Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1) 
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Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton,  the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent .

A) the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent

B) the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates

C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent

D) there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole

E) the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues

SC61740.02

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)  
 
  • HIGHLIGHTS

UNLIKE X, Y

The moment that you see the word  unlike  (a preposition that must be followed by a noun), remember that it functions just as  like  functions. 
 Unlike  and  like  are comparison words. Start looking for comparison or contrast errors.
Comparisons and contrasts must be drawn between things of the same kind.
 Unlike  is followed by  historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world. 
Whatever gets contrasted with that phrase needs to be similar to the noun  historical evidence .

Strip the sentence :

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly,   represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton  ,  the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent .

The sentence, stripped:

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find  ,  the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent . 
(Yes, the "which" is correct. It "reaches" back over the three prepositional phrases to modify its target noun,  evidence .)

The sentence contrasts the evidence of past climates in other regions of the world with the evidence of the past climates of the North Pole. 
 Plenty  of evidence in one case is contrasted with  lack  of evidence in the other. 
This contrast is conveyed by the word  unlike.

THE PROMPT

THE OPTIONS (in a shortened sentence)

•  the North Pole's clues  is odd; it sounds as though the North Pole possesses the clues in a cognizant sense. Inanimate things don't think.
-- GMAC is not consistent about inanimate things and the possessive case. Do not get dogmatic about this subject and insist that inanimate things cannot take the possessive case. They can. 
-- in one official GMAT Prep SC, for example, we see "Jupter's moon Europa . . . " 
-- the  North Pole's clues  is strange because clues are not a typical characteristic of the North Pole. (By contrast, the phrase "the North Pole's ice caps" is not weird.)

• nothing is wrong with  its.  
-- The North Pole is singular.
-- a possessive pronoun can always refer to a possessive noun. (Maria's umbrella covered her head.)
-- Furthermore, in case people were thinking about the "possessive poison" rule, 
  the "possessive poison" rule is not an ironclad rule and in fact may never have been a rule at all.   
I wrote a well-researched post about that matter.
You can read  that post here .  SPOILER ALERT  - four official questions are mentioned.
KEEP A tentatively, but look for a better answer

• Option B incorrectly contrasts (compares)  historical evidence of weather patterns  with  the North Pole . Those two items are not similar.
• we do not say  clues as to.  That phrasing is not idiomatic. 
ELIMINATE B

•  evidence  is contrasted with  clues;  that contrast is parallel.  Clues  are one kind of evidence.
• the slightly odd phrasing in Option A ( the North Pole's climates ) is corrected in (C)  (climates of the North Pole ) 
• the word  clues  in the subject position conveys that clues to the past climates of the North Pole are being contrasted with historical weather patterns in other regions. 
• saying that clues are "almost non-existent" means that few clues have been found, in contrast to the abundant clues found in other regions. 
--  Scarcity  is correctly contrasted with  abundance  (of evidence).
ELIMINATE A, KEEP C

• we use  there is  and  there are  to express the fact that something exists, but that phrasing does not work well in this sentence
-- the sentence seems to be contrasting  historical evidence  with  there are.  That contrast is not parallel
-- OE writers sometimes say that a "there are" clause "blunts the rhetorical construction" of a sentence. 
They mean that "there are" is often flabby, passive filler.  Are  is a  to be  verb, which is inherently passive.
-- Option C compares  evidence  to  clues,  a contrast that is clear and logical. 
-- Option D is not as good as option C

• "climates for the North Pole" uses the wrong preposition,  for .
-- a climate is not  for  a place. A climate is   OF a place
Eliminate D

• incorrectly contrasts  historical  evidence  of weather patterns  with  climates.  Those two are not parallel.
ELIMINATE E

The best answer is C.

NOTES

The OE writer wrote that "clues to" in option C was better than "clues about" in options A and D: 
"The wording  clues to  is a more standard usage than  clues about . The sense of the preposition  about  is somewhat vaguer;  clues to  suggests evidence that will provide answers to specific questions, e.g., what patterns of precipitation were there at the North Pole 1 million years ago?"

No disrespect intended, but I disagree with the analysis.
I don't think that the preposition "to" suggests more specificity than "about."
I do think that "clues to," in this context, is better than "clues about," but not enough to eliminate an option on that basis alone. 
By contrast, the other issues in options A and D are more than enough to say that those two are  worse  and option C is  better .

Had I been that writer, I might have said, "As a matter of style in terms of forcefulness, concision, and diction, options A and D are inferior to option C."

COMMENTS

ksht  and  sambitspm  , welcome to SC Butler.

For the most part, I am pleased with everyone's answers.

This question is a good lesson in "better or worse"?
Option A is grammatical.
But it's not as well written as option C, full stop.

You were brave. Kudos to all.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in  orange :

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton,  the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent .

