A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of languages

I'm happy to help with this.

First of all, on the GMAT, verb like contend, argue, suggest, think, assert, conclude, etc. require a "that"-clause, and the word "that" must appear. In colloquial English, I can say "I thought he was coming" --- that would be fine in ordinary conversation, but it is not up to GMAT standards. GMAT grammar standards demand the word "that" in this context.

Here, that immediately eliminates (C) & (D) & (E). Now, we just choosing between (A) & (B).

Both (A) & (B) are grammatically correct, and it is more a question of emphasis. The substance of the linguists' claim is that the 1000s of languages have a common root language --- a mind-blowing idea. How many people are on earth speaking these 1000s of languages is more a detail for emphasis, and should not be front & center. Choice (A) makes the "thousands of languages ... can be traced" the main subject & verb of the "that"-clause, and this is the heart of the linguist claim. Choice B emphasizes the words "the world’s five billion people speak" by making that the main subject & verb of the "that"-clause ---- this makes brings something that should be a detail to front & center, and relegates what should be the main focuses to a secondary subordinate clause nested inside the "that"-clause. In choice B, the grammatical relations are at odds with the logical priorities. In a well designed sentence, grammar should support logic and the priority of the argument at all steps. Therefore, (B) has problems, but (A) is the best possible answer.

Arguably, choice A is not ideal --- arguably, one could find a more elegant way to express this information. Nevertheless, on GMAT SC, the job is not to find the best possible sentence, but only to find the best among the five available options. Here, (A) is the best of the five.

Does all this make sense?

Mike
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Yes. You do require the introductory connector ‘that’ in all reported speeches, lest it should become a run-on or an informal spoken form. . The choice is therefore limited to A and B

Between A and B: In B ‘speak thousands of languages of which all’ is weird and meaningless; ‘All of which’ is the right expression

A is left with a forthright presentation
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IMO, A.

(A) contend that is idiomatically correct - best option
(B) too wordy - eliminate
(C) need a comma before which - eliminate
(D) too wordy - to be traceable - eliminate
(E) change in the meaning of the sentence - eliminate

The issue is not about the linguist’s contending their ability to trace back something to something. It is a general statement to say that these languages can be traced to a common root. By shifting the focus to the linguist’s ability, the meaning is altered.
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The difference between A and B is meaning. B says that every person in the world speak thousands of languages. That is not correct.

A number of linguists contend that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced back to a common root language.

(A) that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people can be traced
(B) that the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages of which all can be traced
(C) the world’s five billion people speak thousands of languages which are all traceable
(D) all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world’s five billion people to be traceable
(E) the ability to trace all of the thousands of languages that are spoken by the world’s five billion people[/quote]

Subjunctive word "contend" should be followed by "that" - Hence C, D and E are Out

B - Indirection construction and usage of "of which" makes the sentence wordy

Hence - A

GMATNinja VeritasPrepKarishma

Is there any issue of preference of active voice (as in A) over passive voice in B?
I think there is also a pronoun ambiguity in B since which can not refer to plural nouns - languages
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adkikani - I am no expert but let me try to help you. Between A and B biggest reason to select A is meaning. "five billion people speak thousands of languages" . this part is impossible. five billion people can not speak 1000 languages. Grammatically I think both the choices are correct.
What pronoun ambiguity you are talking about. Can you please be more specific .

A is certainly a better choice cause of the correct meaning.

+1 for A

that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world's five billion people can be traced- contend that is idiomatic. B & C illogically means that linguists content that 5 billion people speak languages-not the intended meaning of the sentence.

Meaning - The author intends to say that thousands of languages can be traced to a common root.

Marker - "That"

"That" has the following functions:
a. It can function as a noun modifier
b. It can function as a pronoun
c. It can function as a subordinator

Here "That" is used with an intention to talk more about linguist's contention which can be achieved via "a" or "c".

Since "contend" is used as a verb, 'that' in the sentence is used more as a subordinator than a noun modifier.

So, this concludes we need "that" in the sentence.

So we are left with options A and B.

The problem with option B is that the author would instead convey the meaning that the contention is about the world's 5 billion people instead of languages which is incorrect.

So option B is ruled out and hence the correct option is A.

In this sentence ‘contend’ is a word that requires a ‘that’ to follow it.
We can safely eliminate Options C, D and E for this reason.

Now we are down to Options A and B.

Option B says that ‘five billion people speak thousands of languages’ which is not the main point of this sentence. This structure brings to the forefront a detail that can come after the main subject. Eliminate

Option A corrects this error and is therefore the best option.

Hope this helps!
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Hi mikemcgarry

these days, in WSJ, i see "that" omitted at a number of places. Since your post is from 2012, I want to ask if it is still a MUST to have "that" before contend, argue, suggest, think, assert, conclude, etc, or is it only PREFERRED?

Hi GMATNinja,

Kindly help me with below doubts

1. do we have an IC that IC structure here (can 2 ICs be connected with a that?)
2. What is the subject in that clause - (that all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world's five billion people can be traced ) -
here the subject is "ALL" or "All of the thousands of languages".
3. The part after that is IC or its a DC ?

4. in the non underlined, what is the subject? "A number of Linguists" or linguists ?
5. in the non underlined, contend is a plural verb, so what is its subject?

Gmatwarrior27

I think this post will help.

Yes, by itself, "all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world's five billion people can be traced back to a common root language" could be an independent clause. But as soon as we stick a "that" in front of it, it becomes dependent (remember, even dependent clauses have a subject and verb). For example:

"We hope that you get a 750 on the GMAT."

The phrase "that you get a 750 on the GMAT" is not a complete thought and couldn't stand alone, right? It's just the thing that we hope for earlier in the sentence.

On to your questions:


We don't have two independent clauses here. The "that" introduces a dependent clause.


"All" is the simple subject. The complete subject would be the simple subject plus any modifiers (so "all of the thousands of languages spoken by the world's five billion people"). But I don't think that distinction matters a whole lot on the GMAT.


See above. Sure, if we take everything after the "that" and turn it into it's own sentence, it could be an independent clause. But that portion is preceded by a "that" in THIS sentence, so it's simply part of a dependent "that" clause. In other words, don't think of it as a "that + IC." Instead, think of it as a "that + subject + verb" which together create a dependent clause.


"A number" is the simple subject. If we include the prepositional phrase ("of linguists"), we get the complete subject.


Because we are talking about a number of linguists (as opposed to just ONE linguist), the subject is plural (hence the plural verb). In other words, "a number" implies multiple linguists in this context.

I hope that helps!
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Shouldn't we have past perfect ... simple past construction here?

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