Last visit was: 19 Nov 2025, 08:58 It is currently 19 Nov 2025, 08:58
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
705-805 Level|   Modifiers|      
User avatar
Bunuel
User avatar
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 105,389
Own Kudos:
778,279
 [11]
Given Kudos: 99,977
Products:
GMAT Club Tests Forum Quiz
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 105,389
Kudos: 778,279
 [11]
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 20 Oct 2023, 01:30
Kudos
Add Kudos
10
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
00:00
Start Timer
Pause Timer
Resume Timer
Show Answer
Hide
Show
History
A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

75% (hard)

Question Stats:

47% (01:39) correct 53% (01:42) wrong based on 266 sessions

History

Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Northern pike – also known as jackfish – are a cunning and aggressive fish, propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements as they emerge from sedentary hiding places to quickly accelerate and track down their unsuspecting prey.

A. Northern pike – also known as jackfish – are a cunning and aggressive fish, propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements as they emerge

B. The northern pike – also known as jackfish – is a cunning and aggressive fish, propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements as it emerges

C. Northern pike – also known as jackfish – are cunning and aggressive fish that are propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements and emerging

D. The northern pike – also known as jackfish – is a cunning, aggressive fish that is propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements, emerging

E. The northern pike – also known as a jackfish – is a cunning and aggressive fish and is propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements while it emerges


ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
A
User avatar
Amobnc
User avatar
Joined: 28 Sep 2022
Last visit: 18 Feb 2025
Posts: 39
Own Kudos:
11
Given Kudos: 250
Location: Portugal
Schools: INSEAD '26 (WL)
GMAT Focus 1: 605 Q82 V83 DI75
Products:
My Reviews
Schools: INSEAD '26 (WL)
GMAT Focus 1: 605 Q82 V83 DI75
Posts: 39
Kudos: 11
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 21 Oct 2023, 07:07
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi Could I get an explanation of why A) is correct vs E)? Thanks!
User avatar
Ishmeet7
User avatar
Joined: 02 Aug 2018
Last visit: 20 Jun 2024
Posts: 11
Own Kudos:
2
Given Kudos: 9
Posts: 11
Kudos: 2
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 21 Oct 2023, 07:37
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Why is C incorrect? Can somebody please explain? emerging and propelled are parallel as they are both modifers, right?
User avatar
lovesuit
User avatar
Joined: 10 Aug 2023
Last visit: 27 Jul 2025
Posts: 30
Own Kudos:
59
Given Kudos: 6
Posts: 30
Kudos: 59
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 21 Oct 2023, 23:08
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
northern pike is singular? so why "are cunning".
I think Northern Pike is a single species, like team
the team is doing fine- correct
the team are doing fine- wrong
User avatar
Biswadeep20
User avatar
Joined: 08 Dec 2014
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 54
Own Kudos:
51
 [1]
Given Kudos: 150
Location: India
Posts: 54
Kudos: 51
 [1]
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 21 Oct 2023, 23:28
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Ishmeet7
Why is C incorrect? Can somebody please explain? emerging and propelled are parallel as they are both modifiers, right?
Show more
Hi Ishmeet7, emerging is the only modifier, "are propelled isn't a modifier. Are is a verb. Also, A is clear in its meaning as both emerge & track are parallel verbs.
User avatar
Priyankajaismali
User avatar
Joined: 30 Jun 2021
Last visit: 28 Jan 2024
Posts: 135
Own Kudos:
81
 [1]
Given Kudos: 232
Location: India
Schools: McCombs '24 Bocconi Tepper '24 IIMA PGPX'23 Haskayne(Calgary) S.P.Jain Institute WHU MBA HEC Montreal Mannheim ESMT Alberta University DeGroote Molson Sauder '25 IIML IPMX'25 Great Lakes
GMAT 1: 400 Q34 V13
GPA: 3.04
Schools: McCombs '24 Bocconi Tepper '24 IIMA PGPX'23 Haskayne(Calgary) S.P.Jain Institute WHU MBA HEC Montreal Mannheim ESMT Alberta University DeGroote Molson Sauder '25 IIML IPMX'25 Great Lakes
GMAT 1: 400 Q34 V13
Posts: 135
Kudos: 81
 [1]
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 22 Oct 2023, 02:58
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Even I went wrong here, but as I read the whole sentence, the ununderlined portion has used pronoun " their" for Norther pike,which clearly conveys that the verb to be used will be plural

