|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
22 Oct 2020, 23:08
Kudos
Bookmarks
A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
25%
(medium)
Question Stats:
70% (01:24) correct
30%
(01:38)
wrong
based on 245
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals that transitioned into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.
A) The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals that transi¬tioned into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.
B) The belief about whales being terrestrial mammals which tran¬sitioned into the ocean was supported by whale fossils having legs and knees.
C) The belief about whales as terrestrial mammals transitioning into the ocean have been supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.
D) The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals that made the transition into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fos¬sils with legs and knees.
E) Whale fossils with legs and knees is evidence supporting the belief of whales as once being terrestrial mammals.
22 Oct 2020, 23:12
Kudos
Bookmarks
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
THE PROMPT
The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals that transitioned into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.
THE OPTIONS
→ which introduces non-essential material and should be set off by a comma or commas, whereas that introduces essential material and should not be set off by commas
• The belief about whales being is at best awkward and at worst ungrammatical.
• was should be is.
→ GMAT follows the convention wherein if a thing is still true, we use the present tense even if part of the sentence is in the past tense.
Correct: In 1905, Einstein proposed that light is composed of particles.
ELIMINATE B
• the plural verb have does not agree with the singular subject belief.
ELIMINATE C
• This option is grammatical and nearly identical to option A—but not as concise as option A
→ made the transition is not as crisp as the muscular verb in option A, transitioned
→ yes, sometimes the difference between a correct and incorrect answer is a few words.
If two options say exactly the same thing, choose the shorter version, especially if concision involves a verb
ELIMINATE D
→ belief of whales as once being terrestrial mammals is nonsensical and poorly phrased
Whales did not believe anything. (Well, they might have believed things, who knows, but they did not believe that their fossils were evidence of something.)
Compare to A: The belief that whales were terrestrial animals is far superior to "belief of whales as . . ."
• the singular verb is does not agree with the plural subject fossils.
ELIMINATE E
The best answer is A.
• NOTES
AntrikshR , you wrote:
AntrikshR , nice catch. (Except you're wrong about "fossils of the whale," or even "fossils of whales." The phrase "whale fossils" is better—it's standard usage.)
Transition implies change from one stage or process to another stage or process.
You wrote:
(Writing these questions is really hard. You all should try to write one. I'm completely serious.)
But yes, the author meant "terrestrial mammals that transitioned into [being] ocean mammals." The latter phrasing would have been better.
The whales did not change from "stage: terrestrial mammals" into "stage: ocean." The whales did not become a body of water.
On the other hand, I should not be encouraging you to argue with the correct answer.
Our goal is to eliminate the four worst answers, not to find one nearly perfect answer.
On yet another hand, this question is not official, and the phrasing you flagged is not great. As I said, nice catch.
I suppose that balance is key: move quickly to find indisputable errors that will help you eliminate options.
At the same time, keeping time in mind, be on the lookout for subtle errors that might be decisive factors between two close options.
Although I don't think you can argue successfully that another option is better, you have good insight: phrasing in the best answer is a bit murky.
Open D suffers from the same murkiness as that in option A.
....whales were terrestrial mammals that made the transition into [being ocean mammals] -- not into [being] the ocean.
I hope that answer helps.
COMMENTS
Please be sure to ask yourself whether another aspirant would understand your explanation.
These explanations range from passable to excellent. Be safe, everyone.
Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
THE PROMPT
The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals that transitioned into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.
THE OPTIONS
Quote:
• I do not see any errors
Quote:
• which should be that (that and which are not interchangeable)
→ which introduces non-essential material and should be set off by a comma or commas, whereas that introduces essential material and should not be set off by commas
• The belief about whales being is at best awkward and at worst ungrammatical.
• was should be is.
→ GMAT follows the convention wherein if a thing is still true, we use the present tense even if part of the sentence is in the past tense.
Correct: In 1905, Einstein proposed that light is composed of particles.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
• the plural verb have does not agree with the singular subject belief.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
• This option is grammatical and nearly identical to option A—but not as concise as option A
→ made the transition is not as crisp as the muscular verb in option A, transitioned
→ yes, sometimes the difference between a correct and incorrect answer is a few words.
If two options say exactly the same thing, choose the shorter version, especially if concision involves a verb
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
• This sentence is horrible. Truly awful. It sounds like babble.
→ belief of whales as once being terrestrial mammals is nonsensical and poorly phrased
Whales did not believe anything. (Well, they might have believed things, who knows, but they did not believe that their fossils were evidence of something.)
Compare to A: The belief that whales were terrestrial animals is far superior to "belief of whales as . . ."
• the singular verb is does not agree with the plural subject fossils.
ELIMINATE E
The best answer is A.
• NOTES
AntrikshR , you wrote:
Quote:
AntrikshR , nice catch. (Except you're wrong about "fossils of the whale," or even "fossils of whales." The phrase "whale fossils" is better—it's standard usage.)
Transition implies change from one stage or process to another stage or process.
You wrote:
Quote:
Well, I don't "mean" or intend to say anything; I don't write these questions.
(Writing these questions is really hard. You all should try to write one. I'm completely serious.)
But yes, the author meant "terrestrial mammals that transitioned into [being] ocean mammals." The latter phrasing would have been better.
The whales did not change from "stage: terrestrial mammals" into "stage: ocean." The whales did not become a body of water.
On the other hand, I should not be encouraging you to argue with the correct answer.
Our goal is to eliminate the four worst answers, not to find one nearly perfect answer.
On yet another hand, this question is not official, and the phrasing you flagged is not great. As I said, nice catch.
I suppose that balance is key: move quickly to find indisputable errors that will help you eliminate options.
At the same time, keeping time in mind, be on the lookout for subtle errors that might be decisive factors between two close options.
Although I don't think you can argue successfully that another option is better, you have good insight: phrasing in the best answer is a bit murky.
Open D suffers from the same murkiness as that in option A.
....whales were terrestrial mammals that made the transition into [being ocean mammals] -- not into [being] the ocean.
I hope that answer helps.
COMMENTS
Please be sure to ask yourself whether another aspirant would understand your explanation.
These explanations range from passable to excellent. Be safe, everyone.
yashikaaggarwal
Senior Moderator - Masters Forum
Joined: 19 Jan 2020
Last visit: 29 Mar 2026
Posts: 3,088
Given Kudos: 1,510
Location: India
Schools: Cranfield (A) Warwick MiM "23 (M)
GPA: 4
WE:Analyst (Internet and New Media)
22 Oct 2020, 23:34
Kudos
Bookmarks
The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals that transitioned into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.
A) The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals that transitioned into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.
B) The belief about whales being terrestrialmammals which transitioned into the ocean was supported by whale fossils having legs and knees. (, which is correct form of which modifier unless which is prefixed by a preposition. Here none of the case is followed, Hence Incorrect)
C) The belief about whales as terrestrial mammals transitioning into the ocean have been supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees. (Transition is not happening currently, belief is already been established) (Incorrect)
D) The belief that whales were terrestrial mammalsthat made the transition into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.(mammals did not made the transition, they were transitioned) (Incorrect)
E) Whale fossils with legs and knees is evidence supporting thebelief of whales as once being terrestrial mammals. (Its not whales belief we are discussing) (Incorrect)
Answer is A
A) The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals that transitioned into the ocean is supported by evidence of whale fossils with legs and knees.
B) The belief about whales being terrestrial
C) The belief about whales as terrestrial mammals
D) The belief that whales were terrestrial mammals
E) Whale fossils with legs and knees is evidence supporting the
Answer is A
