Asa Gray, the respected nineteenth-century botanist, explored the West

IMO C ; is correct
option C & D maintain llism but in D leaf’s shape usage is wrong

I think 'E' is right. Correct me if i am wrong

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Asa Gray, the respected nineteenth-century botanist, explored the West with John Torrey and worked on the revision of Linnaeus’s taxonomic methods, basing the new classifications on a plant’s fruit anatomy rather than the shape of its leaf.

Intended Meaning :
Botanist explored X and worked to change X using plant's fruit anatomy rather than the shape of its leaf.

Error Analysis :

In Option A the intended meaning is not clear .
worked on revision of X .. sound like he is re-reading . The intended meaning to change X comes only with the use of worked to revise .


A. on the revision of Linnaeus’s taxonomic methods, basing the new classifications on a plant’s fruit anatomy rather than the shape of its leaf
Wrong for the above stated error.


B. on revising Linnaeus’s taxonomic methods, basing the new classifications on the anatomy of a plant’s fruit rather than the shape of the leaves -- meaning error as mentioned above

C. to revise the taxonomic methods of Linnaeus, basing the new classification system on the anatomy of a plant’s fruit rather than on the shape of its leaf ---Correct
here the use of " to revise " gives the intended meaning .
use of "basing the new classification" is an action modifier stating how aspects of the change.

D. to revise the taxonomic methods of Linnaeus, and to base the new classification system on the anatomy of the plant’s fruit rather than on the leaf’s shape .--

Trying to make " to revise " and "to base the new classification " parallel changes the intended meaning .

E. on the revision of the taxonomic methods of Linnaeus, in which he based the new classification system on a plant’s fruit anatomy rather than on the shape of its leaf..Wrong ..It is more passive with the use of " in which he based on "
When we compare this option with C . C conveys meaning clearly.


Kudos please …. if helpful

A. on the revision of Linnaeus’s taxonomic methods, basing the new classifications on a plant’s fruit anatomy rather than the shape of its leaf.

B. on revising Linnaeus’s taxonomic methods, basing the new classifications on the anatomy of a plant’s fruit rather than the shape of the leaves.

C. to revise the taxonomic methods of Linnaeus, basing the new classification system on the anatomy of a plant’s fruit rather than on the shape of its leaf

D. to revise the taxonomic methods of Linnaeus,and to base the new classificationsystem on the anatomy of the plant’s fruit rather than on the leaf’s shape

E. on therevision of the taxonomic methods of Linnaeus, in which he based the new classification system on a plant’s fruit anatomy rather than on the shape of its leaf[/quote]

Hi Experts,

How can 'its' refer to plant, since there is no mention of plant here but only plant's fruit.

If that is correct then for what reasons A is wrong.

Please help.

A is wrong because it should have been "based on....rather than on..."..on is missing after rather than which affects the parallelism in the idiom

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Hi, I opted for Choice B, not because i thought it was right(i had the doubt of "on" missing after rather) but because i thought it was better than others.
I rejected C straightforward because it is changing from "on" to "to". "to" is more intentional sort of, which changes the feel of the passage.
Can someone please throw some light on why B is incorrect and also why C is correct ??
GMATNinja Bunuel

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