Found throughout Central and South America, sloths hang from trees by

Question

Found throughout Central and South America,  sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough  that two species of algae grow on its coat and between its toes.

(A) sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough

(B) sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs, they sleep fifteen hours a day, and with such infrequent movements

(C) sloths use their long rubbery limbs to hang from trees, sleep fifteen hours a day, and move so infrequently

(D) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeping fifteen hours a day and moving so infrequently

(E) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeps fifteen hours a day, and it moves infrequently enough

TommyWallach · Accepted Answer

Hey All,

Everyone got to the correct answer here for good reasons, but I just thought I'd give it the total treatment, because it's a REALLY interesting question.

313. Found throughout Central and South America, sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough that two species of algae grow on its coat and between its toes.

(A) sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough
(B) sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs, they sleep fifteen hours a day, and with such infrequent movements
(C) sloths use their long rubbery limbs to hang from trees, sleep fifteen hours a day, and move so infrequently
(D) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeping fifteen hours a day and moving so infrequently
(E) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeps fifteen hours a day, and it moves infrequently enough

The way to get great at Sentence Correction is to always be categorizing as you look at splits. In this case, the first split you'll probably notice is "sloths" versus "the sloth". Now, a split like this should TYPICALLY lead you towards the category of SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT, but if you look at all the verbs, they work fine (sloths hang and the sloth hangs). The only other category that might apply when you see singular and plural verbs in the splits is PRONOUNS. That's right! This is actually a common trope. So look elsewhere for a pronoun. This will get rid of A, B, and C, as many have said (because the pronoun "its" at the end can only go with singular "the sloth").

From there, you may notice PARALLELISM happening here. You should know this because you see a list (comma, comma, "and"). This is dangerous here, though not if you noticed the PRONOUN issue already. As many have stated, answer choice E is NOT parallel, because it puts the pronoun "it" before the third verb.

HOWEVER, even if that "it" weren't there, this would still be incorrect. Before reading my explanation of why, see if you can work it out for yourself. Ready?

Okay. So even though E would be very beautiful (three verbs in the same tense and form...what parallel!), it would not retain the original meaning of the sentence. When you have total parallelism like you see in answer choice C, it implies three things that happen in a serial fashion (one after the other, or at least all separately).

But the point here is that there IS a connection. Notice the last point, "algae grow...between its toes." Why would that happen? The only explanation is that the sloth sleeps and barely moves WHILE it is hanging. When you have that kind of construction, you want to use subordinate verbs to imply a subordinate relationship. Watch:

All day long he sits in that chair, reading the newspaper and sometimes falling asleep.

See how we use the -ing form of the verb (participles) to imply that the reading and sleeping occurs WHILE he sits. Because of this, we need the answer to look just as D does.

Hope that helps!

-t

GMATNinja · Answer

This one is one of my all-time favorites, partly because  sloths are kind of awesome . Plus, it’s a good illustration of something we discussed in  this YouTube video  (which, sadly, does not contain any sloths): if you don’t notice the tasty stuff in the non-underlined portions of the sentence, you might waste a ton of time on this question.

With that in mind...

This sounds great. But it’s wrong.

Hopefully, you noticed the word “its” at the end of the sentence. That means that “sloth” needs to be singular. So (A) is spectacularly wrong because of the non-underlined pronouns buried at the end of the sentence.

(B) has exactly the same error as (A): “its toes” and “its coat” need to refer to a singular sloth, and (B) only gives us the plural “sloths.”

The parallelism is also pretty wackball in (B). (And no, “wackball” isn’t a word. But it should be.) We have: “…sloths  hang  from trees by long rubbery limbs,  they sleep  fifteen hours a day, and  with such infrequent movements …” So we have a verb (“hang”), a noun with a verb (“they sleep"), and a weird prepositional phrase (“with such infrequent movements…”). That’s very much not parallel.

So (B) is out.

The parallelism is defensible in (C). Sloths use their limbs to do three things: “hang from trees”, “sleep 15 hours a day” (I'm totally jealous!!), and “move so infrequently…”. Not bad.

Trouble is, “its coat” and “its toes” still require a singular referent, and “sloths” is plural in (C). So (C) can be eliminated.

Let’s compare our last two options side-by-side:
 
“Sloth” is singular in both, so the pronouns are cool now. That’s nice.

So then the only real difference is the parallelism. In (E), we have “the sloth  hangs  from trees…,  sleeps  15 hours a day, and  it moves …” Nope, that’s wrong: we have a verb, a verb, and then a noun and a verb. That’s not parallel.

But what about (D)? People like to tell me that it’s not parallel, either. But (D) is structured differently than (E): it’s a nice clause (“the sloth hangs from trees…”), followed by two parallel “-ing” modifiers (“sleeping” and “moving”). That’s great: “sleeping 15 hours a day” and “moving infrequently” both make perfect sense as modifiers for “the sloth hangs from trees”, since both of those “-ing” words tell us more about what happens when the sloth hangs from trees.

