The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail

Question

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The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail, lives solitarily underground in extensive burrows  that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence  in the form of mounds of material on the surface of the ground.

A) that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence

B) that they excavate to leave evidence of their presence

C) that they excavate, leaving evidence of its presence

D) that are excavated and left evidence of its presence

E) that it excavates, leaving evidence of its presence

tyildirim92 · Accepted Answer

The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail, lives solitarily underground in extensive burrows  that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence  in the form of mounds of material on the surface of the ground.

A) that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence  // the pronoun "they" is not aligned with the singular noun, "Chinese zokor", hmm, one more thing to notice. "to leave evidence of its presence"??? we do not expect an animal to leave evidence of its presence unless he challenges the others, right? some of you may say that "hell yeah, we watch "The Ninja Turtles" and know "Master Splinter", so why not The Chinese zokor lives nearby the Shaolin Temple and learns a couple of Kung Fu tricks." Well, no... I have done the research, The Chinese zokor is blind. so, most probably, it does its best to avoid leaving evidence of its presence.

B) that they excavate to leave evidence of their presence  // the pronoun "they" and "their" is not aligned with the singular noun, "Chinese zokor", hmm, one more thing to notice. "to leave evidence of its presence"??? we do not expect an animal to leave evidence of its presence unless he challenges the others, right? some of you may say that "hell yeah, we watch "The Ninja Turtles" and know "Master Splinter", so why not The Chinese zokor lives nearby the Shaolin Temple and learns a couple of Kung Fu tricks." Well, no... I have done the research, The Chinese zokor is blind. so, most probably, it does its best to avoid leaving evidence of its presence.

C) that they excavate, leaving evidence of its presence  // the pronoun "they" is not aligned with the singular noun, "Chinese zokor"

D) that are excavated and left evidence of its presence  // the passive form makes things blurry. "burrows that are excavated"??? who excavated the burrows? moreover, "burrows that left evidence of its presence"??? not too bad but a bit awkward meaning.

E) that it excavates, leaving evidence of its presence  // finally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zokor#/media/File:Eospalax_baileyi_(11).jpg

generis · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)

THE PROMPT  
 
• Strip the sentence
 The Chinese zokor . . . lives underground in burrows that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence  .

• This  that-clause? 
Every option begins with  that .
 That  is a relative pronoun that describes a noun and is placed right next to its noun.
So  that  modifies  burrows.

• The Chinese zokor is singular

THE OPTIONS  
 
• what excavates? The Chinese zokor. The burrows do not excavate.
• plural  they  does not agree with singular  the zokor. 
→  They  should be  it,  and plural  excavate  should be singular  excavates .
•  to leave  is a *little* strange. The words suggest  in order to,  as in purpose 
I'm not sure that the Chinese zokor intends to do any such thing.
Be careful in this area. I would never eliminate an option on this basis alone.
But the pronoun disagreement is fatal.

ELIMINATE A
 
• just as in A,  they  should be  it 
• plural  their  should be singular  its  to match singular  Chinese zokor 
ELIMINATE B
 
• plural  they  should be singular  it , just as is the case in A and B
• the  leaving . . .   construction is better than the  to leave . . .  structure.
Intention is not an issue and the  leaving  phrase describes the result of the previous clause
ELIMINATE C
 
• Wow, this sentence is horrible. The logic is a mess. It helps to see the option in the sentence:
→  The Chinese zokor  lives  solitarily underground in extensive burrows  that are excavated and  left  evidence of its presence  in the form of mounds of material on the surface of the ground. 
• the past tense verb  left  does not agree with the present tense  lives .
→ The present tense is correct. When we speak of general truths (in this case, about the behavior of the Chinese zokor), we use present tense.
Eliminate D

• singular  it  and  its  agree with singular  Chinese zokor 
• as I noted in option C,  leaving evidence . . .   is probably a better construction than "to leave."

The correct answer is E.

COMMENTS

Glad to see everyone's posts.

These answers range from good to outstanding.
In fact, we have a very close three-way race for Best Community Reply.
 tyildirim92  , I am bumping you to Best Community Reply. 
(Not that this part factors into a Bump, but your answer is hilarious. Me reí tanto.)

