Taste buds are onion-shaped structures with between 50 and 100 taste

Hi DesiGmat,


Let’s first understand the structure and meaning of the sentence.


• Taste buds are onion-shaped structures with between 50 and 100 taste cells,
o each of them has fingerlike projections poking through the opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore.



MEANING

• So, the sentence tells us about the taste buds. It states that the taste buds are onion-shaped structures with between 50 and 100 taste cells.
• Each of these cells has finger like projections poking through an opening.
o This opening is located at the top of the taste bud. It is called the taste pore.


There are three modifiers in the second clause of the given sentence.

1. Verb-ing Modifier ‘poking’: It modifies ‘fingerlike projections’. It tells us that the fingerlike projections poke through the opening.

2. Verb-ed Modifier ‘located’: It modifies ‘the opening’. It tells us that the opening is located at the top of the taste bud.

3. Verb-ed Modifier ‘called’: It modifies ‘the taste bud’. It tells us that the taste bud is called the taste pore. This is illogical. Why would taste bud be called ‘taste pore’? Also, the opening can be called a taste pore since that makes more sense.


Now, let's look at the options:


A.) them has fingerlike projections poking through the opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore


• This option has two errors:

1.) The modifier ‘called the taste pore’ is misplaced. It is incorrectly modifying ‘taste bud’. This gives an illogical meaning that the taste bud are called the taste pore. Logically, the modifier should modify ‘the opening’.

2.) The pronoun ‘them’ has two possible antecedents: taste cells and taste buds.



B.) them that have fingerlike projections that poke through an opening located at the top of the taste bud, which they call the taste pore


• This option has three errors:

1.) The pronoun ‘them’ has two possible antecedents: taste cells and taste buds.

2.) The singular subject ‘each of them’ does not agree with the plural verb ‘have’.

3.) The relative pronoun modifier ‘which’ incorrectly modifies ‘the taste bud’. The taste bud is not called taste pore. Logically the modifier should modify the opening.



C.) which has fingerlike projections poking through the opening, called the taste pore, located at the top of the taste bud



• This option removes both the errors from the original sentence.

1.) It replaces the pronoun ‘them’ with ‘which’. The modifier ‘which’ can only modify the immediate preceding noun. In this case it modifies ‘taste cells’.

2.) It places the modifier ‘called the taste pore’ right next to ‘the opening’. Now, the sentence conveys the meaning that the opening is called the taste pore.



D.) which having fingerlike projections that poke through an opening, which is called the taste pore, located at the top of the taste bud



1. The subject ‘each of which’ does not have a verb. ‘having’ cannot act as the main verb in a clause.



E.) which have fingerlike projections that are poking through an opening located at the top of the taste bud called the taste pore


• This option has two errors:

1.) The singular subject ‘each of which’ does not agree with the plural verb ‘have’.

2.) The modifier ‘called the taste pore’ is misplaced. It is incorrectly modifying ‘taste bud’. Logically it should modify ‘the opening’. (Same error as option A has)




Hope this helps!
Manyu