Minnesota is the only one of the contiguous forty-eight states that st

Hi expert,
I know this is an old official question and might NOT be that perfect. I just wonder is there any difference between (comma+and) and (and)? Since I come cross the similar issue in other questions, but I found different experts have different opinions over this issue and made me more confused. Thanks.

When "and" connects two relative clauses, as it does in this question, or two verb phrases, there is no major difference between "and" alone and comma + "and."

MartyTargetTestPrep thanks for your response. Furthermore, if AND connects two clauses, is there any difference between AND alone and COMMA+AND?

Hi, daagh ExpertsGlobal5 souvik101990

before the conjunction and there is a comma.
my understanding is that comma before and indicates a list of containing more than 3 elements.
therefore any option with , and is wrong
am I right?

Please suggest

Hi, daagh ExpertsGlobal5 souvik101990

before the conjunction and there is a comma.
my understanding is that comma before and indicates a list of containing more than 3 elements.
therefore any option with , and is wrong
am I right?

Please suggest

Good question, shalabhg27. I don't think that the GMAT is particularly rigid on this. Sure, if you use the word "where", it would have to modify a place or location -- but you could use "that" to modify a location, too.

• The restaurant that serves a Polish buffet is one of Chicago's most legendary eateries.
• Someday, I want to live in a country that has a reasonable health care system.

Both of these seem completely acceptable to me, even though "that" modifies a location in each case ("restaurant" and "country", respectively). So I wouldn't say that "where" is necessary when you're modifying a place or location.




Ugh -- this part is trickier, and I don't really like what the GMAT has done here. First, you don't technically need an antecedent for "this predator", since "this predator" isn't a pronoun. But the singular/plural thing is a little bit funky: the sentence would probably be a little bit better if (E) said "these predators" (to match the word "wolves") instead of "this predator."

But to be fair, I don't think that the singular/plural issue is all that much of a crime in this case. Again, "this predator" isn't a pronoun; if "this predator" were changed to "it" in (E), then the answer choice would be inarguably wrong, since "it" can't refer to "wolves." But since "this predator" isn't a pronoun, I think the GMAT would argue that there's no ambiguity here: we still easily understand what, exactly, "this predator" is. Again, I don't love it, but I see their point.

More importantly: remember that the GMAT never asks you to identify a perfect answer choice. They're asking you to identify the best of the five options. Or the least crappy of the five options. As plenty of others have suggested, there are more severe problems with the other four answer choices -- and the little singular/plural issue in (E) is pretty minor by comparison.

Hello,

The statement says 'Minnesota is the ONLY one of the contiguous forty-eight states...'

In this case if 'that' refers to 'states', then the statement does not make sense, since their is no use of 'only'.
Since 'only' has been used, a unique feature of Minnesota has to be pointed out. So 'that has...' should be correct.

And 'that' and 'where' can be parallel. Both are pronouns and can be used to refer to a state.

By the above reasoning I do not find a good enough reason to reject A.

Can Experts please explain where I am going wrong?

Regards,
Ankit

Hello,

The statement says 'Minnesota is the ONLY one of the contiguous forty-eight states...'

In this case if 'that' refers to 'states', then the statement does not make sense, since their is no use of 'only'.
Since 'only' has been used, a unique feature of Minnesota has to be pointed out. So 'that has...' should be correct.

And 'that' and 'where' can be parallel. Both are pronouns and can be used to refer to a state.

By the above reasoning I do not find a good enough reason to reject A.

Can Experts please explain where I am going wrong?

Regards,
Ankit

When "and" connects two relative clauses, as it does in this question, or two verb phrases, there is no major difference between "and" alone and comma + "and."

MartyMurray

Since you say "and" is not an issue in option C(I also agree), then on what grounds would you eliminate C?