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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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. so much that is incorrect. The correct construction is so much so

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. cactus is singular - the sentence itself tells us that

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. free of errors

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. modifier error

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. modifier error

The answer is (C). This is the POE that I followed:

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. : so much that is a wrong idiom phrase

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. Similar to A

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. Makes sense and proper use of pronoun too

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. The phrase "Because they are now so heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States" describes the enforcement agencies

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. The phrase "Because they are now so heavily plundered in the southwestern United States" describes the special squads.

HIT KUDOS pls .
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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. -- "so much" makes the latter part of the sentence a fragment which is not joined to the main sentence by any modifier.

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. -- "them" wrongly refers to singular cactus; this also has unnecessary passive construct.

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. -- CORRECT, SVA issue in B is fixed here

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. -- "they" could ambiguously refer to subject noun(agencies) or object noun(cacti), also pronoun comes before noun (not preferable)

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. -- eliminated "deserts" from main sentence, also has same errors as D

Answer is C

A. “its” seems ambiguous
a. “so much that” should be “so much so (that)”
B. “them” has no clear antecedent. It should be “it” to refer back to “cactus”
C. “it” seems to properly refer back to “cactus”
D. Logic error
a. “Because they are…plundered…ENFORCEMENT..?” the enforcement is plundered? No.
E. Logic error
a. “Because they are…plundered…special squads…?” the special squads aren’t plundered. No.

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.

If we compare options,

In C, "so x that y" construction is used. "So x that y" is used to represent cause and effect, here 'x' represents 'cause' and 'y' represents 'effect'.
In the sentence, cause is 'heavily plundered' and effect is 'enforcement agencies....'. This relationship is correctly used in option C.

In A, 'so much that' construction is wrong.....Eliminate
In B, 'so much so that' construction is wrong.....Eliminate
In D and E, cause 'so heavily plundered' is present but 'that effect' is not present. We need to have complete pair 'so x that y'......Eliminate D and E.

Hi

Could you please throw some light why so much that is not idiomatic.

Right idioms would be: so much so that, so much as, so xx that , so as to ,
any others?

Thanks!

Why do we use "have created" instead of just "created"?
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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.
So much that is not the correct idiomatic usage.
It should be- so heavily plundered (cause)..that the agencies .. (effect)

(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.
"The cactus" is singular and "the cacti" is plural.
The plural pronoun “them” cannot be used for the singular noun- cactus. Eliminate.

(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.
So X that Y is the correct usage. The pronoun “it” refers to the singular noun- cactus.

(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.

“Because they are now so heavily plundered” incorrectly modifies “enforcement agencies.” It should modify cactus.

(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.

“Because they are now so heavily plundered” incorrectly modifies “special squads.”


Vishnupriya
GMAT Verbal SME
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Hi! Im not a native speaker so "so much that" for me sounds perfectly fine
Is "so much that" always incorrect??

For example, the phrase "I ate so much that I could eat no more" is incorrect??

Thank you in andvance!

Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal, I have a very quick question with regard to Option D. In the given question, is "because they are now so heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern United States" a clause modifier (i.e. a dependent clause modifying an independent clause) modifying the subject of the independent clause, i.e., enforcement agencies? Further, does "they" necessarily refer to "enforcement agencies" as per Option D, i.e., does a pronoun in a clause modifier always refer to the subject to the modified clause?