A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by

Question

A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by ticks, especially by the lone star tick, develop a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe to be turning into an epidemic.

A. to be
B. it is
C. is
D. would be
E. it would be

A. to be 
B. it is 
C. is 
D. would be 
E. it would be

Here is the explanation, "....allergy to meat that is turning..."

sandman13 · Accepted Answer

A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by ticks, especially by the lone star tick, develop a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe to be turning into an epidemic.

A. to be
B. it is
C. is
D. would be
E. it would be

"that" here refers back to allergy, which has no VERB!

A.  to be  --> no verb
B.  it  is --> introduces "it" another subject
 C.  is  --> gives verb for "that" 
D.  would  be --> would is wrong; would be correct if sentence was in past tense
E. it  would  be --> same as D + SVA error

Tracy95 · Answer

(C) is correct.

The simpler version of "a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe is turning into an epidemic." would be "a severe allergy to meat that is turning into an epidemic".
The part "scientists believe" is added between "that" and "is" to indicate further support from scientists for the given statement.

A similar pattern could be found here
https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-world-wi ... 03470.html

harika2021 · Answer

Hello Experts,
Can you please explain the structure of the sentence( especially the part after- allergy to meat that-)?

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi

Let us look at the sentence as a whole: A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by ticks, especially by the lone star tick, develop a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe is turning into an epidemic.

Now, "that" functions as a marker that applies to what comes immediately prior to it, in this case, the allergy to meat. Therefore, we understand that scientists believe that the allergy to meat (which is caused by a bite from ticks) is turning into an epidemic. Therefore, we can presume that several people have been afflicted with the allergy caused by this tick bite.

Hope this helps.

DanTe02 · Answer

How do i see if that is working as something starting a sub-ordinate clause as( I believe that Santa claus is real) or as a pronoun( I stole the burrito that was delicious)
 daagh   GMATNinja

Pankaj0901 · Answer

Can someone please explain: what does it mean by:
(A)- no verb
(C)- gives verb for that..
This is not clear to me. May be some examples/more details would help. Thanks

DanTe02 · Answer

PANKAJ0901 A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by ticks, especially by the lone star tick, develop a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe to be turning into an epidemic.
the word "that" is a relative pronoun here and therefore must have its own verb
Here's what I mean by that
A recent study-suggests(subject and verb pair)
who(relative pronoun refer back to people)-are(subject verb pair)
people-develop(subject verb pair) [The that before people works as a subordinate and is creating a new dependent clause implying there must be a subject verb pair]
and for the second that in bold which refers to severe allergy has no verb
Hence there must be a verb
Kudos if you find it helpful

Pankaj0901 · Answer

Thanks  DanTe02 . I think I have understood. Had this been, as follows:

A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by ticks, especially by the lone star tick, develop a severe allergy to meat  that   scientists believe    is believed    to be  turning into an epidemic.
 
Now, since "is" acts as a verb for "that", which is modifying "allergy", we must have "to be", as "believe to be" is idiomatic. Correct?

DanTe02 · Answer

Looks like you misunderstood something. Serve allergy to meat that(allergy) scientists believe is turning into a pandemic
It is not about idiom rather the fact that allergy needs a verb . It is the allergy that scientists believe is turning into a epidemic

To be is not a verb to + verb is an infinitive or a type of verbal google more on this

More than happy to help

Posted from my mobile device

Pankaj0901 · Answer

I got it. And, I definitely failed to convey clearly in my earlier post. (Refer to this question , which is on "believed to be" idiom. This question confused me, actually.) Having understood clearly now, I am sure that the following statement is also correct: A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by ticks, especially by the lone star tick, develop a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe is believed to be turning into an epidemic. Right?

My takeaway (from your explanation)-
1. "that": creating a subordinate clause, or a dependent clause, beginning with the word "that"
2. "that": acting as a modifier (or pronoun)
[b]In both cases in the application of "that", there must be a subject and a verb.

DanTe02 · Answer

PANKAJ0901 You're pretty much right now whenever that will be used a subordinate youll see that + subject verb , Here that is just working to introduce a new dependent clause
e.g I suggest that there be peace or I believe that dal makhani is underrated here

Other usage such as pronoun is
I love garlic naans that are warm and crispy
here that refers back to plural subject garlic naans and what follows is a plural verb for the subject ; You can read the sentence like I love garlic naans, oh oh by the way the ones which are warm and crispy

Hope it helped you can refer to Gmat club's Verbal gods such as our GMATNinja and his youtube video ,which is awesome, on WTF Is "that" doing in my sentence

Kudos

Pankaj0901 · Answer

DanTe02 - Thank you so much. Really appreciate your help. PS- I really love warm and crispy garlic naans. But, I don't like dal makhani (may be that's why it's underrated)..

EducationAisle · Answer

Interesting discussion.

Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  the various "avatars" of "that" , their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

aarkay87 · Answer

Dear Experts,

I thought 'believe to be' is a correct idiom, AND selected option-A. This idiom is also mentioned in SC Grail 2018.

Could you please share the process of elimination for the same?

aarkay87 · Answer

Ideal Split:
A: Continuous infinitives combine with other verbs to express a continuing action, so a simple present tense is suited.
B: "that" here refers back to allergy, which requires a verb
C: Correct
D: Usage of subjunctive WOULD is not correct for factual information (a recent study)
E: same as B

Learning:
Correct form: believe somebody/something to be, have, etc. something
Meaning: = to think that something is true or possible, although you are not completely certain
RIGHT: The vases are believed to be worth over $20,000 each.
RIGHT: I believe John’s version to be the truth.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

aarkay87

Hi,

This is in response to your query on answer choice A.

A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by ticks, especially by the lone star tick, develop a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe to be turning into an epidemic.

A. to be
B. it is
C. is
D. would be
E. it would be

- The issue with this answer choice is not any idiomatic error in the usage of 'believed to be'. The error lies in the construction of the sentence itself. 
- certain people develop a severe allergy to meat that scientists believe ________ turning into an epidemic.

- Let's understand the intended meaning of the sentence through structural analysis:

- As per a study, certain people develop  something   that  scientists believe  is   turning   into  something much worse.
 - people develop something that (scientists believe) _____ turning into something much worse. 
 -"scientists believe" is a  shortened sentence adverb clause  equivalent to the adverb phrase "according to scientists"
 - people develop something that, according to scientists, ______ turning into something much worse. 
 - now we can clearly see that this dependent clause is actually  missing   a helping/aiding verb  that goes with the main verb  turning .

- Hence, we get the answer C: ...people who are bitten by ticks develop a severe  allergy  to meat  that  scientists believe  is turning into  an epidemic.
 
 - ' that ' is a relative pronoun which refers to ' allergy ', because 'meat' cannot turn into an epidemic. 
 - Since 'that' refers to 'allergy', it requires a singular verb.
 - Hence, ' is turning into '. 
 - Also, we  need the simple present tense  to convey the universal findings of a study.

Hope this helps.

Best,

GMAT Whiz Team

tt147 · Answer

Hi  GMATWhizTeam

Can you please share some examples in which "would be" would have been correct ?

JadAsmar · Answer

CrackVerbalGMAT   GMATWhizTeam   GMATNinja

Sorry if my question is too basic.. but I am struggling a bit to understand why is that is considered as a pronoun but not as a modifier? Would you kindly elaborate on how to differentiate between the two ?

Thank you !

Sambon · Answer

AjiteshArun   MartyTargetTestPrep   GMATGuruNY

Would appreciate your thoughts on this question. (C) is clearly the best answer choice but my concern is around a detail in (A). Few users in this thread pointed out that answer choice (A) should be eliminated because it lacks a verb after the relative pronoun "that." That explanation makes sense so long as we accept that "allergy to meat" is functioning only as a subject.

But can't "allergy to meat" also function as an object of the verb "believe"? Using "allergy to meat" as an object, the sentence would essentially say "Scientists believe allergy to meat to be turning into an epidemic" (Scientists believe X to be Y). Interpreted this way, the sentence has not a grammatical issue but a meaning issue i.e., how can scientists believe an allergy to be something?

In summary, is it fair to say that we should not eliminate answer choice (A) for the reason that it lacks a verb?

A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by

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A recent study on Lyme Disease suggests that people who are bitten by

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