Meteor showers and individual streaks of light that flash across the s

A. grains of sand or of pebbles, burn up speeding [hold it]
B. grains of sand or pebbles, burn up while speeding [while parallels when to indicate time factor - Hold it]
C. grains of sand or pebbles, which burn up while speeding [which incorrectly modifies sentence - eliminate it]
D. a grain of sand or pebble, which burns up as it speeds [pronoun it has referent issue – eliminate it]
E. a grain of sand or a pebble, burns up when it speeds [pronoun it has referent issue – eliminate it]

B is better than A
Answer: B

There is a very nice explanation on this page

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/met ... t7945.html

i will pick B


we need to find what should follow "when tiny flecks of celestial detritus,xxxx," burn/ which burn(s)/ burns.
Obiviously 'which burn(s)' is already out coz it modifying 'pebble(s)' not the 'flecks'. so option C & D are out.
'burns' is singular 'flecks' plural so E is also out.
Between A and B - In A 'larger than grains of sand or OF pebbles' -- there is nothing grains of pebbles. It should be either larger than grains of sand OR larger than pebbles.
Only B left

Why is the usage of which wrong in C...B and C according to me are exactly the same... which refers to 'grain' since 'of sand or pebbles' is a prepositional phrase....

Because which refers to near word, so when we use which in "X or Y " construction, it is ambigues to ey to X or Y it reffers

Subject :- "tiny flecks of celestial detritus"(Plural) Verb :- "burn"(Plural)
Eliminate D and E.

A is wrong because ‘of pebbles’ – prepositional phrase and cannot be compared with noun ‘grains’ (parallelism either side of conjunction).However, ‘burn up speeding' – is not correct may be due to wrong idiomatic usage’ .
Eliminate A.

Between B and C, the difference is only 'Which',
which can be ambiguously refer to 'pebble', 'detritus' or flecks.

so better go without 'which'. Hence B.

Why not A (apart from while issue)?
What's the meaning difference (apart from grammar) in the highlighted part both in A and B?
Can I also say the following version is right, expert?
Meteor showers and individual streaks of light that flash across the sky every night are generated when tiny flecks ('s' has been removed to make it 'singular') of celestial detritus, often no larger than a grain of sand or pebble, burn up while speeding through the atmosphere.
I'm a bit confused comparing 'singular' to 'singular' ('fleck' vs 'a grain')

Hi

I am no expert, but i can help

Option A is incorrect for reasons other that while. While " while adds nuance to the sentence, it is not absolutely necessary.
The real error lies in the "grains of sand or of pebbles". There is meaning error and modifier error as well. Grains of sand is fine, but grains of pebbles is wrong as we pebbles are not composed of grains. Grains should only apply to the sand and not to the pebbles. A has this error.

B corrects this issue by removing second "off" after or.

Regards,
Arvind

Hey folks, I have a small doubt.

While I understand choice A is incorrect because of other reasons, I can't understand the difference in meaning between 'burn up speeding' and 'burn up while speeding'.

Can anyone or experts throw some light on this specific difference?

GMATNinja AndrewN KarishmaB generis

Hello raahulthakur,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option A is not without merit, but the use of "while" in Option B makes the latter clearer and more parallel.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Option (A) vs Option (B)

Look at the relevant clause:
... tiny flecks of celestial detritus burn up speeding through the atmosphere.

'burn up' is the verb. Here, 'speeding' becomes its object. 'Burn up' what? speeding
But that makes no sense. We could say 'burn up gases they encounter..' or 'burn up dust particles in the atmosphere' etc and that would make sense.
Or we could use it without an object so that we know that the 'tiny flecks of celestial detritus' are the ones burning up. This we know is the intended meaning.

... tiny flecks of celestial detritus burn up while speeding through the atmosphere.

Here 'burn up' has no object. The tiny flecks are the ones burning up.
'while speeding through the atmosphere' is a reduced relative clause. The actual clause is 'while they are speeding through the atmosphere'. Since the subject is the same for both, main and adverbial clauses, we can skip renaming the subject.

