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Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources, and harbours more than 2,000 unique species of flora and fauna.

I think A needs a comma after resources.
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Estimated to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours more than 2,000 unique species of flora and fauna.

(A)to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours
(B) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia holding about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbour
(C) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and can harbour
(D) as about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources while harbouring
(E) at about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources to harbour

Daagh,

Could you please tell what 'can harbour' implies? Im not able to understand the meaning. I got stuck between A and C. I chose C for parallelism.

Regards,
Al
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It comes out to be S-V agreement question: Lake Baikal - Harbours

Once you pay attention to this, it becomes a elimination process and get to the answer very quickly.

daagh
Estimated to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours more than 2,000 unique species of flora and fauna.

(A)to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours
(B) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia holding about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbour
(C) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and can harbour
(D) as about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources while harbouring
(E) at about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources to harbour

OA: A
OE:
A: Correct Choice. Estimated to be is correct idiom. Can harbour makes no meaning. It should be simply harbours, a compound verb for the subject the lake.
B: Sentence is a fragment
C: Can harbour makes no meaning
D: Estimated as is wrong idiom
E: estimated at is wrong idiom can hold.... to harbour is altered intent.
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It comes out to be S-V agreement question: Lake Baikal - Harbours

Once you pay attention to this, it becomes a elimination process and get to the answer very quickly.

I completely disagree with this point. It should be fine both ways.

The main issue here is related to the meaning.

A lake harbors 2000 species means it is currently doing so whereas a lake can harbor means it has the capacity to do so while we don't know what is it harboring at the moment. Hence a complete change in meaning.

Option A is correct while option C is incorrect because of above reasons.
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I incorrectly marked C but agree with OE that it should be "harbours" and not "can harbour"
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daagh sir,
Won't in option A, The modifier "roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbors " needs a "," before and to end it. Since it looks as if harbors is modifying the 5700 cu mi of water.
Or is it that this structure is allowed in gmat ?
Thank you.
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Nightmare
I agree with you. it is certainly a typo. After all the modifier that was started with 'roughly' has to be completed with another comma.
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Estimated to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours more than 2,000 unique species of flora and fauna.

(A)to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours
(B) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia holding about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbour
(C) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and can harbour
(D) as about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources while harbouring
(E) at about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources to harbour

OA: A
OE:
A: Correct Choice. Estimated to be is correct idiom. Can harbour makes no meaning. It should be simply harbours, a compound verb for the subject the lake.
B: Sentence is a fragment
C: Can harbour makes no meaning
D: Estimated as is wrong idiom
E: estimated at is wrong idiom can hold.... to harbour is altered intent.

Hello Mr Daagh! Thank you for such a lovely question.
I started out by thinking it to be a parallelism question but ultimately it turned out to be a SV question. Also, the OE is brilliantly explained by you.
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Please edit option A, because a comma is required after "resources". Though Daagh who posted this question acknowledged that there is a typo he never bothered to correct it.

daagh
Estimated to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours more than 2,000 unique species of flora and fauna.


(A) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours

(B) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia holding about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbour

(C) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and can harbour

(D) as about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources while harbouring

(E) at about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources to harbour

Verbal Diagnostic Test No : 6 – SC Q No:5

OA: A
OE:
A: Correct Choice. Estimated to be is correct idiom. Can harbour makes no meaning. It should be simply harbours, a compound verb for the subject the lake.
B: Sentence is a fragment
C: Can harbour makes no meaning
D: Estimated as is wrong idiom
E: estimated at is wrong idiom can hold.... to harbour is altered intent.
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gauravtewary72
Please edit option A, because a comma is required after "resources". Though Daagh who posted this question recognises that there is a typo he never bothered to correct it.

daagh
Estimated to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours more than 2,000 unique species of flora and fauna.


(A) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbours

(B) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia holding about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbour

(C) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and can harbour

(D) as about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources while harbouring

(E) at about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources to harbour

Verbal Diagnostic Test No : 6 – SC Q No:5

OA: A
OE:
A: Correct Choice. Estimated to be is correct idiom. Can harbour makes no meaning. It should be simply harbours, a compound verb for the subject the lake.
B: Sentence is a fragment
C: Can harbour makes no meaning
D: Estimated as is wrong idiom
E: estimated at is wrong idiom can hold.... to harbour is altered intent.
_____________________
Edited. Thank you.
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Estimated to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources, and harbours more than 2,000 unique species of flora and fauna.


(A) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources, and harbours - can hold and harbours ~ parallel ~ correct

(B) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia holding about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbour - roughly 20% (modifier) and harbour (verb) ~ not parallel

(C) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and can harbour - same as B

(D) as about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources while harbouring - while harbouring is wrong

(E) at about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources to harbour - "to harbour" modifies fresh water resources ~ change in meaning
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A) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources, and harbours
This has everything in place hence let us hang onto this

(B) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia holding about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and harbour
It's never harbour it should be harbours

(C) to be about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources and can harbour
it is not the potential of harbouring it is already harbouring

(D) as about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources while harbouring
This has as in the begining which led me to think otherwise it's spot on

(E) at about 25 million years old and ranking as the largest in the world in terms of volume, Lake Baikal in Southern Siberia can hold about 5,700 cu.mi of water, roughly 20 percent of the planet’s fresh water resources to harbour
Water resource is harbouring it's not a future process
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daagh
‘can harbor’ means , can give a home or habitat to living organisms.
When you say, can hold 5700 Cu.mi, that is the limit or the highest capacity. However, you cannot say that it can harbor only 2000 unique species since a lake as big as Baikal is capable of harboring endless number of species, beyond the 2000. In this context, one has to use the simple present ‘harbors’ since that is the number of species people have found or are finding at the moment

is 'harbours' parallel to can hold?
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