The characteristic phenomenon of mass suicide by thousands

Question

The characteristic phenomenon of mass suicide by thousands of lemmings year after year by jumping off from cliffs to great depths,  explainable only by a chosen few behavioral scientists, occurs after a majority of the animals is  driven to migrate from friendly habitats to hostile environs

(A) explainable only by a chosen few behavioral scientists, occurs after a majority of the animals is

(B) explainable by a choice few behavioral scientists, only occurs after a majority of the animals are

(C) explainable only by a choice few behavioral scientists, occurs after a majority of the animals are

(D) is explainable only by a choice few behavioral scientists, occurs after a majority of the animals are

(E) that can be explained only by a choice few behavioral scientists and it occurs after a majority of the animals are

daagh · Accepted Answer

@shekharvineet: yes. You are right. The OA is C; 
Secondly, the difference between  chosen few  and c hoice few  IMO is that  chosen few  are chosen by some others while  choice few  are an elite group of people who are better than many others in their group.

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shekharvineet · Answer

Ok. I assume that you have done a little typing mistake when you have written "choice" in place of "chosen" in all answer choices except A. So, I will try to solve this problem presuming that the correct word is "chosen".
First let us look for the error that can be spotted most easily and this calls for the split between "is" and "are". The phrase "a majority of the animals" is a plural subject and thus, requires the use of a plural verb. On account of this, we can safely eliminate answer choice A.
B- Incorrect because of the wrong position of the word "only".
D- Incorrect. We don't need "is". There is already an "are" present in the sentence and we should eliminate the unnecessary uses of the verb form "to be" for the sake of concision.
E- Incorrect Wordier and awkward.
C- Clear Winner. Uses the correct form of verb (plural). No unnecessary uses of the verb form "to be". Grammatically correct and most concise answer.

daagh · Answer

There is no typo. Choice few and chosen few are given deliberately.

shekharvineet · Answer

Thats interesting. Even in that case I stick with my original answer. Whats the OA?
To me A cannot be the answer because " a majority of animals" demands a singular verb
B is also out because of the wrong position of "only".
D is out because it makes no sense to have "is" after the comma.
E is just too wordy.

shekharvineet · Answer

Thanks. Thats something new I learned. Really didn't know how to use the phrase "choice few" but went for errors that were easier to spot.

SaraLotfy · Answer

"a choice few" is correct!!!

I've never heard of this idiom before. where can I find study reference to this specific word?? it sounded awkward the first time I read it

vivmechster · Answer

I still did not get it, why choice (b) is wrong?
plz explain.
in Choice C: explainable only by a choice few behavioral scientists - explainable is not verb i guess and word only is used as adverb.
in choice B: what is wrong in saying; "The characteristic phenomenon only occurs"?

unceldolan · Answer

as far as I understand this, "only" refers to the group of scientists, not the lemmings or the suicide. Thus B is wrong.

Correct me if I'm mistaken.

greets

dina98 · Answer

should not 'majority' agree with a singular verb?

gmat2015p · Answer

This sentence does not sound of GMAT quality. I do not agree with 'majority' being singular when it is referring to a group of animals. Below URL explains the use of majority
https://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/majority.html

sheolokesh · Answer

I need a small clarification here,

I need to know the placement of "only"...

As per the sentence, the Phenomenon of mass sucide occurs due to migration of animals.
If this is the case should not we place "only" before occurs? Because, if the migration dint happen, the mass sucide wont happen right?
(B) explainable by a choice few behavioral scientists,  only  occurs after a majority of the animals are

So should'nt "only" modify the migration? ie, only the set of migrated animals are subjected to the suicide.. Please share your comments...

mejia401 · Answer

I first thought the same, but I now agree with the others. By definition, "only" means one idea/thing/place and nothing else. We know that "only" should modify explainable because the phrase following it "by a choice few behavioral scientists" indicates no one else beside them will explain. The word "choice" could have assured us where only was supposed to go. Furthermore, if the sentence had "only" before occurs, then the meaning of the predicate changes into how the characteristic phenomena can "only occur" and nothing else. This characteristic can still take on many adjectives/actions/etc. That's my take.

DesiGmat · Answer

As per my understanding...
in option B, the usage of ONLY is changing the meaning...
Consider the following two sentences -

Sachin tendulkar is considered the star of Cricket, only surpassed by Brian Lara.
Sachin tendulkar is considered the star of Cricket, surpassed only by Brian Lara.

There is change in the meaning of the two sentences...

and I guess same is applied over here...

Correct me if I'm wrong.

mvictor · Answer

tough one.
we can eliminate D right away, as it is a run-on sentence.
A - looks good, but a majority of animals would rather need "are", since we speak about more animals. 
E - doesn't look good at all.that refers to what? and it - definitely out.
between B and C -> explainable ONLY is in original sentence, so C here +. ONLY occurs - b is wrong.

explainable by a choice few ... sounds awkward to me though...

lpetroski · Answer

Isn't "ONLY a choice few" redundant?

baaniNitin · Answer

Daaagh,
Could you please give provide simple examples for this theory ?

Regards
baaniNitin

sayantanc2k · Answer

Choice  used an adjective means  of superior quality ; the word is not related to choosing something.

I bought the most expensive dress in the showroom - a  choice  Armani gown.

LIBERTYRodP · Answer

VERB NUMBERS, MEANING

(A) explainable only by a chosen few behavioral scientists, occurs after a majority of the animals is   ------ Verb "is" is incorrect, since the subject is a plural. Majority/plurality/minority + NOUN is always a PLURAL SUBJECT.

(B) explainable by a choice few behavioral scientists, only occurs after a majority of the animals are - ------- Change in meaning due to the different placement of adverb ONLY. What we want is "only by", not "only occurs".

(C) explainable only by a choice few behavioral scientists, occurs after a majority of the animals are    -------- CORRECT

(D) is explainable only by a choice few behavioral scientists, occurs after a majority of the animals are   ---------- Two verbs, which are not parallel, and only one subject.

(E) that can be explained only by a choice few behavioral scientists and it occurs after a majority of the animals are  --------- Wrong parallelism. "and it occurs" has a clause to the   right  , which means that we would need a clause to the   left    to make it parallel.

The characteristic phenomenon of mass suicide by thousands

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The characteristic phenomenon of mass suicide by thousands

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