Sentence Correction / Parallelism / Subject Verb Agreement

[hkparikh09]

Researchers have discovered a new species of sparrow that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees and whose coloring is completely different from all other sparrows.

A) that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows in cypress trees and whose coloring is completely different from

B) that lives only in cypress groves, is almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and has coloring completely different from that of

C) living only in cypress groves, is almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose coloring is completely different from

D) that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose coloring is completely different from that of

E) living only in cypress groves, depending almost wholly on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and having coloring completely different than

The answer is B, and I understand why that is correct; the sentence is parallel. My question is regarding the subject-verb agreement between "berries" and "grows". The answer choices do not differ regarding this s/v agreement. However, shouldn't "grows" be changed to "grow" (singular to plural)? I think "berries" is a plural noun, so the matching plural verb would be "grow".

For example, the apples grow on a tree.

The only explanation I can think of that would justify "grows" is that the subject is actually "vine", not "berries".

OA: B

[kiranck007]

Hi,

I think answer is D.

that<modifier1> lives only in cypress groves, <modifier2> almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose<modifier3> coloring is completely different from that of

Here modifier3 is parallel to modifier1.

I think answer B is wrong because,
is almost wholly dependent .... has no subject.

[jnelson0612]

The answer is B, and I understand why that is correct; the sentence is parallel. My question is regarding the subject-verb agreement between "berries" and "grows". The answer choices do not differ regarding this s/v agreement. However, shouldn't "grows" be changed to "grow" (singular to plural)? I think "berries" is a plural noun, so the matching plural verb would be "grow".

For example, the apples grow on a tree.

The only explanation I can think of that would justify "grows" is that the subject is actually "vine", not "berries".

Correct. The word "that" when used as a modifier is an essential modifier. It "glues" together the noun immediately before the "that" with the description following the "that". In this case, "vine" is the word to match with "grows" because of "that".

[jnelson0612]

Hi,

I think answer is D.

that<modifier1> lives only in cypress groves, <modifier2> almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose<modifier3> coloring is completely different from that of

Here modifier3 is parallel to modifier1.

I think answer B is wrong because,
is almost wholly dependent .... has no subject.

"is almost wholly dependent" is describing the sparrow. Please read through this thread: researchers-have-discovered-a-new-species-of-sparrow-t910.html

D HUGELY breaks parallelism:
a sparrow THAT
1) lives
2) almost wholly . . . AND
3) whose coloring

I need three verbs there to maintain parallelism. Only "lives" is a verb.

[tushaw]

Hi,

I think answer is D.

that<modifier1> lives only in cypress groves, <modifier2> almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose<modifier3> coloring is completely different from that of

Here modifier3 is parallel to modifier1.

I think answer B is wrong because,
is almost wholly dependent .... has no subject.

"is almost wholly dependent" is describing the sparrow. Please read through this thread: researchers-have-discovered-a-new-species-of-sparrow-t910.html

D HUGELY breaks parallelism:
a sparrow THAT
1) lives
2) almost wholly . . . AND
3) whose coloring

I need three verbs there to maintain parallelism. Only "lives" is a verb.

I understand the parallelism error you've mentioned here. My confusion is whether that can be parallel to whose, another relative pronoun. for example:

a sparrow that lives..., that is wholly ..., and whose coloring is

[RonPurewal]

Sure it can. Why not?
Those constructions are all doing exactly the same thing (modifying the bird, with similar modifiers), so, yes.

[lsyang1212]

Is "species" considered singular or plural? I got this question wrong because I thought "species" is plural, and needed "species that live", not "species that lives".

Thanks.

[aditya8062]

a sparrow that lives..., that is wholly ..., and whose coloring is

hi Ron . your reply to this post ( on dec 17, 2013) is very enlightening to me for i have read in your manhattan book that "whose clauses" can be parallel to only "whose clauses" and that "that clauses" can be parallel to only "that clauses" .

i will be obliged if you can please corroborate further on this . many times i have seen that even OG has eliminated answers choices that are not following "whose" and "whose" parallelism .

BEST

[MohitS94]

Despite the three parallel structures, I am not satisfied with (B). This option slightly distorts the meaning and intent of the phrase almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees. This phrase explains why the sparrow lives only in cypress groves.

