The West African lungfish uses their primitive lungs to extract oxygen

A. The West African, Their- pronoun reference, bove air- should be air above, burrow deep( should be deeply- an adverb)
B. Using their... , The West African
C.
D. extracting of oxygen - awkward, above air- should be air above, burrow deep( should be deeply- an adverb)
E. Modifier , West African Fish, Modifier - missing verb

(A) The West African lungfish uses their primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the above air, and so they can burrow deep into muddy ground, surviving long periods of dormancy, - Incorrect - Pronoun error - lungfish is singular. 'their' and 'they' is not the right usage.

(B) Using their primitive lung for the extraction of oxygen from the air above, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and survive long periods of dormancy, which is - Incorrect - Pronoun error. Usage of 'their' is incorrect

(C) By using its primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the air above while burrowed deep into muddy ground, the West African lungfish can survive long periods of dormancy— - Correct

(D) In using its primitive lungs for extracting of oxygen from the above air, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and surviving long dormant periods - Incorrect - Parallelism error. 'burrow' and 'survive' must be parallel.

(E) By extracting oxygen from the air above by using its primitive lung, the West African lungfish, which can survive long dormant periods by burrowing deep into muddy ground, - Incorrect - Missing verb error.

Answer: C

+1 for C, Errors highlighed above

C, subject is singular while antecedent is plural in the original sentence, also the preposition from above air should be from air above

(A) The West African lungfish uses their primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the above air, and so they can burrow deep into muddy ground, surviving long periods of dormancy,
Pronoun antecedent agreement

(B) Using their primitive lung for the extraction of oxygen from the air above, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and survive long periods of dormancy, which is
Pronoun antecedent agreement

(C) By using its primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the air above while burrowed deep into muddy ground, the West African lungfish can survive long periods of dormancy—
Correct --

(D) In using its primitive lungs for extracting of oxygen from the above air, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and surviving long dormant periods-
Meaning and parallelism issue

(E) By extracting oxygen from the air above by using its primitive lung, the West African lungfish, which can survive long dormant periods by burrowing deep into muddy ground,
- Run on sentence - No verb is present

The West African lungfish uses their primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the above air, and so they can burrow deep into muddy ground, surviving long periods of dormancy, an ability known as “estivation.”


(A) The West African lungfish uses their primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the above air, and so they can burrow deep into muddy ground, surviving long periods of dormancy, - Plural pronoun their used incorrectly to refer to singular noun - The West African lungfish.

(B) Using their primitive lung for the extraction of oxygen from the air above, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and survive long periods of dormancy, which is - Repeats same pronoun reference error.

(C) By using its primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the air above while burrowed deep into muddy ground, the West African lungfish can survive long periods of dormancy— Correct. Use of singular pronoun is correct, concise. Expresses the intended meaning adequately.

(D) In using its primitive lungs for extracting of oxygen from the above air, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and surviving long dormant periods - Illogical meaning. Seems to suggest that use of these primitive lungs helps the fish's capability/capacity to burrow. The intended meaning is the fish use the lungs extract oxygen whilst burrowing to survive periods of dormancy.

(E) By extracting oxygen from the air above by using its primitive lung, the West African lungfish, which can survive long dormant periods by burrowing deep into muddy ground, - Missing verb error. No verb for the lungfish.

Pronoun Error Type

(A) The West African lungfish uses their primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the above air, and so they can burrow deep into muddy ground, surviving long periods of dormancy,

(B) Using their primitive lung for the extraction of oxygen from the air above, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and survive long periods of dormancy, which is

(C) By using its primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the air above while burrowed deep into muddy ground, the West African lungfish can survive long periods of dormancy—

(D) In using its primitive lungs for extracting of oxygen from the above air, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and surviving long dormant periods

(E) By extracting oxygen from the air above by using its primitive lung, the West African lungfish, which can survive long dormant periods by burrowing deep into muddy ground,

Solution to problem #1: West African Lungfish
Correct answer: C

(A) Incorrect
Singular vs. Plural: The word fish can be both singular and plural. In the original sentence, the singular verb uses signals that the word lungfish is singular, but the plural pronouns their and they signal that the word lungfish is plural. Both can’t be true at the same time, so the original sentence is incorrect.
Modifier: The adverbial modifier surviving long periods of dormancy logically follows from the lungfish’s ability to extract oxygen from air, not from the fact that it burrow(s) deep into muddy ground. It can survive dormancy because it has the ability to extract oxygen from air even when in dormancy.

