Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued that many biological traits are not the products of natural selection, favored due to their enhancement of reproduction or survival, but that they are simply random by-products of other evolutionary developments.
A.due to their enhancement of reproduction or survival, but that they are
B.due to the reproduction or survival they enhance, but they are
C.because they enhance reproduction or survival, but
D.because they enhance reproduction or survival, but are
E.because of enhancing reproduction or survival, but are
OA:D
My question is that why choose D over E?
I have gone through this post: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... 59-30.html
and did not find useful information about my question. And the post Ron quoted in the post has been deleted i think.
Thanks in advance!
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- JingziL752
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- Sage Pearce-Higgins
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Re: Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued
Please could you quote the source of this question before I reply?
- JingziL752
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Re: Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued
This is a gmat prep question. 
- Sage Pearce-Higgins
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Re: Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued
Strange. Is this from a paid GMAT Prep resource? If so, we'll have to delete the question.
The problem with answer E is that 'because of enhancing reproduction or survival' doesn't make clear that the biological traits are the things doing the enhancing. Take the example "She got ill because of smoking." You can probably see that it's not clear whether she was the one smoking, or whether she got ill in some indirect way from others smoking.
The problem with answer E is that 'because of enhancing reproduction or survival' doesn't make clear that the biological traits are the things doing the enhancing. Take the example "She got ill because of smoking." You can probably see that it's not clear whether she was the one smoking, or whether she got ill in some indirect way from others smoking.
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Re: Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued
Great explanation!!!
nope. This problem is from free gmat prep. But this one is kind of old. ( Chinese students made collections of all the problems students encountered in the free gmat prep. And this one is from prep07 which was collected in 2007.)
nope. This problem is from free gmat prep. But this one is kind of old. ( Chinese students made collections of all the problems students encountered in the free gmat prep. And this one is from prep07 which was collected in 2007.)
- Sage Pearce-Higgins
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- JbhB682
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Re: Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued
Hi Sage
Q1) what's wrong with C ?
Q2)
In another thread on this question specifically -- Ron mentioned
The "not ___ but ___" structure is not viable here on this question ....
Question : how does one that the "not ___ but ___" structure does NOT apply in this case ....instead the ____ but ____ structure applies instead
[url]
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p95734[/url]
Q1) what's wrong with C ?
Q2)
In another thread on this question specifically -- Ron mentioned
The "not ___ but ___" structure is not viable here on this question ....
Question : how does one that the "not ___ but ___" structure does NOT apply in this case ....instead the ____ but ____ structure applies instead
[url]
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... tml#p95734[/url]
- Sage Pearce-Higgins
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Re: Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould has argued
Interesting point. I've read through the thread that you mentioned, and the key point seems to be on the third page: "the sentence is correct as long as one of the two interpretations (or structures) makes sense, supposing no other grammatical or meaning errors exist". This is what we might call a "principle of charity". Remember that, although we're looking for problems in answer choices, we're not trying to make them wrong.
If we analyze the above structure as not X but Y, then answer C seems to be the more parallel one. However, if we analyze the structure as X but Y, then answer D is correctly parallel. Obviously only one of the answers can be correct, so we have to look for another difference.
Ron makes a good point that:
Think of the following sentences:
1 A shark is not a mammal but a fish. (This is fine according to the structure "A shark not X but Y".)
2 A shark is not a mammal but actually a fish. (This hopefully sounds funny - that's because the adverb 'actually' doesn't have a verb to modify.)
3 A shark is not a mammal but is actually a fish. (This is fine because it follows the structure "A shark X but Y".)
Now I know what's coming next, you're going to ask if 4 A shark is not a mammal but is a fish. is okay, or whether the word 'is' is redundant. I'd say hesitantly that it's okay, and that I haven't seen a GMAT problem that relies on choosing between examples 4 and 1.
Finally, I should note that this problem is more that 10 years old. As much as it's great to look at GMAT Prep resources, please remember that GMAT does change over time, and this problem may be less relevant than more recent ones.
If we analyze the above structure as not X but Y, then answer C seems to be the more parallel one. However, if we analyze the structure as X but Y, then answer D is correctly parallel. Obviously only one of the answers can be correct, so we have to look for another difference.
Ron makes a good point that:
"Are" is also necessary in that sentence because of "simply".
"Simply" is an adverb that describes the fact that these things are random byproducts; i.e., it describes the verb "are". If you remove "are", then "simply" is an orphan with nothing to describe.
Think of the following sentences:
1 A shark is not a mammal but a fish. (This is fine according to the structure "A shark not X but Y".)
2 A shark is not a mammal but actually a fish. (This hopefully sounds funny - that's because the adverb 'actually' doesn't have a verb to modify.)
3 A shark is not a mammal but is actually a fish. (This is fine because it follows the structure "A shark X but Y".)
Now I know what's coming next, you're going to ask if 4 A shark is not a mammal but is a fish. is okay, or whether the word 'is' is redundant. I'd say hesitantly that it's okay, and that I haven't seen a GMAT problem that relies on choosing between examples 4 and 1.
Finally, I should note that this problem is more that 10 years old. As much as it's great to look at GMAT Prep resources, please remember that GMAT does change over time, and this problem may be less relevant than more recent ones.
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