Although Belize borders Guatemala and Mexico, countries in which torti

Hi,
Will go with option E
All sentences are grammatically wrong except A and E.
Option B: pronoun number error. 'its' is used for plural noun 'Belizeans' . Hence incorrect.
Option C: Same error as option B. Hence incorrect.
Option D: Seems as ' tortillas a rarity' is modifying the rice. Which can not be possible. We can eat tortillas with rice but tortillas can not modify rice. Hence modifier error. Thus, incorrect.
Option A: This option correctly joined two independent clause with comma followed by and. But this is not the intended meaning of the author. Read the extra information in the sentence (countries in which tortillas are served with nearly every dish). This means that tortillas are served with nearly every dish such as rice. Reading this option seems there is no relation between tortillas and rice. Tortillas are rare...rare for what? Are they rare in number of species? or are they rare in catching them? or are they rare in cooking a meal? Making this two clause independent does not convey the clear meaning. Hence incorrect.
Option E: the phrase ' with tortillas as a rarity' is modifying the rice. This option conveys that Belizeans like eating meals with rice more than with tortillas. Hence conveying clear meaning without any grammatical error. Correct Answer.

+1 kudos if it helped you

After dumping B and C for their obvious Pronoun number agreement errors,

(A) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, and tortillas are rare --- Here the second sentence is hanging aloof without any relation to the first part. In an extreme way, it may lead wrongly to imply, that the Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice because tortillas are rare

(D) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, tortillas a rarity – Same problem as in A; The modifier is dangling without a proper noun to modify

(E) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, with tortillas as a rarity – Now the adverbial modifier ‘with tortillas as a rarity’ rightly modifies the previous clause through the action of Belizeans eating rice as a staple; correct choice
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I picked E, but hesitated for a moment..
A - and tortillas are rare - seems to be an IC totally unrelated to what Belizeans eat..
B - its - incorrect + same error as in A
C - its - incorrect + as+noun = function..clearly wrong here.
D - tortillas a rarity - what does it refer to?
E - correct. with + with so we have parallelism here. B eat their meals with tortillas as a rarity.
not really happy with as+rare here though, but E seems to be the best answer.

Looks a is correct. B c options out because of its.d e rarity not used correctly

Sent from my InFocus M415 using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

A is not correct because "and tortillas are rare" is not making sense with the whole sentence.

E is correct as "With tortillas as a rarity simply tells us that Rice is the main crop that they eat and tortillas is a rare food that they eat.
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Answer should be E.

I hope the below reasoning is correct.

(A) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, and tortillas are rare ... wrong (ambiguous sentence structure after the comma)
(B) Belizeans typically eat its meals with rice, and tortillas are rare .. wrong (usage of 'its'. Belizeans is plural)
(C) Belizeans typically eat its meals with rice, with tortillas as rare .. wrong (usage of 'its'. Belizeans is plural)
(D) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, tortillas a rarity.. wrong (incorrect usage . with X..Y as a rarity)
(E) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, with tortillas as a rarity .. right (with X ..with Y as a rarity)

Why is D incorrect ? any specific reasons

(A) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, and tortillas are rare - meaning as per question should be: Belizeans eat meals with rice and they eat tortillas rarely in their meals or with rice..but the meaning here is getting distorted. Incorrect.

(B) Belizeans typically eat its meals with rice, and tortillas are rare - Belizeans - plural and its is singluar. Incorrect
(C) Belizeans typically eat its meals with rice, with tortillas as rare - Belizeans - plural and its is singluar. Incorrect
(D) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, tortillas a rarity - meaning as per question should be: Belizeans eat meals with rice and tortillas a rarity means they are very rare but ideally they are very rare in the meals...Incorrect.
(E) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, with tortillas as a rarity[/quote] - With tortiallas as rarity means they eat very rarely in their meals. - meaning wise is correct.

Hope this is clear.

Two reasons:

1. Tortillas a rarity is not a complete clause - there is no verb in it.
2. Even if there were a verb, the sentence would be a run-on. There would be no conjunction to separate the clause.

Official answer from Veritas Prep.

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Although Belize borders Guatemala and Mexico, countries in which tortillas are served with nearly every dish, Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, and tortillas are rare.

(A) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, and tortillas are rare

- Incorrect - Implies that they it rice as tortilas are rare

(B) Belizeans typically eat its meals with rice, and tortillas are rare

- Incorrect - Usage of its is incorrect

(C) Belizeans typically eat its meals with rice, with tortillas as rare

- Incorrect - Usage of its is incorrect

(D) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, tortillas a rarity

- Same as A

(E) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, with tortillas as a rarity[/quote]

- CORRECT

Hence, Answer is E

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Dear DmitryFarber AnthonyRitz GMATGuruNY IanStewart VeritasPrepBrian MartyTargetTestPrep,

Q1. Does the correct choice E. read as follows:

: Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice -> logical
: Belizeans typically eat their meals with tortillas as a rarity -> IMO illogical. People typically eat their meals with tortillas as a rarity? They usually do what they rarely do? It seems like a paradox here.

