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BillyZ
Current Student
Joined: 14 Nov 2016
Last visit: 24 Jan 2026
Posts: 1,135
Given Kudos: 926
Location: Malaysia
Concentration: General Management, Strategy
Schools: Sloan '23 (D) Tuck '23 (D) Darden '23 (D) Ross '23 (D) Kellogg '23 (D) Wharton '23 (D) Booth '23 (D) Fuqua '24 (A) Harvard '24 (D) Stanford '24 (D)
GMAT 1: 750 Q51 V40 (Online)
GPA: 3.53
Products:
Schools: Sloan '23 (D) Tuck '23 (D) Darden '23 (D) Ross '23 (D) Kellogg '23 (D) Wharton '23 (D) Booth '23 (D) Fuqua '24 (A) Harvard '24 (D) Stanford '24 (D)
GMAT 1: 750 Q51 V40 (Online)
Posts: 1,135
23 May 2017, 04:39
Kudos
Bookmarks
A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
15%
(low)
Question Stats:
79% (01:57) correct
21%
(02:15)
wrong
based on 863
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall, the flightless bird Titanis walleri, which lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, is the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.”
(A) Weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall, the flightless bird Titanis walleri, which lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, is the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.”
(B) The most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds,” the flightless bird Titanis walleri, which lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall.
(C) The most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds,” the flightless bird Titanis walleri weighed more than 300 pounds, stood over 2 meters tall, having lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey.
(D) Weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall, the flightless bird Titanis walleri lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.”
(E) The flightless bird Titanis walleri, which weighed more than 300 pounds and stood over 2 meters tall, lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.”
When the sentence is completely underlined, it can be difficult to find splits in the answer choices. A better strategy might be to look in the original sentence and in choice B for errors, particularly of modifiers and parallelism (since these issues allow for wholesale rearrangement of sentence parts). After all, either A or B (or both) must be wrong.
In fact, the original sentence has no errors! The subject of the sentence is the flightless bird Titanis walleri. This subject is surrounded by two big modifiers ( Weighing… tall and which… prey). Finally, the main verb of the sentence is is, which is followed by the rest of the predicate ( the most fearsome representative…).
(A) CORRECT.
(B) This choice is a sentence fragment: there is no main verb. The original predicate has been turned into an opening modifier ( The most fearsome representative…). The subject is followed by two modifiers, but weighing… does not qualify as a main verb.
(C) This choice violates parallelism. The list in the middle of the sentence seems to be weighed…, stood…, having lived… and may have evolved. The third element (having lived) is definitely not parallel to the first two past-tense verbs.
(D) This choice has a poorly positioned modifier. At the very end of the sentence, the phrase the most fearsome representative… seems to be modifying struggling prey, rather than the Titanis bird.
(E) This choice has the same problem as choice D: the modifier at the end of the sentence seems to be modifying the wrong noun.
The correct answer is A.
(A) Weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall, the flightless bird Titanis walleri, which lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, is the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.”
(B) The most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds,” the flightless bird Titanis walleri, which lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall.
(C) The most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds,” the flightless bird Titanis walleri weighed more than 300 pounds, stood over 2 meters tall, having lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey.
(D) Weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall, the flightless bird Titanis walleri lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.”
(E) The flightless bird Titanis walleri, which weighed more than 300 pounds and stood over 2 meters tall, lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.”
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
When the sentence is completely underlined, it can be difficult to find splits in the answer choices. A better strategy might be to look in the original sentence and in choice B for errors, particularly of modifiers and parallelism (since these issues allow for wholesale rearrangement of sentence parts). After all, either A or B (or both) must be wrong.
In fact, the original sentence has no errors! The subject of the sentence is the flightless bird Titanis walleri. This subject is surrounded by two big modifiers ( Weighing… tall and which… prey). Finally, the main verb of the sentence is is, which is followed by the rest of the predicate ( the most fearsome representative…).
(A) CORRECT.
(B) This choice is a sentence fragment: there is no main verb. The original predicate has been turned into an opening modifier ( The most fearsome representative…). The subject is followed by two modifiers, but weighing… does not qualify as a main verb.
(C) This choice violates parallelism. The list in the middle of the sentence seems to be weighed…, stood…, having lived… and may have evolved. The third element (having lived) is definitely not parallel to the first two past-tense verbs.
(D) This choice has a poorly positioned modifier. At the very end of the sentence, the phrase the most fearsome representative… seems to be modifying struggling prey, rather than the Titanis bird.
(E) This choice has the same problem as choice D: the modifier at the end of the sentence seems to be modifying the wrong noun.
The correct answer is A.
23 May 2017, 04:47
Kudos
Bookmarks
(A) Weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall, the flightless bird Titanis walleri, which lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, is the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.”
(B)The most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds,” the flightless bird Titanis walleri, which lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall. --> NO Main Verb.
(C) The most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds,” the flightless bird Titanis walleri weighed more than 300 pounds, stood over 2 meters tall, having lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey. --> Change in tense implies they are either under weight or are over weight . This is not the intended meaning.
(D) Weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall, the flightless bird Titanis walleri lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.” --> This is modifying the prey. This should modify the bird.
(E) The flightless bird Titanis walleri, which weighed more than 300 pounds and stood over 2 meters tall, lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.” --> Errors of Choice C and E both.
(B)
(C) The most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds,” the flightless bird Titanis walleri weighed more than 300 pounds, stood over 2 meters tall, having lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey. --> Change in tense implies they are either under weight or are over weight . This is not the intended meaning.
(D) Weighing more than 300 pounds and standing over 2 meters tall, the flightless bird Titanis walleri lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.” --> This is modifying the prey. This should modify the bird.
(E) The flightless bird Titanis walleri, which weighed more than 300 pounds and stood over 2 meters tall, lived in Florida about 2 million years ago and may have evolved opposable thumbs to subdue struggling prey, the most fearsome representative of the aptly named “terror birds.” --> Errors of Choice C and E both.
Luckisnoexcuse
Current Student
Joined: 18 Aug 2016
Last visit: 31 Mar 2026
Posts: 513
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 198
Concentration: Strategy, Technology
Schools: Kenan-Flagler '20 (M)
GMAT 1: 630 Q47 V29
GMAT 2: 740 Q51 V38
Products:
23 May 2017, 21:17
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