Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hun

Question

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2) 
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Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hundreds of visual signs,  there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax .

A) there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax

B) there is yet no evidence of their having understood syntax

C) there is as yet no evidence that they understand syntax

D) as yet they do not understand syntax in light of the evidence

F) yet they have no understanding of syntax, according to the evidence

generis · Accepted Answer

]  Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)

THE PROMPT  
 Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hundreds of visual signs,  there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax . 
• The first (dependent) clause begins with "Although  apes ," so we should expect that apes are center stage in next clause

→ Be wary of (though not automatically against) the phrases "there is" and "there are."
GMAC uses both occasionally.

• This question is hard. It tests diction and style.

THE OPTIONS  
 
• grammatical but disjointed and clumsy
→ no evidence of  who  or  what  understands syntax?
→ the  although  clause is about apes: why isn't this second clause also talking about apes?
→ we use simple present to report facts. The apes aren't even involved in the second clause.
→ DICTION: t here is no evidence that they understand  is a better, more direct word choice than  there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax 
TENTATIVELY KEEP A but look for a different answer

• "yet" is oddly placed. As in, very oddly placed.
 
 Weird : There is yet no evidence of XYZ.
 Much better : There is no evidence yet of XYZ,
 Also better : There is no evidence of XYZ yet.

•  their having understood  is cumbersome; disconnected from the present tense in which we report a general truth; and convoluted. 
TENTATIVELY KEEP B but look for a better answer

•  they understand syntax  is clear, straightforward, concise, and similar to  apes have a remarkable memory

• the "there is" construction is spot on. In English, the end of the sentence usually gets the weight.
When we want to highlight something (such as the fact that apes do not understand syntax), we "end weight" the sentence by rearranging the word order and usually adding  it is, there is, or there are  before whatever we want to highlight.

•  as yet  
-- is similar to "so far" but is stronger
-- "as yet" means that something has not happened but is expected to happen in the future
KEEP C
 
•  in light of the evidence  is used to indicate that we can infer something from the evidence itself. Wrong meaning.
This sentence is straight science: the evidence shows or does not show that apes understand syntax. 
→  Correct :  In light of the evidence that white supremacist groups are almost universally armed with semiautomatic weapons, bombs, and light arms, the FBI announced that these groups posed the single biggest terrorist threat to U.S. citizens. 
 Correct :  In light of newly-discovered DNA evidence that did not match that of the defendant, the court overturned his sentence, set him free, and ordered that he be paid recompense and given a public apology.

Wrong meaning. We are not concluding something "in light of the evidence."
The evidence just shows that apes have not yet mastered syntax.
ELIMINATE D

•  have no understanding of  should be  do not understand 
→  have no understanding of   is unnecessarily passive and uses five words where three will do

• the placement of  according to the evidence  is not ungrammatical, but it lacks finesse, seeming almost to be "stuck" to the end of the sentence as an afterthought.

Not as good as option C.
ELIMINATE E

Comparison: A, B, and C 
Option C is clearer than options A and B. 
Option C is also the only option in which the subjects stay on center stage and are not plagued by horrible verbs.
Option C is better than A and B.

The best answer is C.

Comments

I welcomed people in the other OE for today.

Color me impressed!
These answers range from very good to outstanding.
Read on, folks: you'll get different vantage points and different analyses of this question, all of which are solid.

Kudos to all.

Anuragsharma93 · Answer

IMO - C

Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hundreds of visual signs, there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax.

A) there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax --- seems like an incomplete comparison we need to restate the subject since the meaning is not coming out clearly.  "There is no evidence yet of understanding syntax"  .. by whom ? -- Hence eliminate A

B) there is yet no evidence of their having understood syntax ---- unidiomatic. and awkward construct - "their having understood syntax"

C) there is as yet no evidence that  they  understand syntax -- they refers directly to plural noun Apes and this clears the issues which we had raised in option a - hence this is the answer.

D) as yet they do not understand syntax in light of the evidence --- meaning issue.-- do apes understand in light of evidence ? --

F) yet they have no understanding of syntax, according to the evidence --- unidiomatic .. no need to start a new clause after comma.

Sumi1010 · Answer

In the original sentence
 Although  apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hundreds of visual signs, there is no evidence  yet  of understanding syntax.

"although" is subordinating conjunction; "yet" is adverb (same as "until now" - There is no issue here).

