Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and

Question

Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(A) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(B) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that causes digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans and other mammals, and in birds.

(C) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds.

(D) Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms, which cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

(E) Arteriviruses, a genus of microorganisms, cause digestive and respiratory infections, sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/opinion/the-next-pandemic-is-closer-than-you-think.html

Coronaviruses are a genus of bugs that cause respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, sometimes mild and sometimes fierce, in humans, other mammals and birds . They became infamous by association in 2003 because the agent for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is a coronavirus. That one emerged suddenly in southern China, passed from person to person and from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, then went swiftly onward by airplane to Toronto, Singapore and elsewhere. Eventually it sickened about 8,000 people, of whom nearly 10 percent died. If not for fast scientific work to identify the virus and rigorous public health measures to contain it, the total case count and death toll could have been much higher.

Probably the easiest decision point to assess first is the obvious subject-verb agreement choice between "cause" and "causes".

Since that relative clause is modifying microorganisms (not genus!) the verb must be the plural "cause." This allows you to eliminate (B) and (C).

Then note the other important decision point in many of these answer choices - the list at the end of the sentence.

Choices B, C, and E, all improperly list the three items that should be in parallel form: in humans, other mammals, and birds so (E) can also be eliminated.

And choice D illogically assigns "which cause digestive and respiratory infections" to all microorganisms, when the point of the sentence is to show that this particular type of microorganism, the arterivirus, is what causes those problems.

Choice A commits none of these errors, and is correct.

daagh · Accepted Answer

Instead of going in tits and bits, let’s look at it in totality and use POE for eliminating as many wrong ones as possible.

1. The prepositional parallelism of ‘in’ is not maintained in B, C and E. We are left with A and D.

In D, the restrictive pronoun ‘that’ limits the coverage to just respiratory infections and leaves out digestive ailments, whereas by virtue of the parenthetical element, in A, both digestive and respiratory ailments are covered. Even if the parenthesis is dropped, it doesn’t matter.

So A is the best.

KS15 · Answer

Can you please explain what is wrong with D?

dominicraj · Answer

Hi KS15,

Option D: Arteriviruses  are a genus of microorganisms, which  cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and birds.

If you notice, the "which" relative pronoun is not at all required in the above sentence. The reason:there are two relative pronouns "which" and "that" in the same clause.kind of like a run-on.: which causes X that causes Y.

Option A: ", sometimes benign and sometimes severe" is a non-defining clause which can be completely omitted and still the sentence makes complete sense.

Option A corrects the error of D.

Regards,
Dom.

KS15 · Answer

Hi Dom,

Thanks for explaining. But is it a rule that 'which and that' can't be used in the same sentence? I have not seen this anywhere. Also, it is not which causes X that causes Y. If you read the sentence carefully it says something else.

parthsn · Answer

A works for me. The reason why I removed D is that when i removed the modifer clause, the sentence didnt make sense at all. The "which" brings in non-restrictive clause which can be removed without alterning the meaning of the sentence, so if we remove the which from D, it looks like "Arterieviruses are ...... in humans..." . This looks completely non-sensical as these viruses dont exist in humans but affect humans. I hope you get the point behind D elimination.

WaterFlowsUp · Answer

Dear KS15

Dominic Raj has correctly explained the situation at hand. 
There is no such rule as which and that cant co-exist. 
The rule is Which just gives additional info , whereas that gives necessary info.(Check out mgmat sc book)

The concept this question tests is quite apparent , the difference between That and which

Does this all make sense?

KS15 · Answer

Hi Waterflowsup,

Thanks for the reply. I am aware of the which and that rules that mgmat sc has. But, I am not able to understand what you/Dom mean here. In D, which is used as a non essential modifier along with a comma and this is a correct usage. Also, D says that it is the infections that are benign whereas in A, even though it uses that correctly as an essential modifier, it does not clearly mention what is benign etc.

sagar2911 · Answer

Hi KS15,

I eliminated D for another reason altogether. Hopefully this can help you. Consider the below with option D
Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms,  which cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe , in humans, other mammals, and birds.

If you remove the modifier clause, you get a sentence which makes no sense at all. The sentence does not intend to say that Arteriviruses are present in humans, other mammals, and birds; but it intends to say that Arteriviruses causes digestive and respiratory infections in them.

Hope this helps!

sagar2911 · Answer

Hi,

Consider Option C as below:

Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and respiratory infections that are sometimes benign and sometimes severe, in humans, other mammals, and in birds.

Here, the pronoun "that" is used to refer to 2 different items:
- genus of microorganisms
- digestive and respiratory infections

However, as a rule, a pronoun can only refer to one and only one antecedent. Hence this choice is eliminated for pronoun error.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

pictureperfect · Answer

if the above analysis true what about  that ?? Does the first that does not refer to microorganisms and the second  that  refer to infections?

sagar2911 · Answer

Correct, the first  that  refers to  genus of microorganisms  and the second  that  refers to  digestive and respiratory infections .
The point I am trying to make is that you cannot use the same pronoun in a sentence to refer to 2 different items. You should use different pronouns to refer to different antecedents.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

noTh1ng · Answer

thanks, thats exactly what i was also wondering about. You say "you should use different pronouns", does that mean I have to or is it just better to do so?

sagar2911 · Answer

You have to and its better to do so. It is a rule, and GMAT strictly follows all the rules

Swaroopdev · Answer

Can someone explain what is wrong with option E ? Is it the "In birds vs Birds" at the end of sentence ?

Regards.

dominicraj · Answer

Hi,

Parallelism is lost.

in X, Y and Z (or) in X, in Y and in Z is correct.

Regards,
Dom.

Swaroopdev · Answer

Thank you  dominicraj  for confirming that.

kanigmat011 · Answer

Hi Dom,

Correctly said but just for food for thought IF in option E the above anomaly be fixed , wouldn't it be the better choice than A.

Please let me know If I am wrong here

I missed the last part and marked E as answer

rt2017 · Answer

In the original sentence, "that" refers to "a genus of microorganisms" and not to "microorganisms". Hence "that" refers to a singular subject "a genus". So the verb "cause" in the "that" dependent clause should also be singular and hence "causes". So the correct option, or in this case, the best option should be B.

If someone has a better explanation, please share.

If someone has a better explanation, please share.

neeraj609 · Answer

Basic split is between Correct parallelism in ending and Not Correct. Either it should be in humans, other mammals, and birds OR it should be in humans, in other mammals, and in birds.

Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Arteriviruses are a genus of microorganisms that cause digestive and

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