A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site

[ranjeet1975]

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found, and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously found in North America.

A) Same
B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was
C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were
D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously

In choice A, if we change "they" with "fossils", then Choice A is right?
because - paleontologists announced that "a site ...." and that "fossils were ....."

Please tell me where I am wrong?

[RonPurewal]

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found, and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously found in North America.

A) Same
B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was
C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were
D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously

In choice A, if we change "they" with "fossils", then Choice A is right?
because - paleontologists announced that "a site ...." and that "fossils were ....."

Please tell me where I am wrong?

nope.

* the past tense doesn't make sense; the observation about ages is still true.
i.e., these fossils are still 25 million years older than xxxxx (and always will be -- age differences don't change), so you have to use "are", not "were".

* the comparison isn't parallel: it's saying that the fossils are older than a dinosaur type.
that doesn't work; you have to compare fossils to other fossils (hence "those of" in the correct answer, in which "those" = fossils).

[heyazhi09]

alvin8139 - you are correct - this is an example of APPOSITIVE using embedded CONCRETE noun


We ate dinner in the revolving restaurant, the one in the tower. (appositive)


A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found, fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type found in North America. (appositive)


A South American bird that forages for winged termites and other small insects while swinging upside down from the foliage of tall trees, the graveteiro belongs to the ovenbird family, a group of New World tropical birds that includes more than 230 species and is represented in virtually every kind of habitat. (Comma + APPOSITIVE/concrete noun)

nice presentation.

Hi, Ron,
i am not sure the last sentence is right.
A South American bird that forages for winged termites and other small insects while swinging upside down from the foliage of tall trees, the graveteiro belongs to the ovenbird family, a group of New World tropical birds that includes more than 230 species and is represented in virtually every kind of habitat.

why use "includes" and "is", other than "include" and "are"?
i think "that" should modify the closest noun--birds.

correct me if i am wrong.
thanks a lot.

[RonPurewal]

why use "includes" and "is", other than "include" and "are"?
i think "that" should modify the closest noun--birds.

correct me if i am wrong.
thanks a lot.

in this case, that stands for "a group..."

make sure you realize that that can do either of these things: it can modify the closest noun, but it can also describe a noun followed by essential modifiers. this latter function is essential; if that were not allowed to have such a function, then many of those nouns would be impossible to modify.

examples:

ThingyFinder is a new technology for locating small objects that is going to be launched next month.
--> here, that is going to be launched next month describes "a new technology for locating small objects".

ThingyFinder is a new technology for locating small objects that are often misplaced.
--> here, that are often misplaced describes "small objects".

[heyazhi09]

great explanation, Ron!
thanks very much ;-)

[jlucero]

awesome!

[divineacclivity]

Howdy. In the future, please provide an exact citation for the source of a problem (book/website, problem number, etc.) so we can categorize the threads.

In this question, two "splits" provide insight into the grammatical issues under consideration. First, the original sentence and answer choice B use the ambiguous pronoun "they," which can refer either to fossils (correctly) or to paleontologists or dinosaurs (incorrectly). Once choices A and B are eliminated, the remaining choices test parallel structure by focusing on similar comparison terms. Answer choices C and E incorrectly compare fossils to dinosaur types; however, the sentence must compare fossils to fossils rather than fossils to dinosaurs. Answer choice D, the credited answer, corrects this comparison by including the pronoun those to explicitly refer to fossils.

Hope that makes sense!
-dan

Just one question here.
I'm taking the following example for simplicity:
Paleontologists announced that fossils were found, and that they were the oldest of all times.

Doesn't the introduction of "that" before "they were the oldest.." tell us that this "they" can NOT refer to the Paleontologists, rather it would only be talking about the subject of the announcement? Please explain your answer. Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

Doesn't the introduction of "that" before "they were the oldest.." tell us that this "they" can NOT refer to the Paleontologists, rather it would only be talking about the subject of the announcement? Please explain your answer. Thanks.

not necessarily. for instance,
the referees announced that they were going to suspend the game because of the rain
--> here, there is no problem with "they", which refers to "the referees".