Q2. If choice E. is right, then why is choice D. wrong?

(D) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, tortillas a rarity
IMO, the 2 underlined portions can be parallel as well.
As posted by hazelnut, the Veritas SC book's solution doesn't mention anything why choice D. is wrong.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1984/07/09/the-original-olympiads

One month before the Games began, the contestants arrived for more training in the several buildings erected for that purpose in the nearby town of Elis. As the Games progressed, trainers grew in importance. They were knowledgeable about such matters as exercise regimens, physiotherapy, and muscle physiology, and some had firm ideas about diet. That of the ordinary Greek in the early days was largely vegetarian—vegetables, fresh cheese, oatmeal, and meal cakes, with meat as a rarity. Some trainers later favored a heavy meat diet for their athletes, but one runner won the sprint on a diet of dried figs.
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varotkorn This sentence is using a somewhat non-standard (but still usable) form in which we list an additional, qualified noun or modifier without any conjunction.

Come sooner if you want to catch the pre-show, later if you don't.
I'd like a coffee, decaf if you have it.

So the intended meaning here is that rice is what is typically used, while tortillas are a rarity. The two food items are not simply put together; we would need a conjunction for that. D doesn't follow this particular form, so there's no way to justify throwing a pair of nouns (tortillas, a rarity) on to the end of the sentence.
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No worries, people, let’s knock this one out.

Two things you have to be familiar with. Subject / Verb agreement and parallel reading (I just made that up). You also need to understand the meaning of the sentence. Belize borders two countries where tortillas are served with nearly ever dish. In Belize that is not the case. Rice is usually eaten with meals instead of tortillas with meals.

Although Belize borders Guatemala and Mexico, countries in which tortillas are served with nearly every dish, Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, and tortillas are rare.

(A) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, and tortillas are rare

Belizeans ....eat their meals... Ok, we have Subject/Verb Agreement. Both are plural. What else? Hmmm ,and tortillas are rare. But there is no connection between the two. This is like saying There is a dog and cat in the garden — rather than saying there is a dog in the garden BECAUSE there is a cat in the garden. The first sentence is just an objective truth about two entities. The second connects the two. Similarly, we have to connect the idea that people generally eat rice with their meals instead of with tortillas. You can’t simply say Oh, and by the way, tortillas are rare, too. Belizeans and tortillas are made parralel starting points in this sentence. It's out!

(B) Belizeans typically eat its meals with rice, and tortillas are rare

Subject/Verb error. We need an ARE. Freebie elimination

(C) Belizeans typically eat its meals with rice, with tortillas as rare

Same as (B). Another freebie elimination

(D) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, tortillas a rarity

Frankly I don’t know why this sounds wrong. Perhaps it’s because some part of me needs the parallel WITH. I know that I wanted to hear an AS here. Rather than fight to prove it is wrong, plant a yellow flag on this and move on for something better.

(E) Belizeans typically eat their meals with rice, with tortillas as a rarity

Yes, yes. Bingo. Plural subject with plural their. WITH rice and WITH tortillas.

I daresay this is one of those Suck the test-taker time questions. Chances are you narrowed yourself down to (A) and (E) in about 30 seconds. If you spent a minute and a half to move on that is perhaps a less than ideal way to go about your Verbal section
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Hello experts,
Bunuel ExpertsGlobal5 bb GMATNinja

Could someone please take your time to review option D here? Grammatically, Noun modifier can modify preceding noun, any noun in preceding clause and entire preceding clause.

In the question, why can't tortillas a rarity modify entire preceding clause? Please share specific reason for it's incorrectness?

Thanks

Hello ViharSaladi,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the construction in Option D is too colloquial for the GMAT.

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

First, let's address the most important point here. The advice you are citing about noun modifiers is in no way accurate. If someone told you this, don't take their advice on GMAT matters! A noun modifier must modify an actual noun, not a clause. Also, while noun modifiers can sometimes skip back to modify a somewhat earlier noun, this is the exception, and the meaning must be very clear. Typically, a noun modifier will modify the adjoining noun.

As for "tortillas a rarity" in D, this serves as an adverbial modifier for the preceding clause. But what does it mean? The best we could say is that it is saying WHY meals are eaten with rice. However, there's no indication elsewhere that this is what the sentence is trying to say. Tortillas aren't some hard-to-come-by commodity in whose absence we have to eat rice. The sentence is simply saying that one food (rice) is commonly eaten and the other (tortillas) is rarely eaten. No causal connection or explanation is explored. Now, if you think this meaning I'm describing is pretty hard to figure out, that's yet another reason to cut D. Surely, if this were our intended meaning, there would be a more comprehensible way to say it, such as "since tortillas are a rarity."
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