Like the thorny ballooning of a frightened pufferfish or the

Hi Zarrolou,

Like the thorny ballooning of a frightened pufferfish or the sudden appearance of angry sapphire hoops for which the blue-ringed octopus is named, so the California newt's display of its red underbelly is a clear warning that predators ignore at their peril.

In my opinion the original choice, that is choice A, clearly presents the intended meaning. It clearly says that California newt’s “display…” is a “clear warning”. The logical meaning is very clear here.

Choice A is incorrect because of “comma + so” that is used to join two independent clauses. There is no clause before “comma + so”. This is so because “like” cannot be followed by a clause.

Now let’s take a look at choice C:

C. the California newt's displaying its red underbelly is a clear warning for predators, so they ignore it at their peril

The issue with this choice is the use of “displaying”. After a possessive noun, we need to use a noun in its proper form and not the verb-ing form. The proper noun form of “displaying” is “display”. Hence, use of “display” will be correct here.

And yes, “it” has no clear referent.

This choice also distorts the intended meaning. Per this choice, the predators ignore the warning because the newt displays its red underbelly. This cause and effect relationship here is certainly illogical.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Like the thorny ballooning of a frightened pufferfish or the sudden appearance of angry sapphire hoops for which the blue-ringed octopus is named, so the California newt's display of its red underbelly is a clear warning that predators ignore at their peril.

We need something to complete the comparison: "Like the thorny ballooning" "it is at their peril that predators" does not make sense. We can eliminate B and E. The presence of "so" : Like X, so Y makes A incorrect. (This is not "Just as X, so Y")

(C) the California newt's displaying its red underbelly is a clear warning for predators, so they ignore it at their peril
(D) the California newt's display of its red underbelly is a clear warning that predators ignore at their peril



Yes, a bit. In C(and also A, the original sentence) the meaning is different form E's, which seems to say
"red underbelly is a warning(...), so(=because is a clear warning) they ignore it at their peril "; my point is that in D "that predators ignore at their peril" is a modifier of warning, in C "so they ignore it at their peril" does not modify "warning" but seems to modify the preceding verb ("so" is used as an adverb).

Also in C, "it" refers to "the California newt" but it is not the noun here. That was my reason to not to pick C. is that correct....???

You are talking about the "poison pronoun" rule, am I correct?

That rules appears on 0 official problems and has been removed from the MGMAT guides, so I would not consider it.

Hope this is what you meant

use of LIKE is used to compare nouns or noun phrase.
LIKE X,Y
X,Y ==>They are either noun or noun phrase.
now in this case basis this rule we can eliminate option A,B,and E
Now the fight is between C and D.
Like the thorny ballooning of a frightened pufferfish or the sudden appearance of angry sapphire hoops for which the blue-ringed octopus is named, so the California newt's display of its red underbelly is a clear warning that predators ignore at their peril.


(C) the California newt's displaying its red underbelly is a clear warning for predators, so they ignore it at their peril
IT ==>This has no referent
(D) the California newt's display of its red underbelly is a clear warning that predators ignore at their peril==>correct

hope this helps

Answer – D
Meaning – there is a comparison between:
1. ballooning of a frightened pufferfish or the sudden appearance of angry sapphire hoops and
2. California newt's display
Hence, immediately after comma, we need ‘California newt's display’ Option D is the only right option.
Understand that comparison is not with ‘California newt's (displaying its red underbelly)’
A – wrong structure. We need comparion word immediately after comma.
B – same as above.
C – wrong comparison as stated in above explanation.
D – Correct choice.
E – same mistake as in A and B.

Like the thorny ballooning of a frightened pufferfish or the sudden appearance of angry sapphire hoops for which the blue-ringed octopus is named, so the California newt's display of its red underbelly is a clear warning that predators ignore at their peril.


throny ballooning and sudden appearance of angry sapphire must be compared to something similar. "so" is unnecessary. A is out.

Same issue present in A.

the "it" doesn't have a proper antecedent. C is out.

Correct comparison and clean.

why would you start with "it" here? what is it refering to here? most **** option IMO

This question is based on Comparison.

The preposition ‘like’ indicates a comparison. The noun placed immediately after the preposition is “the thorny ballooning of a pufferfish”.
The conjunction ‘or’ implies another example.
So, the thing that is compared must be parallel to “the thorny ballooning” or “the sudden appearance of angry sapphire hoops”.

The conjunction ‘so’ is redundant in a sentence that begins with the preposition ‘like’. The conjunction ‘so’ placed after a comma is used to join two independent clauses. So, Option A can be eliminated.

Option B repeats the error in Option A. The comparison is not parallel in this option either. “Their peril” cannot be compared to “the thorny ballooning of a pufferfish”. So, Option B can be eliminated.

When a word has a noun form, the gerund (-ing form) is generally not used as the noun. The word ‘display’ is the noun form, so the construction of Option C is awkward because of the use of the gerund form ‘displaying’. So, Option C can be eliminated.

“Their peril” cannot be compared to “the thorny ballooning of a pufferfish”. Furthermore, the phrase at the end of the option “a clear warning” seems to dangle without an appropriate subject. So, Option E can be eliminated.

In Option D, the comparison is parallel. “The California newt's display of its red underbelly” can be appropriately compared to ““the thorny ballooning of a pufferfish”.
The noun form of the word ‘display’ also makes this option clearer.
Therefore, D is the best of all the options.

Jayanthi Kumar.
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