[divineacclivity]

Doesn't the introduction of "that" before "they were the oldest.." tell us that this "they" can NOT refer to the Paleontologists, rather it would only be talking about the subject of the announcement? Please explain your answer. Thanks.

not necessarily. for instance,
the referees announced that they were going to suspend the game because of the rain
--> here, there is no problem with "they", which refers to "the referees".

got it, thank you.
You guys are doing some great job. I don't mean it just because of this answer :) God bless!

[tim]

:)

[gauravtyagigmat]

A South American bird that forages for winged termites and other small insects while swinging upside down from the foliage of tall trees, graveteiro belongs to the ovenbird family, a group of New World tropical birds that includes
more than 230 species and is represented in
virtually every kind of habitat.

Hi Ron,
don't you think "is" should be preceeded by "that" after "and"
to have parallelism

i know in case to verb(if same verb is repeated) second verb is optional unless there is parallelism marker before first verb

same applies for "to" in infinitive

Is same applies for "that" and other pronouns also

[RonPurewal]

Gaurav, PLEASE read the forum rules. This last post violates almost every single rule dealing with how to post things on here.

* If you are posting a new problem, you MUST post a new thread. One problem per thread.

* Per the forum rules, you MUST post the complete question, with all answer choices.

* If the source is not MGMAT or GMAT PREP, you MUST cite the source of the problem.

Be sure to post the new thread in the correct folder, according to the source of the problem (MGMAT CAT, MGMAT non-CAT, GMAT PREP, or other sources).

Thanks.

[gauravtyagigmat]

Gaurav, PLEASE read the forum rules. This last post violates almost every single rule dealing with how to post things on here.

* If you are posting a new problem, you MUST post a new thread. One problem per thread.

* Per the forum rules, you MUST post the complete question, with all answer choices.

* If the source is not MGMAT or GMAT PREP, you MUST cite the source of the problem.

Be sure to post the new thread in the correct folder, according to the source of the problem (MGMAT CAT, MGMAT non-CAT, GMAT PREP, or other sources).

Thanks.

Hey Ron,
I dont know what went wrong with the question.the question I have posted is already mentioned in the thread.I just pointed out one thing from the same question.
If you search "south american bird" you will be able to see this sentence posted twice.
This question is from gmat prep.I have archive of gmat prep questions.If you want whole question to any my question.I posting it in new thread

parallelism-t24783.html

[tim]

Thanks for creating the new post. We'll respond to you there. Let us know if you need any further help on the topics discussed in this thread.

[AbhilashM94]

Howdy. In the future, please provide an exact citation for the source of a problem (book/website, problem number, etc.) so we can categorize the threads.

In this question, two "splits" provide insight into the grammatical issues under consideration. First, the original sentence and answer choice B use the ambiguous pronoun "they," which can refer either to fossils (correctly) or to paleontologists or dinosaurs (incorrectly). Once choices A and B are eliminated, the remaining choices test parallel structure by focusing on similar comparison terms. Answer choices C and E incorrectly compare fossils to dinosaur types; however, the sentence must compare fossils to fossils rather than fossils to dinosaurs. Answer choice D, the credited answer, corrects this comparison by including the pronoun those to explicitly refer to fossils.

Hope that makes sense!
-dan

A group of paleontologists recently announced that a site in Utah has yielded fossils of some of the biggest armored dinosaurs ever found, and that they were at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur type previously found in North America.

A) Same
B) and they are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type that previously was
C) and the fossils are at least 25 million years older than any similar dinosaur types that previously were
D) fossils that are at least 25 million years older than those of any similar dinosaur type previously
E) fossils at least 25 million years older than similar dinosaur types previously

I put C. Why is D correct?

Stuck between A & D

Since pronoun ambiguity isnt really always wrong on GMAT.
Apart from the THEY that that you say have no antecedent, what are some other main errors in A.