Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural

Question

Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural harbor for Erie, Pennsylvania, has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and so diverse are its forests and wetlands so that some botanists say it is one of the rarest and finest ecological preserves in the world.

A. so diverse are its forests and wetlands so
B. so diverse as its forests and wetlands are
C. with so diverse forests and wetlands
D. such a diversity of forests and wetlands
E. of such diversity its forests and wetlands

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dcummins · Accepted Answer

Been a bit since i've posted here, but i'll give it a go!

Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural harbor for Erie, Pennsylvania, has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and so diverse are its forests and wetlands so that some botanists say it is one of the rarest and finest ecological preserves in the world.

The sentence is logically setup to denote two features of Presque Isle Park - that it has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and that it is has diverse forests and wetlands that x....

The way the original sentence is setup is illogical and incorrect in that it incorrectly joins a non-parallel element.

Apply the carry-over finite verb to see

A. (has) so diverse are its forests and wetlands so
SV- Agreement issue here. The two features described relate to the singular Presque Park.
A is incorrect

B. (has) so diverse as its forests and wetlands are
B is incorrect.
This is just illogical. 'Has so diverse....are' initially the sentence seems to want to compare or discuss the extent of the diversity of the wetlands and forests.
Also, this could be illogically interpreted to say that the diversity of the forests causes the botanists to say it is....
We would typically say 'Such diverse...that'
Or
X is SO diverse THAT

C. (has) with so diverse forests and wetlands
Combining the finite-verb carryover seems to be the only option to make this grammatically parallel.
The phrase isn't logically or grammatically parallel with the preceding parallel element - 'has five and a half miles of sandy beaches' - and cannot be its object.

D. (has) such a diversity of forests and wetlands

Lets integrate this into the sentence:
Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural harbor for Erie, Pennsylvania, has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and such a diversity of forests and wetlandsthat some botanists say it is one of the rarest and finest ecological preserves in the world.

Presque Isle State Park (singular subject) has:
(1)five and a half miles of sandy beaches

AND

(2) such a diversity of forests and wetlands
THAT.....some botanists say...

D logically articulates that Presque has two features. Lets see the carryover:
Presque Isle State Park (singular subject) has five and a half miles of sandy beaches AND (has) such a diversity of forests and wetlands THAT.....some botanists say

The structure of the second parallel element flows on to logically and grammatically substantiate WHY some botanists say that Presque is one of rarest and finest ecological preserves.

E - Incorrect for the same reason that C is incorrect in that we cannot logically/ grammatically join '(has) of such diversity'.
Also, when we use the word 'such' in this context, we typically denote the extent of something.

For example:
Dan has such a thick beard that razor blades snap on first stroke.
BB is such a great moderator that forum participants highly respect him.

It is confusing in this sentence in that such can be taken to give examples, but if we carefully read the non-underlined component ('that some botanists say...') we clearly see that the only logical meaning that could be conveyed here is that of extent. i.e. such <x> that <y happens>

Ksmew · Answer

Hi, thank you for the detailed explanation.

Can you pls explain:
1. why has is parallel after and (making A wrong). Isn't it possible to say "it has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and i ts forest and wetlands are so diverse "

2. in the option D, it gives  "Such ... that..." structure , isn't that wrong.

Sushil117 · Answer

Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural harbor for Erie, Pennsylvania, has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and so diverse are its forests and wetlands so that some botanists say it is one of the rarest and finest ecological preserves in the world.

A. so diverse are its forests and wetlands so
B. so diverse as its forests and wetlands are
C. with so diverse forests and wetlands
D. such a diversity of forests and wetlands
E. of such diversity its forests and wetlands

In A,B and E ,we don't know what "its" referring back to . So ,these options are eliminated 
In C,"so" should be used with Adverb or Adjective without Noun.so, C is eliminated
Answer is D

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural harbor for Erie, Pennsylvania, has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and  so diverse are its forests and wetlands so  that some botanists say it is one of the rarest and finest ecological preserves in the world.
  
A. so diverse are its forests and wetlands so  -  the right so-that structure that involves an adjective is as follows: so   that. But in (A), we have so   so that..   
B. so diverse as its forests and wetlands are  -  ''so...are that...'' does not make sense. Besides, this structure is incorrect. 
 
C. with so diverse forests and wetlands  -  has a parallelism error: If you isolate the parallel structures introduced by (C), you get ''Presque Isle State Park....has five and a half miles of sandy beaches" and "Presque Isle State Park....with so diverse forests and wetlands that..''. The first parallel clause begins with a verb, whereas the second parallel clause begins with the preposition ''with''.  
D. such a diversity of forests and wetlands - has no error. Hence,   (D) is the right answer choice.   
 E. of such diversity its forests and wetlands  -  has a parallelism error: If you isolate the parallel structures introduced by (E), you get ''Presque Isle State Park....has five and a half miles of sandy beaches" and "Presque Isle State Park....of such diversity....that..''. The first parallel clause begins with a verb, whereas the second parallel clause begins with the preposition ''of''.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

"And" is used to connect two similar things.

In the version created via the use of (C), "and" is followed by "with so diverse forests and wetlands." Notice that nothing that would be paired with "with so diverse forests and wetlands" precedes "and."

