A young bull moose that is orphaned is likely to be at

Question

A young bull moose that is orphaned is  likely to be at a severe disadvantage and is often unable to  protect itself against predators.

A. likely to be at a severe disadvantage and is often unable to 
B. likely severely disadvantaged and often unable to 
C. liable to be severely disadvantaged and cannot often 
D. liable that it is at a severe disadvantage and cannot often 
E. at a severe disadvantage, often likely to be unable that it can

pqhai · Answer

A young bull moose that is orphaned is  likely to be at a severe disadvantage and is often unable to  protect itself against predators.

A. likely to be at a severe disadvantage and is often unable to 
  Correct.   ........... likely TO be ........ unable TO protect .........<== Parallel structure.

B. likely severely disadvantaged and often unable to 
 Wrong.  .......... .likely + Verb-ed..........unable + infinitive ..........<== Parallelism problem.

C. liable to be severely disadvantaged and cannot often 
 Wrong.  ........... .liable TO be..............cannot + protect (verb  without  TO)  ...........<== Parallelism problem

D. liable that it is at a severe disadvantage and cannot often 
 Wrong.  ........... liable THAT + clause.................and cannot often + Verb  ...................<== Parallelism problem.

E. at a severe disadvantage, often likely to be unable that it can
 Wrong.  ........ likely to be unable that  <== every awkward grammar.

Hope it helps.

Gnpth · Answer

"pqhai" Thanks for the Wonderful explanation. :-D

Here is the Official Explanation for the question, We have 3 things to look at here, (i) "likely" versus "liable"; (ii) "at a severe disadvantage" versus "severely disadvantaged"; and (iii) "often unable to" versus "cannot often" versus "unable that it can" "liable to" is acceptable when followed by a negative possibility; therefore, we cannot use this. "Cannot often" implies that every orphaned bull moose is unable to protect itself against frequent attacks by predators- This may be true, but changes the meaning of the sentence. Thus we eliminate (C) and (D). "Unable that it can" is idiomatically incorrect so we eliminate (E). The word "disadvantaged" is typically used in a socio-economic context; therefore, its use here is questionable. Though it is not wrong completely. But when comparing "severely disadvantaged" with "at a severe disadvantage " , The later seems to good usage, so we eliminate B. so the Answer is A.

goodyear2013 · Answer

A young bull moose that is orphaned is  likely to be at a severe disadvantage and is often unable to  protect itself against predators.

likely to be at a severe disadvantage and is often unable to
likely severely disadvantaged and often unable to
liable to be severely disadvantaged and cannot often
liable that it is at a severe disadvantage and cannot often
at a severe disadvantage, often likely to be unable that it can

OE
 A vertical scan reveals three basic issues: (i) "likely" versus "liable"; (ii) "at a severe disadvantage" versus "severely disadvantaged"; and (iii) "often unable to" versus "cannot often" versus "unable that it can". We will address these issues one at a time.
On the GMAT, "liable to" is acceptable when followed by a negative possibility; therefore, we cannot use this issue to eliminate answers here.
The word "disadvantaged" is typically used in a socio-economic context; therefore, its use here is questionable. That makes (B) and (C) questionable, but since the word "disadvantaged" is not outright wrong, let's examine the third issue before eliminating answers.
"Unable that it can" is idiomatically incorrect so we eliminate (E). "Cannot often" implies that every orphaned bull moose is unable to protect itself against frequent attacks by predators. While this may be true, this changes the meaning of the original sentence. In the original sentence, "often unable to" implies that many orphaned bull moose are not able to protect themselves against predators. Thus we eliminate (C) and (D).
That leaves (A) and (B). Based on the above discussion of "disadvantaged" versus " at a . . . disadvantage", we eliminate (B), and (A) is our best answer.

Hi, I choose "likely" instead of "liable". But, I feel "is likely to be" is awkward.
Can anyone explain why this is the best answer, please.

daagh · Answer

Can’t say for sure whether A is awkward; but all others are much more awkward

Abdul29 · Answer

B)  likely severely  disadvantaged and often unable to  Faulty grammatical structure. 
C)  liable  to be severely disadvantaged and cannot often  While correct, the change from "likely" to "liable" cannot be justified in my opinion. 
D)  liable  that it is at a severe disadvantage and cannot often  Change of meaning + Wordiness 
E) at a severe disadvantage, often likely to be unable  that it can   Faulty grammatical structure.

--

A) likely to be at a severe disadvantage and is often unable to  Correct grammatical structure when compared to other answers, plus it's probably the most concise answer.

nidhi12 · Answer

OA is A for this...............

chesstitans · Answer

hello, can you explain more to me about "liable to"? 
Thank you.

Helium · Answer

The sentence as written has no grammatical errors. One potential problem would be a lack of parallelism in the two-part predicate "A ... moose ... is likely to be ... and is often unable to protect ...." However, the sentence is in correct parallel form. A glance at the answer choices shows that the question may be testing the choice and placement of "likely" or "liable," but "likely" is correctly used here. However, some of the answer choices would create shorter sentences, potentially reducing wordiness, so check them for errors before choosing (A).

The beginnings of the answer choices are worded in a variety of ways that makes grouping difficult. However, one way to group the answer choices is with the placement of "often" toward the end. (A) and (B) have "often unable to," (C) and (D) move often to the end with "cannot often," and (E) moves it forward with "often likely to be unable that it can."

(B) is the shortest choice and uses "often" in the same position as in the original sentence, preserving its meaning. However, (B) introduces a parallel structure error by removing the word "is" from the second part of the compound predicate. Eliminate.

By moving "often" from before "unable" to before "protect," (C) and (D) subtly change the meaning of the sentence. They also incorrectly replace "is" with "cannot" and introduce parallel structure errors. The "moose ... is liable that it is" in (D) is very awkward to the point of being nonsensical. Eliminate both of these.

The "often likely to be unable that it can protect itself" of (E) is gibberish, and the movement of "likely" from before the idea that the moose is at a disadvantage to before its inability to protect itself subtly changes the meaning of the sentence. Throw out this one.

(A) is correct. The sentence contains no errors as written, and the other choices offer no improvement.

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VerbalBot · Answer

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A young bull moose that is orphaned is likely to be at

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A young bull moose that is orphaned is likely to be at

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