Geologists in California have discovered a fault

Question

Geologists in California have discovered a fault near the famous San Andreas Fault,  one that they believe to be a trigger for  major quakes on the San Andreas.

(A) one that they believe to be a trigger for
(B) one they believe to be a trigger for
(C) one that they believe triggers
(D) that they believe to be a trigger for
(E) one they believe acts as a trigger for

Source:   Nova GMAT  
Difficulty Level:   750

blueseas · Answer

BELIEVE AS  ==>  UNIDOMATIC. 
 CORRECT IDIOMATIC USAGE  :  BELIEVE ..TO BE

MOREOVER ONE and THAT is acting as a pronoun ==> both are refering to same thing hence use of ONE and THAT together is redundant.
basing this OPTION B is correct answer.

amitbharadwaj7 · Answer

I agree with your submission, but what is wrong with option D

blueseas · Answer

firstly you will probably never see COMMA before that in right option. moreover THAT is incorrectly ambiguously refering to San Andreas Fault INSTEAD OF other fault. hope it helps

gauravkaushik8591 · Answer

Impossible! I've read this 'one that' phrase in new yorker and it did strike my eye.

And for everyone's reference. This is a question statement from OG13.

Udai · Answer

Didn't really understand why B 
the way i have done this since the pronoun is singular the verb needs to be triggers and hence chose C

MadaraU · Answer

Well I feel every answer choice is wrong

Geologists.....have discovered a fault (This is your independent clause) so what comes after it should be a noun clause and noun clauses don't have verbs in it while all the answer choices have verbs

(A)  one  that they believe  to be  a trigger for
(B)  one  they believe  to be  a trigger for
(C)  one  that they believe  triggers 
(D)  that  they believe to be a trigger for
(E)  one  they believe  acts  as a trigger for

darn · Answer

Can an expert please give a detailed explanation on why B is the OA?
 GMATNinja , what are your thoughts on this one?

rekhabishop · Answer

Isn't A fine? Not sure what is wrong with A.

Yoohanna · Answer

Would you please explain what's wrong with C ? 
Thanks in advance

NicoleJaneway · Answer

I also feel like C could be right. It's grammatically correct, and it's the most active choice in my opinion.

goforgmat · Answer

whats wrong with C, it looks better than B. Can you specify the source and its OA.

polpanumas · Answer

Two Independent clauses need to be connected with either ; or ,FANBOYS otherwise the sentence is fragmented

As in C. Geologist...have discovered ...., one .... triggers

Hope this make sense.

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polpanumas · Answer

Please referred to my comment below

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DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

polpanumas , I'm afraid that isn't quite right. The second part of the sentence is not an independent clause. Everything after "one" is a modifier, so there's no actual verb for "one." Compare it to this: "One movie that I think is really great." We have nouns and verbs ("I think" that "the movie is really great"), but the way the clause is structured, we still need a main verb: "One movie that I think is really great IS _____."

A quick Google search turns up the original source and explanation for this question. The authors felt that "one that" is redundant, but I don't think that would be sufficient grounds for elimination on a real GMAT question.

arorni · Answer

Can someone please explain in detail?

aryamaagarwal · Answer

Can an expert please review the answer choices? I am unable to figure out why C is wrong

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

DmitryFarber  hello expert, thanks for your confirmation, and would you like to further explain why C is wrong? Much thanks.

saicharansingh · Answer

Geologists in California have discovered a fault near the famous San Andreas Fault, one that they believe to be a trigger for major quakes on the San Andreas.

(A) one that they believe to be a trigger for
(B) one they believe to be a trigger for
(C) one that they believe triggers
(D) that they believe to be a trigger for
(E) one they believe acts as a trigger for

Reason why I believe 'C' is wrong:
 
While the given sentence says that the fault the Geologists have discovered could be a trigger -One of the triggers probably-, option C more confidently says that the fault triggers major quakes. Now, that is a distortion of the meaning according to me and hence, an incorrect choice.

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

Choice C is totally fine. (Stylistically, C is better than the answer that's marked as correct.) By the way—In choice C, "they believe" is an example a structure that's quite common for reported speech or beliefs. Sometimes, as in this example, the attribution is not comma-blocked. In other uses (e.g., The updated tax forms, the agency's press release states, will be issued during the first two weeks of September. ) For another illustration, please check out this OG problem: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-world-wi ... 03470.html

Geologists in California have discovered a fault

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Geologists in California have discovered a fault

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