A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has

Question

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found,  and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously  found in North America.

(A) and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously

(B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was

(C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were

(D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously

(E) fossils at least 25 million years older than similar dinosaur types previously

LogicGuru1 · Accepted Answer

I love this question because it has all the potential to divide SC strategist into two groups.. One that believes language should come to you naturally and that obscure rules/principles should not be crammed or memorized. (Native Speakers). The second group is most likely to disagree based on the fact that English being their secondary language needs a lot of cramming and memorizing,if not while speaking, at least while writing.(Non-Natives)

Anyway, This is my take on the question :- It has used a "RESUMPTIVE MODIFIER" in the correct option "D" . 
 Resumptive modifier is a modifier that picks up a word or phrase from a sentence that seems to have finished and then adds extra information and takes the reader into new line of thought(s). Some examples are :- 
  (1) The couple decided to go to Paris for their honeymoon, honeymoon that will strengthen their admiration for art, food and french language. 
(2) Just after 5 years of her demise Mother Theresa was awarded sainthood, sainthood that was undeserved as there are ample proof that all her humanitarian work was a smoke screen for her illegal conversion of poor and needy people into Christianity.

There is another kind of modifier called SUMMATIVE MODIFIER
A summative modifier quickly summarises the action of an earlier part of the sentence and then adds new information:
 (1)Krishna taught mankind benevolence, kindness, and compassion — three qualities that would help humans to ascend into heaven.

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found, ------------------------------------ found in North America.  
A. and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was
B. and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously
C. and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were
  D.  fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously  
 E. fossils at least 25 million years older than similar dinosaur types that were previously

ichha148 · Answer

I will go with D.

D compares fossils to fossils.

(A) and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously  - compares they with dinasour 
(B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was  - same as A 
(C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were -  compares fossils to dinosaurs

(D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously - correct comparison
(E) fossils at least 25 million years older than similar dinosaur types previously  - same issue

also "they" is ambiguous in A and B

BarneyStinson · Answer

My Take is D as well, this is a modifier problem with a comparison problem intertwined in it. Usually, extra information clauses or phrases are spawned off with a comma. What we have here is called a Resumptive modifier. It takes a particular word from the subject of the sentence that seems to be finished and adds information to take the reader to a new area of thought/idea.

PiyushK · Answer

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found,  and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously  found in North America.

(A) and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously  -- they is ambiguous -- fossils or Paleontologist-- comparison error. 
(B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was  -- same as as A -- parallelism issue -- sentence structure ambiguity. 
(C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were  -- comparison error -- parallelism required. 
(D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously  -- absolute phrase modifier used -- comparison is proper. 
(E) fossils at least 25 million years older than similar dinosaur types previously  -- comparison error.

samm0123 · Answer

OA is D

It is an example that tests noun+noun modifier concept. another similar examples are

1) Floating in the waters of the equatorial Pacific, an array of buoys collects and transmits data on long-term
interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere, interactions that affect global climate.

2)Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world’s social wasps, wasps living in a highly
cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females—the queen and her sterile
female workers

animesh_an · Answer

The original sentence has two error.
1. The pronoun 'they' is ambiguous. It seems to be pointing to paleontologists instead of fossils. They should be replaced by fossils.
2. Fossils are wrongly compared with similar dinosaur type. It should be compared with the fossils of similar dinosaur type.

A. and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously
 -- Error 1 and error 2 
B. and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was
 -- Error 1; ambiguous antecedent for pronoun they. 
C. and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were
 --Error 2 and also were should be singular, since any is singular 
D. fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously
 -- Correct.  
E. fossils at least 25 million years older than similar dinosaur types previously 
 -- Error 2

King407 · Answer

A. and that  they  were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously -- ambiguous use of pronoun they

B. and  they  are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was -- ambiguous use of pronoun they

C. and the fossils are at least 25 million years older  than any similar dinosaur types  that previously were -- comparing fossils with dinosaurs

D. fossils that are at least 25 million years older than  those of any similar dinosaur  type previously -- correct

E. fossils at least 25 million years older  than similar dinosaur types  previously -- comparing fossils with dinosaurs

rsh12 · Answer

Two things are being tested here. 1) Pronoun error 2) Comparisons

'they' can refer to both paleontologists and fossils
Eliminate A and B

Comparison
X than Y, where X and Y need to be compared at the same level. Dinosaurs were not found previously in North America (Their fossils were. Eliminate C and E - Improper Comparison)

D Correct

HKD1710 · Answer

Main focus of the sentence is fossils of dinosaurs not the dinosaurs themselves. This should help us in POE:

(A) and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously
....dinosaurs...older than....any dinosaur type.....- wrong comparison.

