Shipwrecks are more likely to be found undisturbed at great depths tha

I kind of hate this question, and that’s exactly why we chose it for the QOTD. We’re trying to emphasize the tougher ones these days, questions that revolve around more than just cut-and-dried grammar rules. (Did you notice my use of a clunky absolute phrase there? I never use them in real life, but the GMAT likes them.) All of the 2017 QOTDs are available here.


This one is pleasantly easy to eliminate. “…which exposes archaeological remains…” is trying to modify “shallow coastal waters”, and that doesn’t work: “shallow coastal waters… exposes… and makes…” Subject-verb fail. (A) is out.


The first part of the underlined portion looks great: “where remains are exposed to turbulence” modifies “shallow coastal waters.” The parallelism “are exposed… and are accessible” is fine, too.

But woah, WTF is going on with that mess at the end? “… anyone in scuba gear, whether archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver.” That sounds like hot, hot garbage.

Trouble is, I can’t tell you that it’s wrong. As you’ve probably read, “sounding bad” isn’t a crime on SC.

And now that I think about it, I guess it makes decent sense: “anyone in scuba gear, whether archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver.” It would sound better to me if it said “whether they are archaeologists, treasure hunters, or sport divers”, but the meaning seems fine the way they wrote it – and again, “sound” doesn’t matter. Sure, it’s a weird, archaic-sounding turn of phrase, but it’s not illogical.

Crap, I guess we have to keep (B). I’ll be annoyed if it’s the right answer.


The last part of the sentence doesn’t seem quite right, because the examples introduced by “including” would have to be plural, and they aren’t (“archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver”).

More importantly, they’ve mixed a couple of different comparison idioms together, and it simply doesn’t work: “Shipwrecks are more likely to be found undisturbed at great depths as opposed to shallow waters…” Lol, wut? “…more likely as opposed to…” No way. It’s “more likely than,” not “more likely as opposed to.” (C) is gone.


The “which” catches my eye. “Which” could refer to “the coast”, but that wouldn’t make any sense: “the coast… exposes archaeological remains to turbulence.” No, the remains are exposed because the waters are shallow.

OK, so what if the “which” reaches back behind the preposition, and modifies the entire phrase “shallow waters along the coast”? (See our article on “that” for more on these sorts of situations.) Trouble is, the subject-verb agreement wouldn't work: “shallow waters… exposes…”

I’m also not crazy about the use of “instead of” or the fact that the examples of people in scuba gear are all singular. (D) is definitely out.


The “it” has absolutely no referent at all, since there are no singular nouns earlier in the sentence. (E) is gone.

Holy poop on a stick, we’re left with (B). If you relied on your ear on this one, you probably got it wrong. But if you stayed disciplined and looked for DEFINITE errors first, you probably got rid of the other answer choices in a big hurry. Sure, the right answer is a stinking turd of a sentence, but it’s still the right answer.
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We have to reject C, D and E instantly becos of not using the comparator ‘than’ to go with ‘more likely’.

Between A and B, A suffers from S-V mis-match. There is no singular subject to match the verb ‘exposes’
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-



Choice A: In this answer choice, the phrase "which exposes archaeological remains..." modifies the noun "waters"; this modification leads to an illogical meaning, as the act of being in shallow waters, rather than the waters themselves, exposes the remains to turbulence. This answer choice also displays clear subject-verb disagreement between "waters" and the verbs "exposes" and "makes". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B: This answer choice maintains proper pronoun use, subject-verb agreement, and idiom construction, and conveys the intended meaning of the sentence. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Choice C: This answer choice contains a subtle pronoun error; the use of the pronoun phrase"accessible to anyone in scuba gear" implies that "anyone" is a plural pronoun, but the only possible antecedents for this pronoun are “archaeologist", "treasure hunter", and "sport diver” which are all singular. Moreover, this answer choice utilizes the incorrect idiom form "more likely...as opposed to" rather than the correct form "more likely than". Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Choice D: This answer choice shares the pronoun-related error found in Option C. Additionally, the verb "exposes" is not in agreement with the noun "waters" or parallel with the verb "making". Finally, the answer choice utilizes the incorrect idiom form "more likely...instead of". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice E: This answer choice suffers from a major pronoun error; there are no nouns that "it" can possibly refer to, as all the nouns in the preceding clause are plural. Additionally, "it" does not agree with the singular verb "make". Finally, the answer choice utilizes the incorrect idiom form "more likely...instead of". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.
Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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I answered B, but B threw me off a little with the usage of whether.

so I ended up scanning other answers as well to finally come back to B.

