Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the

A run-on sentence is when two independent clauses are connected by a comma. Here, wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of... is not independent clause (in fact, it is not a clause at all; it is a phrase).

This kind of contruct is very common on GMAT (because it is not intuitive and is never used in verbal communication). A lot of questions test you on this and you would be well advised to make yourself comfortable. Following are a couple of sentences in OG that use this construct (I have put the correct option in bold and italicized the absolute modifier):

Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there.
(A) Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there
(B) Baltic Sea sediments, where the growth of industrial activity is consistent with these findings
(C) Baltic Sea sediments, findings consistent with its growth of industrial activity
(D) sediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area
(E) sediments from the Baltic Sea, consistent with the growth of industrial activity there

Another example from Official Verbal supplement:

Floating in the waters of the equatorial Pacific, an array of buoys collects and transmits data on long-term interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere, interactions that affect global climate.
A. atmosphere, interactions that affect
B. atmosphere, with interactions affecting
C. atmosphere that affects
D. atmosphere that is affecting
E. atmosphere as affects

Let me know if you want more examples and I can pull them up. There is no dearth of sentences using absolute modifier: ).

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-


Choice A: This answer choice incorrectly uses "where" to refer to "a society"; as "society" is not a physical place, "where" cannot be used to refer to it. Additionally, the pronoun "they" does not have a clear antecedent; it could refer to "Yellow Jackets", "species", or "wasps". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B: This answer choice maintains parallelism, conveys the intended meaning of the sentence, and avoids pronoun ambiguity. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Choice C: This answer choice incorrectly uses a comma followed by the word "which" to refer to a clause. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D: This answer choice repeats the same error found in Option D. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice E: This answer choice breaks parallelism between the adjectives "cooperative" and "organized" and the verb phrase "it consists...". This error occurs because this answer choice incorrectly groups the verb phrase into the same list as the adjectives. Remember, all elements in a list must be parallel. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect

Hence, B is the best answer choice.

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



To understand the concept of "Where v/s When on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Avoiding Pronoun Ambiguity on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Between (A) and (B), will go with (B).

(A) - ... world's social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females ... "where" does not do well to qualify the organized society, if that's what it was there for.

(B) - ... wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of females ... - cooperative and organized society consising almost entirely ... is a more appropriate usage.

Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world’s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females—the queen and her sterile female workers.

A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society, almost all
D. which means that their society is highly cooperative, organized, and it is almost entirely

E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all


9 out of 10 times, "which means" is not correct because it's meant to modify a phrase in front of it; whereas, "which" should be used to modify a noun/ pronoun. --> C and D out

We need "and" in between "cooperative" and "organized" . "it" has no specific antecedent --> E is out

"consist almost entirely of" is of "society" rather than of "wasps" --> A is out

I'm in for B.

answer B

not c or d because the antecedent of "which" is social wasps. It's like saying -- social wasps means that they live. Doesn't really make sense.
e is no parallel
in a the use of "they consist" is not correct because it refers to wasps when it should refer to society because society consists of something not wasps consist of something

When gmat gives you a hint then take it. Resumative modifiers are preferred.

A : "where" needs geographical location.
C,D : which does not have antecedent
E : "and it" violates the parallelism of the modifiers - highly cooperative, organized and consist

Lets look at B
B) wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
"wasps" is a resumative modifier which avoids confusion as "what" is being modified.

B it is.

Parallel SC.

Since the 1930's aircraft manufacturers have tried to
build airplanes with frictionless wings, shaped so
smoothly and perfectly that the air passing over
them would not become turbulent.

(A) wings, shaped so smoothly and perfectly
(B) wings, wings so smooth and so perfectly shaped
(C) wings that are shaped so smooth and perfect
(D) wings, shaped in such a smooth and perfect manner
(E) wings, wings having been shaped smoothly and
perfectly so

Answer is B.

Hi there,

Let's take a look here. It looks like a modifier type question with some list (parallelism) and pronoun issues mixed in. The underlined portion of the sentence needs to describe social wasps.

Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world’s social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females—the queen and her sterile female workers.

A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
What does they refer to? It sounds like the wasp itself is part female and part male.

B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
This looks good.

C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society, almost all
what does the "they" refer to? What does the "which" refer to?

