Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.
A) Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.
B) By the study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, it was possible for the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.
C) By studying a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, the fruit fly enabled scientist to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.
D) By studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, the secrets of how embryos develop are beginning to be unraveled by scientist.
E) The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled scientist to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

E also.

E) The study ...... has enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

Modifier problem

a household nuisance cannot study about the house fly.

B,C,D are passive at their best

E is active and the winner

I thought the ordering of alternatives was random (computerised). But if you have noticed this trend, thanks for sharing.

A similar trend I noticed in Quant section. Whenever there is a problem that requires substitution of answer choices, the answer is likely to be D or E.

best,
parsifal

Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

A) Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists. - plain awkward

B) By the study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, it was possible for the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists. - 'and also' is redundant

C) By studying a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, the fruit fly enabled scientist to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop. - the study enables the scientist not the fruit fly

D) By studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, the secrets of how embryos develop are beginning to be unraveled by scientist. - 'and also' is redundant

E) The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled scientist to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

Here are my thoughts -
A. Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

- enable" needs to have, as its object, a person/agent who now has the ability to do something.
for instance:
this key enables me to open the lock --> correct, since *i* now have the ability to open the lock -- an ability that i did not have before i acquired the key.
this key enables the lock to be opened (by me) --> incorrect, since the lock is just as "able to be opened" as it was before (the issue is just that *i* couldn't open it)-------------- (learned this from one of the Ron's posts)

option A does not have an object associated with "enabled" . In short it says " studying the ff has enabled the secrets of <something> to be blah blah . . But doesn't say who has it enabled .


B. By the study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time honored experimental subject, it was possible for the secrets of how embryos develo0p to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

Here , if you cut the middle fluff , it seems to indicate that secrets is doing the studying ( it says - it was possible for the secrets ...- You can say "it is possible for him/her , but not secrets ) .

C. By studying a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, the fruit fly enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.
Modifier issue - the modifier is modifying fruit fly instead of scientists .

D. By studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, the secrets of how embryos develop are beginning to be unraveled by scientists.
The Appositive in the original sentence (a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject) , states a contrasting nature( or call it whatever you want ) of the fruit fly . But option D fails to capture it . Also the sentence is much inferior as compared to E. Am sure there are other issues with this , but cant quiet state it in terms of rules. Just sounds wrong when you compare it with E.

E. The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.
Correct

Hope that helps.
-Jyothi

As per my understanding , "and also " is not Reduandant on it's own . It is redundant only if it is used along with "both" . But by itself , it cannot be ruled out as Redundant . I have seen some official questions where "and also" appears in the correct answer ( can't recall the question though) .
Both X and also Y --- only this format is outright redundant and can be ruled out as incorrect . But in this particular question "and also" is incorrect cos it doesn't conform to the intended meaning (contrast) and not cos of redundancy

Jyothi

Hi Sujit2k7 ,

I guess the appositive here is an concrete appositive and hence it doesnt have to refer to studying , rather can refer to the immediate noun preceding the appositive. Hence the issue here is not due to incorrect reference of the appositive.
Perhaps you might want to check this link and a couple of posts by RON on the same topic on manhattan forum .
www.manhattangmat.com/forums/post35386.html#p35386

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

-Jyothi

Wow Mike ...thanks for correcting me...
Still i have one doubt we have seen examples how GMAT tricks on "lowering interest rates" v/s "lowering of interest rates"
Is not in the same way "Studying the fruit fly" is different from "Study of fruit fly"
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