The features of the floor of the Kasei Valles on Mars look just like those at the base of Antarctic ice streams, so it suggests that possibly it was flowing ice that carved the giant Martian channels previously attributed to cataclysmic floods.

(A) so it suggests that possibly it was flowing ice that
Wrong. Pronoun problem.

(B) a suggestion that flowing ice may have
Wrong. "a suggestion" sounds inappropriately here. We should use verb-ing modifier if we want to give more information about the preceding clause.

(C) to suggest flowing ice as possibly having
Wrong. Meaning problem. "to suggest" conveys purpose meaning. <-- wrong meaning.

(D) suggesting that flowing ice may have
Correct. Verb-ing modifier --> modifies the previous clause correctly.

(E) which is suggestive of flowing ice having possibly
Wrong. "which" modifies ice streams wrongly.

Hope it helps.

My doubt w.r.t the OA is , who is doing the act of suggesting ? Along with providing further information/results of the preceding clause, an -ing modifier must also make sense with the subject. Isn't it true ?

Yes and in this case, this observation is applicable. The subject "the features" (of the floor of the Kasei Valles on Mars) are the ones that are the basis of the suggestion.

A- Wrong pronoun. Pronoun can only refer to noun. But here "it" refers to action.
B- How can the sentence before the comma be " a suggestion". Wrong meaning. But no grammatical mistake.
D- "suggesting" is modifying the action of the previous sentence

it is hard. why choice B is wrong?
choice B mean
that the features of floor A look like the feature of floor B is a suggestion that the flowing ice make the chanel
choice D mean

that the features of floor A look like the feature of floor B suggests that the flowing ice makes the channel

I prefer D but why choic E is wrong.

Don't 'suggest and possibly' together indicate redundancy in choices A, C, and E and offer an entry into the question?
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isn't 'just like' wrong usage? shouldn't it be 'just as'?

The features of the floor of the Kasei Valleys on Mars look just like those at the base of Antarctic ice streams, so it suggests that possibly it was flowing ice that carved the giant Martian channels previously attributed to cataclysmic floods.

Just like [color=#0000ff]noun (features of the floor, in this case)
Just as verb/act (you are getting confused with 'look', in this case)[/color]

I would suggest to please use Aristotle Sentence Grail (and possibly with Manhattan SC guide). Those are the best for non natives.
In fact all the Aristotle books are good for verbal. And then use this forum to solve the questions, difficulty and/or category wise.
Thanks to founders of this forum, who NOT ONLY have build this forum BUT ALSO have contributed in the best possible ways, as members.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/sentence-correction-question-directory-topic-and-difficulty-129750.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/critical-rea ... 28861.html

[color=#790000]Please Press kudos, if this has helped you.[/color]
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comma+a+noun can be used to summarize the preceding clause. this means if the pattern is

main clause+a+noun

the meaning is that the main clause is a noun.

choice B mean the fact XXX is a suggestion YYY
this is wrong. the fact XXX is not a suggestion YYY.
the correct meaning is that
features look like those and, so, the feature cause a suggesting. this is causal relation between 2 phenomena both of which are done by a subject.
in D, the feature suggest. in B, the idea suggests. gmat consider D correct, so, "features suggest" is more logical than "idea suggests".

really hard.

I will come back to add more

A suggestion (by whom?)...

Makes the voice passive, which is mostly NOT preferred by GMAT.

hope this helps.
Please press KUDOS, if my efforts have helped you gain something.
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I am just curious to know that besides humans, anything can "suggest"?

The features of the floor of the Kasei Valles on Mars look just like those at the base of Antarctic ice streams, so it suggests that possibly it was flowing ice that carved the giant Martian channels previously attributed to cataclysmic floods.

A. so it suggests that possibly it was flowing ice that - use of "it" is ambiguous. - wrong


(B) a suggestion that flowing ice may have - 'a suggestion' does not makes sense, is wordy. - wrong


(C) to suggest flowing ice as possibly having - "to suggest" conveys purpose meaning. use of as is also not correct. idiomatic: 'to suggest that' - wrong

(D) suggesting that flowing ice may have - Verb-ing modifier - correct

(E) which is suggestive of flowing ice having possibly - wrong

Hit the kudos button, in need of it.

Hi GMATGuruNY

Could you please help with this question?




While solving this problem, I thought that "a suggestion that ..." works as "an absolute phrase", modifying the clause.

Of course, a suggestion usually means a plan or an idea: I suggest that John study hard for the exam.

Yet, "a suggestion" can also mean "a hint" or "implication": The researchers have found evidence that suggests that coyotes and wolves have the same ancestry.

Here, I think suggestion = a hint or implication. So,

the action or the whole clause suggests / [implies]that flowing ice may have carved the giant Martian channels previously attributed to cataclysmic floods.

So, (B) also seems reasonable to me.

Could you please explain why (B) is wrong?

Thank you very much beforehand!

nobody can explain why D is better than B

IMHO the issue has been correctly addressed by https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-features ... l#p1291393
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a FACT = something KNOWN to be true
a SUGGESTION = something that MAY be true

OA: The features of the floor of the Kasei Valles on Mars look just like those at the base of Antarctic ice streams, suggesting that flowing ice may have carved the giant Martian channels.
Here:
The blue portion is KNOWN TO BE TRUE and thus constitutes a FACT.
The green portion MAY be true and thus constitutes a SUGGESTION.

B: The features of the floor of the Kasei Valles on Mars look just like those at the base of Antarctic ice streams, a suggestion
This wording implies that the red portion is a suggestion.
Not so.
The red portion is a FACT.
Eliminate B.
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