The survival of a rare New Zealand species of mistletoe that produces

Question

The survival of a rare New Zealand species of mistletoe that produces spectacular sprays of scarlet flowers  is threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also because their  flowers are pollinated by two species of birds whose populations are in decline.

A) is threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also because their

B) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because its

C) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also its

D) are threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and its

E) are threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because their

SC46270.02

ArunSharma12 · Accepted Answer

Ans: B
 A)  is threatened both because  their  leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and  also  because  their ;  subject rare New Zealand species of mistletoe is singular and requires use of singular pronoun, use of and also together is redundant

B)  is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because its
 parallelism is maintained, and pronoun is singular

C)  is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and  also its ;  parallelism is not maintained, we need both because..and because..

D)   are  threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species  and its ;  survival is singular and requires a singular verb- use of are is incorrect, parallelism is not maintained

E)   are  threatened both because  their  leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because  their ;  same subject-verb error as option D, pronoun their do not have an antecedent

itspC · Answer

1st error: subject=survival verb=is and survival are is wrong. Eliminates D and E
2nd error : usage of idiom BOTH X and Y : in which X and Y should be parallel and logically similar : Eliminates A and C

B is the best among all.

Errors mentioned are marked in question

fauji · Answer

Approach

1. " The survival " is Singular, So there should be a singular verb "is" instead on "are".   Negate D & E  
2. Notice that we have idiom of type " Both...and... ", Correct usage is " both X..and Y ".   Negate C   - It skips "because" after ..species and...
3. Option A has 2 issues -> 1. Usage of  "their"  for species, whereas  "its"  is the correct usage ...why? in case you get confused while solving, hint is already in sentence where  "The survival of a rare New Zealand species of mistletoe that  produces  . 2. Usage of  "also"  after and which disturbs the idiom " both X..and Y " usage. Although, option A can be negated straightaway with above step. Just to have full clarity on this part i added my thoughts here.   Negate A  
4.   Option B   is the correct answer

A) is threatened both because  their  leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and  also  because  their

B) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because its

C) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and <> also its

D)  are  threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and its

E)  are  threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because their

NiftyNiffler · Answer

The survival of a rare New Zealand species of mistletoe that produces spectacular sprays of scarlet flowers  is threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also because their  flowers are pollinated by two species of birds whose populations are in decline.

"both because X and because Y" should be the correct idiom. The subject noun here is singular "survival"

A) is threatened both because  their  leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also because  their -- "their leaves" wrongly refers to singular mistletoe

B) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because its  -- CORRECT, parallelism mentioned above is maintained and singular "its" refers to mistletoe

C) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also its  -- "both because and also" is wrong idiomatically

D)  are  threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and its  -- "survival" is singular, hence "are threatened" is wrong.

E)  are  threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because their  -- same as D

Answer is  B

Mandeep1357 · Answer

The survival of a rare New Zealand species of mistletoe that produces spectacular sprays of scarlet flowers  is threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also because their  flowers are pollinated by two species of birds whose populations are in decline.

A) is threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also because their

B) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because its

C) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and also its

D) are threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and its

E) are threatened both because their leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because their

If we compare first few words of answer choices,

In A, B and C, we have "is" and in D and E, we have "are". We have singular-plural verb error. The subject is "The survival', which is singular...
Eliminate D and E
In A, pronoun "their" refers to "New Zealand species of mistletoe", which is singular. ....Eliminate A
In C, "both" is followed by "because", "and" must be followed by "because" to maintain parallelism. Here "and" is followed by "its". We have parallelism error. 
Eliminate C.

Hence B is the correct answer.

priyachandank · Answer

'And' in option B already serves 'because' to the second part of the sentence too. Parallelism is there even without the second because. 
Though it is the best option available, it isnt upto the mark.

Romil042 · Answer

A) is threatened both because  their  leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and  also  because  their 
"and also" is redundant
"their" is plural and Subject is singular

B)  is  threatened both  because its  leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species  and because its
Correct

C) is threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and  also  its
"and also" is redundant
Parallelism not maintained "because its x and because its y"

D)  are  threatened both because its leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and its
Subject is singular
Parallelism not maintained "because its x and because its y"

E)  are  threatened both because  their  leaves are extremely tasty to a voracious opossum species and because  their 
Subject is singular

anishakunu · Answer

survival is the subject and is singular. Hence the verb should be 'is', not 'are'. 
idiom = BOTH X and Y. Here, X and Y should be parallel and logically similar.

NakulDiwakar10 · Answer

Both X and Y is the correct idiom
a) c) d) are out unidiomatic form usage
Subject - The survival(singular)
e) uses plural verb for singular subject

The survival of a rare New Zealand species of mistletoe that produces

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The survival of a rare New Zealand species of mistletoe that produces

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