The compound main clause has a singular verb in the second IC. Hence, the subject of the main clause should be singular ‘cut’. Eliminate A, and D.

(B) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut having been made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs less ----The modifier ‘having been made’ is wrong diction. It should be just the past participle ‘made’. In addition the term ‘fibres’ is a countable plural noun and hence we need to use fewer to describe it.

(C) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs fewer --- correct choice

(E) With the collagen fibers in skin lining up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer ---S-V number problem between ‘a cut’ and sever
_________________

Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer fibers and is less likely to leave an unsightly scar.

Issues: S/V Agreement | Diction

Analysis:
1. The non-underlined part of the second(main) clause of the sentence has the verb "is". Hence, the subject of the underlined part should be singular as well, eliminating (A) and (D)
2. "Because" is the correct conjunction word to show causality. "With" distorts the meaning as it show simultaneity (not causality). Hence, (D) and (E) can be eliminated.
3. The verb "sever" should also agree with singular "a surgical cut". Hence, "severs" is the correct form, eliminating (E)
4. "fewer" is the correct word to use here for countable entity.

(A) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer

(B) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut having been made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs less
- "having been made" is incorrect form of verb

(C) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs fewer

(D) With the collagen fibers in skin lining up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever less

(E) With the collagen fibers in skin lining up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer

C is best here: Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a
surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs fewer

reasoning: "a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs fewer fibers and is less likely to
leave an unsightly scar" IS a PROCESS that needs reasoning as WHY it is happening so we DEFINITELY need a SUBORDINATE clause hence we have a "BECAUSE" sub clause hence we boil down to A,B and C. following are faults(in bold) in A and B

(A) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension,
surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer---->"surgical cuts" plural

(B) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a
surgical cut having been made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs
less---->"because" is a subordinate clause so it needs a MAIN clause, which is missing in this sentence. ALSO parallelism is faulty

NOW coming to D and E--->they are wrong for reason mentioned above. ALSO "With the collagen fibers in skin lining up in the direction of tension" IS an ADVERBIAL clause so in a way it should EXPLAIN as HOW "a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs fewer" ----->this is nonsensical

Hi Aditya,

Thanks for the detailed analysis.

Hi,

Really appreciate your reply.
Thanks

This confused me because I thought LESS was for item u can not count vs fewer for items you can count?


HELP

Exactly my doubt as well. Even though, D didn't "sound right" to the ear, I still went with it, as it obeyed the few/less rule for countable objects.
Do we ignore this rule in the context of the big picture, which is clearly wrong in case of D?

Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs fewer fibers and is less likely to leave an unsightly scar.

A surgical cut----severs ---- is less likely to.....

Answer will be (C) errors in other options highlighted in RED...
_________________

Few / less rule is a basic one and cannot be ignored. What is the reason for your doubt? In option C (OA), "fewer" is correctly used for countable noun "fibers".

Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer fibers and is less likely to leave an unsightly scar.

for countable nouns (fibers) we have to use "few" rather than "less", so ignore option C & D. Now in non underlined portion it is mentioned that "is less likely to leave an unsightly scar" so we have to use "a cut" rather than "cuts"


(A) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer
(B) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut having been made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs less
(C) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs fewer CORRECT
(D) With the collagen fibers in skin lining up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever less
(E) With the collagen fibers in skin lining up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer


ALL THE VERY BEST

to say a reason for a main clause, we can use two paterns
because.... as in choice C
with+noun+modifier as in choice E.

what i want to say is the pattern in E is correct. but E suffer agreement error "sever". this is the only error E has

with+noun+noun modifier can be used to show a reason as "because" can

Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer fibers and is less likely to leave an unsightly scar.

(A) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer

(B) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut having been made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs less

(C) Because the collagen fibers in skin line up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines severs fewer
--> correct.

(D) With the collagen fibers in skin lining up in the direction of tension, surgical cuts made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever less

(E) With the collagen fibers in skin lining up in the direction of tension, a surgical cut made along these so-called Langer’s lines sever fewer
_________________

A is out, because of subject-verb agreement.
B Less cannot be used in this sentence as fibers are countable
C is Correct - The adverbial conjunction because accurately captures the causal relationship expressed by the sentence. The singular subject cut agrees with the singular verbs severs and is, and fewer appropriately modifies countable fibers.
D is also out as 'B'.
E Subject-verb agreement - plural verb sever with subject cut
_________________

Let's try to solve this by @e-gmat way.

1) Meaning of the sentence is pretty clear. As the sentence starts with because we should expect depended clause to follow after a comma.

2) Find the error in current option - Surgical Cuts (Plural subject Subject ) - Sever ( Singular Verb). Langer’s lines this cannot be subject as a prepositional phrase can never be subject.

3) POE -

a) As explained in the second point.
b) surgical cut (SingularSubject) - severs (Plural verb) - Looks perfect
But there is a catch. Less cannot be used with something that is countable.
c) Correct option
d) No verb for collagen fibers - Having is not a verb. Ing can act as verb if is/am/are is added before that
e) Same as d

Thanks,
Arpit

Consider giving me Kudos if you like the explanation

both "because...clause " and " with+noun+ doing/do-ed/adjective" can be used interchangeblly to show a reason. all choice but C, suffer many other errors.

in the pattern,
with+noun+ doing/do-ed/adjective, main clause
the phrase, "with+noun+doing/do-ed/adjective" , can show multiple meaniing relation with the main clause. this is why this phrase can be hard to used and considered hard,
some of meaning relations are
reason
context
effect.
for main clause

it is funny that the phrase can show reason and effect of main clause, showing somewhat two opposite meaning realtion.

this phrase is absolute phrase. you can go to youtube for more.

Can someone please explain how are collagen fibers considered as "countable nouns", Aren't they similar to hair?

Like many others, I'd like to know how to count fiber. Better yet, I'd like to know if there's a rule or something to note when figuring out what is countable.

Hair, data, vitamins, etc.

Fiber and hair actually can be countable and uncountable, depending on meaning.
Fiber with meaning: part of food that makes people healthy —> uncountable. Ex: fruits are especially high in fiber.
One of many thin threads that form body tissue such as muscle, or natural materials such as cotton —> countable. Ex: muscle fibers.
Hair: when you consider it as a whole then uncountable. Ex: her hair curls naturally.
But if you consider it separately then countable noun. Ex: on average, we lose fifty to a hundred hairs a day.