As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was

As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was bombarded on February 23, 1987, by about 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact very weakly with matter.


(A) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that The construction is parallel: that x and that y

(B) neutrinos, which are harmless, are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which “which are harmless” is non-essential here. Taking the essential elements into consideration, it seems like the option is saying that it is fortunate that neutrinos are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions. But this doesn’t draw any connection to the earlier sentence.

(C) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which The presence of “and” tells us that we need to look out for parallelism. However, there is nothing parallel to “which” here.

(D) these harmless elementary particles are produced in nuclear reactions, and neutrinos This option seems to be saying that it is fortunate that neutrinos are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions. But this doesn’t draw any connection to the earlier sentence.

(E) these elementary particles, harmless products of nuclear reactions, are neutrinos that “harmless products of nuclear reactions” is a modifying phrase. The fact that neutrinos are harmless is essential to the meaning of the sentence. Since this fact has been mentioned in a modifying phrase, the main sentence is now only telling us that these elementary particles are neutrinos that interact very weakly with matter.

- Nitha Jay

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that it is fortunate that neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact very weakly with matter.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Grammatical Construction + Parallelism

• Any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.
• Information that is important to the core meaning should not be placed within two commas.

A: Correcrt. The sentence formed by this answer choice uses the clause "fortunately, neutrinos are harmless"; the construction of this clause correctly conveys the intended meaning - that it is fortunate that neutrinos are harmless. Further, Option A avoids the grammatical construction error seen in Options B and E, as it places no information between commas. Additionally, Option A maintains parallelism between "that are produced in nuclear reactions" and "that interact very weakly with matter".

B: This answer choice incorrectly places information vital to the core meaning of the sentence - the fact that neutrinos are harmless - between two commas; please remember, information that is important to the core meaning should not be placed within two commas. Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism between "are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions" and "which interact very weakly with matter"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.

C: This answer choice fails to maintain parallelism between "are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions" and "which interact very weakly with matter"; please remember, any elements linked by a conjunction ("and" in this sentence) must be parallel.

D: This sentence formed by this answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause "fortunately, these harmless elementary particles are produced in nuclear reactions"; the construction of this clause incorrectly implies that it is fortunate that neutrinos are produced in nuclear reactions; the intended meaning is that it is fortunate that neutrinos are harmless.

E: This sentence formed by this answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the clause "fortunately, these elementary particles...are neutrinos"; the construction of this clause incorrectly implies that it is fortunate that the particles in question are neutrinos; the intended meaning is that it is fortunate that neutrinos are harmless. Further, Option E incorrectly places information vital to the core meaning of the sentence - the fact that neutrinos are harmless - between two commas; please remember, information that is important to the core meaning should not be placed within two commas.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Extra Information Between Commas" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

A.

You can eliminate B, D and E rather easily.

C has a parallelism issue.

C would be correct if it was written, "particles which were produced in nuclear reactions and which."

After fortunately (that modifies the following phrase, the first thing to think is what we need suddenly. This is the subject to make clear the underlined portion and thi is the neutrino. So D and E are out of game

C neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which

this is not parallel: we have neutrinos are and then at the end which.......

B neutrinos, which are harmless, are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which

same

A neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that

Correct

please underline the portion of the Sc.

thanks

C neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which
this is not parallel: we have neutrinos are and then at the end which..

Can you ellobrate this please

With option C, the part of the sentence after semicolon becomes -
fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which interact very weakly with matter

Here "produced in nuclear reactions" is not parallel to "which interact very weakly with matter".

Corrected form of the sentence would have been:
fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles which are produced in nuclear reactions and which interact very weakly with matter

Yes, and just to elaborate, this is because produced in nuclear reactions is a phrase, while which interact very weakly with matter is a clause. From a parallelism perspective, phrases are not considered parallel to clauses.


This is interesting. A minor thing is that one would always expect a comma' before which in all such instances. However, a slightly larger issue is that which would modify harmless elementary particles, the nearest eligible noun-phrase. However, from the context of the sentence, it is apparent that produced in nuclear reactions and interact very weakly with matter are both properties of neutrinos.

Perhaps for this reason, the correction option A uses that (and not which). As a relative pronoun that is more flexible in what it can modify; in other words, that need not necessarily modify the nearest eligible noun-phrase. So, in this case, that would modify neutrinos.

p.s. Our book SC Nirvana discusses differences between which & that, and their application in significant detail. If you can PM you email, I can send you the corresponding section.

please help me with the answer. I thought it to be C but OA is A?

