Inhospitable places on our planet, from steaming hot springs to the

Question

Inhospitable places on our planet, from steaming hot springs to the thick ice of the polar regions, tend to be populated by specially adapted microbes  flourishing, it seems, in these extreme conditions and are  therefore called "extremophiles."

(A) flourishing, it seems, in these extreme conditions and are
(B) that seem to flourish with these extreme conditions and
(C) that seem to flourish in these extreme conditions and that are
(D) seeming to flourish in these extreme conditions and are
(E) seeming to flourish with these extreme conditions and that are

Source: GMATPrep question pack 1
Difficulty: Hard

Can anyone explain the "that" rule in the in the OA? Also, if anyone uses the sentence correction guide from MGMAT can anyone tell me where to read about the "that" rule. Thanks

daagh · Accepted Answer

A. (same as above) ----  places is the subject of the second clause—wrong  
B. that seem to flourish with these extreme conditions and ------  places is the subject of the second clause; also the second clause misses that; wrong 
C. that seem to flourish in these extreme conditions and that are ---  best  
D. seeming to flourish in these extreme conditions and are -----  same as A  
E. seeming to flourish with these extreme conditions and that are ---  that is missing in the first clause

The first thing is that extremophiles refers to a phylum of organisms rather than places; Therefore, we are necessitated to use relative clauses introduced by the connector that to modify the nearest noun microbes; Else, the second clause will be using the places as its subject and will thus be materially incorrect. 
Second, these modifiers need to be equal and parallel;

kinjiGC · Answer

Inhospitable places on our planet, from steaming hot springs to the thick ice of the Polar Regions, tend to be populated by specially adapted microbes  flourishing, it seems, in these extreme conditions and are  therefore called “extremophiles.”

A. flourishing, it seems, in these extreme conditions and are ->  this is bad construction. I have "and" and I need a clause both sides. "Flourishing" is a verbing modifier modifying microbes. So we have modifier and clause. which is not correct. If I have a list, it should be parallel in its function. 
B. that seem to flourish with these extreme conditions and ->  with , it seems that microbes flourish with these extreme conditions. It sounds as if both are flourishing together. 
C. that seem to flourish in these extreme conditions and that are ->  Correct 
D. seeming to flourish in these extreme conditions and are ->  Same issue as A) seeming is a modifier 
E. seeming to flourish  with  these extreme conditions and that are ->  Same issue as A) seeming is a modifier

blueseas · Answer

HI DEL SINGH, you can refer to this link: learn-how-that-can-help-you-demystify-a-long-sentence-138358.html Use of that is explained very well here. plus for your information : whenever there is a parallelism marker such as AND(in this example) + either side of AND have THAT clause then other should also have THAT clause for the sake of parallelism. hope it helps thanks SKM

Bluelagoon · Answer

that rule says - while using that in a list use that for both fragments of the list.However , i argue you can do here without knowing the rule.
In A, it has no antecedent. Eliminated.In B, with these conditions i think is incorrect, you survive in extreme conditions and not with extreme conditions. E is crossed out with the same reason. Between D and C , i have a problem with the word seeming and not to mention the usage of conjunction and. 'and' is used to connect independent clauses and in D that's not the case. The right hand side of 'and' is a phrase. C Wins.

EducationAisle · Answer

Actually  it  is used as a  placeholder , not as a classical  pronoun .

As daagh has mentioned above, the easiest reason why A can be dis-regarded is because A seems to suggest that Inhospitable places on our planet are called "extremophiles."!!

0102ng · Answer

The first thing is that extremophiles refers to a phylum of organisms rather than places; Therefore, we are necessitated to use relative clauses introduced by the connector that to modify the nearest noun microbes; Else, the second clause will be using the places as its subject and will thus be materially incorrect. 
Second, these modifiers need to be equal and parallel;

AbhishekDhanraJ72 · Answer

my basic concept - "that" is singular so how 'that with are' in C is right answer ??? it should be 'that is' ?????

please explain ...???

GMATNinja · Answer

This post  might help.

Within  the "that" clause, the  verb  must agree with the tense of the noun described (hence "seem" instead of "seems"). However, when used as a noun modifier, "that" can modify both singular and plural nouns. So in terms of the grammar, it would be fine to say either "microbes that seem" or "a microbe that seems" -- but in this case, we're dealing with multiple microbes, so the noun and verb are plural.

I hope that helps a bit!

AwesomeYao · Answer

Inhospitable places on our planet, from steaming hot springs to the thick ice of the polar regions, tend to be populated by specially adapted microbes flourishing, it seems, in these extreme conditions and are therefore called "extremophiles."

Test Points: Scentence structure & Parallelism
 
(A) flourishing, it seems, in these extreme conditions and are ( this scentence is a frament, the structure is awkward )
(B) that seem to flourish with these extreme conditions and ( "with" is not idiomatic; "seem to flourish..." and " are therefore called" constitutes active+and+passive structure which violates parallelism )
(C) that seem to flourish in these extreme conditions and that are
(D) seeming to flourish in these extreme conditions and are ( same reason as choice B )
(E) seeming to flourish with these extreme conditions and that are ( "seeming to flourish..." and " that are therefore called" violates parallelism )

kodalikranthi · Answer

Explanation: Here, we have three errors - idiom, parallelism, meaning
1. B & E are out --> micorbes are in extreme conditions. it is not with extreme conditions because microbes & extreme conditions are not together
2. Meaning --> "and are therefore called " --> it is a verb which routes to the subject of the clause. That is wrong. So, we need to route the subject to Microbes. So, we have to use the relative modifier with parallelism. 
That satisfies the criteria
So, C is the suitable option

faat99 · Answer

• A: it sounds ok to me and I couldn’t reject this. Keep for now. But if I am harsh, second clause is unclear what is its subject, inhospitable places or microbes are called extremophiles?
• B: “and therefore called X” (active instead of passive), and “flourish with” don’t sound right 
• C: “that” in the second clause clarifies microbes is the subject of it
• D: similar subject issue in 2nd clause
• E: “flourish with” unidiomatic, and second clause starting with that is unclear

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Inhospitable places on our planet, from steaming hot springs to the thick ice of the polar regions, tend to be populated by specially adapted microbes  flourishing, it seems, in these extreme conditions and are  therefore called "extremophiles."

(A)  flourishing , it seems, in these extreme conditions  and are 
(B)  that  seem to flourish  with  these extreme conditions  and 
(C)  that seem to flourish in these extreme conditions and that are 
(D)  seeming  to flourish in these extreme conditions  and are 
(E)  seeming  to flourish  with  these extreme conditions and  that are

Inhospitable places on our planet tend to be populated by specially adapted microbes. What kind of microbes? 
-Microbes  that seem to flourish and that are called “extremophiles” 
Clauses on both sides of “and”- Parallel.

Option C is correct.

deepakbarchha1 · Answer

Thanks Kinjal for effective explanation. Congratulation for good score. Your story has really inspired me. Thanks once again.

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