Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the

Question

Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the number of subcultures that exist in the United States, largely because of a debate over the appropriate definition of the term "subculture"  and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, and there are several pop culture critics that claim to have discovered  at least fifty.
 
A. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, and there are several pop culture critics that claim
 to have discovered

B. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim to have discovered

C. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, although, there are several pop culture critics who claim to have discovered

D. or the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim they have discovered

E. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymously, but there are several pop culture critics that claim that they have discovered

Zarrolou · Accepted Answer

Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the number of subcultures that exist in the United States, largely because of a debate over the appropriate definition of the term "subculture" and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, and there are several pop culture critics that claim to have discovered at least fifty.

A. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, and there are several pop culture critics that claim
to have discovered
Wrong. "and" is wrong because we need contrast meaning here: Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the number ......., but there are several pop culture critics that claim...........

B. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim
to have discovered
Correct. The use of "but" is correct.

C. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, although, there are several pop culture critics who
claim to have discovered

D. or the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim
they have discovered

E. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymously, but there are several pop culture critics that
claim that they have discovered[/quote]

GMATPill · Answer

the core words you should pay attention to are:

"because of a debate over X and the difficulty of identifying Y"

--because of X and Y --we want to eliminate the OR in D.

Then pay attention to meaning. First we talk about the difficulty of identifying people - then we say some group of people actually discovered at least 50. So we need a contrasting term such as BUT or ALTHOUGH---that helps us eliminate A since A uses AND.

So now we got rid of D and A - left with B, C, and E.

"pop culture critics" are people --so we use "who" instead of "that"--that gets rid of E.

Now between B and C-- C has an awkward comma after ALTHOUGH - so the cleaner option is B.

Read the sentence again from the beginning and you'll see that B looks and sounds good.

neha24 · Answer

i picked B 
i needed  critics who claim  so eliminate A and E 
i needed  "and"  so eliminate D
C is wrong coz of  although + comma

ratinarace · Answer

can someone please explain how the comma with "although" is wrong??

BangOn · Answer

Although is within commas. It is like an added description for something. Not the required thing.

pqhai · Answer

Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the number of subcultures that exist in the United States, largely because of a debate over the appropriate definition of the term "subculture"  and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, and there are several pop culture critics that claim to have discovered  at least fifty.
 
A. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous,  and  there are several pop culture critics that claim
 to have discovered
Wrong. "and" is wrong because we need contrast meaning here: Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the number ......., but there are several pop culture critics that claim...........

B. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim
 to have discovered
  Correct. The use of "but" is correct. 
 
C. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous,  although,  there are several pop culture critics who 
 claim to have discovered

D.  or  the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim 
 they have discovered

E. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymously, but there are several pop culture critics  that 
 claim that they  have discovered

btg9788 · Answer

In C, if there was no comma after "Although", would it make the cut?

suryav · Answer

hi,
In option E adverb 'anonymously' is used.
is the usage of adverb right here.???

Br//Surya

Mpuneet · Answer

A is incorrect for using ‘and there are’. There is supposed to be contrast implied here. D is similarly incorrect for using or in the beginning, where the difficulty is in addition to the debate. C is incorrect for using ‘although’ because it is used for situations when the condition is positive but the impact is negative. We are now left with B and E. Out of these two, B is the better answer as its verbs are clearer.

Debashis Roy · Answer

GMATNinja   VeritasKarishma 
Is the use of although wrong here?...Since the sentence conveys the meaning that inspite of the fact that it is difficult to find those sub groups.....some critics claim to have found them..
Could you please elaborate
Thanks

sanpreetsingh · Answer

A. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, and there are several pop culture critics that claim
to have discovered

B. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim to have discovered

C. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, although, there are several pop culture critics who claim to have discovered

D. or the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim they have discovered

E. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymously, but there are several pop culture critics that claim that they have discovered

A - Sentence needs a contrast so A is wrong. 
E - "that" is modifying "critics". It should be who. 
C - Although disotorts the meaning 
D - usage of "or" distorts the meaning. It should be "and"

Hence, B is the answer.

ballest127 · Answer

My 2 cents.

Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the number of subcultures that exist in the United States, largely because of a debate over the appropriate definition of the term "subculture" and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, and there are several pop culture critics that claim to have discovered at least fifty.

A. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, and there are several pop culture critics that claim
to have discovered --   "and there are...." is a clause, which is not parallel to the preceding noun. Incorrect

B. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim to have discovered --  "but there are....." correctly start new clause because there is comma before the clause , and it shows contrast. Correct

C. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous,  although , there are several pop culture critics who claim to have discovered --   although + comma >> Fragment - Incorrect

D. or the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat anonymous, but there are several pop culture critics who claim they have discovered --  claim needs "that". Present perfect change the meaning - Incorrect

E. and the difficulty of identifying groups of people that often wish to remain somewhat  anonymously , but there are several pop culture critics that claim that they have discovered. Remain need adjective.  Anonymously is adverb -- Incorrect

BlueCrab · Answer

D is out because it starts with ‘or’ instead of ‘and’ We need to show contrast so A is out due to the absence of contrasting words like but, however, despite etc. In C, ‘although’ does show contrast but twists the meaning. The correct structure is: X wishes to be anonymous but there are several critics that claim Y C twists this into : X wishes to be anonymous although there are several critics that claim Y Which means that although there are several critics that claim Y, X wishes to be anonymous = opposite to the intended meaning So C is incorrect. E is wrong because it uses anonymously instead of anonymous plus it uses ‘that’ to refer people. Hence B. Hope it helps

Anki111 · Answer

Comma after although is wrong punctuation but if we use comma before although then ? 
Clause with 'Although', BUT, EVEN THOUGH is a subordinate sentence but about the comma usage, I am little dubious.
Can someone share the info?

Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the

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Cultural anthropologists are often unwilling to discuss the

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