Wary of potential predators, including humans, and prone to high level

Split 1 : -
"Wary of Potential Predators" --> Australian biologists are not wary of predators
Hence, Option A, B and D out

Split 2 : -
Option C suggests that the Platypus can only be spotted by Australian Biologists. I don't think the sentence intends to convey this meaning
Option E removes the error in Option C

Hence, answer is Option E
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Hmm ok then let us see,

The intent of this sentence, is to talk about Platypus, which gets anxiety issues.
Platypus is even scared by its predators(that even include humans).
Now if one has to spot them, they have to be patient

With the intent in mind, Let us eliminate A, B and D

Now between C and E

(C) the platypus can only be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists who practice patience
Now if we read our intent, only C wins

(E) the platypus is most often spotted by Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience
IMO, this is wordier.
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Wary of potential predators, including humans, and prone to high levels of anxiety, Australian wildlife biologists must practice patience when attempting the spot the platypus.

(A) Australian wildlife biologists must practice patience when attempting the spot the platypus( misplaced modifier)

(B) Australian wildlife biologists must practice patiently when they attempt to spot the platypus( same as in A)

(C) the platypus can only be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists who practice patience(correct intent)

(D) biologists of Australian wildlife must practice patiently when attempting the spot the platypus( misplaced modifier)

(E) the platypus is most often spotted by Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience(meaning suggests a general fact)

Will go with Choice C.though it is passive construction.

Further discussion is required.


Thanks

Posted from my mobile device
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Wary of potential predators, including humans, and prone to high levels of anxiety, Australian wildlife biologists must practice patience when attempting the spot the platypus.

(A) Australian wildlife biologists must practice patience when attempting the spot the platypus
---->Wrong, the modifiers targets "Australian wildlife biologist", and it is illogical

(B) Australian wildlife biologists must practice patiently when they attempt to spot the platypus
---->Same as A

(C) the platypus can only be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists who practice patience
----> Correct one

(D) biologists of Australian wildlife must practice patiently when attempting the spot the platypus
----->Same as A

(E) the platypus is most often spotted by Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience
-----> Most often sounds awkard and the the entire sentence is wordy

A, B, and D are out as all of them have modification error.
Now it comes to C and E. C says that X can only be spotted by those AWBs who practice patience, and this seems to be the intended meaning.

Whereas E says X is most often spotted by AWBs willing to practice patience. C and E have quite a different meaning the words "Most often and Willing" seems wrong as they convey the non intended meaning.

(A) Australian wildlife biologists must practice patience when attempting the spot the platypus

(B) Australian wildlife biologists must practice patiently when they attempt to spot the platypus

(C) the platypus can only be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists who practice patience

(D) biologists of Australian wildlife must practice patiently when attempting the spot the platypus

(E) the platypus is most often spotted by Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience



Hence C.
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Let's ask in our head :'' who is wary of potential predators, including humans...?''

--> Must be an animal or something.

So A, B, D out.

Only C & E left.

We need a subject and a verb after the comma, so we choose C.

Answer E is awkward at the end.

Answer C.

Wary of potential predators, including humans, and prone to high levels of anxiety, Australian wildlife biologists must practice patience when attempting the spot the platypus.

Understand:
Platy are wary of bla bla and prne to bla bla. To site this species the australian wildlife bio must be patient.

Grammar :
Moifier error : should modify PLATY
eliminate : A B D

Between C and E
(C) the platypus can only be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists who practice patience
- The author tells us that the biologists have to be patient. Even though he mentions australian BIOS , he does not mean that ONLY they should be patejnt. He was being more general via a specific example.
so the usage of "only" before "Australian" limits the scope of the sente nce which is not te intended meaning.

(E) the platypus is most often spotted by Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience
- Though wordy and uncertain this does not limit the scope and tells us about the scope which in fact is broad !!!

OPTION E IS CORRECT

One more for (E) for the exact same reasons !!!

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Official Explanation :

As written, the introductory phrase wary of potential predators, incorrectly modifies Australian wildlife biologists, so eliminate (A), (B), and (D), which repeat the error.

The use of the phrase can only be spotted in (C) changes the meaning unnecessarily, so eliminate this answer.

Choice (E) correctly places the platypus next to the phrase wary of potential predators, and makes no other error, so this is the correct answer.
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Wary of potential predators, including humans, and prone to high levels of anxiety, Australian wildlife biologists must practice patience when attempting the spot the platypus.

