The survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny

Question

The survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny polyps living in a symbiotic relationship with brilliantly colored algae,  are being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants like  agricultural runoff, oil slicks, and trash, but also by dropped anchors, probing divers, and global warming.

(A) are being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants like

(B) are being threatened, experts say, by not only pollutants such as

(C) is not only being threatened, experts say, by pollutants such as

(D) is not only being threatened, experts say, by pollutants like

(E) is being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants such as

Verbal Question of The Day: Day 30: Sentence Correction 
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GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

One of the things we hear pretty often: "being" is always wrong. Except that... well, it's actually completely fine to use "being" as a verb or a noun. For more on this issue, check out our recent Topic of the Week on "being": https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 42299.html

The key issues in this question have nothing to do with "being", though. "The survival" is the subject, so we'll need "is being", not "are being." And we also have some nice, straightforward parallelism: "not only by pollutants... but also by dropped anchors..." And if that isn't enough, "like" can't be used to introduce examples, so we have to use "such as."

Quote:

(A) are being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants like

Subject-verb agreement and "like" are both wrong. Eliminate (A).

Quote:

(B) are being threatened, experts say, by not only pollutants such as

Subject-verb agreement and parallelism are both wrong. Eliminate (B).

Quote:

(C) is not only being threatened, experts say, by pollutants such as

Subject-verb is just fine, but the parallelism is wrong: "not only being threatened... but also by dropped anchors..." So (C) is out.

Quote:

(D) is not only being threatened, experts say, by pollutants like

Parallelism error is the same as (C), and "like" is also wrong. So (D) is gone, too.

Quote:

(E) is being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants such as

This is the only one that nails the subject-verb, parallelism, and "like" vs. "such as" problems that we see in the other answer choices. So (E) is correct.

GMATPill · Answer

Here's how to answer this question in <30 seconds.

Step 1) Recognize that the beginning of the underlined stuff says "are" - immediately you know this is testing you on subject-verb agreement. What's the subject?

Go back and realize the subject is: "the survival of X" - so it's SINGULAR - which means we need IS instead of ARE.

That narrows the question down to (C), (D), and (E).

Step 2) What are the differences between (C), (D), and (E)?
Well, you recognize the common sentence structure "not only..but also" - and the difference lies in the positioning of where "not only" belongs.

Does it belong in the beginning like in (C) and (D) or does it belong towards the end as in (E)?

Well, in order to know what you're comparing in "not only X but also Y" - you need to know what X and Y are.

Is the sentence trying to say the survival is not only being THREATENED but it's also being  ?

Or is the sentence trying to say that the survival is being threatened not only by X, but it's also being threatened by Y?

Clearly, the sentence is trying to say that the survival is being threatened not only by X, but it's also being threatened by Y.

So we need the word "not only" to be positioned AFTER the word "being threatened" - not before as in (C) and (D).

Step 3) As long as you understand that in this case X is pollutants, and Y is a list of more pollutants, then you know that the phrase "not only" belongs immediately before the list of pollutants but AFTER the word threatened.

That way, we are able to quickly read the sentence and narrow it down to (C), (D), and (E). 
We recognized the differences between these answer choices and found that the position of the "not only" phrase needs to be in the way that (E) has it.

So we choose (E) as our final answer and move on.

Hope that helps!

tuanquang269 · Answer

We should eliminate all stuff after 'like' if the items after 'like' is the example of preceding noun.

GMATPill · Answer

Interesting. Actually we answered the question without even getting to the "such as" vs "like" part. Simply recognizing the placement of the "not only" phrase, we were able to get to the right answer.

But as a side note, "like" is used when showing a comparison. "Such as" is used to list examples of.

When you're listing examples of pollutants, you're going to need to use SUCH AS. So that leaves you with (C) or (E).

