When an active tooth in the shark's jaws is lost or worn down, many

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-


Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:

Understanding the intended meaning of this sentence is key to solving this question; the intended meaning is that many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, and each tooth is ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down.

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Meaning + Modifiers + Verb Forms

• "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses the adverbial phrase "When an active tooth in the shark's jaws is lost or worn down" to modify the clause "many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve", illogically implying that many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, specifically, at that point in time when an active tooth is lost or worn down; the intended meaning is that many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, at all times.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the adverbial phrase "Whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down" to modify the clause "many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve", illogically implying that many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, specifically, at that point in time when an active tooth is lost or worn down; the intended meaning is that many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, at all times. Moreover, Option B incorrectly modifies "the shark's jaws" with "which are each ready to slide into the appropriate position", illogically implying that the shark's jaws are ready to slide into the appropriate position; the intended meaning is that the shark's spare teeth are ready to slide into the appropriate position; remember, "who/whose/whom/which/where", when preceded by a comma, refer to the noun just before the comma.

C: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular pronoun "each one" with the plural verb "are".

D: This answer choice fails to form a complete sentence; as "lying" is a present participle ("verb+ing") acting as a modifier and "is ready" and "is lost or worn down" are both parts of modifying phrases, there is no active verb to act upon the subject noun phrase "The many spare teeth".

E: Correct. This answer choice avoids the subject-verb disagreement seen in Option D, as it acts upon the singular pronoun "each" with the modifier "ready to slide into" rather than an active verb. Further, Option E correctly acts upon the independent subject noun phrase "many spare teeth" with the active verb "lie" to form a complete thought, leading to a complete sentence. Additionally, Option E correctly modifies the clause "each one ready to slide into the appropriate position" with the adverbial phrase "whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down", conveying the intended meaning - that many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, at all times, and the shark's spare teeth are ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

To understand the use of "Which, Who, Whose, Where" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):

I'll go with E.

A: Meaning is strange. The teeth don't lie in reserve when the active teeth are worn out.
B: Same as above.
C: 'each one of which are' is incorrect
D: what does 'each one of whch' refer to? the jaws or the teeth? 'lying in seemingly...' is akward use of present continuous tense.

Ans: E.
My analysis:
In the shark's jaw: this is a prepositional phrase modifying " lie"
many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve: this is a Independent clause with subject :teeth an verb: lie.
each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down.: this is a modifier modifying teeth.

But my doubt is what kind of modifier is this"each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down.

Hi Jose,

Thanks for posting your query here.

Great job with the analysis! Since 'one' is a pronoun, and pronouns function as nouns, the modifier "each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down" functions as a noun phrase modifying "teeth". So we have a noun + noun modifier here.

I hope this helps!

Regards,
Meghna

When an active tooth in the shark’s jaws is lost or worn down, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each of which are ready to slide into the appropriate position.

A. When an active tooth in the shark’s jaws is lost or worn down, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each of which are ready to slide into the appropriate position - Wrong placement of sentences. Plural verb 'Are' should be singular verb 'is'.
B. Whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark’s jaws, which are each ready to slide into the appropriate position - Wrong placement of sentences. Which seems to refer to Jaws instead of Teeth.
C. Many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark’s jaws, each one of which are ready to slide into the appropriate position when an active tooth is lost or worn down - Plural verb 'Are' should be singular verb 'is'. Distant modifier- Each seems to modify jaws instead of teeth
D. The many spare teeth lying in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark’s jaws, each one of which is ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down - Use of 'The' is wrong here as it seems to refer to specific spare teeth. Fragment error- No verb for first sentence.
E. In the shark’s jaws, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down - Correct.

+1 for Kudos..

When an active tooth in the shark's jaws is lost or worn down, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each of which are ready to slide into the appropriate position.

A. When an active tooth in the shark's jaws is lost or worn down, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each of which are ready to slide into the appropriate position.
There are a couple of Errors in this option.
1. Grammar -

freetheking

each of which are

Each makes the subject Singular. Therefore, it should be - Each of which IS.
2. Meaning - Conveying the meaning that Spare Teeth get in reserve when an active tooth is lost rather than meaning that Spare Teeth lie in reserve to replace a broken tooth.
B. Whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, which are each ready to slide into the appropriate position.
Which clause is wrongly modifying Jaws.
C. Many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, each one of which are ready to slide into the appropriate position when an active tooth is lost or worn down.
Same error as above
D. The many spare teeth lying in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, each one of which is ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down.
Same error as above
E. In the shark's jaws, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down.
Correct.

freetheking

In the shark's jaws, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve,

An Independent Clause and

freetheking

each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down.

Correctly modifying Spare Teeth.

I was hesitating between C and E, eventually choosing the wrong answer.

One more little argument in favor of E over C is the usage of "whenever" instead of "when".

From the book:
If an event is unique or its date or time is known, use when.
The game will begin Friday evening when the clock strikes seven.
Whenever is best used for repeated events or events whose date or time is uncertain. If you can substitute every time that or at whatever time that in your sentence, then whenever is preferred.
Whenever I get in the shower, the phone rings.