'tiny flecks burn up while they are speeding' becomes
'tiny flecks burn up while speeding'

(A) grains of sand or of pebbles, burn up speeding Incorrect because the sentence does not clarify when do tiny flecks of celestial detritus burn up, actual framing should be the tiny flecks of celestial detritus burn up while they were speeding through the atmosphere.
(B) grains of sand or pebbles, burn up while speeding Correct
(C) grains of sand or pebbles, which burn up while speeding Incorrect which is not required
(D) a grain of sand or pebble, which burns up as it speeds Incorrect which is not required
(E) a grain of sand or a pebble, burns up when it speeds Incorrect SVA error

It's quite surprising that many, all most all on the thread so far, have failed to identify concrete issues with C, D, and E.
raahulthakur Though I'm not an expert, I'll try to give my complete analysis of this question, including explanations for your doubts.






which burn(s) up ... is totally wrong here, not just for the reasons mentioned by others, but MAJORLY for VIOLATION of basic grammar rule of a complete clause, which requires a subject and a verb. Here, "when tiny flecks of celestial detritus, [modifier]," begins a dependent clause and needs a solid verb.

Strip down the entire sentence to its bare bone to understand that:
Meteor showers are generated [Independent clause]
when tiny flecks burn up. [Dependent clause]

Here, "which" begins another dependent clause, hence not providing a solid verb that the sentence requires. Chuck C and D for this murky hidden error.


Again, a simple Subject-verb agreement mistake.
When tiny flecks burns up??
"Flecks" is a plural subject and needs a plural verb. (burn, in this case, as in options A and B.)

Now, having eliminated C, D, and E for the right reasons, let's focus on A and B.


Although others mentioned that "of pebbles" wrongly conveys that there are grains of pebbles, I feel that the second "of" is redundant, making a strong case for the elimination of A.

Besides, "burn up speeding" is slightly off because it doesn't clearly convey the time frames of two actions, namely burning and speeding.
The usage of while/as, as in option B, provides a better context.
Having said that, I feel this is more of a hair-splitting and idiomatic issue.

Also, note that "speeding through the atmosphere" is an -ing modifier modifying the previous clause and has to make sense with the subject of the clause (tiny flecks).


This fixes all the mess in A.
no redundant "of".
"burn up while speeding" sets the context right and is idiomatic.
Note: we need "grains," not a grain, to refer to tiny flecks.

Hope this help!

Hit kudos if you like this explanation.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that meteor showers and individual streaks of light that flash across the sky every night are generated when tiny flecks of celestial detritus burn up as they speed through the atmosphere, and these flecks are no larger than pebbles or grains of sand.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Pronouns + Meaning + Parallelism

• All elements linked by a conjunction ("or" in this case) must be parallel.

A: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "no larger than grains...of pebbles"; the construction of this phrase illogically implies that the flecks of detritus are no larger than grains of pebbles; the intended meaning is that the flecks of detritus are no larger than pebbles.

B: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the plural noun "flecks" with the plural verb "burn" and avoids the pronoun error seen in Options D and E as it uses no pronouns. Further, Option B uses the clause "flecks of celestial detritus...burn up while speeding", conveying the intended meaning - that flecks of celestial detritus burn up as they speed through the atmosphere. Moreover, Option B uses the phrase "no larger than...pebbles", conveying the intended meaning - that the flecks of detritus are no larger than pebbles. Additionally, Option B maintains parallelism between "grains of sand" and "pebbles".

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "flecks of celestial detritus...which burn up while speeding"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that flecks of celestial detritus burn up as they speed through the atmosphere.

D: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "flecks" with the singular verb "burns" and the singular pronoun "it". Further, Option D alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "flecks of celestial detritus...which burn up"; the construction of this phrase leads to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning is that flecks of celestial detritus burn up as they speed through the atmosphere. Additionally, Option D fails to maintain parallelism between "a grain of sand" and "pebble"; remember, all elements linked by a conjunction ("or" in this case) must be parallel.