Is it just me, or does anyone-else find it awkward too? Whether A, B, or C

".....and are accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver."

I would've been more comfortable if this was written, "...whether he or she is archaeologist, treasure hunter, or spot diver."

Can you just omit subject and verb after whether and list a number of nouns like this?

Can someone help me with this? I have just never seen whether used in this way.

Thanks in advance.

(A) says ".....waters, which exposes....."; Subject and verb count not in agreement.
(C) says "...remains are exposed to turbulence and accessible to..."; Should be "...remains are exposed to turbulence and ARE accessible to...".
(D) says "...along the coast, which exposes archaeological..."; 'WHICH' wrongly modifies 'COAST'.
(E) Who does "IT" refer to?

B is the right answer.

Shipwrecks are more likely to be found undisturbed at great depths than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver.

(A) than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be -1. redundant "they be" 2. use of "which" signifies that the shallow coastal waters exposed the remains and made them accessible to the people;
this is nonsensical. It is the place where remains are easily accessible.
(B) than in shallow coastal waters, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and are accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether -Correct
(C) as opposed to shallow waters along the coast, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and accessible to anyone in scuba gear, including -incorrect comparison. It seems as if we are comparing shipwrecks with coastal waters.
(D) instead of in shallow waters along the coast, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and making them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, including an -not parallel
(E) instead of shallow coastal waters, because it exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and make them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether -incorrect comparison. It seems as if we are comparing shipwrecks with coastal waters.

First thing is to remove C, D, and E for not using 'than' in comparative degree. Between A and B, the plural 'waters' in A doesn't gel with the singular 'exposes'. B remains.
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Shipwrecks are more likely to be found undisturbed at great depths than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver.

(A) than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be : subject verb agreement error
(B) than in shallow coastal waters, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and are accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether :correct
(C) as opposed to shallow waters along the coast, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and accessible to anyone in scuba gear, including:than is required with more
(D) instead of in shallow waters along the coast, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and making them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, including an : than is required with more and not parallel
(E) instead of shallow coastal waters, because it exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and make them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether: than is required after more, it has no clear reference

Hey GmatNinja,
Do the examples followed by including are always plurals- introducing X,Y,or Z( X, Y and Z should always be plural) so the correct construction should be archaeologists, treasure hunters or sport divers. Can you share some more light on the usage of introducing

Nope, it's not a problem to follow "including" with either singular or plural examples:

I ate several entrees as part of my training for Thanksgiving dinner, including a large pizza, a four-pound hamburger, and a mole burrito.
I ate several entrees as part of my training for Thanksgiving dinner, including four large pizzas, six hamburgers, and two mole burritos.

Both of these are completely acceptable, and "including" can introduce any type of example, as long as it makes logical sense with the rest of the sentence.
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Sorry for digging this old thread. I am fairly confused with this thing. In the correct option, "B. than in shallow costal waters, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and are accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether", since an open parallelism marker (and) is used, the second "are" is redundant. I eliminated B on this premise. How strong is this idea of elimination. Similarly, I get confused when prepositional phrases are used in following way:
"The book can be kept on the table or on the rack". I feel the "on" is redundant here. Am i correct in my thinking?

Hi GMATNinja!

Is the use of 'whether they be' right in the first sentence? Please help!

Hi GMATNinja

Could you please clarify the use of "anyone" + singular/plural verb. In British English, "anyone" is followed by a singular verb. Is it different in American English? You mentioned that you'd prefer "anyone in scuba gear, whether they are ..." If "anyone" is singular, then, I guess, saying "anyone in scuba gear, including ..." is correct? Or that wouldn't work?

Thanks

I just have one doubt with "WHETHER". I thought the idiom of whether is Whether X or Y and I was not sure if we could use it for more than 2 items. Please confirm.

Great question! "Anyone" is considered a singular subject in American English, too.

So technically, it would be wrong to say "anyone in scuba gear, whether they are ..." In my full explanation, I was just saying that the sentence would SOUND better that way -- but sound is a terrible reason to eliminate anything on GMAT SC.

