Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing

Question

Project SC Butler: Day 227 Sentence Correction (SC1) 
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Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing in children .

A) Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing in children

B) Calcium deficiency has been shown to slow bone growth in children

C) Calcium deficiencies are shown to cause slow bone growing in children

D) Calcium deficiency has been shown to cause slow bone growing in children

E) Slowing growing bones in children, calcium deficiency has been shown in studies

generis · Answer

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GmatKnightTutor · Answer

The small yet nuanced problem. Probably best to keep an eye on the differences between the answer choices on this one. Trying to look for the error in a specific answer choice before moving on might sap a lot of mental strength and time as well.

Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing in children.

A) Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing in children

There is nothing particularly wrong in terms of grammar here. The meaning is conveyed pretty well, too. The problem is that DEFICIENCIES IN CALCIUM is a little nonsensical. Can calcium, as in calcium itself, have deficiencies?

B) Calcium deficiency has been shown to slow bone growth in children
I confess. I pattern-recognized the error here. The nonsensical nature of this answer choice is that it is literally saying that CD was shown in order to slow bone growth.

C) Calcium deficiencies are shown to cause slow bone growing in children

Some Kudos would be nice! Trying to get to 200 points!
There is an awkwardness here from the get-go. But the problem is that we are still in show and tell mode. Are we showing and telling CD? This is supposed to be a general truth, right?

D) Calcium deficiency has been shown to cause slow bone growing in children
Bingo.

E) Slowing growing bones in children, calcium deficiency has been shown in studies
Calcium deficiency cannot slow anything by itself. Next it will be jumping and singing. The latter half is also pretty weird. What's the purpose of that clause?

Edit: Between B and D, the nonsensical error I felt I saw was in both. A deeper look probably hinges the correct answer on the nouns as mentioned by another poster. SC butler served a good one here! A good way to have made the choice would have been to play a bit with the answer choices. What do you intend to do here, sir? I intend to slow the growing... I mean growth of these weeds.

itoyj · Answer

Meaning of sentence- calcium deficiency causes slower bone growth in children
We are talking about 
Deficiency of calcium
Slower growth of bone (not children) 
And growth of bone in children

A- deficiency in calcium- means there is some deficiency in calcium instead of talking about calcium deficiency. (out)

C- we don't know if different kinds of deficiency occur because of calcium, we are concerned with just it's deficiency

E- completely nonsensical, slowing bone growth is not modifing calcium

Between B and D
Bone growth is slowed down
Not bone growing
Noun here is "bone growth" that is modified

Hence B answer

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thenikhilseth · Answer

My answer is  B  option.
In this question, i try to eliminate the wrong answers and the last option by default will be the correct answer.

A is conveying that there are so many deficiencies in calcium rather than Deficiency of calcium.

If you will think logically , then C and D options are conveying that Calcium Deficiencies are showing for the purpose to cause slow bone growth in children.
And 
 Intended Meaning - Calcium deficiency cause slow bone growth in children.
Therefore eliminate C and D logically.

E is incorrect due to  Misplaced Modifier 
E)  Slowing growing bones  in children,  calcium deficiency  has been shown in studies

TheNightKing · Answer

generis Looks like you forgot to post OE.

anumnit90 · Answer

Hi Team,
Stuck b/w two choices... Option b & d. Please help!

Thanks in advance,
Anurag

AndrewN · Answer

Hello, Anurag. There is really no contest between the two choices. My analyses below:

Something can be said to  grow , and something can be said to  cause , but put the two together in this manner, and only  cause... bone  growth   will do. Keep looking.

The subject-verb agreement is perfect, the form of  to grow  checks out, and the causality is clear: a low level of calcium in children delays bone growth. There is nothing to argue against, so this is our answer.

In addition to the aforementioned  growing , the verb tense is a little off here. If you replace  shown  with a similar past participle in  proven  or, better yet, its cousin,  proved , you can expose the faulty construct:  calcium deficiencies are proved to cause...  The present perfect  have been  fits much better into the shell of the sentence.

I should sound like a broken record by now. That should be  cause slow bone  growth   instead.

Although we have replaced  slow  with  slowing ,  growing bones  sounds either like an ad for a vitamin or, well, a little juvenile. A better alternative would be  slowing  the growth of  bones . Beyond this issue, the main clause never resolves.  Calcium deficiency has been shown  to do  what , exactly? The participial phrase in the beginning of the sentence does not affect the resolution of the main clause. We need the subject, calcium deficiency, to reveal something to agree with  has been shown .

I hope that helps. If you have any questions, just let me know.

- Andrew

h31337u · Answer

Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing in children.

A) Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing in children
--> here "Slow" seems to be an adjective. But it still does not make sense to say "something" caused "slow bone". out.

B) Calcium deficiency has been shown to slow bone growth in children
 --> correct. "deficiency" slow "bone growth", not "bone" itself.

C) Calcium deficiencies are shown to cause slow bone growing in children
--> same issue as A

D) Calcium deficiency has been shown to cause slow bone growing in children
-->same issue as A

E) Slowing growing bones in children, calcium deficiency has been shown in studies
--> slowing growing does not make sense.

NutHead · Answer

ANswers to this suggest that B is the best option. However, I have a doubt. The statement : "Calcium deficiency has been shown to slow bone growth" Doesn't this phrase literally mean Calcium deficiency has been shown to slow bone as if slow bone growth is a person rather than using calcium deficiency has been shown to cause slow bone growth?
As per me Both B and D have flaws but how to choose better of the two flawed answer is what I am looking in your explanation.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi  srivapriyam ,

You're looking at  slow  as an adjective. It is actually closer to a verb in this case. To understand that, let's first look at  to .

1.  He gave something to you . ← This  to  is a  preposition . Prepositions are normally followed by nouns (a pronoun in this case).
2.  He wants to solve many questions.  ← This  to  is  not  a preposition. It is an infinitive marker. It introduces an infinitive, in which we'll always see the plain (simplest) form of a verb used after the  to .  Solve  is the plain form of the verb  solve .

Now let's take a look at  slow .

3.  He drives a slow car.  ← Here  slow  is an adjective. It describes  car .
4.  Can you slow the car?  ← Here  slow  is actually part of the verb  can slow . This sentence means ~"Can you cause the car to move more slowly?"

Finally,

5.  X has been shown to slow bone growth.  ← This means that X has been shown to cause  bone  growth   (noun) to slow down.

Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Deficiencies in calcium have been shown to cause slow bone growing

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