Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants

Question

Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used  as a secret language to communicate with other members of the herd.

(A) Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used

(B) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds that are believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, and they may use this

(C) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds, believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, that they may use

(D) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads; elephants emit low-frequency sounds they may use

(E) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads, low-frequency sounds are emitted by elephants that may be used

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/11/science/secret-language-found-in-elephants.html

ELEPHANTS emit low-frequency vocal sounds, inaudible to man, that may be used as a ''secret'' language to communicate with other members of a herd over both long and short distances, researchers at Cornell University have discovered.

The sounds, believed to originate from a fluttering spot on the giant animals' foreheads, are at frequencies in the range of 14 to 24 hertz, below the threshold of human hearing.

Kurtosis · Accepted Answer

(A) Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used - Modifier error. Believed to originate.... must modify low frequency sounds and not elephanths

(B) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds that are believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, and they may use this - We are not about the antecedent for 'this'

(C) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds, believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, that they may use - Correct.

(D) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads; elephants emit low-frequency sounds they may use - Same error as A + ';' is incorrectly used to connect a dependent clause with independent clause

(E) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads, low-frequency sounds are emitted by elephants that may be used - 'that' illogically refers to elephants

Answer: C

smritisingh8 · Answer

My main doubt is that in option E, what does 'that' refer to.

Elephants or sounds?

Please help. Thank you.

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Kurtosis · Answer

Ideally 'that' should refer to low frequency sounds. But, in option E 'that' is referring to elephants.

LoneSurvivor · Answer

Elephants emit low-frequency sounds, believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, that they may use
please tell here "that" refers to foreheads or low frequency sound?

divyeshdoshi · Answer

“That” refers to the sounds in option E. There’s no valid reason to use “that” right after the word elephants In option E if wanted to refer to the elephants again.

Makes no sense to me.

On the other hand, among other reasons, I think D and E are not the best answers because of the sheer complexity of the sentences and the lack of brevity.

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LoneSurvivor · Answer

Hi D and E indeed wrong answer but in C if you notice 'that" refers to the forehead of elephant rather it should modify " Sounds".Are you satisfied with this? if so then can can you explain?

divyeshdoshi · Answer

I understand your query. I’ll put my explanation this way :

Option A cannot be the answer because of SV disagreement.

Option B - towards the end of the sentence the word “this” indicates a singular noun but when the noun is plural “sounds” , “these” would have been more correct

Option C - Ignore the second clause and try to read the sentence without it. It’ll still make logical sense. Although I’m not entirely sure if that’s the right way to go about it.

Options D and E- look rubbish to me because of the way they’re drafted

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svasan05 · Answer

Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used  as a secret language to communicate with other members of the herd.

(A) Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used  The initial clause must modify the sounds and not elephants. Eliminate.

(B) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds that are believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, and they may use this  Singular pronoun "this" at the end refers to plural noun "sounds". Eliminate.

(C) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds, believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, that they may use  Correct answer. SV and modifier errors are corrected and no new errors are introduced.

(D) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads; elephants emit low-frequency sounds they may use  ';' is incorrectly connecting a dependent and independent clauses. Eliminate.

(E) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads, low-frequency sounds are emitted by elephants that may be used  "that" refers to elephants when it should refer to "sounds". Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

Masterclass_Space · Answer

Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used as a secret language to communicate with other members of the herd.

(A) Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants emit low-frequency sounds that may be used (incorrect: modifier error)
Believed to originate becomes a modifier of elephants. Incorrect modifier placement
 
 (B) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds that are believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, and they may use this (incorrect: pronoun error)
Pronoun this refers to sounds though sounds will be considered plural however to get rid of reduncdancey and meaning error, no pronoun should be used for sounds.
 
 (C) Elephants emit low-frequency sounds, believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, that they may use (The best option)
The middle part that is believed to is a modifier of sounds and another modifier that also modifies sound hence they together convey the intended meaning.
 
 (D) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads; elephants emit low-frequency sounds they may use (incorrect: punctuation error)
Semicolon, replacement of and, that is used to connect two independent clauses. Before the semicolon, there is no clause.
 
 (E) Originating, it is believed, from a small area on their foreheads, low-frequency sounds are emitted by elephants that may be used. (Incorrect: modifier error)
Originating represents going on action but this passage requires an ended or source of action thence incorrect

Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants

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Believed to originate from a small area on their foreheads, elephants

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