When grammar doesn't help, logic takes over. The crux of the matter is to arrive what will be starting late next year? Is it the launch of the website or the posting on it or the easy searchability? Launching it now and waiting until late next year either for posting or for easy searching may not make logic. But, A, B, C and E says the website will be easily searchable early next year. Therefore, it is difficult to digest them as the intended choice. However, D obviates this doubt by creating a comma +verb+ing modifier, thereby rendering it to modify the nearest previous clause whose subject is the government and its action namely posting. If I have to, I 'll put my two cents on D.

Option C: Notice the parallel structure X AND Y

X = neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions (a complete clause)

Y = which interact very weakly with matter (a modifier)

Y should be a complete clause in order to make the sentence structurally complete. Hence C is wrong.

=====================================================
Another way of looking at the parallel structure in C is :

X = produced in nuclear reactions (past participle modifier)

Y = which interact very weakly with matter ( relative pronoun modifier)

Again the parallelism is faulty (a past participle modifier cannot be made parallel to a relative pronoun modifier).

=====================================================

Option A has correct parallelism structure:

X = that are produced in nuclear reactions (relative pronoun modifier)
Y = that interact very weakly with matter (relative pronoun modifier)

Two relative pronoun modifiers are correctly made parallel. Hence A is correct.

Is it c, eliminate A & E 'that' is singular can not refer to plural neutrinos. Between B, C and D I chose C

Posted from my mobile device

Hello maypardeep,

I just want to let you know that your reason to reject Choice A and E is not correct.

In both these choices, that has been used as a relative pronoun modifier that modifies the preceding noun entity. When used a noun modifier, that can refer to both singular and plural noun entities.

For example:

This bouquet of flowers that are so rich in color is beautiful.

This bouquet of flowers that is partially wrapped in red wrapping paper is beautiful.

When that is used as just a pronoun, then it refers to only singular noun entities.

For example:

My car is older than that of my sister.

In Choice A and E, that has been used as a noun modifier and hence can very well refer to plural noun entity neutrinos.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was bombarded on February 23, 1987, by about 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that interact very weakly with matter.


(A) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles that are produced in nuclear reactions and that ---- maintains 'that' parallelism and the correct choice.

(B) neutrinos, which are harmless, are elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which --- 1. The missing of the comma before 'which' renders the choice ineligible. 2. You may observe, the second part is a relative clause connected by an 'and' and therefore the structure is un//.

(C) neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which ------- 1. The missing of the comma before 'which' renders the choice ineligible. 2. The same error as in B

(D) these harmless elementary particles are produced in nuclear reactions, and neutrinos --- no connect between the neutrinos and these elementary particles in the second IC.

(E) these elementary particles, harmless products of nuclear reactions, are neutrinos that ---' are neutrinos that' is redundant.

Isn't 'that' a singular referent here?? I eliminated A on that basis.. Pls help me to understand this.

Hi omer339, that is used as a relative pronoun here.

All relative pronouns (such as that, which, who, whom, and whose) can refer to both singular as well as plural nouns.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Relative Pronouns, their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

EducationAisle

Hi,

Thanks for the really good explanations here. I know my understanding below is wrong here based on all the responses, but I am trying to figure out what’s the technical error with my understanding in terms of C.

Option C: As a result of a supernova explosion, every human being on Earth was bombarded on February 23, 1987, by about 100 billion neutrinos; fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and which interact very weakly with matter.


In the above, isn’t “produced in nuclear reactions” a modifier modifying “elementary particles” and hence, I initially thought “neutrons are” (i.e. a Subject (Noun) and Verb) parallel to “which (Subject/Pronoun) interact (Verb)”.

I guess I am wrong because "and" is NOT preceded by a comma here, therefore, it has to be parallel to the modifier (produced) and not with the Subject-pair (Neutrons are). Is my understanding correct?

Also if the sentence was without which, would the below variations be correct:
Added the comma before "and" without which.


Added the comma before "and" and which.


Thanks

Hello TargetMBA007, it's not so much about presence or absence of comma. Generally speaking, if the RHS of a parallelism trigger (and in this case) is a relative clause (which interact... in this case), then from a parallelism perspective, there should generally be another relative clause on the LHS of the parallelism trigger.

In C, we have which... on the RHS, but no corresponding relative clause on the LHS; hence C is not ideal from a parallelism perspective.


Not correct. Any of the following would be preferable:

i) fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions and interacting very weakly with matter.
- Here, parallelism is between two participial phrases: produced and interacting, both modifying particles.

ii) fortunately, neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions, and they interact very weakly with matter.
- Here, parallelism is between two Independent clauses (ICs): First IC: neutrinos are harmless elementary particles produced in nuclear reactions Second IC: they interact very weakly with matter.