OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
THE PROMPTQuote:
Tasmanian devils, native of the island of Tasmania that is close to Australia, are endangered because of a cancer called Devil Facial Tumor Disease.
THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) native of the island of Tasmania that is close to Australia, are endangered because of a cancer called Devil Facial Tumor Disease.
• idiom error
→
native of is used to describe where a human being was born
→
native to is used to describe the origin of a species
See Notes, below.
• unnecessary words
→ I am suspicious of
that is. I have done a quick vertical scan. The other options do not use the phrase and do not seem to need to do so.
→ On the first pass, this stylistic wrinkle is not enough to disqualify option A. The idiom error is enough.
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
B) native of the island of Tasmania close to Australia, are endangered because of a Devil Facial Tumor Disease cancer.
•
native of should be
native to•
a Devil Facial Tumor Disease cancer is a stylistic mess:
→ too many descriptors are stacked back to back
→ when we describe a condition or disease that has a specific name, if the name is very long, use "a disease called [Very Long Name]," or "an illness named [Very Long Something" rather than "Very Long Name disease."
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C) native of the Tasmania Island close to Australia, are endangered due to a cancer called Devil Facial Tumor Disease.
•
native of should be
native to•
due to should be
because of (see Notes)
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) native to the island of Tasmania close to Australia, are endangered due to a Devil Facial Tumor Disease cancer.
•
due to should be
because of• as is the case in option B, the phrase
a Devil Facial Tumor Disease cancer is a stylistic mess
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
E) native to the island of Tasmania close to Australia, are endangered because of a cancer called Devil Facial Tumor Disease.
•
native to is correct
•
because of is correct
•
a cancer called XYZ is stylistically superior because the reader is not "overloaded" with too much sandbag information up front.
KEEP
The answer is E. NOTES • due to vs. because ofI keep hoping that GMAC will stop testing this issue.
I hope in vain.
Due to is almost never right.
Rather than try to memorize what I think are labyrinthine rules that govern
due to and
because of, try substituting
caused by for
due to.Does the sentence make sense?
Then
due to is correct.
If the sentence does not make sense,
due to is wrong, and you need
because of.
• native TO, not native OFWhen we describe the origin of a species, as a matter of idiom, we use
native to, not
native of→
native of is used only for human beings and is used to describe where a
person was born
Jean-Paul is a native of France.→
native to describes something that is (or someone who is) indigenous
Members of the Ute tribe are native to the Rocky Mount West.Potatoes are not native to Europe; [i]conquistadors brought them from the Americas to Spain in the sixteenth century.[/i]
COMMENTSI am happy to "see" all of you, from relative newcomer to old friend.
To all aspirants, I repeat: you have a standing invitation to post.
This crew is varied and consistently good.
In fact, these answers are superb.
The aspirants to follow will learn a lot from you all.
Very nice work!