Organized in 1966 by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Breeding Bird

Question

Organized in 1966 by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Breeding Bird Survey uses annual roadside counts along established routes for monitoring of population changes of as many as, or of more than 250 bird species, including 180 songbirds.
(D) that monitors population changes of

(A) for monitoring of population changes of as many as, or of

(B) to monitor population changes of as many, or

(C) to monitor changes in the populations of

(D) that monitors population changes of

(E) that monitors changes in populations of as many as, or

I'm quite confused with this SC question. It seems that OA is modifying the meaning of the original sentence.
as many as or more than is not equal to more than...

Even if the contruction seems good, i'm really surprised such a question could have validated a change in the meaning.

jeeteshsingh · Accepted Answer

Organized in 1966 by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Breeding Bird Survey uses annual roadside counts along established routes for monitoring of population changes of as many as, or of more than 250 bird species, including 180 songbirds.
(D) that monitors population changes of

(A) for monitoring of population changes of as many as, or of  - INCORRECT .... as many as or more... is not correct! 
(B) to monitor population changes of as many, or  - INCORRECT .... as many as or more... is not correct! 
(C) to monitor changes in the populations of  Correct.... to monitor and no 'as many as more' present.... 
(D) that monitors population changes of  Incorrect.... to monitor.. should be used.. 
(E) that monitors changes in populations of as many as, or  - INCORRECT .... as many as or more... is not correct!

pqhai · Answer

Organized in 1966 by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Breeding Bird Survey uses annual roadside counts along established routes for monitoring of population changes of as many as, or of more than 250 bird species, including 180 songbirds.
(D) that monitors population changes of

(A)  for monitoring  of population changes of as many as, or of
Wrong. "use X to monitor Y" is correct. "use X for monitoring Y" is not correct when we want to convey  purpose  of action.

(B) to monitor population changes of as many, or
Wrong. " as many , or more than" is wrong. ==> Correct structure is "as many  as , or more than".
 
(C)  to monitor  changes in the populations of
  Correct.   "use X to monitor Y" is correct. Infinitive conveys better meaning than gerund.

(D)  that  monitors population changes of
Wrong. "that" modifies the CLOSET noun - established routes --> wrong because routes can't monitor population changes.

(E)  that  monitors changes in populations of as many as, or
Wrong. Same as D.

Hope it helps.

GMATFIGHTER · Answer

I chose C for this problem. Let me try to explain the difference between B and C:

b) population changes of ----> the noun here is "changes", so it's wrong to say "changes of" is wrong because not idiomatic
c) changes in the populations of -----> "populations of" is idiomatic

hope this helps

shanewyatt · Answer

C

(A) for monitoring of population changes of  as many as, or of 
(B) to monitor population changes of  as many, or 
(C) to monitor changes in the populations of
(D)  that  monitors population changes of
(E)  that  monitors changes in populations of as many as, or

D and E are incorrect because the routes don't do the monitoring.

jeeteshsingh · Answer

In GMAT....  as many as or more  is not correct and hence GMAT gives you the liberty to correct this....! Refer Manhattan SC Guide...

rsh12 · Answer

I stumbled upon this golden post in MGMAT. https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... 17266.html It says - as many as would imply less than or equal to 250 whereas more than would imply greater than 250. Thus, A is not saying anything. Therefore the original sentence is illogical!

rishi02 · Answer

egmat

Can you clarify why option d and e are wrong. I understand that the "to+verb" is used to express purpose but some of the posts here mention that the "that" seems to refer to routes. However "that" is a singular pronoun and as such can only refer to the survey.

IIMC · Answer

@daagh : please check, whether "changes in populations of" is correct.

egmat · Answer

Hello IIMC , I am not sure of you still have the same doubt. Here is my two cents nonetheless.

The expression changes in the populations of has been used in the correct answer choice of the said official sentence. This means that it is a correct expression. The word populations has been used to refer to population of more than 250 bird bird species, each species having individual population. Thanks.

Shraadha

egmat · Answer

Hello rishi02 , I know this a very old doubt. However, the reply may just help someone who may have the similar doubt.