A)  the North Pole's clues  about its past climates are almost nonexistent

B)  the North Pole  does not offer many clues as to its past climates

C)  clues  to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent

D)  there are few clues  about past climates for the North Pole

E)  the past climates  of the North Pole do not offer many clues

While there are a lot of differences between these options, we do have one pretty clear place we can start looking at to narrow things down: comparisons!  Since the non-underlined portion has a phrase that begins with “Unlike,” we need to make sure the 2 items being compared are parallel! Let’s take a closer look at the original sentence to see what 2 things should be compared. To make this easier, we crossed out any non-essential phrases:

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world ,  which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton ,  the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent .

We need to make sure we’re comparing  the historical evidence of weather patterns  with something similar. Let’s see how our options stack up:

A)  the North Pole's clues  about its past climates are almost nonexistent

B)  the North Pole  does not offer many clues as to its past climates 
 (This is wrong because it’s not parallel to compare “evidence” to “the North Pole,” which is a place.)

C)  clues  to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent

D)  there are few clues  about past climates for the North Pole
 (This is wrong because it doesn’t follow parallel structure. Both clauses need to start with “there are” or not at all.)

E)  the past climates  of the North Pole do not offer many clues
 (This is wrong because comparing “evidence” to “past climates” is not parallel.)

We can eliminate options B, D, & E because they clearly are not parallel comparisons.  Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 choices, let’s focus on finding any problems we can:

A) the  North Pole's  clues about  its  past climates are almost nonexistent 
This is  INCORRECT  for a couple reasons. First, the phrase “the North Pole’s clues” is slightly misleading - the North Pole doesn’t OWN the clues. They simply exist (or in this case, don’t). Second, the pronoun “its” is too vague. It could refer back to any number of previous nouns. Remember: in this instance, “North Pole’s clues” is NOT an appropriate noun for “its” to refer back to!

C)  clues  to the past climates  of the North Pole  are almost nonexistent 
This is  CORRECT ! Starting with “clues” is parallel and clearly shows readers what is being compared. Also, pairing up the phrase “of the North Pole” with climates, rather than clues, makes more logical sense.

There you have it - option C is our winner!

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

sauravleo123 · Answer

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.

A) the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent

B) the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates

C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent

D) there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole

E) the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues

A. The comparison is correct, historical evidence is correctly compared with clues. The problem here is the pronoun its. Logically it should refer to north pole, but north pole actually does not exist in the sentence- Incorrect
B. Wrong comparison
C. Correct
D. Wrong comparison
E. Wrong comparison
C is correct

sambitspm · Answer

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton,  the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent .

The sentence goes for parallelism between  patterns .

A) the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent 
 As the north pole's clues should be followed by  them , here  its  is used. Hence INCORRECT.

B) the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates 
 Paralleism is not followed. Hence INCORRECT.

C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent 
 Seems okay

D) there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole 
 Paralleism is not followed. Hence INCORRECT.

E) the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues 
 Paralleism is not followed. We are comparing clues and not past climates. Hence INCORRECT.

By POE, we can go for Option C

thenikhilseth · Answer

My choice is  C option

1) Modifiers- Unlike Historical Evidence- Here we are comparing Evidence and clues, so eliminate B and E

A) the North Pole's clues about  its  past climates are almost nonexistent.
Referent of 'its' is unclear.

B)  the North Pole  does not offer many clues as to its past climates

C) Clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent-   CORRECT

D) there are few clues about past climates  for  the North Pole.

Past climates  of North pole  is the correct construction, not  for the North pole.

E)  the past climates  of the North Pole do not offer many clues

Praveenksinha · Answer

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.

A) the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent  1) its need a antecedent but here North Pole is not a noun - Pronoun error

B) the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates  "Historical evidence" is compared with "The North Pole" which is incorrect it must be compared with clues - wrong comparision

C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent   Correct

D) there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole :- Wrong comparison, sentence must start with clues or the North Pole's clues

E) the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues :-  Again wrong comparison past climate is compared with historical evidence

GDT · Answer

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.

Decision markers : 1. Unlike is used to set a contrast here and as contrast can be made only b/w similar things so, Historical evidence of weather in one place should be compared with Historical evidence of weather in another place

A) the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent  Incorrect. Doesn't convey the intended meaning

B) the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates  Incorrect. pt.1 applies here

C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent   Correct

D) there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole  Incorrect. past climates "of" the North Pole should be used

E) the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues  Incorrect. pt.1 applies here

ksht · Answer

A) the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent  - wrong as North Pole can't possess 'clues'

B) the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates  - wrong as changes meaning- 'almost nonexistent' - changed to 'not many'

C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent - CORRECT

D) there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole  - changes meaning -same as B and use of 'for' is wrong

E) the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues  - changes meaning of the whole clause

monk123 · Answer

Unlike  historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.
 
POE:
When you see  unlike  search for comparison errors.
Here, we need to compare 'evidence' with a similar item.
Eliminate (B), (D) & (E).
In option (A), 'ITS' is ambiguous. We don't know what it is referring to. Eliminate (B)

A) the North Pole's clues about  its  past climates are almost nonexistent

B)  the North Pole  does not offer many clues as to its past climates

C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent -   CORRECT

D)  there  are few clues about past climates for the North Pole

E)  the past climates  of the North Pole do not offer many clues

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here.

gmatassassin88 · Answer

VeritasKarishma   AjiteshArun   GMATNinja   GMATCoachBen

Is there any specific rule about possessive noun as in option A. I don't find pronoun ambiguity and thus marked A, which is an incorrect choice.Pls let us know why option A is wrong.Discussion in this thread is all about weird reasons.

