Because plant but not animal cells have walls stiffened by cellulose

Question

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Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from  the shearing teeth of carnivores and the needle-like teeth of insectivores.

A) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from

B) Even though plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different than

C) Just as plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from

D) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different than

E) Like plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, such herbivorous mammals as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)

THE PROMPT  
 Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from  the shearing teeth of carnivores and the needle-like teeth of insectivores.
• Causality and contrast
The sentence sets up causality: because plants cells have stiff walls, and because herbivores eat plants, herbivores have millstone-like teeth with which to chew the plants.
Those millstone-like teeth, in turn, are contrasted with the "shearing" teeth of carnivores and insectivores.

•  different from , not different than
 Different from  is always correct and heavily preferred to  different than .
In formal print,  different from  reigns.
GMAC may break ranks and join the crowd that allows different  than.  Such a move is unlikely but not impossible.
(You will not see the British English expression "ABC is different to XYZ" on the GMAT. That phrasing sounds bizarre to North American ears.)

THE OPTIONS  
 
• correct
→ The use of  because  sets up the causal relationship implied in the sentence. 
→ The correct idiom is  different from .
KEEP

• "Even though" is wrong - we need a causality word, not a contrast word
This part of the sentence is nonsensical.
Herbivorous mammals have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose  because  (not  even though ) plant cells have walls stiffened by cellulose.

•  different from  is idiomatic, not  different than 
ELIMINATE B

• Distorted meaning
The use of   just as….. so   distorts the meaning of the sentence by suggesting a similarity between plant cells and herbivorous mammals.
The plant cells are not similar to the herbivorous mammals.
ELIMINATE C

• redundancy
The use of  because  and  so  is redundant.

•  different from  is idiomatic, not  different than 
ELIMINATE D
 
• Meaning and comparison error 
The use of  like  distorts the meaning of the sentence by suggesting a similarity between  plant cells  and  herbivorous mammals .

• Like is a preposition that should  not  be followed by a clause with a working verb in it.
→ Prepositions are followed by nouns, pronouns, and noun phrases
→ Easy test case: Is  like  followed by a working verb? If so,  wrong. 
 Like  is a preposition that must be followed by an object, and in this case, a noun, pronoun or noun phrase.
 Like  is used to compare nouns, not clauses. (Because clauses requires verbs,  like  cannot be followed by verbs.)
 As  is used to compare clauses (and should be followed by a verb.)
ELIMINATE E.

The answer is A.

COMMENTS

huyeenbuii  , welcome to SC Butler.

You and two other newcomers (on this day's second question) will make it easier for even more aspirants to accept my standing invitation to post in SC Butler.

These answers range from good to stellar.
I see pockets of insightful analysis.

Nicely done.

private07 · Answer

My answer - A

1. Different than is incorrect idiom - eliminate option B and D
2. Just as plant .. so mammal is incorrect. Here because of plant structure, animals eating them have a certain type of teeth - eliminate option C
3. Eliminate E - similar reason as point 2

Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from the shearing teeth of carnivores and the needle-like teeth of insectivores.

A) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from

B) Even though plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different than

C) Just as plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from

D) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different than

E) Like plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, such herbivorous mammals as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from

zhanbo · Answer

My answer is  (A) . It took me 01:10.

(A) In reading (A), I can only think of the possible issue with the location of "quite different from..." It might have the room for improvement in clarity. But other options do exactly the same. So, keep (A).

(B) "Even though" does not convey the correct relationship: herbivorous mammals have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose  because of the fact  that plant cells have cellulose-stiffened walls  not despite it .

(C) "just as X so Y" requires that X and Y describe similar situations. ("Just as the body needs regular exercise, so (too) an engine needs to be run at regular intervals.")
But, here, X and Y form cause-effect relationship.

(D) Either "because A, B", or "A, so B" but not "because A, so B".
For the incorrect construction "because A, so B", some flag it as redundancy, which is a fair point.

I always examine it from sentence structure point of view.
- "because A, B" is correct at it is a complex sentence: A is subordinate clause while B is main / independent clause. 
- "A, so B" is correct since it is a coordinate sentence: A and B are both independent clauses. 
- "because A, so B" is incorrect because it is neither a complex sentence nor a coordinate one.

(E) "Cells" are "like plant"? 
It also contains comma splice.

(A) is the best answer.

huyeenbuii · Answer

My answer is A

First, the correct idiom is "A to be different from B"; therefore I eliminated answer B & D. Then, the sentence explains why the mammals have teeth because the mammals eat plant and the plant cells have cellulose walls => The answer choice A gives this meaning

A) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from

B) Even though plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose,  quite different than

C) Just as plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from
=> The idiom "Just as X...so Y" does not deliver the meaning of cause-effect

D) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose,  quite different than

E) Like plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, such herbivorous mammals as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from
=> The sentence does not compare plant >< cells

TarunKumar1234 · Answer

Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from the shearing teeth of carnivores and the needle-like teeth of insectivores.

A) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from Correct

B) Even though plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different than Incorrect

different from - correct idioms

C) Just as plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from Incorrect

just as......, so....... - uses is not correct

D) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different than Incorrect

different from - correct idioms

E) Like plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, such herbivorous mammals as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from Incorrect

comparison error - plant compare with herbivorous mammals

winterschool · Answer

Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from the shearing teeth of carnivores and the needle-like teeth of insectivores.

A)  Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from   Correct

B) Even though plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite  different than   Incorrect

different from - correct idioms

C)  Just as  plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose,  so  herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from  Incorrect

just as......, so....... - uses is not correct

D) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, so herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite  different than   Incorrect

different from - correct idioms

E)  Like plant , but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose,  such herbivorous mammals  as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from  Incorrect

comparison error - plant compare with herbivorous mammals

ramlala · Answer

Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from  the shearing teeth of carnivores and the needle-like teeth of insectivores.

A) Because plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from
 No remarks. Cause-effect perfectly maintained

B)  Even though  plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different than
 X & Y are not contrast as per intended meaning

C)  Just as  plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose,  so  herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from
 No comarison between X & Y as per intended meaning

D)  Because  plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose,  so  herbivorous mammals such as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different than
 Redundancy error

E)  Like  plant, but not animal, cells have walls stiffened by cellulose, such herbivorous mammals as horses, cattle, and elephants have millstone-like teeth for grinding cellulose, quite different from
 same as C. No comparison between plant and herbivorous mammals

IMO A

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

Because plant but not animal cells have walls stiffened by cellulose

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Because plant but not animal cells have walls stiffened by cellulose

Prep Toolkit

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My Rewards