Twice a year, northern elephant seals swim to migrate from Southern Ca

Question

Twice a year, northern elephant seals  swim to migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific, some of which  regularly dive to depths of over 1,000 feet in search of food.

A. swim to migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific, some of which
B. migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific; some of whom
C. migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific by swimming, some of whom
D. swim to migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of them
E. migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of them

dominicraj · Answer

Hi,

A good question to test one on verb-ing modifiers and pronouns.

A.swim to migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific, some of which -"swim to migrate makes it sound like they wont swim otherwise"-out.

B.migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific; some of whom -"swimming rightly modifies "northern elephant seals migrate"..how...by swimming.. however the semi-colon if followed by some of them would have been correct"-out

C.migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific by swimming, some of whom -"passive voice "by swimming""-out
 
D.swim to migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of them "swim to migrate makes it sound like they wont swim otherwise"-out.

E.migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of them "swimming rightly modifies "northern elephant seals migrate"

Regards,
Dom.

Abhishek009 · Answer

A. swim to migrate  from Southern California to the North Pacific, some of which
B.migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific; some of  whom  -  Whom is used for people hence incorrect. 
C.migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific  by swimming , some of whom
D. swim to migrate  from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of them
E.migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of them

Here comma +verb-ing modifies provides additional information about precceeding part....

iamdp · Answer

It's b/w "D" & "E"

Q>> Twice a year, northern elephant seals  swim to migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific, some of which regularly dive to depths of over 1,000 feet in search of food.

D.swim to migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of them

>This mean the seals swim twice a year, whilst the intended meaning is that the seals migrate twice by swimming

E.migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of them

> this choice says that the seals migrate twice in a year , swimming - ing modifier

AkshayKS21 · Answer

Need clarification on why "swim to migrate" is wrong.
I read it this way:
Twice a year, northern elephant seals swim  Why?  
Twice a year, northern elephant seals swim to migrate  where? 
Twice a year, northern elephant seals swim to migrate from Southern California to the North Pacific

To join this with another clause, I used "And" as in option D: "..... and some of them".

What do seals do twice a year? They "swim to migrate". How can we say that twice a year seals just "swim" and not migrate if we are using "swim to migrate" in the clause?

darn · Answer

mikemcgarry  or any other expert - Can you please explain exactly why B is incorrect?

elegantm · Answer

Dear Darn,

Abhishek009 has already explained why option B is incorrect.

MadaraU · Answer

I got the right answer and went with E, but i want to make sure my reasoning is correct. Since "whom" is a relative pronoun i would much rather like to use it next to noun its referencing rather than as object for prepositional phrase, on the other hand "them" can be used with a problem.
Any comments on this.

B.migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific; some of  whom 
E.migrate, swimming from Southern California to the North Pacific, and some of  them

nimapi · Answer

i think the difference between two sentences are the semi-colon and commas. Whom and them both can be correctly used.

Luckisnoexcuse · Answer

A swim to migrate is wrong...some of which (antecedent issue)
B some of whom (no people here)
C whom (antecedent- people)
D swim to migrate and the missing

E looks good

Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

akshayk · Answer

'whom' can only refer to people. B,C are out.
A - 'which' referring to seals is also weird + 'swim to migrate' -> this says that the seals only purpose to swim is migration, and they won't swim otherwise. OUT
D - Similar meaning problem to A. OUT
E - Correct answer ; Verb-ing modifier correctly describes how the seals migrate. And 'them' correctly refers back to 'seals'

nightblade354 · Answer

Luckisnoexcuse akshayk Abhishek009

Be careful with blanket statements about 'whom'. An animial CAN be referred to as whom, in the right context. Whom can modify more than people.
https://www.sjsu.edu/writingcenter/docs/ ... _Which.pdf

ruchik · Answer

nightblade354  : If whom can be used for animals, than what is the issue with option B? Why it is incorrect?

