Snakes molt their skins regularly, for the purpose of regenerating ski

First thought that B is the best choice, but a bit later noticed that B is nonparallel and changes the intended meaning


A. for the purpose of regenerating skin worn by ground contact and for eliminating parasites, like ticks and mites, and this made ancient people venerate
like is wrong, must be such as, hence A -out

B. resulting in the regeneration of skin worn by ground contact and by the elimination of parasites, such as ticks and mites, making ancient people venerate
not parallel and changes meaning, hence out

C. so as to regenerate skin worn by ground contact and to eliminate parasites, such as ticks and mites, and these shed snake skins made ancient people venerate
seems correct, hence keep it

D. in order to regenerate skin worn by ground contact and for the purpose of eliminating parasites, such as ticks and mites, and ancient people venerated
not parallel and changes the meaning in second part of the question, hence out

E. thereby regenerating skin worn by ground contact and eliminating parasites, like ticks and mites, and causing ancient people to venerate
like is wrong, must be such as, hence out

We got C as an answer.

Official Explanation

Split #1: listing examples. On the GMAT, it is forbidden to begin a list of examples with "like." We need to use the idiom "such as." In discussing the parasites, choices (A) & (E) make the mistake of using "like ticks and mites," so these two are incorrect.

After this split, we are left with (B) & (C) & (D).

Choose (B) is wordy. It changes the action "regenerating" into a noun, which makes a sentence less direct and more wordy. It places two things in parallel that don't necessarily belong in parallel: the elimination of parasites seems a second purpose, along with regenerating the skin; it is not a second means of regenerating the skin. Because of this logical mistake, (B) is incorrect.

Choice (C) has the elegant structure of two infinitives in parallel after the "so as" structure, and the second half is logical clear. This is promising.

Choice (D) repeats the faulty parallelism of the prompt: in order to do X and for the purpose of doing Y. That is not proper parallelism. Also, the simple "and" at the end makes that fact look like a tack-on extra: this structure obscures the logical connection between this fact and the rest of the sentence. For these reasons, (D) is incorrect.

Choice (C) is the best answer.

Hi Aragonn,
Isn't "so as to" unacceptable in GMAT. "so adjective as to" is considered an acceptable form.

both usages are correct. Here is a link for deep diving. Let me know if you need further help.

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/so-lets-talk-about-so/

Even though C is the best choice here. It is not very clear to me. From A it looks like the author meant that the purpose, "of regenerating skin worn by ground contact and for eliminating parasites," made ancient people venerate the snake as a symbol of resilience and healing.

In C we have the shed skins made ancient people venerate the snake as a symbol of resilience and healing. There is a subtle difference between the two. Any explanation here is very helpful.

2019800aspirant - True what you said, but even if we eliminate the like/such as difference, 'this' is a big problem in A, As no clear antecedent for it. On the other hand C made it clear that what "made ancient people venerate".

I see why you asked this question. First thing is never look for meaning at first instance. eliminate all choices on the basis of grammar rules. Only apply meaning difference on remaining choices. This will save you some time too, as meaning take a bit longer time to workout, moreover apply in 5 choices will kill a lot of time. Hope it will be helpful.

Is the use of "these" in option C correct?
I somehow felt everything was right until I encountered "these" to eliminate it.