Let's see E again:
In the shark's jaws, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever (can be substitute with "every time that") an active tooth is lost or worn down.

But I would agree with the previous answers that the most ambiguity in C is "which" that incorrectly refers to "jaws"

Option E says: In the shark's jaws, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down

A run-on sentence is when two Independent clauses are connected by a comma. However, the following portion of option E is not an Independent clause:

each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down

By the way, if there were to be an is in E (each one is ready to slide into the appropriate...) then option E would have been run-on.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses run-on, its application and examples in significant detail. Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

To add to the explanation above by EducationAisle:

The part "each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down" is a subgroup modifier referring to "many spare teeth". Hence the sentence is not run-on.

as per the intended meaning, limitless reserve = shark's jaws right ???

saying *many spare teeth lying in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws* just doesn't make any sense right???

hence B, C, & D gone

left with A & E... A clearly has a Subject-Verb error. Even though i am not fully convinced with option E, it is the correct answer.

experts..kindly review my analysis.. am i right????

this is an official question, kindly respond

GMATNinja
egmat
aragonn
GMATNinjatwo
generis
hazelnut

i look forward to hearing from you guys!

aditliverpoolfc , this analysis is a laudable effort because you are trying to understand what this sentence means while also keeping an eye out for grammar errors.

In sentences with many or weird prepositional phrases, though, other errors may be easier to spot.

I don't fully understand why the clause "many spare teeth [lie] in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws" does not make any sense.

Which part bothers you? What does "per intended meaning" refer to?

I agree that the construction is a bit awkward. Compare to E in which the prepositional phrases are broken up.

Not quite. limitless reserve (endless supply) = (of) shark's teeth

Prepositions are often the hardest part of English. Prepositional phrases are versatile.

We have two prepositional phrases that begin with IN.

(1) . . . [many] spare teeth LIE . . .
WHERE do the extra teeth lie?
in the shark's jaws

(2) HOW or in what way do the reserve teeth lie in the shark's jaws?
in seemingly limitless reserve
There are a LOT of these extra teeth.

In other words, there is not a "seemingly limitless reserve" of shark's jaws.
There is a seemingly limitless reserve of shark's teeth—teeth that lie (are housed) in the shark's jaws.

We can eliminate A, B, C, and D for other reasons.
You are correct about (A), and you chose the easiest basis upon which to eliminate.
Each, singular, does not agree with are, plural.

Eliminate B because its opening modifier (whenever) distorts meaning. Option B means
-- The many spare teeth lie in limitless reserve at the time that or every time that or only when [and at that point, always when] an active tooth is lost or worn down.
-- No. The reserve teeth are always there.

Eliminate C because the pronoun one is singular and needs a singular verb, IS.

Eliminate D because no working verb exists
The ... teeth lying in seemingly endless reserve . . . , each one of which is ready to do XYZ.

• Option E?
In the shark's jaws, many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve, each one ready to slide into the appropriate position whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down.

Meaning: The jaws of a shark contain many more spare teeth than we would expect. Each spare tooth is ready to slide into place any time that an active tooth is lost or worn down.

Sharks have a lot of teeth, full stop. Now we find out that sharks have a huge supply of replacement teeth.

Parse the sentence:
-- Subject: [many] spare teeth
-- Verb: lie
-- Modifier: in the shark's jaws (WHERE do the teeth lie?)
-- Modifier: in seemingly limitless reserve (under what conditions or how do the teeth lie in the jaw? I am purposely not discussing how this phrase could be adjectivial)
-- Absolute phrase: each one ready to slide . . . (the absolute phrase modifies the whole idea in the main clause. Read about that modifier in this post, here.

If I have misunderstood your reasoning about why the words you emphasized make no sense, please rephrase your question a little more specifically, tell me the bases upon which you reasoned to that conclusion, and tag me.
I will be happy to respond.

I hope that helps.

Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal, GMATNinja

Your explanations and way of tackling SC have really helped me. Could you please elaborate on this as well?
I was able to reach the correct answer but took 2.5 mins (too much time).

Sure thing! There's a nice juicy error in each of the incorrect answer choices.

Subject-verb agreement error: Each is a singular subject, so we'd write, "Each of which IS." Goodbye to (A).

"Which" seems to refer to "jaws." The jaws are sliding into position? Nah. It makes far more sense to write that the teeth are sliding into position. Get rid of (B.)

This one manages to incorporate the errors we find in (A) and (B). Each...are is a subject-verb agreement error. And again, it sounds as though the jaws are sliding into place. Dig a small hole in the earth and place (C) inside.

Again, the jaws seem to be sliding into place. Illogical. (D) is out.

That leaves us with (E), which is our answer.

Takeaway: anytime you find a mistake, scan the other answer choices to see if they contain the same problem.

I hope that helps!

A and B conveys the wrong action (Whenever an active tooth is lost or worn down) and reaction (many spare teeth lie in seemingly limitless reserve)
So eliminate A, B

In D, there is a missing verb (The many spare teeth lying in seemingly limitless reserve in the shark's jaws, modifier )
So eliminate D

In C , each one refers to singular whereas are conveys it as plural
So eliminate C

Correct answer is E

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