The cactus is now heavily plundered in deserts in the southwestern Uni

Question

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.

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EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Accepted Answer

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.

Kritisood · Answer

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

MrSengupta · Answer

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.

itspC · Answer

HIT KUDOS pls

.

NiftyNiffler · Answer

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

mba757 · Answer

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.

Mandeep1357 · Answer

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.

mSKR · Answer

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!

plaverbach · Answer

Why do we use "have created" instead of just "created"?

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

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

JoaquinCerda · Answer

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!

ritikajuneja39 · Answer

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?

thakrarsagar · Answer

EMPOWERgmatVerbal   GMATNinja   egmat

Is there any specific rule on why "they" in the option 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." refers to enforcement agencies and not the cacti or is it just because the pronoun is ambiguous, option C is better?

BLTN · Answer

Dear thakrarsagar you are right about ambiguity of antecedent for pronoun "they", but the ambiguity is not the decision point. What is the subordinate clause modifying? 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. Does such constructure represent intended meaning? Hope it helps

RenB · Answer