Once common across southwest Asia, the Indian cheetah was driven nearl

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Once common across southwest Asia, the Indian cheetah was driven nearly to extinction during the late 1900s,  and only a small amount of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat .

A) and only a small amount of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat

B) only a small number of animals are now residing in their remaining original habitat

C) and only a small number of animals now reside in what remains of their original habitat

D) with only a small number of animals that now reside in their present remaining habitat

E) and only a small amount of animals reside in their original habitat that presently remains

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION THE PROMPT • number vs. amount? → a countable noun requires that we use number (or a "small" number of ): -- a great number of macarons at the patisserie -- a small number of samosas as an appetizer -- a limited number of people → an uncountable noun requires that we use amount: -- a large amount of bread -- a small amount of ice cream -- a remarkable amount of restraint THE OPTIONS • animals are countable, so the word amount should be number Eliminate A • as sagarsoni notes, this option creates a comma splice . Kritisood , sagarsoni , and dracarys007 : nice catch • to splice in English means to join two or more parts together Film editors cut out scenes they do not like and splice together the remaining parts of the film. → We cannot stick two independent clauses together with nothing more than a comma. If we do so, we have improperly spliced the independent clauses (sentences) together with a comma. → If we use a comma when we join two independent clauses, we must also use a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, or • are now residing is clunky in style and but probably not ungrammatical. (The verb tense in this case is not the big problem.) Eliminate B • number correctly refers to countable animals, as most of you note, vipulshahi and dushyantkanal included • what remains of their original habitat is acceptable -- the italicized words are called a "noun clause" or a "substantive clause." -- this noun clause is the object of the preposition in, but GMAC uses noun clauses as subjects fairly often KEEP C • now and present are redundant • as a very general rule, with does not usually take a that-clause containing a verb. Rather, with is typically followed by a noun and in this particular context, by a gerund (verbING). -- again, in general, the word with is not really "hefty" enough to add a lot of substantive detail to a sentence. What I write is a guideline, not an ironclad rule. Eliminate D • same problem as that in (A): amount should be number • that presently remains is clunky and sounds redundant in context; remains is a present tense verb. At what other time than the present would the original habitat remain? → I do not eliminate option on the basis of style until the very end of my analysis, which is also when I investigate potential pronoun ambiguity. → I add pink to stress style issues or issues that are not slam-dunk error. Eliminate E The answer is (C) In order to prevent people from eliminating an answer because they think that the meaning of option A cannot be changed: option A does not determine intended meaning. I have written about this issue in quite a few posts. One of them is here . I point out that I agree with Ron Purewal, Dmitry Farber, and GMATNinja. I cite examples. COMMENTS sagarsoni and kawal27 , welcome to SC Butler.

( kawal27 , I had to edit my OE after I posted it because you posted while I was writing this. Glad to have you.) I am glad to see all of you. Nice work.

Kritisood · Answer

we can count cheetahs; one cheetah, two cheetahs, etc hence "small number of" would be correct here. eliminate A and E. 
We need an "and" after the 1900's + remaining original habitat is verbose. eliminate B. 
The "with" in D is incorrect + present remaining habitat is again verbose. 
 Remaining is C. This choice corrects all the above .

dushyantkanal · Answer

A) and only a small amount of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat - animals should not be considered in terms of 'amount', correct word would be 'numbers' - INCORRECT

B) only a small number of animals are now residing in their remaining original habitat - wrong tense - INCORRECT

C) and only a small number of animals now reside in what remains of their original habitat - CORRECT ANSWER - 'number of animals' and also in the correct tense.

D) with only a small number of animals that now reside in their present remaining habitat - INCORRECT - wrong tense

E) and only a small amount of animals reside in their original habitat that presently remains - 'amount' is incorrect

vipulshahi · Answer

Once common across southwest Asia, the Indian cheetah was driven nearly to extinction during the late 1900s,  and only a small amount of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat.

Lets analyze each & every part of the sentence.

