Desert are inhabited with several distinct animal species, with each t

I choose C because I think sentence is a passive construct and hence we need a by
and having each its sounds awkward

Just curious E has multiple errors "their" is incorrect but in this option "that" and "each" are referring to the same thing? ---> animal species

Is this always incorrect on the GMAT?

Hi fozzy,

Well, generally on GMAT, a "that clause" provides the information that is important for the overall logical meaning of the sentence. Hence, a "that clause" is never preceded by a comma on GMAT. I am yet to see an official sentence in which a "that clause" is preceded by a comma.

Thanks.
Shraddha

In my opinion, the correct answer is C.

Desert are inhabited with several distinct animal species, with each their own method of adapting to long periods of moisture shortage.

A. with several distinct animal species -> inhabited by, not with, passive voice, and another error is that each and their not parallel .
B. with distinctly several animal species, each with its -> inhabited by, not with, distinct is correct.
C. by several distinct animal species, each with its -> the correct answer, "by" used in the passive voice, each with its : parallel
D. by several distinct animal species, having each its -> " having each its" sounds awkward
E. by several distinct animal species, that each has their -> the wrong answer, each and their not parallel.

Hope that helps !!!

[quote="fozzzy"][quote="egmat"]

Also use of comma before “that” is not acceptable. And as you have identified already, use of plur

According to English grammar, 'that' is used ONLY in restrictive (or essential) relative clauses; these clauses are not separated from the noun they modify by a comma.

It's (C).

(D) won't make sense if you take "having each its..." as an absolute phrase, as the phrase modifies "desert" instead of "different species". Whereas, (C) drops the use of the noun modifier "in which" out of redundancy, since "each" immediately precedes the noun "different species".

One another point that people fail to focus on is the differentiation between "distinct" and "distinctly" - One way in which GMAT wonderfully plays with the basics of Grammar.

Words with "ly" at the end are usually adverbs. Hence the word "distinctly" in Option B modifies the adjective "several". This makes Option B wrong.

The take-away from this question is this - Next time when you see the same word with an "ly" in one option and without an "ly" in another option the rule tested is that of adjectives and adverbs.

Hope that helps.

Thanks.

Dudyala Saikiran
Byju's GMAT Expert.

A. with several distinct animal species - Wrong: "their"
B. with distinctly several animal species, each with its - Wrong: Modifier
C. by several distinct animal species, each with its - Correct
D. by several distinct animal species, having each its - Wrong: Meaning
E. by several distinct animal species, that each has their - Wrong: "their" 2) ", that"

Hi avigutman - clearly something wrong in my logic.

In (C), several and distinct are both adjectives to the noun : animal species

But then, isnt "Several" as an adjective redundant ? If you have "distinct" animal species, dont you by implication have "several" animal species ?

If you have "distinct" animal species (Cats, dogs, lions, tigers = all of these are distinct animal species) -- you by definition have "several" animal species

Alternatively - i thought the adverb (distinctly) in (B) makes **more** sense.

Isnt this an example where distinctly is modifying the adjective several

There are distinctions WITHIN the several animal species

jabhatta2

We can never say "distinctly several." This wouldn't convey any legitimate meaning. Either we have several things or we don't. There's nothing to be distinct there.

As to your interpretation, we don't know which species are meant here, but "distinct species" simply means that they are clearly different from each other. You are listing out subspecies (e.g. several different varieties of Panthera leo). These wouldn't count as "distinct species," so that can't be what the sentence is trying to say. Cats and dogs are distinct species, but retrievers and bulldogs are not. If the sentence wanted to talk about distinctions within species, that would need to be spelled out. Just adding "distinctly" to "several" does not turn it into "several distinct animals within a given species."

Hi DmitryFarber - thank you for responding.

Just wondering then -- what do you think is the difference between
(i) several distinct animal species
vs
(ii) distinct animal species

Both frankly seem to be the same to me (going to my first point re: reduduncy regarding several in the phrase : several distinct animal species )

DmitryFarber -- here is my attempt to explain why distinctly several animal species , never makes sense

Is it because perhaps that,

(i) Distinct HAS to be an adjective, given we are talking about different animal species in the desert (Dogs, lions, cats, tigers...)
(ii) Distinctly playing the role of adverb -- i think there is no gaurantee that we are talking about Different animal species

I am not sure however

jabhatta2

You're right that "distinctly" is an adverb. But it's not just that it doesn't work here; "distinctly several" would never be correct in any sentence. The issue is that either we have several species or we don't. There's no additional meaning that "distinctly" can provide. I might be "distinctly taller" than others if I am noticeably quite a bit taller. One cake might be "distinctly different" from others. Being tall or different from others can come in degrees, and "distinctly" can clarify that the degree is strong enough to be noticeable. "Several" doesn't come in degrees, nor is it something that might be easier/harder to notice, so it doesn't make sense to apply the modifier "distinctly" to "several."

jabhatta2 Several means more than two. And, as my friend and former colleague DmitryFarber pointed out, "distinct species" means that they are clearly different from each other (possibly just two of them). No redundancy as far as I can see.

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