Taste buds are onion-shaped structures with between 50 and 100 taste

chetan2u generis

Can you help in explaining why choice A is wrong here?

Thanks!

Choice A has two errors..
1) modifier issue..
Each of them ' can start an independent clause but cannot join two independent clauses.. so now you have two clauses joined by COMMA
C changes to ' each of which', which is correct.
2) placement of modifier ' located at top' and ' called the taste pore'..
It is illogical " top of the taste bud called the taste pore".
By getting called the taste pore' next to opening, it clears the meaning.

Run-on sentence as given in error 1 is the main reason you should not touch this choice, even if you overlook meaning issue.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MhuJbOcDOk&list=PL0LGZMx8pP21Jx8Er_L5V-HfbPn9DKY7M&index=15

1:05:16

Taste buds are onion-shaped structures with between 50 and 100 taste cells, each of them has fingerlike projections poking through the opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore.


(A) them has fingerlike projections poking through the opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore

Run-on sentence. "each of them has" is an independent sentence. If you were to correct this choice. We have to change the comma before "each" to period, and make these two sentences separate.

(B) them that have fingerlike projections that poke through an opening located at the top of the taste bud, which they call the taste pore

the "they" in the end is really weird. Logically, "they" here refers to people/scientists but these people were never mentioned. You can't say taste buds call them taste pore->makes no sense!

(C) which has fingerlike projections poking through the opening, called the taste pore, located at the top of taste bud

I initially eliminated it because I thought this sentence mistakenly changed what "called the taste pore" modifies. However, it is only correct after this change. Otherwise, it will be illogical. In addition, we can always POE since other choices have apparent mistakes.

(D) which having fingerlike projections that poke through an opening, which is called the taste pore, located at the top of the taste bud

"which" clause should always has a verb! Here, "having" is a participle, not a verb. Therefore, D is wrong.

(E) which have fingerlike projections that are poking through an opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore

SV agreement: not "have" but "has".
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gmat tests meaning. this means we have to understand the meaning to solve the problem. most of the time we have to do so, focus on meaning

but what if there are many new words. we can not understand meaning.

in this case, gmat dont test meaning any more. this problem show this case. we dont need to understand meaning to solve this problem. understanding only structure of the sentence helps us solve this problem.

Taste buds are onion-shaped structures with between 50 and 100 taste cells, each of them has fingerlike projections poking through the opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore.

(A) them has fingerlike projections poking through the opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore Run-on sentence - two independent clauses separated by a comma instead of a semi-colon. Eliminate.

(B) them that have fingerlike projections that poke through an opening located at the top of the taste bud, which they call the taste pore Usage of "that" is done to report - no reporting is necessary here. Incorrect usage of plural "have" for "each". Eliminate.

(C) which has fingerlike projections poking through the opening, called the taste pore, located at the top of taste bud Correct answer. Above errors are rectified and no new errors are introduced.

(D) which having fingerlike projections that poke through an opening, which is called the taste pore, located at the top of the taste bud "having" is used to denote cause-effect relationships or an earlier action - we need to convey possession in this sentence. Eliminate.

(E) which have fingerlike projections that are poking through an opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore Incorrect usage of plural "have" for "each". Eliminate.

Hope this helps.
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Hello mikemcgarry , love your explanations.
In this question, though I was able to find the correct answer , I was not sure whether A choice was a run on sentence. I thought that phrase was an absolute phrase. I know Gmat loves to test on Absolute phrases. So i want to ask how can we differentiate one is an absolute phrase and not an independt clause creating a run on sentence.
GMATNinja DmitryFarber AndrewN

Hello, pk6969. I looked at the original sentence a little differently from the way Mike outlined in his post, but it really comes down to two ways to view the same error. I saw two independent clauses joined by nothing more than a comma—i.e. without a conjunction. In grammar lingo, such a sentence creates what is known as a comma splice. Another example would be John enjoys investing, he puts $2K into his portfolio each month. It is not a stretch to see that adding a conjunction after the comma—e.g., so or and, maybe even for—would produce an error-free compound sentence. How about we get back to the sentence at hand, keeping an eye on the subject and verb of each clause?



Believe it or not, for all the extra information we get on both sides of the comma, we have two quite simple independent clauses: Taste buds are [something] and each has [something]. We cannot join these two independent clauses by using a comma without a conjunction. (We could use a semicolon, but that is another grammatical discussion that has no bearing on the question.)

An absolute phrase cannot, as the name implies, be an independent clause. Rather, an absolute phrase may masquerade as a clause (to the untrained eye) by turning a verb into a participle: The sleeping bags rolled up on top of their backpacks, the hikers set out at dawn for the next shelter. It is not as if the sentence is saying that sleeping bags were rolling themselves up, but that may not be apparent until we jump across the comma and read the main clause, the one with a subject and a finite verb.

Now, looking at the original sentence again, an absolute modifier would be easy to create from the latter part of the sentence: just change the verb has to the participle having: each of them having fingerlike projections...

For further reference on absolute phrases, you may want to check out this article on Your Dictionary. (I enjoyed it at least.)

Thank you for thinking to ask. I hope my response proves useful to you.

- Andrew
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ERROR ANALYSIS -

1) 'called the taste pore' - needs to be close to 'opening'

ANSWER CHOICE ANALYSIS -

A) 'called the taste pore' - needs to be close to 'opening'
B) 'called the taste pore' - needs to be close to 'opening'
C) CORRECT
D) Redundant use of 'which'
E) 'called the taste pore' - needs to be close to 'opening'

Option C is missing a "the" which makes it seem like a trap...

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Fixed the typo. Thank you!
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