ruchik · Answer

can any expert explain why option B is incorrect and E is correct.

ruchik · Answer

Official explanation:
Here, "swim to migrate" may sound awkward. This phrasing implies that the seals don't normally swim but only swim twice a year on their migration. A more logical phrasing would be that the "seals migrate by swimming." Then a grammar rule is violated with the pronoun "which" at the end of the underlined portion. A pronoun must unambiguously refer to one particular noun. Here, "some of which" could be referring to some of the elephant seals that regularly dive to great depths or to the North Pacific. The correct answer will fix the pronoun error and express the intended idea clearly.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

A vertical scan of the first words in the choices reveals a 3-2 split between "migrate" in (B), (C), and (E) and "swim to migrate" in (A) and (D). There is also a 2-2-1 split in the final words of the choices, between "some of whom" in (B) and (C), "some of them" in (D) and (E), and "some of which" in (A).

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

"Swim to migrate" is the awkward construction noticed in the initial reading of the sentence, so eliminate (A) and (D). Alternatively, you might start by eliminating (B) and (C), which use "whom" to refer to elephant seals. On the GMAT, "whom" may not refer to animals, only people.

That leaves (E), which is correct because it subordinates the swimming to the main action of migrating and replaces "some of which" with the clearer "and some of them." The sentence now starts a new clause in which the plural "them" clearly refers to the subject of the first clause, the seals.

Harshdeepgajra · Answer

Hi  egmat   VeritasKarishma  
I would be glad if you can help me please.

For option D to be wrong, only reasoning is given that it sounds like seals don't swim otherwise and only do so when they migrate. 
I would say yes, they are elephant seals, I don't know if they swim otherwise, this is external information and I am not aware of it.

How can we reject a perfectly okay gramer sentence that doesn't distort the meaning of original sentence based on external knowledge reference.

Is there anything else wrong with D that I cannot spot.

Please help

Posted from my mobile device

KarishmaB · Answer

"swim to migrate" is bad phrasing. They don't swim with the conscious intention to migrate from A to B. They migrate by swimming from A to B. 
That is what the sentence is trying to convey.

Option (E) makes sense:
The seals migrate.
Modifier - 'swimming from A to B' - shows how they migrate

GMATtask99 · Answer

OA from Kaplan -

Here, "swim to migrate" may sound awkward. This phrasing implies that the seals don't normally swim but only swim twice a year on their migration. A more logical phrasing would be that the "seals migrate by swimming." Then a grammar rule is violated with the pronoun "which" at the end of the underlined portion. A pronoun must unambiguously refer to one particular noun. Here, "some of which" could be referring to some of the elephant seals that regularly dive to great depths or to the North Pacific. The correct answer will fix the pronoun error and express the intended idea clearly.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

A vertical scan of the first words in the choices reveals a 3-2 split between "migrate" in (B), (C), and (E) and "swim to migrate" in (A) and (D). There is also a 2-2-1 split in the final words of the choices, between "some of whom" in (B) and (C), "some of them" in (D) and (E), and "some of which" in (A).

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

"Swim to migrate" is the awkward construction noticed in the initial reading of the sentence, so eliminate (A) and (D). Alternatively, you might start by eliminating (B) and (C), which use "whom" to refer to elephant seals. On the GMAT, "whom" may not refer to animals, only people.

That leaves (E), which is correct because it subordinates the swimming to the main action of migrating and replaces "some of which" with the clearer "and some of them." The sentence now starts a new clause in which the plural "them" clearly refers to the subject of the first clause, the seals.

TAKEAWAY: It can be dangerous to pick an answer because it "sounds good," because the GMAT knows the kinds of wordings that sound good in real life but are grammatically incorrect. However, it is less dangerous to eliminate choices because they are awkward or place the sentence's emphasis on the wrong thing.

Twice a year, northern elephant seals swim to migrate from Southern Ca

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Twice a year, northern elephant seals swim to migrate from Southern Ca

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