And typically when we use "including," we're referring to members of a group. Because "anyone" isn't itself a group, but rather any individual within the group, you're right that "anyone + comma + including" probably wouldn't fly.


It's not a problem to use "whether" with more than two items. For example: "Whether baked, mashed, stewed, curried, pan-fried, or deep-fried, potatoes are delicious." That's not a problem at all. (Mmm... potatoes. )

I hope this helps!
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Totally reasonable question! And I'm sorry that I didn't notice your post sooner, but hopefully the answer will help somebody.

The short version: in a lot of cases, there might be multiple ways to write a sentence while preserving parallelism. Using your example:

1. "The book can be kept on the table or on the rack."
2. "The book can be kept on the table or the rack."

Both of these seem fine to me. In the first version, we have two parallel prepositional phrases; no problem. In the second version, we have two parallel nouns, and the preposition "on" seemingly applies to both; also no problem. I'd argue that the meaning is conveyed clearly in both cases.

On the GMAT, you won't ever face a choice between two parallel structures that are slightly different, but convey an identical - and perfectly reasonable -- meaning. So you don't have to worry about this too much.

I hope that helps a bit!
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dear GMATNinja, as you said, "anyone" isn't itself a group, but rather any individual within the group, why the following is not whether he/she is ..., but whether they are ...

Shipwrecks are more likely to be found undisturbed at great depths than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver.

(A) than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be- subject-verb agreement issue- waters exposes

(B) than in shallow coastal waters, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and are accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether- Correct

(C) as opposed to shallow waters along the coast, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and accessible to anyone in scuba gear, including - comparison issue - more likely ... as opposed to ; we need more likely... than

(D) instead of in shallow waters along the coast, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and making them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, including an -- incorrect, if 'which' refers to the coast, then it doesn't make sense. If 'which' refers to 'shallow waters along the coast' , then we have a subject-verb agreement issue.

(E) instead of shallow coastal waters, because it exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and make them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether-- no antecedent for pronoun 'it'

Answer B

1a. In option D, can we eliminate it based on parallelism?
which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and making them accessible to anyone in scuba gear --> making here should be a verb in order for it to be parallel to exposes.

1b. In option D, is 'instead of in shallow waters' correct? What I know is that prepositions need to be followed by a noun or a pronoun, but not verb.
Here instead of is followed by a prep phrase(preposition + adjective + noun)? (in shallow waters)

2. In option E, subject-verb agreement issue - it make
because it exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and make them accessible to anyone in scuba gear

3. In option A, can we eliminate option A because plural 'they be' is trying to refer to singular 'anyone'?
anyone in scuba gear, whether they be

4. In options D and E, 'more likely' is not followed by than(instead of is used) in the underlined part of the sentence. Can this be used as a decision point?

5. In options C and D, is the use of structure anyone..., including correct?
( Comma + including is different from other comma + verb-ing in that including refers to a noun preceding the comma- it lists some elements of the group but not all- whereas other verb-ing (preceded by comma) modifies the action of the preceding clause)

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyTargetTestPrep , DmitryFarber , VeritasKarishma , generis , EducationAisle , VeritasPrepErika , other experts - please enlighten
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COMPARISONS, SUBJUNTIVE


Shipwrecks are more likely to be found undisturbed at great depths than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be archaeologist, treasure hunter, or sport diver.


(A) than in shallow coastal waters, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and makes them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether they be ------ 1. "which" incorrectly modifies "waters". We must understand "Waters" here is treated as a place, so the correct pronoun would be "where". 2. Double pronoun "they" is referring to two different nouns (waters and anyone). Besides not agreeing with the second in number, it makes the sentence ambiguous. 3. They are using the command subjunctive, placing the BASE VERB "be" instead of a conjugated verb... but in this case the subjunctive is not required.

(B) than in shallow coastal waters, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and are accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether ---- CORRECT

(C) as opposed to shallow waters along the coast, where archaeological remains are exposed to turbulence and accessible to anyone in scuba gear, including ------ Incorrect comparison . "More" needs "than"

(D) instead of in shallow waters along the coast, which exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and making them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, including an ------ Incorrect comparison . "More" needs "than"


(E) instead of shallow coastal waters, because it exposes archaeological remains to turbulence and make them accessible to anyone in scuba gear, whether ------ Incorrect comparison . "More" needs "than"
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