OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
Quote:
The fear that majestic mammals such as lions, gorillas, and elephants are becoming increasingly endangered by human poaching and development is a concern which informs other large fieldworks that have been performed in Africa and that have motivated a group of researchers who have set out to study the elephant populations in the Buffalo Springs National Park.
• Meaning?
The sentence suggests that there is a common concern that certain large mammals are increasingly endangered.
This concern has motivated large fieldworks in Africa.
This same concern has also motivated a group of researchers to study the elephant populations in the Buffalo Springs National Park.
THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) The fear that majestic mammals such as lions, gorillas, and elephants are becoming increasingly endangered by human poaching and development is a concern which informs other large fieldworks that have been performed in Africa and that have motivated a group of researchers who have set out to study the elephant populations in the Buffalo Springs National Park.
• modifier error - WHICH should be THAT
→
which is a nonessential modifier that should be set off by commas
The word
which is a non-essential modifier that conveys nonessential information about its noun; that information is set off by commas and can be removed from the sentence without any radical change in meaning.
If you see the word
which, start looking for commas.
→ In British English,
that and
which are interchangeable.
→ In U.S. English and on the GMAT,
that and
which are not interchangeable.
The word
that is an essential modifier. It conveys crucial (essential) information about its noun. A
that clause is not preceded by or flanked by commas.
See Notes, below, for further information and a link to a recent official question that tests this rule.
• subject/verb agreement
→ The singular subject
fear does not not agree with the plural verb
have.
If the incorrect
which I just discussed were
that, the
corrected sentence would state:
The fear that majestic mammals are increasingly endangered is a concern . . .
THAT
informs other large fieldworks that have been performed in Africa and
THAT
has motivated a group of researchers ... in the Buffalo Springs National Park.
ELIMINATE A
Quote:
B) A group of researchers [DID WHAT? ARE WHAT] who have set out to study the elephant populations in the Buffalo Springs National Park in a project [ARE?] motivated in part by the same concern that informs other large fieldworks that have been performed in Africa – the fear that majestic mammals such as lions, gorillas, and elephants are becoming increasingly endangered by human poaching and development.
• MISSING VERB
→ What did the group of researchers do? The subject has no verb. The sentence is a fragment.
ELIMINATE B
Quote:
C) Motivated in part by the same concern that informs other large fieldworks that have been performed in Africa, a group of researchers has set out to study the elephant populations in the Buffalo Springs National Park, the fear that majestic mammals such as lions, gorillas, and elephants are becoming increasingly endangered by human poaching and development.
• misplaced modifier and logically absurd sentence
→ the long noun phrase beginning with
the fear that is a noun modifier of the word
concern.The former describes the latter.
The Modifier "Touch" rule requires that noun modifiers be as close as possible to their nouns.
Why is
the fear that so far from its noun?
→ logically incoherent
→
the fear that creates a sentence that is more than disjointed. It makes no sense. Its pieces sort of hop all over the place, creating incoherence.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) The concern about the fear that majestic mammals such as lions, gorillas, and elephants are becoming increasingly endangered by human poaching and development has motivated a group of researchers to study the elephant populations in the Buffalo Springs National Park, but also motivating other large fieldworks that have been performed in Africa.
• diction error - BUT is not the correct word.
→ we do not need
contrast. In fact, we need signals of similarity between the two groups' shared concern—or at the least no contrast word.
→
but also does not require
not only. Now, if you see them together (in something called a correlative conjunction), start looking for parallelism or verb errors.
• redundancy or weird meaning: the
concern about the
fear [of increasingly endangered animals] is the motivator?
I don't think so. The concern motivates these groups. Call that concern a "fear." Well, the fear similarly motivates these groups.
→ This sentence makes it sound as though the
worry about the
fear drives the action.
In truth, the groups worry about the animals.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
E) In a project that was motivated in part by the same concern that informs other large fieldworks that have been performed in Africa—the fear that majestic mammals such as lions, gorillas, and elephants are becoming increasingly endangered by human poaching and development—a group of researchers has set out to study the elephant populations in the Buffalo Springs National Park.
• Bingo. I do not see any errors.
• now we have an appositive flanked by em dashes, a construction that is sensible and effective.
→
the fear that correctly modifies the
concern (
the fear that is close to its noun and set off by dashes)
→ What is the concern that informs large fieldworks that have been performed in Africa?
Answer: the fear that majestic mammals are increasingly endangered.
KEEP
The answer is E.NOTES• WHICH/THAT
→ Controversy exists about this rule.
Conservative grammarians believe that a distinction exists. (I believe so.)
Less strict grammarians argue that informal usage has erased the distinction.
So far, on the GMAT, the words
which and
that have not been interchangeable.
In fact, an
OG 2020 question tests the distinction between essential (introduced by "that") and nonessential (introduced by "which") information.
The question was not a fluke. It also appears in
OG 2021.
You can find that question
here.
I have yet to see a correct answer to an official question that blurs this distinction.
On the other hand, this distinction is hotly debated.
GMAC's adherence to the
which/that distinction might change at any time, though for now it holds.
Stay on your toes.
COMMENTSzhanbo and
Archit3110 , good to see you both.
This question is indeed time-consuming.
I chose it for that reason, though: better to train with at least a few long sentences.
We want to get your psychological "muscle memory" accustomed to seeing long sentences that do not contain obvious splits.
Kudos to both. Nicely done.
close
19 Jun 2021, 23:54
49%
(02:43)
wrong 
