Dolphins lack vocal cords, nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated

This is what we get with option B:

Dolphins lack vocal cords, nevertheless creating sounds; they produce a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks with sphincter muscle inside the blowhole.

The ", nevertheless creating sounds" is wrong for two reasons:
1. It doesn't logically connect to the clause "Dolphins lack vocal cords". Participles used this way normally communicate something that extends what the initial clause communicates. However, here the participle brings us an entirely new idea that does not connect to the initial clause at all (it is actually a contrasting idea). For example:

She did not go to the movie with her friends, choosing to stay at home and study for the GMAT instead.

The instead could make us think that we're looking to introduce a contrasting idea, but even in this case the participle communicates something in the same "direction" as the initial clause "she did not go..."

2. Look at the portion after the semicolon. It is all about the fact that Dolphins can produce sounds. That is, the idea contained in the ", nevertheless creating sounds" bit is central to the intended meaning of the sentence. We should not stick it in a modifier and leave it there. It is more important than that. There is a big difference in terms of emphasis between (a) Dolphins lack vocal cords, nevertheless creating sounds and (b) Dolphins lack vocal cords, but nevertheless create sounds.

Option A: A participle is not appropriate here as it doesn't support the intended meaning. System is singular, but are is plural. The use of the passive voice is generally avoidable and the passive verb are produced by makes it harder for the reader to identify dolphins as the agent (the who or the what that produces those sounds).

Option B: A participle is not appropriate here as it doesn't support the intended meaning. The semicolon brings in a full subject-verb pair and because the "producing sounds" idea is not an integral part of the initial clause, the two clauses joined by the semicolon don't make as much sense anymore (Dolphins lack vocal cords; they produce a complicated system of sounds).

Option C: The best of the 5 options.

Option D: There is no by after produced, and the being makes it seem as if we are discussing an ongoing action.

Option E: But should not be used to join lack (a verb) and creating (a participle).

Finally, although this is marked as a GMATPrep question, I'm not comfortable with the non-underlined portion. Specifically, "with sphincter muscle" doesn't make any sense ("with sphincter muscles" or "with a sphincter muscle" would have been better).
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First usage of nevertheless:
it was an old song, but nevertheless it was a favorite when they performed it.

meaning of nevertheless is more close to "despite this/that".

usually preceded by contrasting word such as 'but' or a contrasting phrase.

Thus A and B can be eliminated.

B) meaning error in B - it sounds like "Dolphins lack vocal cords and this is why they are making all kind of sounds."

D) but they do create sounds, a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks being produced --- a noun phrase defines the noun infront of it. such as in this case 'sound' is defined by a noun phrase which really distort the meaning of sentence. Moreover click are not produced "sphincter muscle inside the blowhole". Actually very easy to eliminate this option.

E) but nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks produced by --- colon is for giving example .

C) but they do create sounds, producing a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks with ---- Correct option .
"But" right contrast. even "but nevertheless" should also be correct here.
"they" > Dolphins.
"producing" >> modifying prior sentence. making a complete sense.
use of by/with --- by using 'by' we are saying only this muscle, 'with' says addition to this something else too. with seems to be a better use here.

Hope that is helpful.
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Need reasons to eliminate A and B

Is A wrong becoz of BY at the end?
Is B wrong becoz of CREATING?

rocko911

Main reason to eliminate A and B is that they lack any contrast word such as but ,while or although.We need a contrast here.
And you are right that in option B,creating doesn't have any proper justification.
In A,produced by is not wrong.But its in passive voice.You should chose passive voice only when no right answer with active voice is available.

“Nevertheless” is a connector meaning “yet” or “but”. You can see the futility and redundancy of “but” in E. Again, when we use a connector like “nevertheless”, both arms of the connector should be parallel. Choices A, B and E use a clause on one side and a participial phrase on the other.
We must say ‘Dolphins lack vocal cords, nevertheless create sounds’ using verbs on both sides.
A also falters on Subject –Verb agreement.
The choice has to be between C and D while D lacks the use of ‘by’ at the end. “being produce sphincter” is wrong usage and awkward. Hence, C is the answer.

Hi GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo,

I was wondering if you could please go through each of the answer choices and explain why the incorrect answer choices are incorrect? Upon searching this question on this platform and other websites, I noticed that there wasn't much discussion on this question for some reason even though the tag given is from GMATPrep.

“Nevertheless” is a connector meaning “yet” or “but”. You can see the futility and redundancy of “but” in E. Again, when we use a connector like “nevertheless”, both arms of the connector should be parallel. Choices A, B and E use a clause on one side and a participial phrase on the other.
We must say ‘Dolphins lack vocal cords, nevertheless create sounds’ using verbs on both sides.
A also falters on Subject –Verb agreement.
The choice has to be between C and D while D lacks the use of ‘by’ at the end. “being produce sphincter” is wrong usage and awkward. Hence, C is the answer.

HI GMATNinja, mikemcgarry, DmitryFarber, MagooshExpert (Carolyn), ccooley, GMATGuruNY, EMPOWERgmatVerbal, EducationAisle

Can you please help me with this SC?
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daagh Please explain What is wrong with optionE?

AjiteshArun Is but and nevertheless redundant in the above Question ?
assuming but and nevertheless is not redundant how can we reject E ?

The nevertheless is not necessary, but there is a much more reliable way to remove E. This is the sentence option E leads to:

Dolphins lack vocal cords, but nevertheless creating sounds: a complicated system of whistles, squeaks, moans, trills, and clicks produced by sphincter muscle inside the blowhole.

We're basically saying "Dolphins lack (verb) something but creating (participle) something". The conjunction but does not join two similar elements in this case (lack and creating), and that's a great reason to take this option out.

Here is another question that tests the same thing.
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AjiteshArun
In A I rejected for are as it should be is
Why B is wrong ?
what's wrong in "nevertheless creating sound" in B

nevertheless is an adverb, which connect two independent clause. so, nevertheless can not stand in that position. only a few, not all, prepositions/conjunctions can stand in that position in choice A and B.

in the pattern
the main clause + comma+doing phrase

in this, doing phrase can stand before or after the main clause
in this pattern, doing phrase can show many meaning relations with the main clause, such as context, reason or cause of the main verb in the main clause. but doing can not show a contrast meaning with the meaning of the main clause.

instead of learning gmat, I go out for change

"instead of" is preposition/conjunction which can be in this position. I dont care "instead of" in this position is a preposition or conjunction. I think it is a conjunction because "learning" works as an adjective as in the case of " although tired, I continue to work".

Shouldn’t choice C rather say produced by or using the sphincter muscle instead of with sphincter muscle?

Hi Rukia,

I think there is a mistake in the question, possibly a typo. Flagging it for review.
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Fixed the typo. Thank you.
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Hi AjiteshArun,

It seems Bunuel fixed a typo but Choice C still has “with” at the end.

Hi Rukia,

I think "produce something with a muscle" is okay. For example, I've come across phrases like produce force with a muscle or muscle group (1) many times.
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I see thank you!


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