Inhabiting savannas, grasslands, or open woodlands, giraffes are the

Question

Inhabiting savannas, grasslands,  or open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living  animal species; its average height is about 5 meters.

A. or open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living

B. and open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living

C. or open woodlands, the giraffe are the tallest of all land-living

D. or open woodlands, the giraffe is the tallest of all land-living

E. open woodlands, and the giraffe is the tallest of all land

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Shadyshades · Answer

"its" in non underline part of the sentence refers to "giraffe". Thus, we can knock off A,B and C right away.

In E, giraffe is not a part of list inhabiting savannas, grasslands or woodlands. Also, Giraffe is the tallest of  all land-living  animal species 
and not  all land animal species . There might be a 500 ft giant animal in past. We are only concerned with current animal species.

D it is.

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Inhabiting savannas, grasslands,  or open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living  animal species; its average height is about 5 meters.

A. or open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect: the singular pronoun  its  (after the underlined part of the sentence) does not agree with the noun it describes, which is plural ( giraffes ).

What helps us identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign:

Any pronoun in the underlined part of the sentence or after it

B. and open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living

Incorrect.

This answer choice repeats the original mistake: the singular pronoun  its  (after the underlined part of the sentence) does not agree with the noun it describes, which is plural ( giraffes ).

C. or open woodlands, the giraffe are the tallest of all land-living

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the original mistake, it is still grammatically incorrect as the singular subject  giraffe  does not agree with the plural verb  are .

D. or open woodlands, the giraffe is the tallest of all land-living

This answer choice corrects the original Pronouns mistake by changing the plural noun  giraffes  to the singular noun  giraffe , so that it agrees with the singular pronoun  its  (after the underlined part of the sentence).

E. open woodlands, and the giraffe is the tallest of all land

Incorrect.

While this answer choice corrects the original mistake, it replaces the words  or open woodlands with open woodlands , thus changing the meaning of the original sentence into an illogical statement. This awkward new sentence suggests that the tallest of all land animal species inhabit the giraffe (!), as well as the other terrain types ( the giraffe  becomes the fourth item on the list).

RICHA1189 · Answer

Inhabiting savannas, grasslands, or open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living animal species; its average height is about 5 meters.

Hint is in the non underlined portion  its average height is about 5 meters.

1 ) Clear split between  and  And  or

Or is preferred because three different kinds of lands are mentioned
 
2) due to use of  its  The giraffe must be used

arbazfatmi1994 · Answer

This doesn't deal with OR vs AND. It's a trap you must avoid.

This is a very basic subject-verb agreement question. Use stop sign - There is an "IT'S" after the underlined part - which implies that our subject has to be singular. Inhabiting savannas, grasslands, or open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living animal species; its average height is about 5 meters. A. or open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living B. and open woodlands, giraffes are the tallest of all land-living C. or open woodlands, the giraffe are the tallest of all land-living D. or open woodlands, the giraffe is the tallest of all land-living E. open woodlands, and the giraffe is the tallest of all land Although option E corrects S-V agreement, it introduces a new error. There is no conjunction.

bestgmat · Answer

The correct answer is D. The sentence has an issue with subject-verb agreement, and there is a problem with the structure.

Explanation:

The subject of the sentence is "the giraffe," which is a singular noun, so the correct verb form should be "is" (singular), not "are" (plural).
"Or open woodlands" is the correct choice for the list of habitats that giraffes inhabit.
"The tallest of all land-living animal species" correctly modifies "the giraffe."
The semicolon is used to separate related independent clauses.
The sentence is now clear and grammatically correct.

Inhabiting savannas, grasslands, or open woodlands, giraffes are the

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Inhabiting savannas, grasslands, or open woodlands, giraffes are the

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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My Rewards