Meaning:

Even if we notice modifier misplacement, we can get intended meaning:
1. the platypus does two things:
..............wary of potential predators - including humans
..............prone to high levels of anxiety
2. Australian wildlife biologists must be really patient if they want to spot the platypus

Errors and POE:

Who wary and prone? Australian wildlife biologists? No. The platypus
Modifier misplacement, opening modifiers are in non-undelined part, so we need to start with modified entity after the comma. We need the platypus

Eliminate (A), (B) and (D).

(A) Australian wildlife biologists must practice patience when attempting the spot the platypus
(B) Australian wildlife biologists must practice patiently when they attempt to spot the platypus
(C) the platypus can only be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists who practice patience
(D) biologists of Australian wildlife must practice patiently when attempting the spot the platypus
(E) the platypus is most often spotted by Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience

Between (C) and (E)

(C) the platypus can only be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists who practice patience
(E) the platypus is most often spotted by Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience

Both of them gramatically correct. So we are down to meaning.

By the timer statistic we can see 54% is for (C) - myself was also in this percentage

This is the most tricky part of the SC in GMAT, we really have to be LITERALLY strict with meaning, and put away our PREJUDICES such as this answer too wordy or sounds awful.

(C) the platypus can only be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists who practice patience

From the first glance (C) seems clean and concise in comparison with long (E), there is high temptation to choose it.
If we LITERALLY down to meaning, "can only be spotted" is not exactly intended meaning of the original sentence.
We know that if Australian wildlife biologists wants to spot the platypus, they has to be patient.
But (C) implies that the platypus CAN ONLY be spotted by Australian wildlife biologists, so other people CANNOT see the the platypus - this is clear deviation from the intended meaning. So (C) is wrong.

(E) the platypus is most often spotted by Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience

the platypus is most often spotted - is much more clear than (C).

but I don't like "Australian wildlife biologists willing to practice patience" - we don't know biologists are willing to practice or not willing from the original sentence.I didn't choose (E) because of 'willing'
It seems more wordy than (C).

But again we have to be really careful with meaning - even if "willing" a little bit strange to me 'most often spotted' is 100% better than 'can only.



E is the answer

p.s. sudarshan22 thank you for this question
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Dear Expert,
IMHO i dont think option C change the meaning, as other experts have written, by putting modifier "ONLY" before "AUSTRALIAN
" BIOLOGISTS. What i think of it as ONLY puts emphasis on "anyone who practise patience". More like" The platypus can only be spotted by someonewho practise patience".
Please correct my understanding.

E wins!!

C - meaning error

Kudos dedo yaar! ?

Posted from my mobile device

From my understanding, the subject of the sentence is plural, since the modifiers "wary" and "prone" are in a plural form. However, in choice E, the verb "is" signifies a singular plural.
If "the platypus" is singular, how come its modifiers are in plural forms?

Hi guys,

From my understanding, the subject of the sentence is plural, since the modifiers "wary" and "prone" are plural. However, in choice E, the verb "is" signifies a singular subject.
Given "the platypus" is singular, how come its modifiers are in plural form?

Hi

1. The subject of the sentence is “the platypus” which is singular.
2. Per the sentence, the platypus is wary of potential predators, including humans.
3. The platypus is also prone to high levels of anxiety.
4. In each case ‘wary” and “prone” are modifying the singular subject “platypus”.
5. A modifier/adjective is a quality and is not to be evaluated for singularity or plurality.
6. For e.g., “handsome” is a quality and singularity or plurality (countability) is not attributed to it. It is neither singular nor plural
7. A man is handsome; Two men are handsome; Men are handsome – so handsome remains the same whether the subject is singular or plural.
8. Only nouns. pronouns and verbs are evaluated for singularity or plurality.

Hope this helps
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Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-



Choice A: This answer choice incorrectly modifies the noun "Australian wildlife biologists" with the phrases "wary of potential predators" and "prone to high levels of anxiety", implying that these characteristics describe the biologists. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B: This answer choice repeats the error found in Option A. Additionally, this answer choice changes the meaning of the sentence by applying the adverb "patiently" to the verb "practice". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice C: This answer choice changes the meaning of the sentence by including the adjective "only". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D: This answer choice repeats the errors seen in Options A and B. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice E: This answer choice conveys the intended meaning of the sentence. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Thanks a lot - this is very helpful
Much appreciated

Hi.
You are most welcome! Glad to be of help!
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I don’t agree with the OA. Here is my explanation:
The centrepiece(the platypus) should be close to its description so A, B and D out.
E has incorrect meaning since it mentions ‘spotted by biologists willing to practice’. So according to E, if people just have the willingness to be patient that is good enough…they don’t actually need to be patient to spot a platypus.
C conveys the right meaning by stating that one needs to have patience to be able to spot a platypus, just willingness won’t work.

Hope it helps