joesamson
First discovered more than 30 years ago, Lina's sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch animal
found in the Philippines and that resembles a hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye.
(A) found in the Philippines and that resembles
(B) found in the Philippines and that, resembling
(C) found in the Philippines and resembling
(D) that is found in the Philippines and it resembles
(E) that is found in the Philippines, resembling
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/21/science/new-species-of-bird-is-discovered-or-rediscovered-in-philippines.htmlTHE tiny sunbirds, with their dazzling colors and long pointed bills for sipping nectar from flowers in tropical forests, are in many ways the Old World counterparts of the hummingbirds of the Americas. Sunbirds are
found from Africa, where they are especially abundant, to the islands of Southeast Asia;
like the hummingbirds, there is a large number of known species: 126 to be exact with the discovery, being announced today, of a new sunbird on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
Lina's sunbird is a four-and-a-half-inch-long avian jewel that Dr. Robert S. Kennedy, a researcher at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science, described as generally green above and yellow below, with shimmering metallic colors on the head, wings and tail;
a brilliant orange patch in the center of the breast, bordered on the sides by scarlet tufts; and ''a blood-red eye that enhances the overall beauty of this rare sunbird.''
This is a relatively simple question but it incorporates two interesting guidelines of GMAT about modifiers.
First, let’s break down the structure of the sentence:
First discovered more than 30 years ago - Past participle modifying Lina’s sunbird
Lina's sunbird - Subject
a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Philippines and that resembles a hummingbird - Appositive that renames the sunbird with modifiers
has – main verb
shimmering metallic colors on its head; a brilliant orange patch, bordered with red tufts, in the center of its breast; and a red eye – a list of characteristics
We need to worry about the appositive and the other modifiers within it. Let's look at each option in the sentence.
(A) ... a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Philippines and that resembles a hummingbird‘found in the Philippines’ is a past participle modifier for ‘animal’. Also, ‘that resembles a hummingbird’ is a relative clause modifier for animal. The two are joined by ‘and’ but do not have parallel structure. Either both should be participial modifiers or both should be relative clauses.
(B) …Lina’s sunbird, a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Philippines and that, resembling a hummingbird, has shimmering metallic colors…; a brilliant orange patch…; and a red eye.Note what happens here – the main verb goes missing!
Lina’s sunbird - Subject
a four-and-a-half-inch animal found in the Philippines – Appositive modifier
that has shimmering colors … - Relative clause modifying ‘sunbird’
resembling a hummingbird – Present participial modifier modifying ‘that’
Due to the extra set of commas around ‘resembling a hummingbird,’ the entire ‘that has metallic colors…’ has become a relative clause in which ‘has’ is the verb in the relative clause. Now we have no main verb. Hence the option is incorrect. Besides, we have connected two modifiers, a past participial modifier and a relative clause with ‘and.’ This is also not parallel.
(C) found in the Philippines and resemblingHere, ‘found in the Philippines’ and ‘resembling a hummingbird’ both are participial modifiers. One is a past participial modifier and the other is a present participial modifier which, as we discussed can be parallel to each other. Hence, this option is correct.
(D) that is found in the Philippines and it resemblesHere, ‘that is found in the Philippines’ is a relative clause modifying ‘animal’ but it is connected to ‘it resembles a hummingbird’ which is an independent clause with ‘and.’ This is not correct. We cannot join a modifying relative clause with an independent clause. To be acceptable, this option should not have had ‘it.’ Then the entire thing would have been a relative clause.
… that is found in the Philippines and resembles a hummingbird …
(E) that is found in the Philippines, resemblingThis is a case of stacked modifiers – relative clause ‘that is found in the Philippines’ and present participial modifier ‘resembling a hummingbird’ are stacked on top of each other with both modifying ‘animal.’ This should be avoided when it can because it is unclear that ‘resembling a hummingbird’ is also modifying ‘animal.’ Option (C) does a much better job by connecting the two modifiers by ‘and’ and using parallel structure.
Answer (C)