Puzzling elements of human anatomy and behavior, such as having small

Question

Puzzling elements of human anatomy and behavior, such as  having small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which is the retention  of features of the immature specimen in the adult of the same species.

A. having small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which is the retention

B. small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which refers to the retention

C. small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency to be playful, explained with the term neoteny, which refers to the retention

D. tending to be playful and having small jaws and teeth that erupt late, can be explained with the term neoteny, which means to retain

E. small jaws, late-erupting teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which means the retaining

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sumit99kr · Answer

Puzzling elements of human anatomy and behavior, such as having small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which is the retention of features of the immature specimen in the adult of the same species.

A.  having  small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which is the retention - parallelism error, also the term refers to something and not the term itself is something

B. small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which refers to the retention - correct

C. small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency to be playful, explained with the term neoteny, which refers to the retention - playful is adjective whereas jaws and teeth are noun- wrong parallelism, also can be explained "verb" is missing.

D. tending to be playful and having small jaws and teeth that erupt late, can be explained with the term neoteny, which means to retain- wrong parallelism

E. small jaws, late-erupting teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which means the retaining- "the retaining of features" noun is not preferred, the retention of features is preferred construction.

Hence the correct answer is B.

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Puzzling elements of human anatomy and behavior, such as  having small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which is the retention  of features of the immature specimen in the adult of the same species.

A. having small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which is the retention

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The first item in the list is a non-conjugated verb ( having ), but the last two are nouns ( eruption, tendency ).

This answer choice is also illogical. The pronoun  which  refers to  the term neoteny  not to  neoteny . It is incorrect to say a word or a term  is  the same thing as what it  refers  to:

Incorrect: The word  precipitation  is not only rain. It is also snow and hail.

Instead, a word is said  to refer to  something,  to describe  something, or  to mean  something:

Correct: The word  precipitation  does not only mean rain. It also refers to snow and hail.

The following Stop Sign helps us identify such mistakes:

The word/term... (which/it) is...

B. small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which refers to the retention

By changing having small jaws to small jaws (noun), this answer choice corrects the Parallelism mistake in the original sentence. It also corrects the logical mistake by changing is the retention to refers to the retention.

A word or term cannot be followed by is; it cannot refer to itself. It can, however, refer to/define/ describe a certain meaning.

A word or term cannot be followed by is; it cannot refer to itself. It can, however, refer to/define/ describe a certain meaning.

C. small jaws, the late eruption of teeth, and a tendency to be playful, explained with the term neoteny, which refers to the retention

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the original Parallelism mistake by changing  having small jaws  (verb) to  small jaws  (noun), and also corrects the logical mistake by changing  is the retention  to  refers to the retention , it creates a new grammatical mistake.

The corrected sentence is a fragment. By eliminating the words  can be , the subject of the sentence  Puzzling elements  is left lacking a conjugated verb.

D. tending to be playful and having small jaws and teeth that erupt late, can be explained with the term neoteny, which means to retain

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect and illogical.

This answer choice corrects the Parallelism mistake in the original question, by changing the list of three items with one verb ( having ) and two nouns ( eruption, tendency ) into a list of two verbs  tending...  and  having {jaws  and  teeth } that erupt late]. However, this change creates a new logical mistake, as only teeth can be said to  erupt late ; jaws don't  erupt .

This answer choice also corrects the original logical mistake by changing  which is  to  which means . We cannot say  the word/term...is . Rather we should say,  the word/term means/refers to/describes...  However, it creates a new mistake because the corrected sentence does not fit into the original sentence.

It is incorrect to say:  which means to retain of.  A noun or noun replacement is required before  of .

E. small jaws, late-erupting teeth, and a tendency for playfulness, can be explained with the term neoteny, which means the retaining

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the original Parallelism mistake by changing  having small jaws  (verb) to  small jaws  (noun), and also corrects the logical mistake by changing  is the retention  to  refers to the retention , it creates a new grammatical mistake.

Verb+ing (retaining) can be used as a noun replacement only when there's no actual noun. Since there is a real noun - retention  - it should be used.

Puzzling elements of human anatomy and behavior, such as having small

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Puzzling elements of human anatomy and behavior, such as having small

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