You'd still need to decide on the placement of "not only" to choose between these two. Hope that helps!

daagh · Answer

Let's first remove A and B for erring on SV number agreement. Then let us dump D for using 'like' to cite examples. Let's also eliminate C for failing on correlative //ism. E remains.

sdlife · Answer

Hi Experts /  GMATNinja  /  sayantanc2k  /  egmat  /  abhimahna

(E) is being threatened,  experts say,  not only by pollutants such as

can you please explain how the highlighted modifier (which is an independent clause) is okay to come in middle of a sentence without a proper conjunction to join?

Thank you!

DmitryFarber · Answer

Well, first off, if it's a modifier, it isn't an independent clause. Those are mutually exclusive. In the case of "experts say," the presence of a subject and a verb does not make it an independent clause. It's a tag that shows who said something, and it functions in the same way that a dialogue tag would work when we quote someone:

"Welcome," Dina said, "to the toughest week of your life."

"Welcome," Dina said, "to the toughest week of your life."

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  sdlife ,  that  is being  implied  here.

So, all the following are correct:

i)  My Dad says that hard work, works.

ii)  My Dad says hard work, works .

iii)  Hard work, my Dad says, works .

Similarly, here, the sentence is conveying:

Experts say that the survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny polyps living in a symbiotic relationship with brilliantly colored algae, is being threatened not only by pollutants such as agricultural runoff, oil slicks, and trash, but also by dropped anchors, probing divers, and global warming .

dabaobao · Answer

(A)  are  being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants  like   - Wrong: 1) SV 2) Like

(B)  are  being threatened, experts say, by  not only pollutants  such as  - Wrong: 1) SV 2) Parallelism

(C) is  not only being  threatened, experts say, by pollutants such as  - Wrong: 1) Parallelism

(D) is  not only being  threatened, experts say, by pollutants  like   - Wrong: 1) Like 2) Parallelism

(E) is being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants such as  - Correct

TarunKumar1234 · Answer

The survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny polyps living in a symbiotic relationship with brilliantly colored algae, are being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants like agricultural runoff, oil slicks, and trash, but also by dropped anchors, probing divers, and global warming.

(A) are being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants like-> The survival are being threatened. It's verb tense error.

(B) are being threatened, experts say, by not only pollutants such as-> The survival are being threatened. It's verb tense error.

(C) is not only being threatened, experts say, by pollutants such as->Not only being threatened...blah..blah but also destroyed...Is it so! No! because in not underlined parts, examples are used by different types of destroyers. So, not only is used at incorrect place.

(D) is not only being threatened, experts say, by pollutants like->Not only being threatened...blah..blah but also destroyed...Is it so! No! because in not underlined parts, examples are used by different types of destroyers. So, not only is used at incorrect place.

(E) is being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants such as-> "Is" makes sense with the survival. Okay, next. Not only by Pollutants but also anchors and other activities. hmmm! makes sense.

So, I think E.

svasan05 · Answer

The survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny polyps living in a symbiotic relationship with brilliantly colored algae,  are being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants like  agricultural runoff, oil slicks, and trash, but also by dropped anchors, probing divers, and global warming.

(A) are being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants like  Incorrect use of plural verb "are" for singular noun "survival". Also, incorrect use of "like" to give specific examples - "like" is used to show similarity whereas "such as" is used to give specific examples. Eliminate.

(B) are being threatened, experts say, by not only pollutants such as  Incorrect use of plural verb "are" for singular noun "survival". Eliminate.

(C) is not only being threatened, experts say, by pollutants such as  "not only" being applied to "threatened" means that, apart from "being threatened", something else is also happening to the survival of coral colonies, whereas the sentence is trying to state that the survival of coral colonies is being threatened by more than one thing. Change in meaning is not supported by the rest of the sentence. Eliminate.

(D) is not only being threatened, experts say, by pollutants like  Same error as in (C), and incorrect use of "like" as in (A). Eliminate.

(E) is being threatened, experts say, not only by pollutants such as  Correct answer - all above errors are rectified and no new errors are introduced.

Hope this helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The survival of coral colonies, which are composed of innumerable tiny

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

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