The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a di

Question

The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered in Madagascar.

(A) The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered in Madagascar.

(B) The bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and with a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs, has been discovered in Madagascar.

(C) In Madagascar, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered.

(D) A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, bearing a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs is Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur, the bones of which have been discovered in Madagascar.

(E) A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembling South American predatory dinosaurs, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, have been discovered in Madagascar.

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/02/science/rex-s-hungry-cousin.html

The bones  of a huge meat-eating dinosaur  have been discovered in Madagascar , off the east coast of Africa. The specimen, Majungatholus atopus, would have been 25 to 30 feet long. Majungatholus is  a distant relative of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs . The new fossils could revise thinking about how these dinosaurs evolved and how the positions of continents have changed since they died out more than 65 million years ago. Dr. Scott Sampson of the New York Institute of Technology, writing in the journal Science, said the discovery suggests that South America, India and Madagascar were all connected, probably through Antarctica, when this species developed, and that Africa had already split off as a separate island continent. The dinosaur's skull and lower jaws, with wicked teeth, are shown above; an artist's reconstruction is at right. JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

SPOILER BELOW:

Can someone explain to me why in A

that is  a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex  and closely  resembles

I thought that after AND you also need THAT for parallelism.

daagh · Accepted Answer

If this question appears in GMAT, then I will simply accept the official answer A and be done, for GMAT is the big boss; but, beyond GMAT, I will simply dump it, for each and every choice can be criticized for some reason or other.

A. The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur  that is a distant  relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and  closely resembles  South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered in Madagascar.

Unparallel because a meat-eating dinosaur  that is a distant relative   has to be followed by  that closely resembles
 
B.  The bones  of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and with a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs,  has been  discovered in Madagascar.

S-V agreement problem - The bones --- has been discovered

C. In Madagascar, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus,  distantly related  to Tyrannosaurus rex and  closely resembled  South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered.
 
Unparallel—distantly related is a participle while closely resembled is simple past;  closely resembling,  a present participle is the correct diction.

D.  A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, bearing a close resemblance to  South American predatory dinosaurs is Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur, the bones of which have been discovered in Madagascar

First thing, it misses a conjunction and between T yrannosaurus rex---- bearing a close  …… These two species are different from each other and a conjunction is a must to conjoin them.

Secondly is it  South American predatory dinosaurs  or  South American predatory dinosaur?  If it is a typo, let us ignore it.
 
In addition and more importantly, how wordy and convoluted the sentence is!

E. A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembling South American predatory dinosaurs,  the bones  of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, have been discovered in Madagascar.

Misplaced modifier. The participial phrase a distant …….. South American predatory dinosaurs wrongly modifies  the bones  rather than modifying  the dinosaur

What then is the right answer?

LucyDang · Answer

Sentence meaning: 
This sentence talks about  the Majungatholus : 
- It's a meat-eating dinosaur that is distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs.
- Its bones have been discovered in Madagascar (Main idea).

Error analysis: 
- correct S-V agreement: The  bones ....  have  been discovered ..
- correct tense of verb "have been discovered"
-  noun modifier  "a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs"  correctly refers to "the Majungatholus" 
--> Nothing wrong with the original sentence

Answer choice: 
 A.   Correct  
 B.   Incorrect S-V agreement : The  bones ....  has  been discovered ..   Incorrect 
 C.  The use of "The bones of a meat-eating dinosaur" and  the non-restrict modifier  "Majungatholus atopus, a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and with a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs" change the meaning of the original sentence.  Original sentence talks about specific "Majungatholus atopus" , which is a type of meat-eating dinosaurs (among many other meat-eating dinosaurs). However  this choice implies that bones of a general meat-eating dinosaur  (any type, not the specific Majungatholus atopus) have been discovered. Remember, the modifier can be omitted in this choice because it's non-restrict.  When it's omitted, the intended meaning changes .   Incorrect 
 D.  1. " bearing a close resemblance.. " incorrectly refers to " Tyrannosaurus rex "; 2.  Run-on sentence ; 3. " which " is  ambiguous    Incorrect 
 E.  1. Unparalleled structure of the modifier: A  distant relative  (Noun) of..... and closely  resembling  (verb).....; 2.  Modifier refers to "the bones"  - the bones are distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resemble South American predatory dinosaurs?? -awkward;  3.  again use of "the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur" and non-restrict modifier "Majungatholus atopus" changes the intended meaning.   Incorrect