Thanks in advance

Posted from my mobile device

KarishmaB · Answer

In (C),
'Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns ..., clues to the past climates of ...'
is clean and parallel.

In (A), there are no clues that belong to 'the North Pole'. It is neither something the North Pole possesses nor is a characteristic of the North Pole.
'the North Pole's climate' is ok, but not "the North Pole's clues'.
Here we are looking for clues to the climate of North Pole. Hence (C) is much better than (A).

LIBERTYRodP · Answer

COMPARISONS, POSSESSIVES

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world, which scientists find abundantly represented in tree rings, ancient glacial ice, or layers of sediment from seasonal plankton,  the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent .

A) the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent   ---- POSSESSIVE IS WRONG. "Pole´s clues" is wrong because the clues do not belong to the North Pole.

B) the North Pole does not offer many clues as to its past climates   ----- WRONG COMPARISON BETWEEN "EVIDENCE" AND "NORTH POLE"

C) clues to the past climates of the North Pole are almost nonexistent  -------   CORRECT

D) there are few clues about past climates for the North Pole    ------ WRONG COMPARISON/PARALLEL STRUCTURE. We need to have the word "clues" right after the comparative phrase "Unlike..... , "

E) the past climates of the North Pole do not offer many clues   ------- WRONG COMPARISON BETWEEN "EVIDENCE" AND "THE PAST CLIMATES"

TheUltimateWinner · Answer

EMPOWERgmatVerbal 
Hi,
Could you clarify how the 'its' refers back to another noun other than 'North Pole’s'?

Thanks__

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Thanks for the question  TheUltimateWinner !

While it's not likely that a reader would misunderstand that "its" is referring back to the North Pole, it's still not 100% clear. A reader might actually assume that "its" is referring back to "other regions of the world" or just the word "clues," since it's the closest noun to it. On the GMAT, pronouns need to be 100% clearly attached to a noun/noun phrase for them to be correct. Ultimately, the biggest problem with option A is that pesky possessive issue. The pronoun isn't necessarily the worst problem, but it could be confusing to readers nonetheless.

Hope that helps! Make sure to tag us at  EMPOWERgmatVerbal  if you have any other questions!

GK002 · Answer

I'm shocked as to how only 11% selected option A... the "its" clearly refers to the North Pole. Does the fact that it is possessive make it lose its 'noun' status somehow?

I agree, the reasons provided for rejecting A that I've read above are weak.

IanStewart · Answer

There is nothing vague about "its" in answer A. There is only one thing "it" can refer to: "North Pole".

The answer here is clearly A or C. I agree with earlier posts that point out that it's odd to say "North Pole's clues", but even if one didn't accept that, there's a second reason C is preferable to A that I don't think has been mentioned in this thread (maybe it has, I just skimmed through it). The construction of C is more parallel than the construction of A, if you compare the beginning of the sentence with the beginning of the underlined portion. If A were strictly parallel, the beginning of the sentence would need to read like this (removing all of the inessential intervening stuff) :

Unlike other regions' historical evidence of weather patterns, the North Pole's clues about its past climates are almost nonexistent.

But that's not what we have at the start of the sentence. We have

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the world...

so to be perfectly parallel, we want an answer that says something like "evidence of weather patterns in the North Pole...". And notice that C observes that structure almost exactly, but it just substitutes in a few synonymous words. C is clearer than A, and so is better writing, because it's clearer what is compared with what -- the two things being compared are written in analogous ways.

bahruz1992 · Answer

We say that when we use the structure of “Unlike X, Y”, “X” and “Y” should agree with numbers. Id est. if “X” is plural (singular), then “Y” must be plural (singular).
Can anyone explain in this question does “evidence” and “clues” agree with numbers?

Posted from my mobile device

IanStewart · Answer

I think you're citing a rule that doesn't exist, at least not in general; we compare singular and plural things all the time. We might say "Sam is faster than her co-workers", or "the smudged fingerprints on the desk were less useful to investigators than the clear footprint outside the window". There would be no way to express those ideas, at least not without using a very convoluted construction, if numbers needed to agree on either side of the comparison.

It is true that sometimes numbers need to agree across a comparison, but that's because of meaning. If we say "A frog makes for a better pet than a crocodile", we wouldn't want to change "crocodile" to "crocodiles", because the sentence is one type of pet, with another type. It doesn't make sense to compare a single frog with a group of crocodiles if you're talking about which pet is preferable.

Regardless, in this question, "evidence" is a mass noun anyway, so it can imply a singular (one fact) or plural (a body of facts). We can say "the fact that he lied is evidence of his guilt", or we can say "the available facts provide evidence of widespread corruption in our municipal government", so it seems fine to me to think "clues" and "evidence" agree in number in this context.

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Unlike historical evidence of weather patterns in other regions of the

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