Pandas in captivity, two of who live in the National Zoo in Washington

Question

Pandas in captivity,  two of who  live in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., are being actively bred in hopes of developing a sustainable population to reintroduce into the wild.

A) two of who
B) and two that
C) including two of which
D) two of those that
E) two of which

kunalsinghNS · Answer

Closest two options are "C" and "E"

(C) including two of which - The usage of "including" suggests that "Pandas in captivity along with the two of the other pandas are in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C" but this is not the intended meaning here. hence, we can reject this option.

Answer E

mamun2871 · Answer

Can you please explain why D is not the right option. Thanks in Advance !

chesstitans · Answer

I do not know about the pattern of this question anymore. It is because in the actual exam, verbal questions do not have patterns that are too familiar to test takers.

AdityaHongunti · Answer

know this that the intended meaning of the sentence is derived from the given sentence with an exception that the given sentence does not make any sense. Here the given statement talks about 2 pandas which are held in captivity. The given statement talks about only those 2 pandas. So we cannot infer anything else and hence the answer choices that intend to change the meaning by adding other pandas is wrong. We may think that this change of meaning actually makes sense but let me remind you that we do not know the sex of the pandas. So adding to the already existing may sound good but is unwarranted. So stick to the given statement as long as it makes sense. Here it makes sense.

Let's dig in the answer choices : 
Procedure : 
1. Analyse the intended meaning
2. Error analysis: 
 1. SV PAIR ( SV makes sense. agree in no.)
2.Verb tense ( identify the time frame of the given statement)
3.Pronouns ( should aggree in no. And refer to the proper antecedent, without being ambiguous)
4.Modifiers ( should refer back to its subject , mostly the closest one)
5.parallelism ( all the verbs should be of the same tense unless PRESENT TENSE is present)
6. Idioms 
7.Meaning

Do the above 2 steps on the given statement. And then start eliminating answers .

A. Modifier / relative pronoun error: who whom whose should only refer to persons..." which " is the right RP.
B. Meaning - " and" changes the meaning
C. Meaning - including two of which? Huh? Which 2 ? 
D. Modifier/ meaning/ pronoun - 2 of those? We do not know how many pandas are there in the captivity to single out 2 by using " those " ... "Those " and " that " are two relative pronouns referring to the same subject ..hence is redundant. Also "that" is used for essential modifiers. The given statement adds two comma before the " two " and after D.C ; therefore the SV pair is non Essential. Hence using " that " is wrong. 
E. No error - " which " is correctly is used.

Option E.

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sidvarma · Answer

Narrowed it down to C and E by POE and finally marked C as it "seemed" right". What is the OA and why?

AkshdeepS · Answer

A) two of  who

B)  and two that

C) including two of which

D) two of  those that

E) two of which

A, B, and D are out for using "who, that, and those that" respectively.

From C and E, I marked C, though use of "including" seems a bit awkward.

Help needed. @e-gmat,  GMATNinja

ProfChaos · Answer

AS PER KAPLAN:

Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:

The rule on the GMAT is that "who" refers to people and "which" refers to animals and things. For example, you would say, "I don't know who delivered the packages," but "Of all these packages, I don't know which is for me." This sentence is talking about pandas and should say "which," not "who." (Incidentally, if this sentence were about people, the correct word to use would be "whom," not "who," because it is the object of the preposition "of.")

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

There is a useful 2-2-1 split among (A), which uses "who"; (B) and (D), which use "that"; and (C) and (E), which use "which."

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

(A) is wrong for the reasons discussed above.

To decide between "that" and "which," remember that "that" is used when the information after it is needed to define the subject, while "which" is used when the information after it is not needed to define the subject. Here, the subject of the sentence is simply pandas in captivity, of which the two in the National Zoo are just examples. The sentence isn't about these two pandas. Thus, the correct word to use is "which," not "that," and both (B) and (D) can be eliminated.

(B) is also wrong because the word "and" suggests that the pandas at the National Zoo are being discussed in addition to "pandas in captivity," which makes no sense. (D) is also wrong because its use of "those" suggests that all the pandas in captivity are a subset of two within some other population (of animals?) in the National Zoo.

(C) uses "which," but it also uses the word "including." This is unnecessary, since the phrase "of which" already makes it clear that the two pandas at the National Zoo are a subset of the larger group. This unnecessary word makes (C) incorrect.

(E) is correct. It replaces "of who" with "of which" and doesn't insert an unnecessary words or phrases. It fits perfectly into the original sentence.

TAKEAWAY: The GMAT is strict about the use of "who." People only—no animals or things!

ProfChaos · Answer

I am not fully convinced with the explanation provided for option D
I marked option D

Kindly help  GMATNinja ,  GMATNinjaTwo ,  Abhi077 ,  generis ,  MikeScarn   egmat   mikemcgarry   EMPOWERgmatRichC

winterschool · Answer

between D and E, I choose E

D has redundancy problem

E is short and more concise

trulyness · Answer

GMATNinja   daagh  @e-gmat please explain why option D is wrong?

VerbalBot · Answer

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Pandas in captivity, two of who live in the National Zoo in Washington

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Pandas in captivity, two of who live in the National Zoo in Washington

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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My Rewards