Hope it helps.

sanjeebpanda · Answer

The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs, have been 
discovered in Madagascar.

(A) The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs, have been 
discovered in Madagascar.

(B) The bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and with a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs, has been discovered in Madagascar.

(C) In Madagascar, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered.

(D) A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, bearing a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs is Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur, the bones of which have been discovered in Madagascar.

(E) A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembling South American predatory dinosaurs, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, have been discovered in Madagascar.

Hi Team,
Please help me to understand how to decipher two multiple commas in a sentence.
If you see in the option B.
I understand that if in a sentence a phrase or clause with in ( , ,) acts a modifier or gives extra information.
But in option B and C there are multiple.

Can any one help me in this with some more example and how to solve these type of question.

bb61 · Answer

The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered in Madagascar.

the bones have been discovered
a meat-eating dinosaur that  is  a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex  and  closely  resembles  South American predatory dinosaurs: noun+noun modifier
this sentence is a correct construction.. there is no need to repeat "that" after and.

A. The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered in Madagascar.

B. The bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus,  a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex  and  with a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs , has been discovered in Madagascar.
llism error
the name of the dinosaur is sandwiched and hence, it is non essential modifier. w/o it the sentence does not convey the intended meaning. 
the bones has been discovered! S-V error

C. In Madagascar,  the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur ,  Majungatholus atopus , distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely  resembled  South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered.
placing modifiers one after another makes the meaning unclear.
in the case that the placement of modifier was ok, the resembled should be changes to resembling.

D. A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex,  bearing a close resemblance  to South American predatory dinosaurs  is Majungatholus atopus , a meat-eating dinosaur, the bones of which have been discovered in Madagascar.
changes the intended meaning
it seems that "a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex" is modifying "bearing a close resemblance"
again it has modifier error bcz of placing modifiers one after another

E.  A distant relative  of Tyrannosaurus rex and  closely resembling  South American predatory dinosaurs, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, have been discovered in Madagascar.
llism error; a noun cannot be parallel with a simple gerund.
modifier error:the opening modifier in fact modify the bones.

WoundedTiger · Answer

Sentence Meaning: The bones of meat eating dinosaur MA have been discovered in Madagascar...Dinosaur MA is a relative of TR and resebles SA predatory dinosaur..

Subject of the sentence The bones of MA....and is plural so any singular verbs will be ruled out...Option B out

"a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs" is a Noun Modifier and is modifying MA correctly in option A

In Option C..."distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs" is in past tense and seems to indicate that the dinosaurs are no longer related or resemble SA predatory dinosaur...Since we are stating something which is true even today and hence option C is ruled out

In Option E,the sentence means distant relative of TR is the bones of meat eating dinosaur which does not make sense...

In option D The construction " the bones of which have been discovered " is awkward...more over

Ans is A

mehulsayani · Answer

Isn't A wrong because of the missing "that" before closely?? There are two clauses that modify "a meat-eating dinosaur ": "that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex" and "that closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs". The "that" here is a must. So, I discarded it. Your thoughts on the same??

EducationAisle · Answer

Indeed Mehul, there are quite a few official examples, where  that  is repeated, but this just seems to be a  preference  of GMAT (especially when the second clause is quite  far  from the first), and  not  a  rule .

For example, following would be correct:

Teacher suggested that Jack work hard and show the results.

What is  not  needed is:

Teacher suggested  that  Jack work hard and  that  Jack show the results.

