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Updated on: 09 Nov 2021, 07:47
Originally posted by getzonator on 25 Jan 2012, 06:17.
Last edited by Bunuel on 09 Nov 2021, 07:47, edited 5 times in total.
Last edited by Bunuel on 09 Nov 2021, 07:47, edited 5 times in total.
Renamed the topic and edited the question.
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
65%
(hard)
Question Stats:
55% (01:48) correct
45%
(01:56)
wrong
based on 14345
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Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasitic worm, is prevalent in hot, humid climates, and it has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle.
A. the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle
B. the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts in part of their life cycle
C. freshwater snails which become the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycles
D. freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during the parasite's life cycles
E. parasite's hosts, freshwater snails which become their hosts during their life cycles
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A. the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle
B. the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts in part of their life cycle
C. freshwater snails which become the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycles
D. freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during the parasite's life cycles
E. parasite's hosts, freshwater snails which become their hosts during their life cycles
SC02664
Show Spoilernytimes article
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/27/us/drop-in-drug-cost-may-allow-all-out-attack-on-a-parasite.html
Like other drugs used to treat schistosomiasis, praziquantel does not kill all the parasites in a person's body but reduces their number until the symptoms disappear. Unlike malaria parasites, those for schistosomiasis cannot multiply in the body. Once their population is reduced it remains low unless the victim is infected again.
Freshwater snails are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle, just as mosquitoes are hosts for malaria. The disease is prevalent in hot, humid climates and has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of the snails.
Like other drugs used to treat schistosomiasis, praziquantel does not kill all the parasites in a person's body but reduces their number until the symptoms disappear. Unlike malaria parasites, those for schistosomiasis cannot multiply in the body. Once their population is reduced it remains low unless the victim is infected again.
Freshwater snails are the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycle, just as mosquitoes are hosts for malaria. The disease is prevalent in hot, humid climates and has become more widespread as irrigation projects have enlarged the habitat of the snails.
MGMAT( in a reversal from its earlier rigid stand perhaps) says that the issue of possessive poison is not worth worrying about since there has been hardly any case that has been rejected on the score of the possessive pronoun’s antecedence in the realm of GMAT.
The takeaway of possessive pronoun custom is;
1. A possessive pronoun can stand for a possessive noun
2. A possessive pronoun can stand for a non- possessive noun
3. A non-possessive pronoun can stand for a non- possessive noun.
4. The only case where it can‘t be accepted is when a non-possessive is used to stand for a possessive noun
A. the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its lifecycle --- here its is possessive and parasite’s is possessive. So there is no issue. correct choice
B. the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts in part of their life cycle – pronoun number agreement
C. freshwater snails which becomes the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycles—snails which becomes – S-V mismatch
D. freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during the parasite's life cycles--- how many life cycles does the parasite have? Secondly, do all the hosts have one parasite? Illogical
E. parasite's hosts, freshwater snails which become their hosts during their life cycles— parasite is singular while the 'their' is a plural pronoun.
The takeaway of possessive pronoun custom is;
1. A possessive pronoun can stand for a possessive noun
2. A possessive pronoun can stand for a non- possessive noun
3. A non-possessive pronoun can stand for a non- possessive noun.
4. The only case where it can‘t be accepted is when a non-possessive is used to stand for a possessive noun
A. the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts for part of its lifecycle --- here its is possessive and parasite’s is possessive. So there is no issue. correct choice
B. the freshwater snails that are the parasite's hosts in part of their life cycle – pronoun number agreement
C. freshwater snails which becomes the parasite's hosts for part of its life cycles—snails which becomes – S-V mismatch
D. freshwater snails which become the hosts of the parasite during the parasite's life cycles--- how many life cycles does the parasite have? Secondly, do all the hosts have one parasite? Illogical
E. parasite's hosts, freshwater snails which become their hosts during their life cycles— parasite is singular while the 'their' is a plural pronoun.
03 May 2018, 20:13
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I don’t have a whole lot to say about (A). The first thing I notice is the modifier “that are the parasite’s hosts” – and that seems like a reasonable way to modify “the freshwater snails.”
The pronoun “its” also jumps out at me, and that would have to refer to “the parasite’s”, since that’s our nearest (and most logical) singular. And that’s fine, too: “…the freshwater snails that are the parasite’s hosts for part of [the parasite’s] life cycle…” Reasonable enough.
So I guess we’ll keep (A).
Quote:
The biggest difference between (B) and (A) is the plural pronoun “their” in (B). And that’s a problem: “their” is plural, so it has to refer to either “the freshwater snails” or “the parasite’s hosts” – and those are the same thing, anyway. So that gives us: “… the freshwater snails that are the parasite’s hosts in part of [the freshwater snails’] life cycle.”
That’s not WRONG, exactly, if you’re willing to assume that the sentence is trying to explain what happens during the snails’ life cycle. But I think that misses the point: schistosomiasis is the grammatical subject of the sentence, and the sentence is clearly trying to explain why the disease has become more common. So presumably, the sentence is interested in explaining that the snails are hosts during part of the parasite’s life cycle. The snail’s life cycle really isn’t of interest to us, and wouldn’t help explain why the parasite has become more common.
So that’s miserably subtle, but it’s basically all we’ve got, unless you want to make an unnecessarily big deal out of the prepositions. (A) is better than (B), so we can eliminate (B).
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(C) is a little bit easier to eliminate than some of the other options. The phrase “its life cycles” really doesn’t make any sense at all: “its” presumably refers to “the parasite”, since that’s the closest (and most logical) singular noun. But then how is that “the parasite” has multiple “life cycles”? As far as I know, each parasite only has one life cycle. If not, that would be creepy AF.
There’s also a problem with the phrase “freshwater snails which becomes.” Snails are plural, so the verb would have to be “become”, not “becomes.” Plus, “which” is generally a non-restrictive modifier, so it usually follows a comma – though that’s not usually a deciding factor on GMAT questions.
So we have lots of reasons to ditch (C).
Quote:
(D) is a little bit better than (C)… but only a little bit.
I guess it’s nice that “its life cycles” has been changed to “the parasite’s life cycles”, but either way, it’s illogical: a singular parasite presumably has only one life cycle, not multiple “life cycles.”
It’s also nice that the subject-verb issue has been fixed (“snails… become”), but I still don’t think it’s ideal to use “which” in this type of scenario without a comma. But again: the GMAT doesn’t generally make a big deal out of comma placement, and it’s almost never a deciding factor.
And even if you ignore the comma thing, the phrase “parasite’s life cycles” is goofy enough to let us eliminate (D).
Quote:
The plural pronoun “their” appears twice in (E), but “parasite’s” is actually singular, so “their” presumably refers to “snails.” And that’s garbage: “… freshwater snails which become [the snails’] hosts during [the snails’] life cycles…”
You could also argue that “which” needs to be preceded by a comma, as we mentioned in (C) and (D) – but again, that’s rarely a deciding factor on the GMAT.
The pronoun thing is a big deal, though. (E) is out, and we’re left with (A).
But while answering you should keep in mind that the answer choice that changes the meaning of the original sentence is almost always incorrect. If we have two grammatically correct answer choices then the one which preserves the meaning of the original sentence is most likely to be the correct one. 