Rather, what precedes "and" is "Presque Isle State Park ... has five and a half miles of sandy beaches."

So, "and" connects two things that are not similar: five and a half miles of sandy beaches  and  with so diverse forests and wetlands

Contrast (C) with (D)

Presque Isle State Park ... has five and a half miles of sandy beaches and such a diversity of forests and wetlands ....

In (D) "and" connects two basically similar things: five and a half miles of sandy beaches  and  such a diversity of forests and wetlands

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

Here's the   official explanation   provided by the GMAC for this question:

The given sentence attributes two features to Presque Isle State Park: extensive sandy beaches and a great diversity of forests and wetlands treasured by botanists. Those two features could be correctly described with two noun phrases in parallel, conjoined by  and  (however, this is not the only way in which the sentence could be correctly configured; for example, we could have two independent clauses separated by a semicolon, without an intervening  and ). Instead, the sentence has the noun phrase  five … beaches  incorrectly conjoined using  and  with a nonparallel element, i.e., an ungrammatically structured statement with flawed diction.

Option A:  This answer choice fails as explained above. A noun phrase is conjoined illogically with a statement. The words  so diverse … wetlands  form an independent clause, followed by a dependent clause introduced by  so that … , which can express either purpose or consequence and is inappropriate in this context.

Option B:  This is not an independent clause, but neither is it a noun phrase. So it is incorrect to conjoin it with the noun phrase preceding  and . The resulting sentence is ungrammatical and incoherent.

Option C:  This adverbial phrase does not parallel the noun phrase  five … beaches,  which is an object of the verb  has.  An adverbial phrase cannot be the object of the verb  has , and it is grammatically incorrect to conjoin it with the noun phrase using  and . Furthermore, the noun phrase  so diverse forests and wetlands  is unidiomatic; the correct phrase would be  such diverse forests and wetlands .

Option D:  Correct. This noun phrase is an object of the verb  has,  and is parallel to the noun phrase  five … beaches  that is also an object of the verb  has;  so the two noun phrases can be correctly conjoined using  and the phrase  such … that  is correctly used to conjoin two assertions: (1)  Presque Isle State Park … has … a diversity of forests and wetlands ; and (2)  some botanists say … world . Assertion (1) provides a reason for asertion (2).

Option E:  This is not a noun phrase and cannot be correctly conjoined, using  and,  with the noun phrase  five … beaches.

The correct answer is D.

Please note that I'm not the author of this explanation. I'm just posting it here since I believe it can help the community.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This question is based on Parallelism, Idiomatic Usage, and Structure.

The underlined portion is the second item in a list of things that Presque Isle State Park has. One is five and a half miles of sandy beaches. The other item must also be a noun phrase to maintain the parallel structure.

In Option A, there is a redundant conjunction ‘so’. The conjunction ‘so’ has already been used at the beginning of the option. This option also lacks parallelism. The construction of the phrase ‘so---that’ is ‘so + adjective + verb + that’. However, to maintain parallelism, we need only a noun phrase. So, Option A can be eliminated.

The conjunction ‘as’ is generally paired with ‘as’ itself to imply a comparison. The phrase ‘so-as’ is used to convey a manner. Since this is not the intended meaning of the sentence and because of the lack of parallelism, Option B can be eliminated.

The presence of the preposition ‘with’ changes the structure of the underlined portion into a prepositional phrase, which is not parallel to a noun phrase. So, Option C can be eliminated.

T he construction of Option E affects parallelism. The preposition at the beginning of the option makes it a prepositional phrase that is not parallel to a noun phrase. So, Option E can be eliminated.
 
 “A diversity” is a noun. Option D therefore consists of a noun phrase that is parallel to the other noun phrase. The phrase ‘such-that’ is also idiomatically appropriate because it helps to convey emphasis.  Therefore, D is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

nikitathegreat · Answer

GMATNinja  - Can you please explain each answer choice? Also, is use of so that is answer choice B incorrect?

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  nikitathegreat ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, no; the use of "so...that" is not incorrect in Option B; it follows the correct, idiomatic construction of "so + cause + that + effect"; rather, the issue is that B's construction is such that it produces a completely incoherent meaning.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

egmat · Answer

Hello nikitathegreat , Here is the audio-visual solution to this question. https://www.loom.com/share/2d2dd6f9b5d449b1b4cefd52a185cac2 Do share your feedback on the same and let me know if you have any more questions on this official sentence. Thanks.

Happy Learning. Shraddha

NakulDiwakar10 · Answer

MartyTargetTestPrep   AndrewN   egmat 
a) two independent clauses are connected with and without comma. Also So diverse so that is wrong
b) two independent clauses are connected with and without comma. Also 'as' shouldn't be here

My question is can we say that besides these two errors there is lack of parallelism in choices a) and b)?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  NakulDiwakar10 . If you have spotted definite errors in certain answer choices, then you have done your job. There is no rule that a well-constructed compound sentence in written English must present parallel halves. I would be wary of looking to create rules. If you mean to ask whether using  and  without a comma calls for parallelism (of some sort), I think Marty has touched on the point above.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Presque Isle State Park, a 31,000-acre peninsula that forms a natural

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