When that is used as a relative pronoun modifier to modify the preceding noun entity, it can modify both singular and plural noun entity. When used just as a pronoun to refer to a noun or a pronoun in the sentence, that acts as singular pronoun and as such refers only to a singular noun entity. In the official sentence in discussion, that has been used as the noun modifier in Choices D and E. In both these choices, that is meant to modify the noun entity annual roadside counts along established routes . So essentially, that modifies the plural noun annual roadside counts **. Hence it must take plural verb. But in Choices D and E, that takes singular verb monitors . Hence, we do have SV number agreement error here. ** Here, we see the case of far-away noun modification by the noun modifier that that modifies the noun entity placed a bit far-away from the modifier. This is absolutely correct modification. How this modification works has been covered in great details in our very popular article named Noun Modifiers can modify a slightly far-away Noun in the following link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/noun-modifiers-can-modify-slightly-far-away-noun-135868.html Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

GMATmantra · Answer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=726OfDf6uLI

RashedVai · Answer

Since monitors is followed by 'that' in choice D, I'm sure that 'that' is not referring to routes. From the meaning point of view it is clear that it is the Breeding Bird Survey that's monitoring the changes in the populations of 250 bird species.

How can 'that' jump over a verb 'uses'. Is this the reason that this choice is incorrect ?

Please help me with the reason for eliminating choice D.  generis

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generis · Answer

RashedVai  , you wrote
 
True. But  that  IS referring to  counts . 
 Counts  are  tallies .

In the noun phrase  annual roadside counts along established routes,  the main noun is  counts. 
--  Annual  and  roadside  are adjectives. 
Every year on the side of the road, machines or people conduct (take) counts of birds.
--  along established routes  is a prepositional modifier of counts that tells us where these counts (tallies) are located.
 
Careful. The Breeding Bird Survey is not itself a monitoring device.
 How  does the Breeding Bird Survey actually DO the monitoring?
You missed the word  uses .
. . . the Breeding Bird Survey  uses

X uses Y to Z. 
-- The BB Survey uses counts to monitor birds.

The word "that" does not jump over any verb.
 That  refers to  counts.

Verbs such as  use  require an  object . ("transitive verb")
 Wrong : To monitor species, the Bird Survey uses.
 Correct : To monitor species, the Bird Survey uses counts (tally systems).

Here is (D) in the sentence:
Organized in 1966 by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Breeding Bird Survey uses annual roadside   COUNTS     along established routes  that   monitors     population changes of  more than 250 bird species, including 180 songbirds.

Count  is rarely a noun except in phrases such as  head count .
 Counts , plural, may sound even more strange in its noun form.
 Counts  are  tallies —action nouns.

We might not know that counts is a noun.
But it cannot be a verb; it has no subject, and we need a direct object for  uses .

Hence we know that  somewhere  between  uses  and  that , there must be a noun.
 Uses  requires an object, a something. 
 That  is a pronoun that refers to a noun.

The Bird Survey uses 
 annual roadside counts along established routes 
to monitor bird species.

The word  counts  is plural. 
 That  refers to  counts .
 That  is a relative pronoun, similar to  who .

The verb in a relative   clause must always agree with the antecedent of the relative pronoun.
--  That monitors  is incorrect. The verb monitors is singular and does not agree with plural counts. 
--  Wrong : Counts that  monitors.  Subject verb disagreement. 
--  Correct : Counts that monitor.

Eliminate D on the basis of subject/verb disagreement.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

The right  idiom  to follow here would be ‘use X to … Y’

At a glance, you can see that only Options B and C stick to this idiom.

Eliminate Options A, D and E.

Option B  uses the wrong structure with ‘as many, or more’.  Eliminate.

Option C  is concise and clear. It uses the right expression.

Option C  is the best choice.

Hope this helps!

mba757 · Answer

(A) for monitoring of population changes of as many as, or of
 (1) idiom error: “the BBS uses…counts…for monitoring…”

(B) to monitor population changes of as many, or
 (1) “as many, or” this should be “as many as…”

(C) to monitor changes in the populations of
 best option

(D) that monitors population changes of
 (1) SV agreement error: “monitors” should be “monitor” to agree with the plural “counts”

(E) that monitors changes in populations of as many as, or
 (1) SV agreement error: “monitors” should be “monitor” to agree with the plural “counts”

AbhishekDhanraJ72 · Answer

Even if we correct the error of SVA, the sentence with that ( D & E ) will still be wrong. There should be human beings to monitor something. Monitoring can not be done with counts/things.

Organized in 1966 by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Breeding Bird

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Organized in 1966 by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Breeding Bird

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