Let's see some  official  examples where  that  is repeated:

#47, OG-13:
 In 1713, Alexander Pope began  his translation of the Illiad, a work  that  took him seven years to complete and  that  literary critic Samuel Johnson, Pope’s contemporary, pronounced  the greatest translation in any language .

#97, OG-13:
 Some anthropologists believe  that  the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people is the result of a population bottleneck-  that  at some time in the past our ancestors suffered an event that greatly reduced their numbers  and thus our genetic variation .

#3, Verbal Supplement:
  However much United States voters may agree  that   there is a waste in government and  that  the government as a whole spends beyond its means, it is difficult to find broad support for a movement towards a minimal state .

On the other hand, there are instances when  that  has  not  been repeated (for example, in the sentence under consideration)

#15, Verbal Supplement:
 It is well known in the supermarket industry that how items are placed on shelves and  how frequently the inventory turns over can be  crucial to profits.

In fact, there is an interesting sentence in OG Verbal review (#35), where the repetition of  that  creates an illogical meaning:

The rise in the Commerce Department's index of leading economic indicators  suggest  that  the economy should continue its expansion into the coming months, but  that   the mixed performance of the index's individual components indicates that economic growth will proceed at a more moderate pace than in the first quarter of this year .

This seems to suggest that the rise in the Commerce Department's index of leading economic indicators suggests two things:
i) the economy should continue its expansion into the coming months
ii) the mixed performance of the index's individual components indicates that economic growth will proceed at a more moderate pace than in the first quarter of this year

Rise in the Commerce Department's index of leading economic indicators cannot clearly indicate anything about index's individual components. So, the correct answer in this question  drops  the  that  after  but .

dcummins · Answer

(C) In Madagascar,  the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur , Majungatholus atopus,  distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs , have been discovered.

MartyTargetTestPrep

Am I correct in saying C is wrong because of non-restrictive issues?

Since Majungatholus is in brackets it modifies dinosaur, but doesn't restrict what "bones" were found, so the question just reads "the bones" were "distantly related"..?

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Not really.

While the interjection of the appositive "Majungatholus atopus" makes the sentence read in a way that appears to result in "distantly related" modifying "bones," the truth is that everything from "of" to "predatory dinosaurs" could be considered one long prepostional phrase that restrictively modifies "bones."

That said, the presence of a comma after "predatory dinosaurs" does muddy the waters, because if "distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs," is meant to continue the restrictive prepositional phrase modifying "meat-eating dinosaur," then it should not have a comma after it, because a restrictive modifier would not be set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma

So, perhaps that misused comma is what you are picking up on, because it signals that "distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs" is NOT part of the restrictive prepostional phrase that begins with "of a meat-eating dinosaur," leading one to wonder what purpose "distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs" serves and what it modifies, and rendering "bones" the most logical target of "distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs," though it does not make sense that bones would be "distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs."

Hoozan · Answer

Hi  daagh  you weren't happy with the parallelism of choice (A). Here is what I believe (as taught by @eGMAT) and I would appreciate what you think of the same.

When “that”  must  and  may not  be repeated: -

1)  If “That” before clauses has been used as relative pronoun modifier, then second “that” may not be repeated 
a) Gita went to the cafe  that  is owned by her brother and  that  serves the best coffee in the town. –  Correct  
b) Gita went to the cafe  that  is owned by her brother and serves the best coffee in the town. –  Correct

2)   If “That” has been used as a connector in the parallel structure, then, both the parallel clauses must begin with “That” 
a) The doctor said  that  my ailment was serious and  that  I needed to start the treatment immediately –  Correct  
b) The doctor said  that  my ailment was serious and I needed to start the treatment immediately –  Incorrect

So keeping the above in mind, we see that in (A) "that" is used as a relative pronoun that refers to the noun "dinosaur" hence the second "that" can be omitted.

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  Hoozan , this is actually quite an interesting topic in GMAT SC.

