It is generally considered that no organism can live without any oxyge

Question

It is generally considered  that no organism can live without any oxygen  but scientists have recently discovered new species of living organisms that do not depend on oxygen to breathe and to reproduce

(A) That no organism can live without any oxygen

(B) That an organism can live only with oxygen

(C) That no organism can live without oxygen

(D) That organisms cannot live without oxygen

(E) That, to live, no organism needs oxygen

keyuwang · Answer

C sounds better to me but I don't know why D is not right. Can someone explain?

sarthakk07 · Answer

Hello e-gmat team,

Can you help me on this question, Although I picked the correct choice but need clarification on other options as well. your inputs will be helpful

Dopa · Answer

Please explain why option D is not correct.

PRIYANK2020 · Answer

Why is D incorrect.. Any explanation?

Posted from my mobile device

Westfolia007 · Answer

This could be a wrong approach but I feel the difference between Option C and D is that the question stem says "organism", it specifically emphasizes on the breathing requirement of each and every organism. So, IMO C stands out as a better option. 
 chetan2u   Bunuel

jrk23 · Answer

sbhutta · Answer

Why is option D incorrect? Isnt the formation for it better?

albsilvag · Answer

In case it helps, here is the official explanation as provided by Experts' Global

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjxmwoYQ3EQ

subrat2581 · Answer

@e-gmat team..please explain how to choose between c & d

Pankaj0901 · Answer

Not able to understand why Option D is incorrect.  zhanbo  - can you please share your views? Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

zhanbo · Answer

Hi,  Pankaj0901 ,

Here is how I approached this question. (The spoiler: I ended up choosing D myself.)

We need to read the original sentence carefully. We will easily eliminate (E) not because it conveys different meaning from (A), but because its meaning is not compatible with the rest of the sentence. (Certainly, common sense can also help eliminate E).

When I read (A), I thought to myself that the "any" in "without any oxygen" is not needed. It happens that (C) is exactly A minus "any".
(BCD) turns out to convey very similar meanings. More importantly, all three of them work in concert with the rest of the sentence.

How to pick one best answer from (BCD)? 
I suppress my urge to choose (C) because the test taker might try to influence me by placing (A) at the very beginning. 
Instead, I take cues from the rest of the sentence: "new species of living  organisms  do not depend on oxygen to breathe and to reproduce"
Here, " organisms " (plural) is used. 
I therefore eliminate "organism" (used in BC) and pick (D).

Now, back to your question, "why is Option D incorrect"?
By watching the video explanation, I realized that   the author incorrectly assume that option (A) conveys the intended meaning. It is a myth that option (A) is somewhat special.   The fact is that we should evaluate each option independently from others.

Still, even if we subscribe to the myth, the actual differences in meaning between (C) and (D), if any, is so infinitesimal that makes any further investigation a fool's errand.

We had better move on.

BTW, I think the sentence should add "to be the case" or something similar after "It is generally considered". Otherwise, its meaning is incomplete.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Pankaj0901 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option C better conveys the intended meaning that there are  no  organisms that can survive without oxygen; the construction of Option D seems to simply convey that there are  some  organisms that cannot survive without oxygen.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

kmishra760 · Answer

ExpertsGlobal5  - How did you come to the conclusion that the statement - that organisms cannot live without oxygen" implies "some" organisms?

Is there a rule that governs this?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  kmishra760 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, there is no hard rule, as such, but Option D introduces an element of ambiguity that Option C does not have; thus, as Option C conveys the meaning more clearly, it is the superior option.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

shanks2020 · Answer

ExpertsGlobal5

Can you plz. explain how option D introduces some ambiguity and "some" organisms is implied.
Either it is a poorly framed question or the explanation is not clear.

Camellia_Ta · Answer

I choose C for this question. The author assumes "all" in the title so I eliminate B and D. E is the wrong structure. A means negative (no) + negative (without) + negative (any) => no need "any" here => C is correct.

It is generally considered that no organism can live without any oxyge

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

It is generally considered that no organism can live without any oxyge

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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