The impact of a large meteor nearly 65 million years ago can better

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
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The impact of a large meteor nearly 65 million years ago can better account for the series of cataclysmic events attending the extinction of the dinosaurs than can the concomitant changes  in the Earth’s climate alone, based on the fact that the meteorite can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of the element iridium, which is found in meteors  and, in and of itself, in no way related to changes in the terrestrial climate.

A) in the Earth’s climate alone, based on the fact that the meteorite can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of the element iridium, which is found in meteors

B) in the Earth’s climate alone—changes that can best be explained by the sudden appearance of high concentrations in iridium, an element that is found in meteors

C) to the climate of the Earth, and this best explains the sudden appearance of iridium, an element in high concentrations in meteors

D) in the Earth’s climate alone; the former best explains the sudden appearance of high concentrations of iridium, an element found in meteors

E) to the Earth’s climate alone and that the impact can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of iridium in meteors, an element found

gloomybison · Accepted Answer

A) in the Earth’s climate alone, based on the fact that the meteorite can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of the element iridium, which is found in meteors
-Meaning error; meteorite can best explain? meteorite are inanimate objects they can't explain anything

B) in the Earth’s climate alone—changes that can best be explained by the sudden appearance of high concentrations in iridium, an element that is found in meteors
-Warped Meaning; Sentence want to say that impact of a large meteor better account for the series of cataclysmic events than do the concomitant changes in Earth's climate. Appearance of high concentrations in Iridium is the result of impact of meteor not changes in climate

C) to the climate of the Earth, and this best explains the sudden appearance of iridium, an element in high concentrations in meteors
Pronoun error + Warped meaning; What does "this" refer to? "this" can't refer here to the entire previous sentence, "this" can only illogically refer to "extinction..." or "impact..." both of which would not "explain" anything. Also sudden appearence of Iridium? Iridium is an element that has been in the world as long as the world existed. It did not suddenly pop out to existence when meteor hit the world

D) in the Earth’s climate alone; the former best explains the sudden appearance of high concentrations of iridium, an element found in meteors
 Correct

E) to the Earth’s climate alone and that the impact can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of iridium in meteors, an element found
Illogical meaning; and "that" the impact can best explain... why is there even a "that"? if we remove it ı would be ok with the sentence but using "that" creates an unfinished sentence

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
 For SC butler Questions  Click Here

MAGOOSH   OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

We can eliminate (A) because of a few suspect things, which, in of themselves, are not sufficient to make this answer choice incorrect.
1) based on the fact = wordy
A far more concise way of saying this is "because."
2) the sudden appearance of high concentrations of the element iridium
This is by no means wrong, but is a little awkward. 
You should never hinge your answer on something like this, but notice how much less awkward the phrasing is in (D).

What makes (A) clearly wrong   is a violation of parallelism. 
This   is much harder to see, however, because part of the parallelism issue comes at the very end of the sentence, in the non-underlined part: "which IS found in meteors and... in no way related."
It should be as follows: "which IS found in meteors and IS in no way related."

However, this exact construction is not found. 
Instead, in correct option (D), we have some less than idealized parallelism: an element found in meteors and...in no way related to...

The GMAT is known to sometimes choose such a construction in the credited response. 
In other words, the GMAT doesn't always choose the most ideal way of expressing something in a correct answer. 
But as long as it isn't grammatically wrong or a poor taste in style (this is a lot more fuzzy), a phrase like the one above can be part of a correct answer.

(B)  also subtle. By   an em-dash and the word "changes," the sentence implies that  climatic changes  can be explained by  iridium . 
This not only   meaning but clashes with the non-underlined part at the end of the sentence. Eliminate (B)

(C) is wrong because the word  this  is vague;  this  is almost never a standalone pronoun on the GMAT. 
 This,  sometimes called a  determiner , typically "points" to a noun: this type of question, e.g.]. Dropping the word  found  makes for an awkward construction. Eliminate (C).

(D) maintains the not-perfect but not incorrect parallelism "an element found in meteors and, in and of itself, in no way related to changes in the terrestrial climate."
Both underlined parts correctly modify  element .
The semicolon correctly separates two independent clauses. 
The word  former  clearly refers to the impact of the meteor and not to the changes in climate. 
Given this dirty grab bag of tricks, this question is pretty close to an 800-level question. 
Answer: (D)

While it's true that the "impact" in (E) is more succinct, (E) has several flaws. 
Option (E) is clearly wrong because  an element  modifies  meteors,  and "meteors" are not an element.
 that  is supposed to be doing in this option, because it renders the sentence almost incoherent. I suspect a typo.]

The answer is D.

COMMENTS

(I'm playing a bit of catch up here.)

Vatsal7794  and  gloomybison  , very well done.

You two took on a hard question even though the parallelism is not perfect.

You all are not looking for the best answer but rather for the four worst answers. The answer left standing is the winner. 
POE (process of elimination) is an especially powerful tool in SC.
I teach my higher level students to make a guess on almost all CR questions and on many "big idea" RC questions before they look at the answer choices, but I never want any student to take a guess at what the underlined portion in SC should say. Ever. Use POE.

gloomybison  , I am bumping you to Best Community Reply.

Vatsal7794 · Answer

The impact of a large meteor nearly 65 million years ago can better account for the series of cataclysmic events attending the extinction of the dinosaurs than can the concomitant changes in the Earth’s climate alone, based on the fact that the meteorite can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of the element iridium, which is found in meteors and, in and of itself, in no way related to changes in the terrestrial climate.

A) in the Earth’s climate alone, based on the fact that the meteorite can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of the element iridium, which is found in meteors
Meaning change
B) in the Earth’s climate alone—changes that can best be explained by the sudden appearance of high concentrations in iridium, an element that is found in meteors
Meaning change
C) to the climate of the Earth, and this best explains the sudden appearance of iridium, an element in high concentrations in meteors
Meaning change + changes to the
D) in the Earth’s climate alone; the former best explains the sudden appearance of high concentrations of iridium, an element found in meteors
Correct
E) to the Earth’s climate alone and that the impact can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of iridium in meteors, an element found 
Meaning change + Changes to the

Posted from my mobile device

generis · Answer

The official explanation can be found by clicking  here .

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

A) in the Earth’s climate alone, based on the fact that the meteorite can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of the element iridium, which is found in meteors
'that' makes look back on the stem , there is absolutely no trigger or 'that' in the above sentence therefore out

B) in the Earth’s climate alone—changes that can best be explained by the sudden appearance of high concentrations in iridium, an element that is found in meteors
Similar reasoning as A

C) to the climate of the Earth, and this best explains the sudden appearance of iridium, an element in high concentrations in meteors
Independent clause is absent before 'and' , in adition the parallelism isn't perfect therefore out

D) in the Earth’s climate alone; the former best explains the sudden appearance of high concentrations of iridium, an element found in meteors
The meaning is perfect no immediate problems therefore let us hang on to it

E) to the Earth’s climate alone and that the impact can best explain the sudden appearance of high concentrations of iridium in meteors, an element found
'that' what exactly is the job played , execpt for creating chaos nothing therefore let us incinerate

THerefore IMO D

VerbalBot · Answer

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The impact of a large meteor nearly 65 million years ago can better

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The impact of a large meteor nearly 65 million years ago can better

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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