SajjadAhmad
Although
virtually any animal or plant records older than about 10,000 years old are typically termed fossils, the type of tissue and that of the external substance obviously determines whether a particular specimen is trace, derived, subfossil, or something else.
A. virtually any animal or plant records older than about 10,000 years old are typically termed fossils, the type of tissue and that of the external substance obviously determines
B. virtually any animal or plant record older than about 10,000 years old is typically termed a fossil, their type of tissue and that of the external substance obviously determine
C. virtually all animal or plant records older than about 10,000 years old are typically termed fossils, their types of tissue and of the external substance obviously determines
D. virtually any animal or plant record older than about 10,000 years old is typically termed a fossil, the type of tissue and that of the external substance of a given specimen obviously determines
E. virtually all animal or plant records older than about 10,000 years old are typically termed fossils, the type of tissue and that of the external substance obviously determine
Source: GMAT Free
Official Explanation
Creating a filter: as we do the basic subject-verb check in the independent clause, "records" matches with "are," but we might ask whether "records" should be singular, since a decision about whether a certain item is a fossil is probably made item by item. That's not a conclusive consideration, however, so we can look for other differences in the answer choices
Logical proof: choice (B) gives us the grammatically singular "record" and "fossil," but it messes things up by using the plural pronoun "their" without a plural referent, so it's out. Choice (C) uses "their" as well in "their types," and it's meant to refer afterward to the grammatically singular "specimen." So (C) is out. Choices (D) and (E) are both free of "their." Choice (D) gives us the singular "record" we're looking for and is otherwise similar to (A). But then (E) reveals that both (A) and (D) are flawed, because it has the proper verb "determine." That verb should be grammatically plural, to correspond to "type of tissue and that of the external substance." We missed that basic defunct in our first scan of the question but found it soon enough.
The correct answer is (E).