In the field of eugenics, geneticists have thoroughly scrutinized the

Question

In the field of eugenics, geneticists have thoroughly scrutinized the human genome and its ability to shape certain traits to select and pre-determine an  increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each  “ready to order” to parents’ specifications.

(A) increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each
(B) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in those not yet born, and each one
(C) increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in those unborn who are
(D) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, all of them
(E) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn

daagh · Accepted Answer

1. There seems to be a transcription error; Is ‘an” underlined or not? Much of the confusion may be due to this ‘typo’
2. ‘Increasing’ is an adjective modifying the noun number. ‘Increasingly’ is an adverb modifying the adjective ‘impressive’; ‘increasingly impressive’ is the correct usage 
3. It is critical to decide what is or are ‘ready to order’ to parent’s specifications. It is obviously not the characteristics, since the word ‘ready to order’ is not preceded by any comma and it directly refers to the unborn,

A) increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each –a djectives cannot modify adjectives. Eliminate  
B) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in those not yet born, and each one – the phrase starting with ‘each’ is a modifier;  a modifier cannot be connected with an ‘and’ – eliminate  
C) increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in those unborn who are - usage of increasing is wrong –  same as in A; eliminate

D) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, all of them –  ‘an increasingly impressive number of’ means plural ; then ‘all of them’ may fit in; If you do not add the ‘an’, then the word ‘ number’ becomes the subject, and the word is singular; then ‘all of them’ is out of place. Alternatively we can say ‘increasingly impressive numbers’ to make it plural to suit’ all of them’  
E) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn – T his is correct choice, with ‘ready to order’ modifying the unborn forthwith.

Gnpth · Answer

Here the word "Impressive" modifies the word "number".

the word that modifies impressive should be Increasingly. So we can clearly eliminate A and C.

Increasing is an adjective- which gives us the wrong meaning when we read. 
And Increasingly is an adverb, gives us the correct meaning while reading the sentence.

B is awkward- "those not yet born" we would rather prefer simple "unborn" instead of that. So eliminate B.

Same with the D. "all of them" is awkward and redundant. since we have "the unborn"- Noun

The answer should be E.

nailit · Answer

A)  increasing  impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each -out
B)  increasingly  impressive number of physiological characteristics in those  not yet born, and each one  - wordy = out
C)  increasing  impressive number of physiological characteristics in those unborn who are - out
D)  increasingly  impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn,  all  of them -out
E)  increasingly  impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn -correct

IMO E

revul · Answer

In the field of eugenics, geneticists have thoroughly scrutinized the human genome and its ability to shape certain traits to select and pre-determine an increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each “ready to order” to parents’ specifications.

A) increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each

the number is "increasing impressive" doesn't make sense, incorrect.

B) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in those not yet born, and each one

'those not yet born' reads very strangely, out.

C) increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in those unborn who are

the number is "increasing impressive" doesn't make sense, incorrect.

D) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, all of them

"all of them" doesn't make sense if you get nitpicky but i'm not sure...could refer to too many things

E) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn

I like this one the most although I personally feel it reads strangely.  E

chetan86 · Answer

First split increasing Vs increasingly --> as we are modifying "number of physiological characteristics", which is modified by adjective -> "impressive" so we require and adverb to modify ADJECTIVE+NOUN construction so usage of "Increasingly" is appropriate.

A and C out.

In B, after COMMA+AND we require full clause so ",and each one “ready to order” to parents’ specifications." does not makes sense.

In D, "all of them “ready to order” to parents’ specifications." should be a full clause and them is ambiguous.

In E, “ready to order” to parents’ specifications- modifies "unborn".

So E should be right answer.

leanhdung · Answer

In the field of eugenics, geneticists have thoroughly scrutinized the human genome and its ability to shape certain traits to select and pre-determine an  increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each  “ready to order” to parents’ specifications.

A.  increasing  impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each

--> We have two adjectives:  increasing  and  impressive  that are not joined correctly.

B. increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in  those not yet born   , and  each one

-->  , and  requires complete sentence if it's not the case that we join similar items in a list.
 those not yet born  is wordy and awkward.

C.  increasing  impressive number of physiological characteristics in  those  unborn who are

--> We have two adjectives:  increasing  and  impressive  that are not joined correctly.
We do not have any proper reason to include  those .

D. increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, all of  them

-->  them  is ambiguous: does  them  refer to  characteristics  or  the unborn  ?

E. increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn

--> correct.

manishtank1988 · Answer

My 2 cents:
I think this link is useful: https://grammarist.com/grammar/coordinate-adjectives/
Coordinate adjectives are adjectives that appear in sequence with one another to modify the same noun. For example, the adjectives in the phrases bright, sunny day and dark and stormy night are coordinate adjectives. Coordinate adjectives are usually separated with either commas or and, and "and" always comes before the final adjective.

Some sequential pairs or groups of adjectives that modify single nouns are not coordinate. For example, in the phrase harsh verbal warning, harsh and verbal are not coordinate adjectives because harsh modifies the phrase verbal warning.
If you ever have difficulty deciding whether a pair or group of adjectives is coordinate, try inserting and between them. If and would work, the adjectives are coordinate and hence do need a comma.

For example,
Forecasters warned of another day of hot, windy conditions across Southern California on Sunday. [Los Angeles Times]
In addition, their breathtakingly cruel and callous actions also led to a tribute plaque. [Liverpool Echo]
Obama stands accused of giving stuffy, cliche-ridden graduation speeches. [Standard-Examiner]

And these adjective pairs are not coordinate because they modify their nouns in different ways:
Amazon prepping multiple wallet-friendly tablets. [CNET]
With this in mind, I wanted to design a screen to identify dirt-cheap smaller companies. [Seeking Alpha]
The Red Wings are demonstrably a tough hockey team. [Detroit News (link now dead)]

DmitryFarber · Answer

I think there are definitely a few transcription errors here. First, notice that "an" shouldn't be underlined. As for E, it should have a comma at the end, at the very least.

Pasharma1 · Answer

‘Increasingly impressive’ is the correct usage, (increasingly is used to modify adjectives). So A and C are out.

‘Each one’ is a modifier, so it cannot be connected with ‘and’, so B is wrong.

‘Number’ is the subject in D and it is singular. So it does not fir with ‘all of them’

So E is the right option

Kanika3agg · Answer

Can somebody explain the meaning of the sentence?
 
ready to order what?

Thanks!

DmitryFarber · Answer

Kanika3agg  The intended meaning seems to be "made-to-order," as in put together according to the customer's specifications.

Kanika3agg · Answer

DmitryFarber  Thank you, I got this!

In the field of eugenics, geneticists have thoroughly scrutinized the human genome and its ability to shape certain traits to select and pre-determine an increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn “ready to order” to parents’ specifications.

rohitchayal · Answer

manhattan gmat says "a number of+plural comments noun" means many items i.e. plural then how come all of them is wrong?

emcheeks · Answer

Why is increasing wrong? I have done a few problems that are in the form of adj+adj+noun. I know this usage depends on the context, but from this problem, I can't tell if "increasing" is modifying "impressive" or "number"!

An example of adj+adj+noun would be:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/reporting-th ... 67639.html

GMATNinja Could you help please?

GDT · Answer

VeritasKarishma

In D, can't them refer to characteristics and consequently we can then say that these characteristics are ready to order

Crytiocanalyst · Answer

(A) increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, each
(B) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in those not yet born, and each one
(C) increasing impressive number of physiological characteristics in those unborn who are
(D) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, all of them
(E) increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn

A , C out since it isn't sync with throughly so increasingly 
B in thoae not yet born too wordy unborn is far better 
D All of them doesn't have a subject id it the baby or the genetic characters hence 
IMO E

Naptiste · Answer

Hello,

I can't properly understand why "increasing" is wrong here ?

How do we know that an adjective ("increasing") modifying "number" is wrong ? In other words, how do we know that the increase should be modify "impressive" ?

More generally, is there a way to determine when a noun or a pronoun is being modified rather than everything else, requiring an adverb?

Thanks

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Naptiste ,

We hope this finds you well.

Having gone through the question and your query, we believe we can resolve your doubt.

In this question, you must consider the meaning of the sentence to determine whether the adjective or adverb is the correct form to use. Here, if the adjective "increasing" is applied it will modify "number", awkwardly implying that the number of physiological characteristics in the unborn is impressive and currently increasing; the meaning conveyed through the use of the adverb "increasingly" - that the number of physiological characteristics in the unborn continually grows more impressive is more logical.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

abhishekmayank · Answer

Could anybody explain why the option D is wrong :

an  increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics in the unborn, all of them

"all of them" looks fine with " An  increasingly impressive number of physiological characteristics"

AjiteshArun  : Could you please help in it ?

In the field of eugenics, geneticists have thoroughly scrutinized the

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In the field of eugenics, geneticists have thoroughly scrutinized the

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