Found in the depths of all the world's oceans the vampire squid lives

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
This question is a good reminder to check the non-underlined portion of the sentence carefully.

This question is also a good reminder that Option A does not determine the intended meaning of the sentence.

• Meaning?

First, strip the sentence.
(I'm working with incorrect option A.)
Found in the depths of all the world's oceans, the vampire squid lives in a twilight zone that contains extremely low levels of dissolved oxygen such as to be[???] uninhabitable by most other sea creatures.

The stripped sentence:
The vampire squid lives in a twilight zone that contains low levels of oxygen . . . [???] uninhabitable by most other sea creatures].

Okay, what is uninhabitable by most other sea creatures? The "twilight zone."

Meaning

The vampire squid lives in a twilight zone. The twilight zone contains low levels of oxygen. The twilight zone cannot be inhabited by most other sea creatures.

How and whether to connect the second and third sentences will be an issue.
We do not know whether the low levels of oxygen cause the unsuitability of environment for most other sea creatures. (Maybe the twilight zone is too cold or exerts too much pressure because it is too deep.)
The options will tell us.

• What we are looking for

We need an option that makes the twilight zone both low in levels of oxygen and uninhabitable by other sea creatures. That option may or may not establish a causal connection, but we should focus on and look for the two adjectivial phrases that describe the twilight zone:
-- Adjective phrase #1: that contains low levels of dissolved oxygen
-- Adjective phrase #2: uninhabitable by other sea creatures or cannot be inhabited by other sea creature

These adjective phrases must somehow be connected properly to the twilight zone.

THE PROMPT


THE OPTIONS

• such as to be is not idiomatic. We can say so as to be, because "so as" must be followed by an infinitive. (Careful, though. Very few correct answers use "so as.")

• in general, be very wary of such that if the words are together
I cannot find even one official SC question in which "such that" (the two words together) is correct.
Not one. (I am happy to stand corrected.)

In the footnote you will find six official questions with at least one option that uses "such that." Some questions have two options with "such that."

These six are among the very few I have found that test "such that" at all. (I think I have seen eight official questions with such that in the answer choices.)
• you will see such that frequently in Quant. Quant is not SC.
• this phrase is commonly used. It is written all over the forum. As far as I can tell after scouring official questions , "such that" is not used in SC on the GMAT.
• in a few correct official answers, the words such and that are separated by other words.
Used in that way, the construction is idiomatic: such is an intensifier of an adjective or noun.
The typical construction is
[SUCH + adjective + noun + THAT]
-- He was such a grouchy professor that he intimidated students.
Possible but highly unlikely: [SUCH + noun + THAT]
-- The conversation was such a delight that I did not want it to end.

• finally, uninhabitable to? Not great

• the modifier is misplaced
• that cannot be inhabited should modify a twilight zone
• that cannot be inhabited incorrectly follows oxygen.
This sentence nonsensically implies that most other sea creatures are unable to inhabit oxygen.

• the plural pronoun them does not agree with its singular referent, the twilight zone
• making needs a comma before it so that it does not modify oxygen.
comma + making would change the participle (verbING) into an adverbial modifier of the whole clause rather than a modifier of oxygen

• Spot on.
• that contains . . . and that cannot be inhabited are the two adjectivial modifiers we need in order to describe the twilight zone


The correct answer is E

COMMENTS

rvarora , 5143kny , Ajiteshmathur , akashjai , EpilepticLearner , pielkay , welcome to SC Butler.
(If I have welcomed you before, then you get two welcomes.)

This question is hard, no doubt. I like the fact that it challenges us to be careful about what we assume.
Is option E logical? Yes. Is it grammatical? Yes.
We cannot assume that low levels of dissolved oxygen make the twilight zone uninhabitable for most other sea creatures.
It's a fair assumption, but not a necessary one.*

pielkay , well done. Although you did not post before the OA was revealed, you helped and your explanation is very good.

Often I give kudos for answers that are well-reasoned but incorrect.
On this question, I think it is more fair to award kudos to pielkay for helping as well as for a very good explanation. EDIT: kudos also to pzgupta for helping.

I will name everyone because I am posting the OE later than usual: J2S2019 , Sourav700 , Annet1524 , Xylan , Ajiteshmathur , pzgupta .

(Just for the record . . I cannot always post OEs at the 24 hour mark. I suppose I could post crappy OEs of about 4 lines. Not my style. And, I hope, not what you want.)

I am glad to have all of your posts. Have a great weekend.


**I cannot find ANY official questions in which the phrase "such that" is correct.
SPOILER ALERT: If you click on these links to official questions, you will know at least one incorrect answer.
OFFICIAL QUESTIONS in which such that is an option but not the correct answer.
HERE, #1
HERE, #2
HERE, #3
HERE, #4
HERE, #5
HERE, #6

*For an official question in which cause and result are joined by AND, see THIS OFFICIAL QUESTION.
My post on that topic is HERE.