Bunuel wrote:
Like the beautiful old growth forests that provide the necessary habitat for the marten and fisher cat,
the animals themselves are disappearing across North America because of increased logging and development.
(A) the animals themselves are disappearing across North America because of increased logging and development
(B) increased logging and development are causing the animals themselves to disappear
(C) increased logging and development are the cause of the animals themselves disappearing
(D) the animals’ disappearance across North America is being caused by increased logging and development
(E) North America has a disappearance of the animals themselves because of increased logging and development
VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:
Whenever a modifier starts a sentence and is not underlined, the portion following it must create logical modification. Here, with the word “like”, you need to make sure you have an “apples to apples” comparison in the underlined portion. It might seem that “like the old growth forests” cannot logically modify “the animals themselves” but it is the only one that makes sense. Since both the “forests” and “animals themselves” are both disappearing because of logging and development, the comparison is logical. In (B) and (C), “logging and development” certainly could never be “like old growth forests” and in (D) you cannot compare a “disappearance” with “forests”; it would have to be comparing the disappearance of the animals with the disappearance of the forest. For (E), North America is not disappearing “like the old growth forests” so this too is illogical. Correct answer is (A).