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
swaradasrujana
User avatar
Joined: 31 Aug 2023
Last visit: 29 Mar 2024
Posts: 2
Posts: 2
Kudos: 0
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 22 Oct 2023, 23:01
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi Bunuel, GMATNinja can you please provide an explanation for this question? Isn't species singular?
User avatar
CountingBack
User avatar
Joined: 10 Dec 2021
Last visit: 04 Jan 2024
Posts: 26
Own Kudos:
10
Given Kudos: 191
Posts: 26
Kudos: 10
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 23 Oct 2023, 08:01
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
While I initially selected the wrong answer,The correct answer is A.
main clause- (Northern pike are a cunning and aggressive fish), modifier explaining why they are cunning and aggressive -(propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements as they emerge)
User avatar
DmitryFarber
User avatar
Manhattan Prep Instructor
Joined: 22 Mar 2011
Last visit: 08 Nov 2025
Posts: 3,020
Own Kudos:
8,563
Given Kudos: 57
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT Focus 1: 745 Q86 V90 DI85
Posts: 3,020
Kudos: 8,563
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 31 Oct 2023, 15:52
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
This is definitely a cunning and aggressive SC question. I'm not sure the GMAT would to this, but here's what's going on:

Clearly, the sentence is messing with us about singular vs. plural, so we need to be careful. The one fixed thing is that we have THEIR in the non-underlined portion, so we need a plural antecedent. That cuts BDE. However we read "Northern Pike," these options establish the fish as singular with IS and IT. There's no way these can be right.

A and C both say "Northern Pike are," so we can figure that in this case, "Pike" is singular. (Many animal/species names, such as deer, fish, and Pokémon, do not vary between singular and plural.) At this point, you may figure we have to choose C, since it seems wrong to say "Northern Pike are A fish." I'm inclined to agree, and my first instinct was to cut A. However, it's important to check your answer by reading the full sentence with that answer plugged in. As soon as we get to "emerging," we have a problem. It's not parallel to say "that are propelled . . . and emerging." Answer choice A gives us a modifier instead of parallelism: "propelled . . . as they emerge." So do we choose A? Sure, as long as we figure that the GMAT would be okay with the implication that THESE FISH are A KIND OF FISH. It's not great, honestly, and the usage in C is certainly preferable on that front. But this kind of thing has been known to happen. This official question has us saying that ALL NEANDERTHALS had A VOCAL TRACT: https://gmatclub.com/forum/neanderthals ... 75586.html
User avatar
Bunuel
User avatar
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Last visit: 19 Nov 2025
Posts: 105,389
Own Kudos:
778,279
Given Kudos: 99,977
Products:
GMAT Club Tests Forum Quiz
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 105,389
Kudos: 778,279
Northern pike also known as jackfish are a cunning and aggressive 05 Nov 2023, 07:30
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Bunuel
Northern pike – also known as jackfish – are a cunning and aggressive fish, propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements as they emerge from sedentary hiding places to quickly accelerate and track down their unsuspecting prey.

A. Northern pike – also known as jackfish – are a cunning and aggressive fish, propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements as they emerge

B. The northern pike – also known as jackfish – is a cunning and aggressive fish, propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements as it emerges

C. Northern pike – also known as jackfish – are cunning and aggressive fish that are propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements and emerging

D. The northern pike – also known as jackfish – is a cunning, aggressive fish that is propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements, emerging

E. The northern pike – also known as a jackfish – is a cunning and aggressive fish and is propelled by fast-twitched S-shaped movements while it emerges


Show more


VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

This problem features several singular vs. plural (with both pronouns and verbs) decision points, and relies on a unique structure to make those decisions tricky. As often occurs on the GMAT, however, the testmaker has left a clue for those who recognize that "The Whole Sentence Matters." Note the fixed "their" - a plural pronoun - three words from the end of the sentence and far from the underline. This means that "northern pike" are meant to be treated as plural requiring that verbs that describe them must be "are" and not "is" (eliminating B, D, and E), which all use "is a cunning...") and that pronouns that describe them must be "they" or "their," eliminating B and E which each use "it emerges."

From there, note that choice C uses an improper verb tense ("and emerging"), which creates an illogical meaning for the sentence (everything else in the sentence is in an indicative "these are properties of northern pike" manner, while "are emerging" refers to a current event).

So choice A, which uses proper pronouns and verbs, is correct.

But wait: how does "a cunning and aggressive fish" match with everything else being plural? This is a classic testmaker device, finding unique applications of proper grammar that strike the ear in a funny way. What's occurring there is that the sentence is taking the individual fish ("northern pike are") and defining them as a species "a cunning and aggressive fish." Note that the GMAT has often done this very thing, using the fact that with animals the singular ("the lion" or "the dolphin," for example) can stand in to describe the entire species. This also extends to groups of people ("Norwegians are a hearty people"), where a sentence can treat the people as individuals (plural) and as a group (singular) when discussing group characteristics.

Even more importantly, recognize this about GMAT Sentence Correction: you can only control the decisions that the problem allows you to make. The testmaker intentionally finds unique sentence structures and cases of diction so that often you won't love the answer you pick. But on hard questions your job is to accept those seemingly-strange things that you cannot control and make the decisions that you're able to make.
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7443 posts
GMATNinjaTwo
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
231 posts
miag
189 posts