More and more holidaymakers are choosing to fly to remote

Question

6. More and more holidaymakers are choosing to fly to remote islands in search of the perfect beach ; seeking sand, sun and palm trees, rather than centers of entertainment.

A. ; seeking sand, sun and palm trees, rather than centers of entertainment.
B. ; seeking sad, sun, palm trees and not entertainment.
C. , with sand, sun, palm trees and no entertainment.
D. , they seek sand, sun and palm trees, rather than entertainment centers.
E. ; they seek sand, sun and palm trees, rather than centers of entertainment.

DmitryFarberMPrep · Accepted Answer

The GMAT would not make the correct answer hinge on a superficial difference such as "entertainment centers" vs. "centers of entertainment." Semicolon vs. comma is a clear rule; therefore, the answer must be E. (Did you like my semicolon?)

daagh · Answer

@akbism

Why they cannot refer anything else than "holidaymakers"? --such as what? ‘ Islands ’ is the only other plural noun there. Do you expect islands to seek sand, sun, palm trees?

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

No, akbism, there's no such rule. For instance, we might say either of these:

My kids don't like olives, perhaps because they are so salty.
My kids don't like olives; in fact, they avoid all salty foods.

As in so many sentences, we have to use meaning. True, we want to reduce ambiguity when possible, and it is never wrong to repeat a noun, but the antecedent of "they" is pretty clear in this sentence.

Vips0000 · Answer

You can join two independent clauses with a semicolon. These two clauses can stand on their own as complete sentences.
You join one independent clause with a dependent clause using FANBOYS and comma.

Ans E it is.

avaneeshvyas · Answer

Does the word seeking in option A stops the second part of the sentence from being a independent clause?

Vips0000 · Answer

I think I'd rather pose question than answer this - Would you consider this a complete sentence - "seeking sand, sun and palm trees, rather than centers of entertainment. " Or more technically, can you find subject and verb both? in - "seeking sand, sun and palm trees, rather than centers of entertainment. " Hope it helps :-)

wow! thats my 300th post!! :twisted:

Archit143 · Answer

I don't think that any of the answer is correct 
reason : none of the choice contains a verb, don't know if "Seek" is considered as verb to make the answer correct.
I think the clause after semi colon must have a verb and subject to make it independent clause

Vineetk · Answer

To know whether a particular word is a verb (especially in case of past participle verb-ed) check if the subject is performing the action. If yes then it is a verb else a modifier.

You can check this link for an excellent article by egmat. It has good examples and practice problems.

ed-forms-verbs-or-modifiers-134691.html

manhasnoname · Answer

A semicolon separates two independent clauses. (A) makes the second part of the semicolon a fragment.

crackwithneeraj · Answer

In choice A the part after semicolon is not a clause but a fragment as it does not contain a subject verb pair. Generally the independent clauses are separated by a semicolon, and separating a fragment from a clause using a semicolon is wrong usage. Thus A is clearly incorrect.

However I was surprised to see the answer. Choice D is a run on sentence as it connects independent clauses using a comma. Choice E is quite justified in this question.

Nups1324 · Answer

Hi DmitryFarber Why is E better than A.? I mean why is the use of seeking right after the semi colon wrong.? Is it because the part after semi colon should be an independent sentence? Seeking .... also seems like independent, doesn't it or am I missing something? Tagging others just in case GMATNinja VeritasKarishma AndrewN Thank you

Posted from my mobile device

MBAB123 · Answer

"Seeking seeking sand, sun and palm trees, rather than centers of entertainment" is definitely not independent I think. Who is seeking all of that stuff? and yes, you are right in your reasoning that it should separate 2 independent clauses.

I am by no means an expert but I hope it helps.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Nups1324 . The part of the sentence that begins with  seeking  is, in fact, a phrase, not a clause, so it certainly cannot be called an independent clause. It is not that such a phrase could not constitute an independent clause. Consider the following variant, for example:

Seeking sand, sun, and palm trees, rather than centers of entertainment, draws in more tourists each year than any other activity.

The subject is the gerundive phrase, and  draws  begins a predicate that helps to create an independent clause. Note, too, that even though there are three nouns following the gerund, the verb continues to be conjugated with  seeking : seeking draws in tourists, whether that entails one place or thing or several.

Of the answer choices, only (C) and (E) are grammatically viable. The first two use a phrase after a semicolon in a non-list format, while (D), by joining a second independent clause to a first with nothing more than a comma—i.e. without a conjunction—creates a comma splice.

I would move on from this one. Thank you, in any case, for bringing the question to my attention. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.

- Andrew

VerbalBot · Answer

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More and more holidaymakers are choosing to fly to remote

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