Consider the following. If the above phrase was replaced with something like having perished from all other groves, would we change this phrase to has perished from all other groves citing a lack of parallelism?

I think to maintain the intended meaning, only the first and third structures would need to be parallel. The second structure is sort of modifying the first and making it parallel to the first nullifies this. I think option (D) more suitably conveys the intended meaning.

-Mohit

[JonathanW541]

Despite the three parallel structures, I am not satisfied with (B). This option slightly distorts the meaning and intent of the phrase almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees. This phrase explains why the sparrow lives only in cypress groves.

Consider the following. If the above phrase was replaced with something like having perished from all other groves, would we change this phrase to has perished from all other groves citing a lack of parallelism?

I think to maintain the intended meaning, only the first and third structures would need to be parallel. The second structure is sort of modifying the first and making it parallel to the first nullifies this. I think option (D) more suitably conveys the intended meaning.

-Mohit

The lack of parallelism in D can cause ambiguity. Without the parallel structures, the phrase "almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees" is an appositive, and can now modify the preceding noun, or potentially the previous noun phrase, causing confusion on whether that appositive is modifying "cypress trees" or "the sparrows."

Also, I'm not really seeing the distorted meaning you are referring to?

[RonPurewal]

you have a valid point (although that stuff doesn't really make sense as a modifier of either of those things).

[tpsharma2u]

Hi Ron,

I think this may have been discussed earlier, but why is D wrong?

D. that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose coloring is completely different from that of...

now three parts, which aresupposedly parallel are:-
i)that lives only in cypress groves
ii) almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees
iii) whose coloring is completely different from that of....

now ii) could easily be modifying the portion in i)...
as far as parallelism issue is concerned the sentence should be correct...
a species of sparrow that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and a species of sparrow whose coloring is completely different from that of...
that can easily be parallel to whose..

[tpsharma2u]

Hi Ron,

I think this may have been discussed earlier, but why is D wrong?

D. that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose coloring is completely different from that of...

now three parts, which aresupposedly parallel are:-
i)that lives only in cypress groves
ii) almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees
iii) whose coloring is completely different from that of....

now ii) could easily be modifying the portion in i)...
as far as parallelism issue is concerned the sentence should be correct...
a species of sparrow that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and a species of sparrow whose coloring is completely different from that of...
that can easily be parallel to whose..

Hi any expert,
Could you please clarify ..

[aditi]

Hi,
help needed
Researchers have discovered a new species of sparrow that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees and whose coloring is completely different from all other sparrows.

D) that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees, and whose coloring is completely different from that of

Is D wrong because, the ing modifier should modify the main subject of the sentence -Researchers.

Researchers have discovered a new species of sparrow that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent
Subject +verb + noun phrase + Object (that verb modifier), (adverbial modifier)

Is it that in such constructions the adverbial modifier modifies the main subject and not the object sparrow.
So if the sentence is tweaked to be the following
Researchers have discovered a new species of sparrow that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees.
Would this be incorrect.

additionally ,

From Ron's reply to one of the queries on the following question
The electronics company has unveiled what it claims to be the world’s smallest network digital camcorder, the length of which is that of a handheld computer, and it weighs less than 11 ounces.
E. is the world’s smallest network digital camcorder, the length of which is that of a handheld computer, weighing
he writes
you can't really do that. if you have
clause1, clause2, -ING
then, in most cases, the -ING will modify clause2, not clause1.

RON - Pardon me if i am on the wrong train on thought, but Analogous to that can i write
Researchers have discovered a new species of sparrow that lives only in cypress groves, almost wholly dependent on the berries of a certain type of vine that grows on cypress trees
clause 1 -- Researchers ---sparrow.
clause 2 -- that ------------groves
-adverbial modifer --- almost --- trees
the adverbial modifier modifies the way the sparrow lives.

[Wangy35]

hi! " Do not use a comma before and to separate two verbs that have the same subject" is this rule incorrect? so why B is correct?

- earl walked to school, and later ate his launch ~~~incorrect
- Earl walked to school, and he later ate his launch ~~~ correct

plz, help me thx!