E: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "flecks" with the singular verb "burns" and the singular pronoun "it".

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

It took me 50 sec to pick wrong answer
C,D, and E are wrong because they are fragment. For the clause we need Sub [flecks] + bona fide verb [burn up].
But the relative pronoun "which" add additional relative clause, leaving sentence without verb.



Between A and B,
in A "burn up speeding" in which speeding is an adjective, present participle modifier, that can modifies only noun.
Yet, "speeding" is followed by verb and, thus, cannot modify the verb. Moreover, "speeding" cannot be the object of the verb, serving as a noun.
In B "burn up while speeding" we see contrast and can get the meaning clearly: "burn up while [flecks] speeding"

This is what the sentence tells us:
Meteor showers are generated when tiny flecks of detritus burn up while speeding through the atmosphere. These tiny flecks are often no larger than grains of sand or pebbles.

The sentence uses ‘or’ to join ‘grains of sand’ and ‘pebbles’ so the two must be parallel.


(A) grains of sand or of pebbles, burn up speeding

Option (A) uses ‘grains of sand or of pebbles.’ What does this mean? It means ‘grains of sand’ or ‘grains of pebbles.’ When we repeat ‘of,’ ‘grains’ is applicable to both sand and pebbles. If we break it into two sentences, we get
often no larger than grains of sand
or
often no larger than grains of pebbles

But ‘grains of pebbles’ makes no sense.

(D) a grain of sand or pebble, which burns up as it speeds

Option (D) uses ‘a grain of sand or pebble’ which is again not correct. We should use ‘a pebble.’ If we split the two parallel parts into two sentences, both should make sense.
… tiny flecks, often no larger than a grain of sand, burn up …
or
… tiny flecks, often no larger than a pebble, burn up …
(without ‘a’ here, the required article would be missing)

(C) grains of sand or pebbles, which burn up while speeding
(D) a grain of sand or pebble, which burns up as it speeds

The use of ‘which’ in options (C) and (D) is incorrect. It makes what follows it a ‘which clause.’ Then we lose the verb of the ‘when’ clause:
when tiny flecks of detritus burn up while speeding through the atmosphere

The subject of the ‘when’ clause is ‘tiny flecks of detritus’ and the verb is ‘burn up.’

When we make it:
when tiny flecks of detritus, … pebbles, which burn up while speeding through the atmosphere
there is no verb for the ‘when’ clause.

Also, ‘which’ seems to refer to ‘pebbles.’ But pebbles are not the ones burning up. The tiny flecks are burning. Hence options (C) and (D) are incorrect.

(E) a grain of sand or a pebble, burns up when it speeds

Option (E) uses singular form of verb ‘burns up’ but our subject ‘tiny flecks…’ is plural. Hence option (E) is incorrect.

(A) grains of sand or of pebbles, burn up speeding
(B) grains of sand or pebbles, burn up while speeding

Another issue in option (A) is that 'burn up' is the verb. Here, 'speeding' becomes its object. 'Burn up' what? Speeding. But that makes no sense. We could say 'burn up gases they encounter..' or 'burn up dust particles in the atmosphere' etc. and that would make sense.

Or we could use it without an object so that we know that the 'tiny flecks of celestial detritus' are the ones burning up. This we know is the intended meaning.

Option (B) correctly uses a reduced adverbial clause:
tiny flecks of celestial detritus burn up while speeding through the atmosphere.
Here 'burn up' has no object. The tiny flecks are the ones burning up.

'while speeding through the atmosphere' is a reduced adverbial clause. The actual clause is 'while they are speeding through the atmosphere'. Since the subject is the same (tiny flecks) for both, main and adverbial clauses, we can skip renaming the subject.

'tiny flecks burn up while they are speeding' becomes 'tiny flecks burn up while speeding.'
There are no errors in option (B).

Answer (B)