From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, loc

96. From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.

A. From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains. --- The topic is all about the cranium. It is not appropriate to put the cranium in a parenthesis.

B. The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium -- Let's us be careful about parsing the sentence. It nearly looks as though the scientists have come from the dinosaur brains. Even so, the SV error is too glaring with the singular knowledge verbed by a plural 'come'. The all-important cranium is dumped at the end of the sentence

C. The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium-- The obvious redundancy of 'the knowledge that scientists know'; the all important cranium is dumped at the end of the sentence


D. What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull -- proper modification of the cranium.

E. Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains ---that scientists know what they know- blatant redundancy

The first point is that the word cranium and its modifier 'the bony house should' be placed close enough. Only D does that religiously without indulging in any other error. One can pick D at first sight.

This might be a silly doubt.

What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull

Here, "located" is modifier.
Now I am confused whether located is modifying brain or the bony house which itself is modifier and is modifying the cranium.
According to my understanding located is attached to "brain"; thus, located is modifying "the brain".

Similar type of construction can appear in following phrase
....Ram, Captain of Kabaddi team playing in final tournament....

Please help clear my doubt.

Hi gvij2017, the past participle (modifier) located is modifying bony house (simply because the intent of the sentence is to depict that the bony house is located in the back of the skull).

Past participles don't necessarily follow the touch rule. Another officially correct sentence:

For protection from the summer sun, the Mojave lived in open-sided, flat-topped dwellings known as shades, each a roof of poles and arrowweed supported by posts set in a rectangle.

Here, the Past participle supported is modifying roof.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Past participles, their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

choice C is wordy. choice C need "is" and "is called" while choice D dose need these word. choice D is more concise.

the book is on the table and interesting

in some context, the above sentence can be parallel logically

all the books here is boring. I want some interesting book. my friend replies " I have a different book for you. the book in on the table and interesting. ". in this context our sentence is parallel logically.

this point is hard.

If we look at this sentence, one can realize that we are discussing a particular trait of a specific organ.

With this intent, lets attack

A. From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.
brain is not cranium -> out

B. The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium
brain is located in the back of the skull, not aware of this

C. The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium
which is referring to brain, but as per the intent it should refer bony house.

D. What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull
correctly referring cranium

E. Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains
and conjunction, is not required.

A. From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains. - Wrong: 1) SV

B. The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium - Wrong: 1) SV 2) Modifier

C. The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium - Wrong: 1) Redundancy

D. What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull - Correct

E. Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains - Wrong: 1) "this" 2) Wordy 2) Meaning

GMATNinja Can you please clarify what is "which " modifying in Opt C. Im always confused when prepositional phrases are introduced in a sentence

The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium

Take another look at (C):


The phrase "which is" tells me that "which" needs to describe a singular noun. The first singular noun I notice is "brain," but it doesn't make sense to say that the brain is located in the back of the skull.

Now, rather than simply decide that "which" is wrong, I'll keep looking to see if there's another singular noun in the vicinity. On second glance, I see that "brain" is part of the longer noun phrase, "bony house of the brain." Would it make sense to say that the bony house of the brain is located in the back of the skull? The GMAT doesn't expect us to have a degree in neuroscience, so that seems fine enough.

Ultimately, I'd come away with the following conclusion: while "which" isn't ideal -- it took a little work to figure out what it was referring to -- it isn't definitively WRONG either. The "which" modifier could describe a noun phrase, and that noun phrase isn't unreasonably far away. I suspect that another answer choice will offer a clearer alternative, but I'm not going to eliminate (C) on this basis alone.

Fortunately, as others have noted, (C) contains the completely ridiculous phrase, "The knowledge that scientists know," so I don't have to burn any brain cells worrying about the "which" -- one clear error is enough to eliminate an answer choice.

The takeaway: don't agonize too much over whether "which" and "that" jump over a prepositional phrase. Instead ask yourself two questions:

1) Is there a noun or noun phrase that "which" or "that" could logically describe?
2) Is this noun or noun phrase reasonably close?