D. which means that their society is highly cooperative, organized, and it is almost entirely
What does the "which" to? Incorrect parallelism "and it is almost entirely".

E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all
Parallelism issue "it consists of almost all". You also should have "wasps" so that the sentence is more clear.

It is very helpful to replace all of your pronouns with the nouns that they are replacing. Doing that will allow you see if the pronouns make sense. Also, make sure that the word(s) next to which make sense as words that which can refer to. Let me know if you need more advice on this.

Happy Studies,

HG.

B: Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world's social wasps, wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of...

Isn't this a run-on sentence?

Hi Genopath

B is not a run-on sentence.

Run-on error doesn't mean a long sentence, a really short sentence, however, could be run-on.

If you separate two parts in B into two sentences. The second subject would be "wasps" in general. That will changes the intended meaning.

The intended meaning is that Yellow jackets are wasps that live in................... The second part "wasps that live...." modifies the subject - Yellow jackets. Hence, we cannot put a dot between two parts.

Hope it helps.

Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world’s social wasps, wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of females — the queen and her sterile female workers.

If you remove the additional words from the full sentence of option B, you will find the simpler form of the sentence as -

Yellow jackets number among the 900 species of the social wasps, wasps that live in a cooperative society.

Here the first part is an independent clause. The second part, the part after comma, is a description of the wasps and this part is not an independent clause. Hence the sentence in not a run on one.

Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world's social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females—the queen and her sterile female workers.

A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
"Where" modifies actual place and not the metaphorical place such as Society.
B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
"that" correctly modifies wasps, consisting correctly modifies society. Hence correct !
C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society, almost all
Which means => what means????? Which cannot refer to idea stated in preceding clause for that purpose we have an absolute phrase
D. which means that their society is highly cooperative, organized, and it is almost entirely
Same as (C).
E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all
Makes error in ||ism

The part of the sentence that starts with “wasps living …’ in A and ‘wasps that live…’ in B are both called resumptive modifiers, a legal way of expressing modifiers. Per se, a modifier need not be a full clause with a verb. It can be a noun + a present participle that modifies the noun that it is touching as in A or a noun + a relative clause the touches the noun wasps as in B. Both choices do not pose any grammatical problems as such. The problem lies in the pronoun ‘where’ referring to a non-physical entity such as society.

A is, therefore, suspect. C and D, of course, suffer the relative pronoun touch rule problem. E has the singular pronoun ‘it’ referring to the plural yellow jackets.
B survives the pronoun reference ordeal.

Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world's social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females—the queen and her sterile female workers.

A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society, almost all
D. which means that their society is highly cooperative, organized, and it is almost entirely
E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all


GMATNinja It sounds odd to say social wasps, wasps that live. Could you clarify the modifier in this problem?

Hi hazelnut , "wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of" is called an absolute phrase modifier. It is modifying the "social wasps".

Here "wasps" is a noun and "that live .... " is modifier that modifies the noun "wasps".

Thanks abhimahna! As explained earlier in the thread by daagh, choice (B) uses a resumptive modifier--a modifier that repeats a key word and provides additional information or description (just like in this sentence!). Although this might sound awkward to the ear, it is an acceptable construction.

Rather than worry too much about this construction, make sure you understand why the other choices need to be eliminated!

Yellow jackets number among the 900 or so species of the world's social wasps, wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of females—the queen and her sterile female workers.

A. wasps living in a highly cooperative and organized society where they consist almost entirely of
It's the society that consists of females, not "wasps" consist of females.

B. wasps that live in a highly cooperative and organized society consisting almost entirely of
cooperative and organized are parallel
consisting correctly modifies society

E. living in a society that is highly cooperative, organized, and it consists of almost all

Not sure the exact error in (C) & (D) but I'm going to take a shot at them


C. which means they live in a highly cooperative and organized society, almost all
society, almost all females. There are no modifiers describing society. "almost all female" doesn't make sense.

D. which means that their society is highly cooperative, organized, and it is almost entirely

their society: wasps' society or Yellow jackets' society ?

Hello lary301254M7,

I am not sure if your doubt still persists. Here is the explanation nonetheless.

In the original sentence, the second instance of wasps has been used to refer to Yellow jackets.

Hence, in Choice E, the pronoun their can refer to wasps or Yellow jackets because wasps = Yellow jackets per the original sentence.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha