raghavs wrote:
Scientists have recently discovered that the ultrathin, layered construction of a butterfly’s
wings, the same as the one making some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of
iridescence, are enabling the insect to control how much heat energy is absorbed by its
wings and how much is reflected away.
A. wings, the same as the one making some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon
of iridescence, are enabling
B. wings, which is the same one that makes some butterflies shimmer via the
phenomenon of iridescence, that also enables
C. wings is the same as the one that makes some butterflies shimmer via the
phenomenon of iridescence, enabling
D. wings—the same construction that makes some butterflies shimmer via the
phenomenon of iridescence—also enables
E. wings—of the same construction that makes some butterflies shimmer via the
phenomenon of iridescence—also enable
Hi!
I'm not sure if you have a specific question or are just wondering about the sentence in general, but we'll look at the whole thing.
A commonly tested grammar topic on the GMAT is modification. Here's the general rule:
Quote:
When a sentence includes a modifying word or phrase, that word or phrase must be placed as closely as possible to whatever it's modifying.
This particular sentence is all about modification - and we recognize that by the parenthetical comment in the middle:
Quote:
, the same as the one making some butterflies shimmer via the phenomenon of iridescence,
(I included the commas because those are our signals that we're almost certainly being tested on modification).
So, whatever that phrase is modifying should be directly before or after the phrase.
In the original sentence, the subject of the modifying phrase isn't as clear as the GMAT demands; it could be the wings or the layered construction of the wings. When there's any kind of modification ambiguity, it's extremely unlikely that the choice will be correct.
Looking at the remaining choices:
B) has the same issue as (A) (adding "which is" doesn't make it any clearer) - eliminate.
C) has the same issue as (A) - eliminate.
D) begins with 'the same construction as' - this fixes the ambiguity issue as we now know that we're talking about the layered construction - looks good!
E) "of the same construction" doesn't make sense when read into the sentence - "of" messes up the meaning and flow - eliminate.
Choose (D)!
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Stuart Kovinsky
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66% (02:06) correct
