The golden crab of the Gulf of Mexico has not been fished commercially

Good question. Here are my views!

The golden crab of the Gulf of Mexico has not been fished commercially in great numbers, primarily on account of living at great depths - 2500 to 3000 feet down.

(A) on account of living - On account of living (Verb ing) is incorrect, "On account of" is followed by a noun, and is usually restricted to changes in abstract things (prices, emotions, etc.)

(B) on account of their living - usage of their

(C) because it lives - Correct

(D) because of living - need a subject in dependent clause starting with because

(E) because they live - usage of they

Answer C
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I need help on this.
Isn't the referent of "it" ambiguous in C?

What does "it" refer to? The "Golden crab" or "Gulf of Mexico" ?

Please explain.

I will go with C; singular subject, singular verb.


You can remove "Gulf of Mexico" while finding the subject because it is a part of prepositional phrase.

Hi guys, i have a doubt regarding this question. While at first glance i thought c) was the correct option, later i remind that 2 independent clauses can only be linked with semicolon or comma+ FANBOYS. Following this rule, i finally choose option d), which is incorrect.

In this regard, i don't understand why option d) is incorrect. In option c) there are two independent clauses linked with a comma, which under my understastanding is incorrect.

Please guys, need help.

Hi muny, the presence of because makes the second clause logically incomplete, and hence dependent.

because it lives at great depths....so what?

The answer (provided by this Independent clause): The golden crab of the Gulf of Mexico has not been fished commercially in great numbers.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Clauses & Conjunctions, their application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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I have a doubt...mainly and because are kinda similar - providing reason...can we use them together...?? I am bit hesitant to choose c...

I suppose you meant "primarily", not "mainly" - "primarily" does not provide reason. The adverb "primarily" conveys that the primary reason for not fishing was.......

The following example without "because" may help understand:

The group primarily consists of ex-army officers. - there is no cause and effect relation in this sentence.

EducationAisle

I was wondering about option D. Regarding because of living. I read somewhere that preposition can be followed be gerunds. However specifically "because of" cannot be followed by verb-ing in GMAT (I read this from an expert).

Is that claim correct? Can you please explain why because of living is wrong?

Thank you

Hi! Indeed, haven't seen this construct (because of + gerund) as a valid construct anywhere.

However, rather than remembering this (and perhaps countless other) rule, I would just prefer option C here, because it explicitly mentions the doer of the action (living) and is hence, a better construct than D.
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Here's the official explanation provided by the GMAC for this question:

The second part of the sentence explains the first: the crab is not fished because it lives at great depths. The clearest and most direct way of showing the relationship between the two parts of the sentence is to use because to introduce a subordinate clause.

Option A: On account of living is awkward and wordy

Option B: On account of is awkward and wordy; their does not agree with crab

Option C: C Correct. Using because to introduce a subordinate clause is best way to show the effect-cause relation of the two parts of this sentence.

Option D: Because of living is not the correct idiom

Option E: Being is neither logical nor idiomatic; they does not agree with crab

Please note that I'm not the author of this explanation. I'm just posting it here since I believe it can help the community.

Hi,

I have a doubt, in option "C" "it" is a pronoun that is referring to the singular noun "crab"?
I know this is very silly, but if someone can help me I would really appreciate it.

Hi Veenu21, you are right: it refers to crab (and not to Gulf of Mexico). In general, it can only refer to singular non-person nouns.

You can go through this post on understand more on how to handle Pronoun ambiguity.
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To understand whether there is preference in usage between - on account of vs because of ...or there is some gramtically error.

Also, it would be great if you can share insights on how to idenitfy and eliminate opitons that are wordy

GMATNinja

Can you please help me understand whether there is any preference in terms of usage of "on account of" vs "because of".
or there is some gramatical error in this usage.

Some of the comments mention that usage of "On account of" is wordy. Can you please share your inputsw on how to identify if the sentence is wordy

It's very unlikely that GMAC will put "on account of" into a correct SC answer.
There is, however, one systematic difference between "on account of" and "because of":
• "On account of" CAN be followed by a concrete physical object.
• "Because of", on the other hand, should be followed only by a noun that represents an abstraction, such as an event or an idea.

This difference obtains because "because of" has to be followed by a noun that is actually the CAUSE in a cause-effect relationship.
It doesn't ever make sense to say that a concrete object "caused" some event/occurrence. E.g., you could say "The weight of the packed snow caused the roof to collapse" (note that the weight of the snow and the collapse of the roof are both abstractions!)—but you CANNOT say "The packed snow caused the roof to collapse".

There aren't any choices here that contain "because of" + CONCRETE OBJECT, though, so this principle won't help you solve the current problem.

Wordiness should always be a RELATIVE JUDGMENT—never an absolute judgment.

In other words, you should NOT attempt to judge whether a single answer choice, by itself, is 'wordy'.
Any judgment of 'wordiness' should be based on a COMPARISON of two or more answer choices. Eliminate answer choices that are OBJECTIVELY MORE wordy THAN OTHER choices.



Also, 'wordiness' CANNOT be the first thing you consider.
Sometimes, 'extra' words in an answer choice are NECESSARY! When that's the case, answer choices that do not contain the necessary word(s) are WRONG, even though they're shorter than the correct version. Before making any judgments of 'wordiness', you MUST determine whether any of the 'added' words are required in order for the sentence to work properly.
E.g.,
• I'm male. When I was in school, I could have said "I can outrun every girl in my class"—but I could NOT have said "I can outrun every boy in my class". The latter sentence would erroneously imply that I'm female; I would have to say "I can outrun every OTHER boy in my class". In the last example, the word "other" does NOT create 'wordiness'; the sentence would be nonsense without it.
• "The government of country X is more stable than that of country Y" is a correctly written comparison. "The government of country X is more stable than country Y", on the other hand, is INCORRECTLY written, because it compares a government with a country (rather than with another government). Once again, the longer version is not 'wordy', because the additional words are needed to make the sentence grammatical and sensible.

You can't consider 'wordiness' until you have determined whether there are any 'extra' words that are NECESSARY, as there are in the two preceding examples.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Pronouns + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• "due to" is used to modify nouns, and "because of" is used to modify verbs and clauses.

A:
1/ This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase "on account of", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "The golden crab" with the plural pronoun "their".
2/ Option B uses the needlessly wordy phrase "on account of", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

C: Correct.
1/ This answer choice correctly refers to the singular noun "The golden crab" with the singular pronoun "it".
2/ Option C avoids the idiomatic error seen in Option D, as it uses "because" rather than "because of".
3/ Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly uses the idiomatic construction "because of" to refer to a gerund (noun) phrase - "living at great depths"; remember, "due to" is used to modify nouns, and "because of" is used to modify verbs and clauses.

E:
1/ This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "The golden crab" with the plural pronoun "they".

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Hi Experts

GMATNinja @VeritasKarishma EducationAisle ChrisLele mikemcgarry AjiteshArun egmat sayantanc2k RonPurewal DmitryFarber MagooshExpert avigutman EMPOWERgmatVerbal MartyTargetTestPrep ExpertsGlobal5 IanStewart
other experts AnthonyRitz

I want to understand why option D is wrong. Because of + verbing construction is wrong? or is there some other reason
I can't find any reason except one - That option C is most crystal and clear