If the answer to either question is "no," that answer choice is out. If the answer to both questions is "yes," move on to other issues.

I hope that helps!

From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.

A. From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains. "which" is incorrectly modifying the " the brain". Eliminate.

B. The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium Incorrect use of plural verb "come" for uncountable (singular) noun "knowledge". Eliminate.

C. The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium "knowledge that scientists know" is redundant. Eliminate.

D. What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull Correct answer - above errors are rectified and no new errors are introduced.

E. Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains Ambiguous antecedent for "this". Extremely poorly worded, not to mention too wordy ("know what they know"..?!?). Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

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Although I got this answer right but can you please tell me if the phrase "the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull" is a appositive modifier and if yes then how we can say if a sentence is appositive modifier or not. Is there any way to identify the appositive modifier.

Hello @Vastal7794,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe that we can help resolve your doubt.

Appositives are modifiers that are placed directly behind or in front of whatever they modify, and their identifying feature is that they serve as a replacement for what they are modifying; in other words, an appositive modifier is one that means the same thing as what it is modifying. As such, the typical purpose of an appositive is to provide additional information about something by modifying it. Thus, in this sentence, "the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull" serves as an appositive to "cranium", as this phrase can be seen as a definition of "cranium".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Thanks for the awesome explanation ExpertsGlobal5

I have one small doubt. I get always confused between Appositive modifier and independent Clause
For Example - Very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane when he attempted his solo transatlantic flight, Charles Lindbergh refused to carry even a pound of mail, despite being offered $1,000 to do so.

Now here the phrase - "Very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane when he attempted his solo transatlantic flight" is acting as a Appositive modifier but the problem that I face is if in some question this the appositive modifier has bee changed into dependent clause then I get in that trap. Because a Dependent and Independent clause can be connected by comma and not the two independent clause.

So my question is sometime I take appositive modifier as independent clause

As in above example if I take the sentence "Very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane when he attempted his solo..." as independent clause with subject He and Verb attempted then I will try to mark answer in which FANBOY conjunction has been used to connect the two clauses

Please pardon me if I was not clear!!!

Thanks

Hello Vatsal7794,

We hope this finds you well.

If you are having trouble identifying independent clauses, it is important to remember exactly what an independent clause is. Independent clauses are clauses that can stand on their own as complete sentences; in order to do so, they must convey a complete thought by acting on an independent noun (one that is not part of a modifying phrase) with an active verb to form a complete thought. In the example you have given, "Very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane when he attempted his solo transatlantic flight" is not an independent clause because it has no independent nouns or active verbs; "he" and "attempted" are both parts of the modifying phrase "when he attempted..."; the use of "when" indicates that this is a modifying phrase acting upon a noun. Indeed, the entire phrase here can be read as an amalgam of two modifying phrases "Very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane" and "when he attempted his solo transatlantic flight", both of which provide information about "Charles Lindbergh".

The only independent clause here is "Charles Lindbergh refused to carry even a pound of mail" because it has an active verb "refused" that acts upon an independent noun "Charles Lindbergh", thus conveying a complete thought - that Charles Lindbergh refused; the later phrase "to carry even a pound of mail" modifies "refused" to convey what the man refused. Put simply, the best way to tell if a clause is an independent one is to take it in isolation and see if it is a complete sentence that conveys a logical meaning about a doer and an action.

On another note, the phrase "Very reluctant to have any extra weight on his plane when he attempted his solo transatlantic flight" is not actually an appositive, as it is not synonymous with "Charles Lindbergh"; it does not describe "Charles Lindbergh" in such a way that explains what or who he is, it only provides one attribute of him.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

in option D] what is the subject of the verb 'comes' . logically it should be 'what scientists know''. But isn't this a clause in itself ? Can a clause have a verb as well?

You are right. The clause is the subject here. Whenever a clause is the subject, it is singular.

GMAT tests this concept reasonably frequently. You can look at example-1 and example-2.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses "clause as a subject". Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

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