May 2017, 10:26