So (D) might not SOUND parallel, but it is. And it’s the best answer.

nitya34 · Answer

just concentrate on the last part of underlined part
 moving infrequently enough  
it shoud be "so...that" IDIOM
hence among C&D
also note the non underlined part at end ".....its coat and between its toes."
hence it must be singular SLOTH
its D

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Pronouns + Verb Forms + Modifiers + Parallelism

• All elements in a list must be parallel.

A:  This answer choice leads to a pronoun error; the sentence formed by Option A incorrectly uses the singular pronoun “it” to refer to the plural noun “sloths”.

B:  This answer choice leads to a pronoun error; the sentence formed by Option B incorrectly uses the singular pronoun “it” to refer to the plural noun “sloths”. Further, Option B fails to maintain parallelism among the phrases “they sleep fifteen hours a day”, “they forage for worms and insects”, and “with such infrequent movements...its toes”; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.

C:  Trap. This answer choice leads to a pronoun error; the sentence formed by Option C incorrectly uses the singular pronoun “it” to refer to the plural noun “sloths”.

D:   Correct.  This answer choice avoids the pronoun error seen in Options A, B, and C; the sentence formed by Option D correctly uses the singular pronoun “it” to refer to the singular noun “the sloth”. Further, Option E maintains parallelism among the present participle (“verb+ing”) modifier phrases “sleeping fifteen hours a day” and “moving so infrequently that...its toes”, which both modify the clause “the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs”.

E:  Trap. This answer fails to maintain parallelism among the phrases “hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs", “sleeps fifteen hours a day”, and the clause “it moves infrequently enough...its toes”; please remember, all elements in a list must be parallel.

Hence, D is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

dolly12 · Answer

I was picking 'C', but see your point in 'D'.

D. the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeping fifteen hours a day and moving so infrequently

are 'hangs' ..., 'sleeping'......, 'moving' .. right??

nitya34 · Answer

quoting from OG12#124

Agreement; Idiom
 
The plural sloths in the underlined section of the sentence does not agree with the singular
its (its coat, its toes) in the given section of the sentence, and so sloths must be replaced by the
sloth. When its is then inserted before long rubbery limbs, it becomes clear that the limbs belong to
the sloth, not the trees. The phrase moving infrequently enough that is not idiomatic. Th e
correct construction is so x that y: moving so infrequently that two species. …

D Correct. The sloth agrees with its; the
construction moving so x that y is properly
used in this sentence.

E Hangs … sleeps … it moves is not a parallel
construction; infrequently enough that is not a
correct idiom.

noboru · Answer

My point here is that hangs, sleeps, and moves are at "the same level" so they must appear in the same tense, arent they??

I dont catch why do we have to subordinate sleeping as if it were like a consequence of the sloth hanging in the tree...

Thanks.

TommyWallach · Answer

Hey Noburu,

Actually they aren't at the same level, though the question tries to push it that way (and keep in mind, there's no correct answer choice that parallels them all at that level, so it's a bit of a non-issue).

The fact is, the sloths don't do three separate things: 1) hangs from trees, 2)sleeps 15 hours a day, 3) moves infrequently. That wouldn't be very interesting, and it wouldn't at all explain why algae grows between its toes. The point is that it sleeps 15 hours and barely moves WHILE hanging, which explains the algae.

Remember, participles (-ing words as adjectives) can be used either as the result of the previous clause (as you noted) OR as a description of things that occur WHILE the main verb is happening (For example: Dave traveled the world, visiting historic sites, eating crazy foods, and meeting exotic ladies.) In that example, "visiting", "eating" and "meeting" all occur WHILE Dave traveled.

Hope that helps!

-tommy

gmatisnothard · Answer

Found throughout Central and South America,  sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough  that two species of algae grow on   its coat and between its toes.  
(A) sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough
(B) sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs, they sleep fifteen hours a day, and with such infrequent movements
(C) sloths use their long rubbery limbs to hang from trees, sleep fifteen hours a day, and move so infrequently
(D) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeping fifteen hours a day and moving so infrequently
(E) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeps fifteen hours a day, and it moves infrequently enough

Some thoughts:

1. Be careful about the non-underlined portion of the sentence:

See the blue colored portion of the sentence. Here, to refer to the sloth there is a pronoun '  'its''  . So, we should comply with this pronoun.

=> From this we can easily eliminate A, B, and C because they have the plural noun  sloths , which does not fit with the singular its.

2. If a subject has more than one verbs, those verbs should be used one after another by using commas. Subject should not be repeated. 
Example:
 I have made it and won the prize.

Option E, unnecessarily keeps the pronoun it to refer to the sloth.

Again, option E, does not maintain ''so............that''. So,E is out.

Answer is D.

TommyWallach · Answer

Hey Gmatisnothard,

Thanks for joining the discussion. However, I'd like to correct you on a couple things, so people don't get confused. In the future, please refrain from laying forth rules if you're not 100% sure about them, because people will take them as fact. Also, please don't use a giant font, as it dominates the page.

You said this: "2. If a subject has more than one verbs, those verbs should be used one after another by using commas. Subject should not be repeated.
Example: I have made it, and won the prize."