Nicely done, all.

sanjayparihar16 · Answer

Clear split between the infinitive and participle form -> Understand the meaning to identify the requirement of appropriate form -> Does small rodent lived to leave the some evidence or evidences were left because he lived there -> Second part, right? -> 
So we can drop options B and A immediately

The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail, lives solitarily underground in extensive burrows  that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence  in the form of mounds of material on the surface of the ground.

A) that  they  excavate to leave evidence of  its  presence -> its cannot refer to plural entity "they" -> eliminate A

B) that  they  excavate to leave evidence of their presence -> We can see that non underlined part has used "lives" so we can be sure that it is a singular case, hence "they" is wrong

C) that  they  excavate, leaving evidence of  its  presence -> "its" cannot refer to "they"

D) that are excavated and left evidence of its presence -> that are excavated - by whom? what does its refer to? -> Distorts meaning as if evidence was a physical thing that rodent left intentionally

E) that it excavates, leaving evidence of its presence -> leaving is a VERBing modifier that correctly modifies previous clause, SV error also eradicated

Hence E is correct answer

Ranasaymon · Answer

The Chinese zokor... lives ...in extensive burrows that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence..

Meaning:  
1.The Chinese zokor lives in burrows
2.The Chinese zokor excavates burrows
3.The action of excavating burrows leaves evidence 
 
 Error:  
1.Meaning error. The Chinese zokor does not excavate burrows with the intention of leaving evidence
2.Pronoun error: The Chinese zokor is a singular subject. The pronoun of singular subject should be it.

POE:  
1.Options A,B and C are incorrect for using incorrect pronoun 'they'
2.Option D is incorrect for changing the original meaning. We know that The Chinese zokor excavates burrows.
3. Option E is the   correct answer.

dushyantkanal · Answer

Cross out the part after the comma, "a small rodent...tail"

Errors - Prounoun tense (Chinese zokor is singular and 'they' is plural)

A) that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence

B) that they excavate to leave evidence of their presence

C) that they excavate, leaving evidence of its presence

D) that are excavated and left evidence of its presence

E) that it excavates, leaving evidence of its presence - Fixes the pronoun error - CORRECT

monk123 · Answer

The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail, lives solitarily underground in extensive burrows that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence in the form of mounds of material on the surface of the ground.

POE:
Pronoun error- Eliminate (A), (B) & (C); 'chinese zokor' is singular, we need singular pronoun.
Eliminate (D) - change of meaning
 
A) that  they  excavate to leave evidence of its presence

B) that  they  excavate to leave evidence of their presence

C) that  they  excavate, leaving evidence of its presence

D) that  are excavated and left evidence  of its presence

E) that it excavates, leaving evidence of its presence -   CORRECT

vipulshahi · Answer

The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail, lives solitarily underground in extensive burrows  that they excavate to leave evidence of its presence  in the form of mounds of material on the surface of the ground.

A) that  they  excavate to leave evidence of its presence

- Pronoun error; usage of "they" is inappropriate

- Incorrect

B) that  they  excavate to leave evidence of  their  presence

- Pronoun error; usage of"they" & "their" is inappropriate.

- Incorrect

C) that  they  excavate, leaving evidence of its presence

- Pronoun error

- Incorrect

D)  that are excavated and left evidence  of its presence

- changed the intended meaning.

- Incorrect

E) that it excavates, leaving evidence of its presence

- removes all the error while using "it" & "its".

-Correct

IMO(E)

HouseStark · Answer

The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail, lives solitarily underground in extensive burrows that   they excavate to leave evidence of its presence  in the form of mounds of material on the surface of the ground.

A) that   they  excavate to leave evidence of its presence (sub-verb error) wrong

B) that   they  excavate to leave evidence of   their  presence (sub-verb error) wrong

C) that   they  excavate, leaving evidence of its presence (sub-verb error) wrong

D) that are excavated and left evidence of its presence ( not clear who is excavating, extensive burrows can't be excavated by itself) wrong

E) that it excavates, leaving evidence of its presence (correct)

Posted from my mobile device

warrior1991 · Answer

Quick way to eliminate option in this question is to identify S-V agreement error.

1) Singular subject so will require singular verb
  2) 'They'  cannot be used  A,B,and C can be rejected.

For D, who is excavating is not mentioned. Also the construction is incorrect.

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The Chinese zokor, a small rodent with a stocky build and conical tail

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