A) there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax
 It does not say about  whose understanding  the sentence talks about.  
B) there is yet no evidence of their  having understood  syntax
 The original sentence does not mean that apes are supposed to "have understood xxx syntax" ; The meaning says that there is no evidence that they  understand  syntax. 
C) there is as yet no evidence that they understand syntax
 Looks correct.  
D) as yet they do not understand syntax in light of the evidence
 Changes the meaning. Evidence that something is xxx  does not mean  xxx helps/enlightens to understand that something is xxx. 
F)  yet  they have no understanding of syntax, according to the evidence
 "yet" is coordinating conjunction here. Both Subordinating and coordinating conjunction are not required together in same sentence.

IMO  C

AntrikshR · Answer

Although  --we have a contrast marker..indicating the start of a DC and a change of thoughts afterwards..
 apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hundreds of visual signs ,--apes have a good memory that helps them to master visual signs
Pause!..we must expect something which will say apes are missing with some ability or the good memory of apes is not enough....
 there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax. --Main clause..ok..not so clear but all in all author wants to say that apes do not understand the syntax 
it's not clear what is meant by evidence of understanding syntax!
understanding syntax is an independent noun form/gerund...we don't know who is not able to understand syntax.
It doesn't make much sense.

Probably, author wants to say that the apes have good memory and they can understand the visual signals but there are no evidence of apes understanding the syntaxes.
--Yet == as of now

A) there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax
--Incorrect.

B) there is yet no evidence of  their having understood  syntax
--Their having understood is wrong.
--Passive form/understood (past)

C) there is as yet no evidence that they understand syntax.
--there is as of now no evidence that apes understand syntax. Looks ok.

D) as yet they do not understand syntax in light of the evidence
--as of now they do not understand syntax in light of evidence. There is a change in the meaning here. We want to say there is no evidence that apes can understand the syntax but this sentence says there are evidence that suggest that apes do not understand the syntax.

F) yet they have no understanding of syntax, according to the evidence
--Although ...,yet is incorrect (Redundancy)....also similar meaning error as option D.

IMO C.

jessiemjx · Answer

IMO C

akadiyan · Answer

Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hundreds of visual signs, there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax.

Analysis :
Although is a subordinate conjunction and used to connect subordinate clause to main clause. 
Yet is an adverb that is sometimes used to refer to time

Both the use of 'Although' and 'yet' is grammatically correct in the question stem. So we need to look for meaning and clarity error.

A) there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax -  Incorrect 
Whose understanding this option talks about is not clear

B) there is yet no evidence of their having understood syntax -  Incorrect 
The question says there is evidence that they understand syntax , but this option conveys the meaning that apes are expected to have understood syntex.

C) there is as yet no evidence that they understand syntax -  Correct

D) as yet they do not understand syntax in light of the evidence -  Incorrect 
This option changes the meaning.

F) yet they have no understanding of syntax, according to the evidence -  Incorrect 
There is no evidence yet, but evidence may be found later. But this option says according to evidence, apes have not yet understood syntax. This changes the meaning.

Ans:   C

acegmat20 · Answer

Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hundreds of visual signs,  there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax .

IMO, C.

A) there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax --Incorrect; no noun given, who understands syntax?

B) there is yet no evidence of their having understood syntax --Incorrect; awkwardly constructed-yet no evidence is not correct, the past tense used here is not in line with the 1st part of the sentence

C) there is as yet no evidence that they understand syntax --Correct; tenses in accordance with the 1st part of the sentence and 'they clearly means the apes.

D) as yet they do not understand syntax in light of the evidence --Incorrect; unidiomatic with 'as' used

F) yet they have no understanding of syntax, according to the evidence --Incorrect; does not show the contrast as clearly as C.

winterschool · Answer

Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hundreds of visual signs, there is no evidence yet of understanding syntax.

A) there is  no evidence yet of understanding  syntax  Incorrect

B) there is yet no evidence of  their having understood  syntax  Incorrect

past form understood wrong
meaning change
having uses wrong

C)  there is as yet no evidence that they understand syntax   Correct

D)  as yet  they do not understand syntax in light of the evidence  Incorrect

Although ......., as yet..... - uses wrong
 
F)  yet  they have no understanding of syntax, according to the evidence  Incorrect

Although ......., yet..... - uses wrong

between A & C - no evidence yet of VS yet no evidence that
C is better than A

Answer C

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

VerbalBot · Answer

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Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hun

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Although apes have a remarkable memory that enables them to master hun

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