(B) Incorrect
Singular vs. Plural: The plural pronoun their signals an intent to talk about multiple lungfish (or all lungfish). Many lungfish also have many lungs, so the sentence should refer to their primitive lungs, plural, not their primitive lung.
Modifier: Using their lungs to extract oxygen isn’t what directly allows the lungfish to burrow deep into the ground. Rather, the lungfish has the ability to burrow in general; it can survive long periods of this burrowing because it can use its primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the air.
Idiom: If given a choice between use lungs to extract or use lungs for the extraction of, choose use lungs to extract.

(C) CORRECT
The main verb, can survive, can be singular or plural: it can survive; they can survive. It is fine, then, to use the singular pronoun its to refer to the lungfish (when doing this for an animal, it’s generally considered that the sentence is referring to the species in general).
The modifiers are now correctly placed, clearly conveying the intended meaning: While the lungfish is burrowed underground, it uses its lungs to extract oxygen from the air above, and this action allows it to survive these long periods of dormancy.
It is permissible to use a hyphen to set off the final modifier, an ability known as “estivation.” The modifier is correctly referring to the noun before it, dormancy.

(D) Incorrect
Modifier: Using its lungs to extract oxygen isn’t what directly allows the lungfish to burrow deep into the ground. Rather, the lungfish has the ability to burrow in general; it can survive long periods of this burrowing because it can use its primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the air.
Parallelism: The parallelism marker and signals the need to make two words parallel: X and Y. In this sentence, the Y element is surviving. The X element is either can burrow or burrow, neither of which is parallel to surviving.
Idiom: If given a choice between use lungs to extract or use lungs for extracting of, choose use lungs to extract.

(E) Incorrect
Sentence Structure: The sentence has no main verb. It consists of a subject, the West African lungfish, and many modifiers.

(A) The West African lungfish uses their primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the above air, and so they can burrow deep into muddy ground, surviving long periods of dormancy, ---- wrong use of and so and surviving is used as a modifier with wrong usage issue.

(B) Using their primitive lung for the extraction of oxygen from the air above, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and survive long periods of dormancy, which is ----- lungs to extract

(C) By using its primitive lungs to extract oxygen from the air above while burrowed deep into muddy ground, the West African lungfish can survive long periods of dormancy— Looks perfect no error,

(D) In using its primitive lungs for extracting of oxygen from the above air, the West African lungfish can burrow deep into muddy ground and surviving long dormant periods--- for extracting is wrong. burrow and survive is not parallel.

(E) By extracting oxygen from the air above by using its primitive lung, the West African lungfish, which can survive long dormant periods by burrowing deep into muddy ground, -- fragmented sentence

A: their
B: their
D: In using and surviving
E: By extracting, by using and which can

The intended meaning of the sentence is : African lungfish uses its primitive lungs for extracting Oxygen from the air above while it is buried into the muddy ground. The lungfish can survive long periods of dormancy by using the aforementioned method. This ability is called "ëstivation".

Error in the original sentence (i.e. option a) :

1) Pronoun error (they used when it should be used)
2) Modifier error : Note that part of the sentence - ", surviving ......" - this is " comma + verb-ing form". Such modifiers modify the previous clause, hence in the context of this sentence it means that surviving is the outcome of its ability to bury deep into the muddy ground. This is wrong.

a) Wrong for the reasons above
b) Pronoun error and meaning shift - i.e. using oxygen inhaled it can burrow deep & survive. It does not use oxygen to burrow deep
c) Correct
d) Though it corrects the pronoun error, there are two errors here. ... can burrow ... and surviving long ... ; this construction is wrong, besides this distorts the meaning as in choice b
e) No verb. There is a meaning shift too. The lungfish survives by extracting oxygen from air and not by burrowing deep.

My answer : Option C

I have a question, why "burrowed" is correct?
it should be burrowing.

Maybe, "burrow" here can be used in either active or passive voice, because it is not important whether the fish bury or is buried. The meaning will not change; that is, the fish hides in the soil.
Certainly, I do not believe "burrowed..." is an absolute phrase.

Of course, 'while burrowing' is nothing wrong in either grammar or structure, has a small problem vis-a-vis 'while burrowed'. 'While burrowing', a currently occurring phenomenon may only pertain to the duration of the actual act of burrowing, implying that when the burrowing is over, the fish will not be able to stand the long dormancy. On the contrary, 'while burrowed' is complete in its logic.

so, you are saying that "while burrowed" in this situation is better than "while burrowing". Since I have never heard of any such grammar before, I want to know something about this grammar issue.

1/ what is the grammar issue called in English?
2/ The issue will be tested regularly in real gmat; for example, it will appear in reading comprehensive? or should I care about this?

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