Disease, pollution, and overfishing have devastated the bountiful oyst

Question

Disease, pollution, and overfishing have devastated the bountiful oyster harvests that once sustained the residents  of the Chesapeake Bay area .

(A) of the Chesapeake Bay area
(B) in and around the Chesapeake Bay
(C) of the Chesapeake Bay
(D) around the vicinity of the Chesapeake Bay
(E) living in and around the Chesapeake Bay area

The given sentence is correct as written. "The residents of" a certain place is the proper idiom. It is also correct to refer to the residents living in the "area" of the Chesapeake Bay, rather than in the Bay itself.

(A) CORRECT . The original sentence is correct as written.

(B) This answer incorrectly implies that the residents are living "in" the Bay itself as well as the area surrounding the Bay. (Note that if we were talking about residents with houseboats or the like, they would be living "on" the Bay, not "in" it.)

(C) This answer implies that the residents reside only in or on the Bay itself rather than near it or around the Bay area; though there may be some residents living on boats, the meaning of the original sentence indicates it was not intended to be limited to those living in or on the Bay. In addition, logic dictates that the residents cannot live "in" the Bay.

(D) "Around the vicinity of" is both redundant and the incorrect idiom; to live in the "vicinity" of a landmark already includes the area "around" that landmark. The correct idiom is "in the vicinity of."

(E) "Living in and around the Chesapeake Bay area" is redundant; living "in" a particular "area" implies living "around" that same area.

kat1983 · Answer

A

resident of is correct idiom.
area is to be included because bay itself is not place of Qn.(residential area)

tuanquang269 · Answer

Finally, I chose the most simply answer. A is the correct one.

BillyZ · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION 
The given sentence is correct as written. " The residents of " a certain place is the proper idiom. It is also correct to refer to the residents living in the "area" of the Chesapeake Bay, rather than in the Bay itself.

(A) CORRECT . The original sentence is correct as written.

(B) This answer incorrectly implies that the residents are living "in" the Bay itself as well as the area surrounding the Bay. (Note that if we were talking about residents with houseboats or the like, they would be living "on" the Bay, not "in" it.)

(C) This answer implies that the residents reside only in or on the Bay itself rather than near it or around the Bay area; though there may be some residents living on boats, the meaning of the original sentence indicates it was not intended to be limited to those living in or on the Bay. In addition, logic dictates that the residents cannot live " in " the Bay.

(D) " Around the vicinity of " is both redundant and the incorrect idiom; to live in the " vicinity " of a landmark already includes the area " around " that landmark. The correct idiom is " in the vicinity of ."

(E) " Living in and around the Chesapeake Bay area " is redundant; living "in" a particular "area" implies living "around" that same area.

joydip81 · Answer

How we know that 'Chesapeake Bay' is actually a Bay and not name of a City. There are many cities with funny names - e.g. Virginia Beach is not a beach, Prince of Persia is not a prince, etc. - they are all names of cities. So, how someone supposed to infer 'Chesapeake Bay' to be really a Bay without 'outside knowledge'? If it is name of a city (more logical as both 'C' and 'B' in Chesapeake Bay is written in uppercase), then 'C' certainly is preferred choice.

Konstantin1983 · Answer

Haha you should know that people can't live in a bay haha. This is why you can eliminate B-D

LoneSurvivor · Answer

Can anyone please explain why E is wrong. I am not able to comprehend properly.

jachavez06 · Answer

Two reasons:

1. The region "around the Chesapeake Bay area" is not the same as the region "the Chesapeake Bay area". So, this answer changes the meaning. 
2. (Ignoring #1) E is wordier than A with no real benefit as a result

AjiteshArun · Answer

I'd remove it because otherwise "the  residents " won't make sense.

1.  The residents of X 
2.  The residents living in and around X

The word  resident   means  someone who lives in a particular place. If we wanted something that would work with E, we'd go for something like:

3.  The  people  living in and around X

joydip81 · Answer

Again, you don't know Chesapeake Bay is a bay and not a city named 'Chesapeake Bay'. See my examples of cities before. I guess you believe nomenclature always follows literary meaning haha

avin2788 · Answer

leave apart the idioms..

every other sentence changes the meaning of the sentence. Hence, answer is A.

VeritasPrepErika · Answer

Let's try out your example — replacing "Chesapeake Bay" with "Virginia Beach" in answer choice C gives:

"... the residents of  the  Virginia Beach."

See how strange that is? We wouldn't say "residents of  the  Chicago" or "residents of  the  Paris" or "residents of  the  Seoul" or "residents of  the   ". We would say "residents of Chicago" or "residents of Paris" or "residents of Seoul" or "residents of  ".

"The" is what makes your logic wrong. If there wasn't a "the", then "Chesapeake Bay" could absolutely be a weird city name like "Virginia Beach". But given the construction of the sentence, it wouldn't make sense. So in the "Virginia Beach" example above, it sounds like they are residents of the beach itself (which is somewhat logical — people can live on beaches), and in the original answer choice C, it sounds like they are residents of the bay itself (which isn't logical ... unless we're talking about merpeople).

VerbalBot · Answer

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Disease, pollution, and overfishing have devastated the bountiful oyst

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Disease, pollution, and overfishing have devastated the bountiful oyst

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