For example, following sentence would be correct (even though it uses  that  as a  connector ):

The doctor said  that  my ailment was serious and needed urgent attention.

Interestingly, there is  another  way that GMAT tests on parallelism in these kind of sentences.

(i)  Peter is rich because he inherited wealth and his businesses are doing well. 
- Correct

(ii)  Peter is rich because he inherited wealth and because his businesses are doing well .
- Correct

(iii)  Peter is rich because he inherited wealth, and his businesses are doing well .
- Incorrect

Notice that in (iii), the presence of a  comma  before  wealth  seems to indicate that the clause  his businesses are doing well  is entirely  unrelated  to the statement before the  comma  ( Peter is rich because he inherited wealth ).

In other words, (iii) can be interpreted as:

(a) Peter is rich because he inherited wealth, 
and 
(b) his businesses are doing well

The intended meaning however is that:

Peter is rich because 
(a) he inherited wealth 
and 
(b) his businesses are doing well

Hoozan · Answer

This is really quite informative. Thank you for throwing some more light on this topic.

So how do I go about with the interpretation of "That". Now I am starting to beleive that "That" has rules BUT it is also flexible to break these rules based on the context of the sentence

Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

More than  rules , I would like to put it as a matter of  preference .

You might want to go thru  this post  for more details on this topic.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered in Madagascar .

(A) The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembles South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered in Madagascar.  Correct answer - no errors in this formation.

(B) The bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, a distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and with a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs, has been discovered in Madagascar.  Plural "bones" is associated incorrectly with singular verb "has been...". Eliminate.

(C) In Madagascar, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered.

MartyTargetTestPrep

Am I correct in saying C is wrong because of non-restrictive issues?

Since Majungatholus is in brackets it modifies dinosaur, but doesn't restrict what "bones" were found, so the question just reads "the bones" were "distantly related"..?

(D) A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, bearing a close resemblance to South American predatory dinosaurs is Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur, the bones of which have been discovered in Madagascar.  Very awkward construction. Uses two modifiers ("relative of T-rex" and "close resemblance...") one after the other without a conjunction. Eliminate.

(E) A distant relative of Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembling South American predatory dinosaurs, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, have been discovered in Madagascar.  The starting modifier should apply to Majungatholus atopus - here it is incorrectly modifying "the bones". Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

nihalbiswas · Answer

According to me none of the answer choices are correct,

In A , how can a BONE be referred to as a "meat-eating dinosaur"

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Nihal, in A,  a meat-eating dinosaur  modifies  Majungatholus atopus  and not  bones . This kind of a structure is called  appositive .

A simpler example:

The centuries of Tendulkar, a batsman from Mumbai, are legendary .

Again, the above is a valid sentence -  a batsman from Mumbai  is an appositive modifying  Tendulkar  (and not  centuries ).

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

nihalbiswas · Answer

EducationAisle 
I didn't know about this, will check this out.

Your help is much appreciated, thank you

egmat · Answer

Hello nihalbiswas , You can start by reading our one of the most loved articles here in the GMAT Club on this kind of modifier that we call Noun + Noun Modifier. I am sure that you will enjoy reading the article and will learn a lot from it. The following is the link for the article: https://gmatclub.com/forum/noun-noun-modifiers-the-most-versatile-modifier-137292.html Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

egmat · Answer

Hello mittalnitin , Thank you for sending a PM on this official question.

You asked: Choice C reads: In Madagascar, the bones of a meat-eating dinosaur, Majungatholus atopus, distantly related to Tyrannosaurus rex and closely resembled South American predatory dinosaurs, have been discovered . This choice is incorrect because the word " resembled " is a verb in this choice, but there is no subject for this verb in this sentence. This missing subject makes this choice ungrammatical and hence, incorrect. Moreover, the verb "resembled" is NOT parallel to the modifier "related". Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a di

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The bones of Majungatholus atopus, a meat-eating dinosaur that is a di

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