Hello Everyone!
Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in
orange:
The cactus is now heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States, so much that enforcement agencies in five states have created special squads for its protection.(A) The cactus is now heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States,
so much that enforcement agencies in five states
have created special squads for
its protection.
(B) The cactus is now heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States,
so much so that special squads
have been created by law enforcement agencies in five states for protecting
them.
(C) The cactus is now
so heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States
that enforcement agencies in five states
have created special squads to protect
it.
(D) Because
they are now
so heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States, enforcement agencies in five states
have created special squads to protect cacti.
(E) Because
they are now
so heavily plundered in the southwestern United States, special squads
have been created by enforcement agencies in five states for the protection of cacti.
Since the entire sentence is underlined, there are several things we could focus on to narrow down our options. Here are just a few key ones we found after quickly scanning over our options:
1. have created / have been created (Active vs. Passive Voice)
2. its / them / it / they (Pronouns & Modifiers)
3. so much that / so much so that / so heavily plundered / so heavily plundered that (Idioms) Let’s start with #1 on our list because it’s a pretty simple either/or split that will eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly. On the GMAT, you should choose options that use active voice whenever possible. Since the law enforcement agencies are the ones creating squads, we need to make sure that meaning is clearly conveyed using active voice:
(A) The cactus is now heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States, so much that
enforcement agencies in five states have created special squads for its protection.
(B) The cactus is now heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States, so much so that
special squads have been created by law enforcement agencies in five states for protecting them.
(C) The cactus is now so heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States that
enforcement agencies in five states have created special squads to protect it.
(D) Because they are now so heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States,
enforcement agencies in five states have created special squads to protect cacti.
(E) Because they are now so heavily plundered in the southwestern United States,
special squads have been created by enforcement agencies in five states for the protection of cacti.
We can eliminate options B & E quickly because they use passive voice. Now that we have it narrowed down, let’s tackle #2 and #3 on our list. #2 deals with pronoun/antecedent agreement, and #3 deal with idioms (
X is so heavily plundered that Y). Let’s see how each option stacks up!
(A) The cactus is now heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States, so much that enforcement agencies in five states have created special squads for its protection.This is
INCORRECT. While the pronoun-antecedent agreement works, the phrase “so much that” is not idiomatic.
(C) The cactus is now so heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States that enforcement agencies in five states have created special squads to protect it.This is our
CORRECT choice! It has clear pronoun-antecedent agreement (The cactus / it), and it follows the proper “X is so heavily plundered that Y” idiom structure.
(D) Because they are now so heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States, enforcement agencies in five states have created special squads to protect cacti.This is
INCORRECT because we have a vague/misleading pronoun that also creates a modifier/antecedent problem. The pronoun “they” is actually referring to “enforcement agencies” here, and not “cacti!” Option E also has this same issue.
There you have it - option C is our winner! By focusing on only a few key differences, we can eliminate options quickly - even when we’re told to focus on the entire sentence!
Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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