* Subject Verb Agreement   
- All subjects have verb pair agreement. Correct.

* Tense Form   
- used tense conveys intended meaning.Correct.

* If-then Condition  - not used

* Subjunctive Verb  - not used

* Pronoun   
- pronoun "their" has proper antecedent "small amount of animals". Correct

* Modifier   
 - modifier modifies the subject appropriately.

* Parallelism   and  only a small amount of animals now reside]
- parallelism marker "and" connects two clauses correctly. Correct.

* Comparison  - not used

* Idioms   
 - "cheetah" is countable noun so "number" will use in place of "amount". Incorrect.

While analyzing the whole sentence, only   idiomatic error   is identified.

A) and only a small   amount   of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat
 
- idiomatic error; usage of "amount " is inappropriate.

- Incorrect.
 
B) only a small number of animals   are now residing   in their remaining original habitat
 
- "are now residing" changed the meaning sense of sentence.

- Incorrect
  
C) and only a small number of animals now reside in what remains of their original habitat
 
- removes the idiomatic error while using "number" in place of "amount"

- Correct
 
D)   with   only a small number of animals that now reside in their   present remaining habitat  
 
1. "with" changed the content of the sentence. it now modifies " late 1990" which makes incorrect
2."present remaining habitat" is wordy

- Incorrect

E) and only a small   amount   of animals reside in their original habitat that presently remains
 
- Idiomatic error

- Incorrect 
 
 IMO(C)

sagarsoni · Answer

with Option B, I think the issue is "Comma splice" ..
 There are two clauses :

the Indian  cheetah was driven  nearly
only a  small number of animals are now  residing in their remaining original habitat.

dracarys007 · Answer

First let us dissect the sentence.
Once common across southwest Asia, - This is a modifier modifying the noun Cheetah
 the Indian cheetah was driven nearly to extinction during the late 1900s, - This is an independent clause and hence requires a conjunction.
and only a small amount of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat.
Amount of animals is incorrect it should be number of animals hence A and E are out.
In their remaining is awkward.

A) and only a small amount of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat
Amount of animals is incorrect it should be number of animals hence A and E are out.
In their remaining is awkward.

B) only a small number of animals are now residing in their remaining original habitat
This choice is missing a conjunction 
In their remaining is awkward.

C) and only a small number of animals now reside in what remains of their original habitat
This is the correct answer choice.

D) with only a small number of animals that now reside in their present remaining habitat
In their present remaining is awkward and wordy.

E) and only a small amount of animals reside in their original habitat that presently remains
Amount of animals is incorrect it should be number of animals hence A and E are out.
In their remaining is awkward.

kawal27 · Answer

Once common across southwest Asia, the Indian cheetah was driven nearly to extinction during the late 1900s, and only a small amount of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat.

A) and only a small  amount  of animals now reside in their remaining original habitat-  for countable we use  number  and for non countable use  amount

B) only a small number of animals are now residing in their remaining original habitat- CONJUNCTION IS MISSING , helping verb are is used and RESIDING IS USED AS VERB HERE SO WE HAVE TO USE conjunction such as and to separate two independent clauses

C) and only a small number of animals now reside in what remains of their original habitat-  correct
 
D) with only a small number of animals that now reside  in their present  remaining habitat -  AWKWARD AND DIFFERENT FROM authors INTENTION
 
E) and only a small  amount  of animals reside in their original habitat that presently remains-  same as A

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

emcheeks · Answer

Hello, I could not understand why D was wrong. Some people posted that we cannot use "that" clause in the "with" prepositional phrases. However, it is correct to say:

The honeybee???s stinger is heavily barbed and stays where it is inserted, with the result that the act of stinging causes.

And this sentence has "that" in the "with" phrase.

Please help! Thank you very much!

VerbalBot · Answer

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Once common across southwest Asia, the Indian cheetah was driven nearl

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Once common across southwest Asia, the Indian cheetah was driven nearl

Prep Toolkit

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My Rewards