Your overall point is dangerous, because this isn't a hard and fast rule. For example: "The man bought a lot of bacon, but he couldn't eat it all." There's nothing wrong with that sentence, even though we used the pronoun "he" where it wasn't strictly required. Also, your example sentence has another error. You don't use "and" after a comma in a list of two items.

The bigger problem with E in the sloth question is NOT the notion of repeating a subject, but the lack of parallelism. We don't want "it" after the final "and" because we didn't get it after the first comma. Obviously, we're better off not repeating the subject, but it's safer to think of this under the rubric of parallelism.

Finally, the problem isn't that E doesn't have "so infrequently that", but that the version it does have is wrong. We could have said "it moves infrequently enough to allow two species of algae...". But "infrequently enough that..." is an incorrect idiom.

Hope that helps!

-tommy

purnima · Answer

I have a doubt that if option E is rephrased as
(E) the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeps fifteen hours a day, and improves infrequently enough

Will this answer choice be correct ?

Or is it still incorrect because of enough that ??The Idiom should be so x that y .

Does it mean that énought that 'is a checkpoint for idiom 'so x that y 'and the idiom is preferred.

egmat · Answer

Hi Purnima, Choice E is certainly incorrect for the usage of "enough that" because this is not the correct idiom. In the context of this sentence, we need the idiom "so X that Y". The "that Y" part is already mentioned in the non-underlined portion of the sentence. That's the indicator that we need to use the idiom "so X that Y" in its correct form to convey the intended meaning. Also, when we write all the verbs in parallel form - "hangs, sleeps, and moves", they all become independent events. However, from the original senetnce, we know that at least "moving..." is the result of "sleeps 15 hours..." as this entity is written as the comma + verb-ing modifier that presents the result of the preceding action. So here we have the cause and effect relationship between the actions. this cause and effect relationship is lost when we make all the verbs parallel to each other. Such changes lead to change in the intended meaning of the sentence. Hope this helps. :-)

Thanks. Shraddha

abhigulia3006 · Answer

I am a bit curious about the "it's" used in D & E. Doesn't it sound ambiguous as it could refer to either the sloth or the trees and on that fact alone the two options in question can be negated?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  abhigulia3006 ,  its  can only refer to something  singular  and so,  trees   cannot  be an antecedent of  its .

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Found throughout Central and South America,  sloths hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough  that two species of algae grow on its coat and between its toes.

A.  sloths  hang from trees by long rubbery limbs and sleep fifteen hours a day, moving infrequently enough  The “it” in the non-underlined section tells us that the subject is singular. So “sloths” cannot be used.

B.  sloths  hang from trees by long rubbery limbs, they sleep fifteen hours a day, and with such infrequent movements  The “it” in the non-underlined section tells us that the subject is singular. So “sloths” cannot be used.

C.  sloths  use their long rubbery limbs to hang from trees, sleep fifteen hours a day, and move so infrequently  The “it” in the non-underlined section tells us that the subject is singular. So “sloths” cannot be used.

D. the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeping fifteen hours a day and moving so infrequently   “Sleeping” and “moving” are parallel in this sentence.

E. the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeps fifteen hours a day, and it moves infrequently enough  “Hangs,” “sleeps” and “moves” are parallel. But “it” should not be used before “moves” as “sloth” has already been presented as the subject.

- Nitha Jay

Laksh47 · Answer

Hello Experts,

Is E parallel?

The sloth hangs from trees by 
1) its long rubbery limbs, 
2) sleeps fifteen hours a day, 
3) and "it" moves infrequently enough

Does the presence of it make it non-parallel?

Thanks in advance!!!

Fdambro294 · Answer

Not an expert, but what I do when I’m not sure is substitute in the referent noun for “it” and then read the sentence. When you do that, it will likely hurt your ears.

Short answer, the “it” should not be there. Hopefully something helps. Posted from my mobile device

CRACKGMATNUT · Answer

EducationAisle  Hi,

In this sentence, eventhough E is completely wrong from parellelism point of view, option D does not represent a perfect causal relation either. Can you help understand where I am going wrong?

Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  Mayank221133 , present participial phrase (towards the end of a sentence, preceded by a comma) need not necessarily depict a  cause and effect .

The present participial phrase can also elaborate/describe the  entire previous clause . In this case, the sentence is:

....the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs, sleeping fifteen hours a day....

Notice that the present participial phrase ( sleeping fifteen hours a day ) is further elaborating/describing the previous clause  the sloth hangs from trees by its long rubbery limbs .

Another similar official example:

As an actress and, more importantly, as a teacher of acting,  Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater,  training  several generations of actors whose ranks included  Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.
 
Again, notice that present participial phrase ( training several generations of actors ) does not depict a cause-and-effect scenario; it just elaborates/describes the previous clause ( Stella Adler was one of the most influential artists in the American theater )

On the other hand, a sentence such as following would be incorrect:

John was born in India, graduating from Harvard.

The above sentence is invalid because the present participial phrase ( graduating from Harvard ) has nothing to do with the fact that John was born in India. In fact, these two are completely independent, separate facts. So, we should articulate the sentence as:

John was born in India and graduated from Harvard .

Found throughout Central and South America, sloths hang from trees by

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