Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds. (A) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds. (B) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that causes digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans and other mammals, and in birds. (C) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds. (D) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms, which cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds. (E) Arteriviruses, a genus of microorganisms, cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/opinion/the-next-pandemic-is-closer-than-you-think.html Coronaviruses are a genus of bugs that cause respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, sometimes mild and sometimes fierce, in humans, other mammals and birds . They became infamous by association in 2003 because the agent for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is a coronavirus. That one emerged suddenly in southern China, passed from person to person and from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, then went swiftly onward by airplane to Toronto, Singapore and elsewhere. Eventually it sickened about 8,000 people, of whom nearly 10 percent died. If not for fast scientific work to identify the virus and rigorous public health measures to contain it, the total case count and death toll could have been much higher. Probably the easiest decision point to assess first is the obvious subject-verb agreement choice between "cause" and "causes". Since that relative clause is modifying microorganisms (not genus!) the verb must be the plural "cause." This allows you to eliminate (B) and (C). Then note the other important decision point in many of these answer choices - the list at the end of the sentence. Choices B, C, and E, all improperly list the three items that should be in parallel form: in humans, other mammals, and birds so (E) can also be eliminated. And choice D illogically assigns "which cause digestive and respiratory infections" to all microorganisms, when the point of the sentence is to show that this particular type of microorganism, the arterivirus, is what causes those problems. Choice A commits none of these errors, and is correct.

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Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and

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OreoShake

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26 Aug 2017, 06:36

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i believe this question is incorrect. how can Arteriviruses be 'a genus'? we are not speaking metaphorically; never seen that in gmat. Arterivirus is plural however genus is singular. Dogs are not a 'species', 'dog' is a species. Additionally we see no SANAM pronouns to indicate the the verb must take on the object.

Experts please help here.

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26 Aug 2017, 07:53

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WaterFlowsUp

Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(A) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(B) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that causes digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans and other mammals, and in birds.

(C) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds.

(D) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms, which cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(E) Arteriviruses, a genus of microorganisms, cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds.

The answer is A

The subject of the sentence is " Arteriviruses " which is plural so we need plural verb
Parallelism should be maintained between in humans, other mammals, and birds
It has to be "in humans and other mammals, and in birds"
or it has to be in humans, in other mammals, and in birds

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01 Sep 2017, 05:47

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https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/that-vs-w ... -the-gmat/

Here is the link from Magoosh that will surely resolve all the queries regarding "WHICH and THAT" .

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SandySilva

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29 Sep 2017, 08:14

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Can someone please explain why "that" is modifying "microorganisms" and not "genus" in A?

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29 Sep 2017, 22:17

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dabhishek87 We can use meaning to help with that. What's causing infections: the genus or the microorganisms? The genus itself can't cause infections, so the modifer has to apply to microorganisms.

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30 Sep 2017, 19:56

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daagh

Instead of going in tits and bits, let’s look at it in totality and use POE for eliminating as many wrong ones as possible.

1. The prepositional parallelism of ‘in’ is not maintained in B, C and E. We are left with A and D.

In D, the restrictive pronoun ‘that’ limits the coverage to just respiratory infections and leaves out digestive ailments, whereas by virtue of the parenthetical element, in A, both digestive and respiratory ailments are covered. Even if the parenthesis is dropped, it doesn’t matter.

So A is the best.

In option D ; digestive and respiratory modify infections. so this part of sentence seems correct.

"which" is used for non essential modifiers . in this sentence if we remove 'which modifier' then the meaning of the sentence is lost.

so option A is correct.

Daag sir , pls. comment

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15 Oct 2017, 08:08

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Hi Experts, @gmatninja, @gmatninjatwo, @mikemcgarry,

In option B, is the parallelism correct in the "in humans and other mammals, and in birds"

I believe since humans are mammals, this parallelism makes more sense.

Please confirm if "in X and Other X's, and in Y's" is correct in the placement of comma before the second and

Thanks

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15 Oct 2017, 08:44

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Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(A) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(B) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that causes digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans and other mammals, and in birds. causes is singular and microorganisms is plural

(C) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds. does not maintain parallelism. Should either be 'in X, Y and X or in X, in Y and in Z

(D) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms, which cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds. which correctly refers to microorganisms but it alters the meaning of the sentence. It says sometimes severe in humans, other mammals and birds. Both benign and severe needs to refer to humans, mammals and birds.

(E) Arteriviruses, a genus of microorganisms, cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds.same as option C

Therefore, A is correct.

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18 Oct 2017, 07:33

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kunal1608

Hi Experts, GMATNinja, GMATNinjaTwo, mikemcgarry,

In option B, is the parallelism correct in the "in humans and other mammals, and in birds"

I believe since humans are mammals, this parallelism makes more sense.

Please confirm if "in X and Other X's, and in Y's" is correct in the placement of comma before the second and

Thanks

Yes, the paralllelism could be considered the way you mentioned. However the comma before "and" would have to be eliminated in that case. ["X, and Y" is not correct (except when X and Y are independent clauses) - "X, Y, and Z" is alright though (here the comma is optional).]

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08 Dec 2017, 22:45

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E not just has parallelism error but it has a meaning error as well. As per E Arteriviruses cause digestive and RI but as per original choice microorganisms cause digestive and RI

Arteriviruses, a genus of microorganisms, cause digestive and respiratory infections

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12 Dec 2017, 05:33

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I trap myself because I thought humans and mammals are the same; I have read somewhere about the relation between humans and mammals.

Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(A) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(B) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that causes digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans and other mammals, and in birds.

(C) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds. (unparallel structure)

(D) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms, which cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(E) Arteriviruses, a genus of microorganisms, cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds. (the modifier cannot be left out + unparallel structure)

between A and B, the better choice is A b/c gmat tends to have a clear, direct, unambiguous, simple structure like the one in A.

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07 May 2018, 05:09

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VERITAS SOLUTION
Probably the easiest decision point to assess first is the obvious subject-verb agreement choice between "cause" and "causes". Since that relative clause is modifying microorganisms (not genus!) the verb must be the plural "cause." This allows you to eliminate (B) and (C). Then note the other important decision point in many of these answer choices - the list at the end of the sentence. Choices B, C, and E, all improperly list the three items that should be in parallel form: in humans, other mammals, and birds so (E) can also be eliminated. And choice D illogically assigns "which cause digestive and respiratory infections" to all microorganisms, when the point of the sentence is to show that this particular type of microorganism, the arterivirus, is what causes those problems. Choice A commits none of these errors, and is correct.

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