(B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was
dinosaur type that previously was found - wrong meaning

(C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were
utah has yielded fossils....and fossils are ... - wrong meaning. we just dont need 'and' here.

(D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously 
now read the sentence like this: utah has yielded  fossils  of...dinosaurs...,  fossils that are ....... older than those of ..similar  dinosaur  type... previously found . Correct comparison of fossils.

(E) fossils at least 25 million years older than similar dinosaur types previously
fossils ..older than ..dinosaurs - wrong comparison.

sayantanc2k · Answer

As you have mentioned that replacing "they" with "dinosaurs" is possible in option A, it is also possible to replace "they" with "fossils" (it does not matter that in the latter case the sentence would be grammatically wrong because of parallelism error.) It is even possible to replace "they" with "Paleontologists" (though in this case the meaning conveyed would be very different from what the author intended to). Thus "they" is definitely ambiguous since it can refer to 3 different antecedents.

prakashgmat2016 · Answer

thanks Sayan :-)

But it leaves me even with more doubts. I have read in Manhattan SC book Pronoun Chapter that If there is more than one eligible antecedent of a pronoun but just one of them makes sense with the pronoun then it would be considered correct. Concept book excerpt read as "If the intended antecedent of a single pronoun is clear (e.g., by virtue of parallelism and meaning), and if there is no other reasonable antecedent, then don’t worry if there is an unreasonable antecedent somewhere else in the sentence." Here dinosaurs makes sense so even if there are more eligible antecedent such as "fossils" and "Paleontologists", dinosaurs should still make sense. Am i correct

sayantanc2k · Answer

The problem with "they" is that all the 3 eligible antecedents make sense, i.e. there are 3 reasonable antecedents (not  just one ).

SairamRamo · Answer

(A) and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously
  comma + and  is used to join independent. Here that is not the case

(B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was
  comma + and  is used to join independent. Here that is not the case

(C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were
 fossils are compared to dinosaur type ? Wrong comparison

(D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously
 No error

(E) fossils at least 25 million years older than similar dinosaur types previously
 fossils are compared to dinosaur type ? Wrong comparison

ankaua · Answer

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found,  and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously  found in North America.

Here we have a proper construction with two "that", each of which states two facts announced by a group of paleontologists: 
 A group of paleontologists recently announced  that  a site ... and  than  they ... 
 
What's wrong in A is the  comparison : "they" clearly refer to "fossils" and then, "fossils" compared to "any similar dinosaur type" - this fact makes A clearly wrong: such comparison is non-sensical.

Option B misses the second "that", which works well in A: we need two "that" to maintain  //-ism  and express grammatically correct what are two facts presented by a group of paleontologists.

Another issue with option B is "was" at the end, whose pair is "those" (="fossils"), a plural noun.

Same issue with  //-ism  as in B; same issue with  comparison  (fossils vs dinosaur types) as in A.

Correct choice . There are no longer two facts announced by a group of paleontologists. Instead, an absolute phrase is used (the phrase that is often used in correct answer choices). Also, there is no "they" anymore, which is also a good sign that the option might appear correct one.

Same  comparison issue  as in A and C: fossils vs dinosaur types

junii · Answer

Can anybody explain how Option D is not run on sentence, two independent clause connected by comma?

BLTN · Answer

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-ninja-s ... l#p2744787

mSKR · Answer

Even you can reject A, B , C and E to reach to the correct answer.

A,E and C rejected due to wrong comparison figure
B is rejected because fossils were found not dinosaur WAS found

After I arrived at D. I could figure out its absolute modifier.
hence D correct

GMATNinja · Answer

This popped up on our Ask Me Anything About SC thread, and I'm reposting it here, just in case it helps somebody: The phrase "fossils that are at least 25 million years older..." is just a modifier (an appositive, if you like the jargon) -- basically, an adjective that modifies the aforementioned fossils : "A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils , fossils that are at least 25 million years older..." There is no need to use a conjunction with such comma-separated modifying info. We get this question all the time.

For a couple other examples, check out the following posts: Over the past ten years, cultivated sunflowers... Photovoltaic cells are made of two thin layers... Floating in the waters of the equatorial Pacific... I hope that helps!

CEdward · Answer

Great question

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found, and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously found in North America.

(A) and that they were at least 25 million years older than any  similar dinosaur type  previously
-comparison between fossils. and dinosaur type is wrong

(B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that  previously  was
-'previously was' is redundant

(C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any  similar dinosaur types  that  previously  were
-same issue as A) 
-'previously were' is redundant

(D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously
CORRECT 
-this is an example of a resumptive modifier 
-'those of' correctly stands in for fossils

(E) fossils at least 25 million years older than  similar dinosaur types  previously
-same comparison issue as A) and C)

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards