A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular place, researcher

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning of this sentence is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that a scrub jay tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat that has been stored long enough to have rotted.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Pronouns + Meaning + Tenses + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• Habitual actions are best conveyed through the simple present tense.
• "tends + infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb")" is the correct, idiomatic construction.

A: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "scrub jay" with the plural verb "tend". Further, the sentence formed by Option A alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "if stored long enough to have rotted"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that a scrub jay tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat, if the scrub jay has been stored long enough to have rotted; the intended meaning is that a scrub jay tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat, if the treat has been stored long enough to have rotted.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "scrub jay" with the plural pronoun "they".

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb+ing" - "tending" in this sentence) to refer to a habitual action; remember, habitual actions are best conveyed through the simple present tense. Further, Option C is needlessly wordy, as "it" can be deleted without a loss of clarity.

D: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the singular noun "scrub jay" with the singular verb "tends" and the singular pronoun "it". Moreover, the sentence formed by Option D uses the phrase "treat stored long enough to have rotted"; the use of "stored long enough to have rotted" to directly modify "treat" conveys the intended meaning - that a scrub jay tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat, if the treat has been stored long enough to have rotted. Additionally, Option D correctly uses the simple present tense verb "tends" to refer to habitual action. Further, Option D correctly uses the idiomatic construction "tends + infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb" - "to + bother" in this sentence)". Besides, Option D is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses the unidiomatic construction "tends + present participle ("verb+ing" - "bothering" in this sentence)"; remember, "tends + infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb")" is the correct, idiomatic construction. Further, Option E is needlessly wordy, as "it" can be deleted without a loss of clarity.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

My answer is D....A scrub jay (the subject) is singular and must agree with the verb with "tends" leaving D and E. And I am still studying my grammar rules so I can't give you a reason as to why D is a better choice than E other that "A scrub jay tends not to bother recovering" vs. "A scrub jay tends not bothering to recover" sounds better...but give me times and soon I'll have explanations for these things

late on this ....but D it is...

qhoc, the reason D and not E is that if you read the last piece of the sentence that is not underline, its say

recover a perishable treat if stored long enough to have rotted. pay close attention to the bold piece, that dictates the tense and prallelism of the underlined piece, it has to be to bother in order for it to be parallel....

Using "tend" instead of "tends" would simply be incorrect because, as you mention in your first post, "A scrub jay" is singular.

If I understand the second part of your question correctly, "can" just doesn't fit into the second part of the sentence. Also, it would slightly change the meaning of the sentence; instead of meaning that they usually don't retrieve food stored enough for long, it would mean that they "might not" retrieve food that is stored for long.

Hi

The question has been correctly copied

screenshot attached

Seekmba,

Let me try to explain:

First removing the middleman:
A scrub jay can remember and tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it stored long enough to have rotted.

bothering to recover - awkward usage
In E, IT is redundant, if referring to SCRUB JAY. Moreover, IT can refer to TREAT, RESEARCHERS, SCRUB JAY. Even if you check the original sentence, there also we dont have IT.

gotmba,
Now, about the TEND and TENDS:
CAN REMEMBER - compound verb modifying WHEN IT....an action in the past.
TENDS - This is correct because singular SCRUB JAY. CAN is used to descibe the potential of SCRUB JAY that it remembers the past event. All this is discovered by the RESEARCHERS, else why we have , researchers have discovered, in the original senetence.

As per your question, TEND will occur if there is a need for parallelism. Here, we dont have this. Just confirm: ....can remember....and [can] tend not....This is awkward style.

Moreover, the explainatory particle RECOVERING is better usage than BOTHER TO.

Oops. Just wanted to add that "not" can go in-between as well (and as is required here).

-t

Can you help me locate the split infinitive in E. I only see 'to recover' in E (which is obviously not a slit infinitive).

A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular place, researchers have discovered,and tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if stored long enough to have rotted.

i-tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if
ii-they tend not to bother recovering a perishable treat
iii-tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it
iv-tends not to bother recovering a persihable treat
v-tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it

The subject verb agreement is tested here .The scrub is singular and hence it should be tends (singular) and not tend.
Only iv and v satisfy this condition.Option iv is idiomatically better .

D

Scrub Jay is singular. "TEND" should be "Tends"

Please give Kudos if this helps.

A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place, researchers have discovered, and tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if stored long enough to have rotted.

(A)tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if
(B)they tend not to bother recovering a perishable treat
(C)tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it
(D)tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat
(E)tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it

We have two parallel things:
scrub Jay
1) can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place
and
2) tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat

So we require a singular verb here because we have "when it ".

(A)tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if
Two issues:
1) We require a singular verb
2) if cannot be used for options. it is a conditional statement marker. We need to use weather.

(B)they tend not to bother recovering a perishable treat
1) We don't have to repeat the subject.
2) Singular verb

(C)tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it
1) "tending" can never be a verb. We need to have an auxiliary verb to support "verb+ing". For example was/were/is etc.
2) We don't have to repeat the subject "it".

(D)tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat
Correct option

(E)tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it
1) "Tends to bother" is the correct usage.
We need a purpose for tending hence infinitive.
2) we don't have to repeat "it"

The sentence structure is two clauses connected with the conjunction 'AND'. From reading the sentence we can identify the subject as a scrub jay, which is singular. Now when we dissect the sentence we find that: 'a scrub jay can remember [...], and tend not to [...]'.

From this analysis we can quickly eliminate any choice that uses the verb 'tend' in the plural form. Thus, A and B are eliminated.

We are left with C, D, and E. Let's look at the choices t know what we can eliminate.

C. tending not to bother to recover a perishable treat it
'tending' is not parallel to the first clause that uses 'can remember', therefore it is eliminated.

D. tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat
Sounds about right with the proper parallelism.

E. tends not bothering to recover a perishable treat it
'bothering' is not parallel with the first clause, thus eliminate.

As for 'it', I find that the use is redundant and is not necessary to the sentence to maintain the meaning. Any redundancy should not preferred as an answer choice IMO. It would be great if others could help explain!

A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place, researchers
have discovered, and tend not to bother to recover a perishable treat if stored long enough to have
rotted.

I didnt understand what "tend" is modifying i.e. scrub or researchers ?

Please explain

"Tend" is not a modifier at all - it is a verb, parallel with another verb "can remember" - the subject of these two parallel verbs is " scrub jay":

A scrub jay can remember and tend....

in D and E has "stored" the same rule?
I think that is a noun modifier in D "treat stored...", but in E is a verb instead.
Can anyone confirm ?

Yes, in D "stored" is a past participle, modifying the noun "treat". As for option E, unless the structure is corrected, it cannot be confirmed whether "stored" is a participle or a verb.

Stored long enough to have rotted, the perishable treat is not recovered by scrub jay. (participle modifier)
If it is stored long enough to have rotted, the perishable treat is not recovered by scrub jay. (verb)

Hi sayantanc2k

The answer is obvious D. However, I have a question.

In D: "..., and tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat if stored long enough to have rotted"

From what I understand, "..., and" is an indicator to start an IC, since and is a FANBOY conjunction.
If that is the case, isn't the second IC missing a subject? And the correct construction would be the following?

A scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place, researchers have discovered, and it tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat if stored long enough to have rotted

OR

Researchers have discovered that a scrub jay can remember when it cached a particular piece of food in a particular place and tends not to bother recovering a perishable treat if stored long enough to have rotted - [can remember || tends not to bother]

Best
RzS