Sentence correction

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron

I negated C thinking that its a run on sentence. Please explain as to why "each of colonies consisting of.." is not a run on sentence.

Thank you!

Where'd you see "each of colonies consisting of..."? That's not in any of the choices.

This is a legitimate kind of modifier. As one of the posters above wrote, it appears to be called an "absolute phrase", so you can google that term for more examples. But, as with every other construction in every language, the point is just to recognize that it's a thing.

Rebecca finished shoveling the snow, her hands trembling from the cold.
Same sort of modifier.

[tushaw]

Why option B is wrong. Can you explain it.

another issue with (b) is that "each of them" seems to refer to the twenty animals; it's not a good modifier.
to see what i'm saying, temporarily remove the words that follow "each of them":
...colonies of approximately twenty animals, with each of them...
--> when you read this, your first instinct is almost certainly that "them" is the animals, because the sentence has explicitly spelled out that there are a certain number (= twenty) of them.

My confusion is with the modifier "each of which consists..." in choice A. A modifier can jump a prepositional phrase (PP) if the PP defines the noun (colonies) before it. In A I believe this is fine. Now if we use context to assign the modifier "each of which", then "colonies" is preferred over "animals".

I selected choice C over A because I felt choice C is more clear than A in highlighting what "each" should refer to.

Please let me know if there is any other reason why A is wrong. According to me C was just more concise and clearer than A.

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

Please let me know if there is any other reason why A is wrong. According to me C was just more concise and clearer than A.

Thanks

My explanation for choice B (in your quoted text) also applies to A.

Essentially, I agree with you here, but I think you may be understating the problem with choice A: It's basically impossible to understand in a single read-through.
If your eyes see "... colonies of 20 animals, each of which ____...", then you will definitely think that "_____" is going to describe the animals, unless you are informed in advance of the intended meaning.

In general, when GMAC has allowed which-modifiers to describe things of the form "noun + preposition + other noun", they've avoided this issue by making "other noun" incompatible with the modifier.
E.g., Susan's letters to Emily, which were...
Here, we know that "which were" CAN'T refer to Emily, for two different reasons: (a) "which" can't refer to people, and (b) Emily is not plural.

In any case, I'd say the most important value of this problem lies in reminding you to compare the answer choices, rather than to attempt individual evaluations.

[tushaw]

If your eyes see "... colonies of 20 animals, each of which ____...", then you will definitely think that "_____" is going to describe the animals, unless you are informed in advance of the intended meaning.

I read this option as "... colonies ..., each of which ____...". So I thought "___" describes colonies. And this makes sense because "each animal cannot consist of female and workers"


I agree that comparing choices A and C helped me pick the correct answer.

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

If you mean that you understood that immediately"”without slowing down or re-reading"”the first time you read the sentence, that's impressive.

[MeghaV725]

Hi Ron,

Just want to understand whether the modifier in C 'each colony consisting .......' is an absolute phrase. If not then could you please explain what kind of modifier is it.

By absolute phrase I mean one in blue in the sentence below.
Their slender bodies sleek and black against the orange sky, the storks circled high above us.



Many thanks.

Hi
Can you please explain why the modifier in C can not be an absolute phrase?
Thanks

[tim]

Why does it matter? In other words, how will knowing whether you can attach an obscure label to a construction help you on the GMAT? As Ron is fond of pointing out, you can do very well on SC without using a bunch of terminology; in fact, it often gets in the way of understanding what's really going on in the problem.

[MeghaV725]

I read and learnt this topic recently so just thought of testing my "recently acquired knowledge" here. That is it :)

[tim]

By all means, we would like to encourage you to test any relevant recently acquired knowledge here. The thing is, terminology is entirely irrelevant to sentence correction. What you should test is your understanding of how the pieces of a sentence work together and being able to recognize mistakes when you see them. After all, recognizing mistakes is literally the only thing you have to know for sentence correction!

[MeghaV725]

Sure Tim! I get you :)
Thanks

[tim]

:)

[chetan86]

Hi Ron,

I want to know whether below constructions are correct?

1. Independent clause, each of [which/that + singular verb] --> does not require AND.
2. Independent clause, and each + singular verb --> 2 independent clause
3. Independent clause, each+noun+verb-ing modifier
4. Independent clause, each+noun+that clause

Thanks!!

[RonPurewal]

assuming that "independent clause" just means "complete sentence", the first three are fine (as long as they make sense in context!).

the fourth one doesn't seem workable to me; it looks like an incorrect way to write sentences that could be written correctly as your #3 instead.

can you give an actual example of your #4? (trying to write "formulas" for SC is, in general, ill advised)
thanks.

[chetan86]

assuming that "independent clause" just means "complete sentence", the first three are fine (as long as they make sense in context!).

the fourth one doesn't seem workable to me; it looks like an incorrect way to write sentences that could be written correctly as your #3 instead.

can you give an actual example of your #4? (trying to write "formulas" for SC is, in general, ill advised)
thanks.

Hi Ron,

Thanks a lot for your confirmation.

I tried to create some sentences for example 4, but I think those sentences can be more meaningful with "Independent clause, NOUN+that clause" construction.

Actually, while solving QP1, I got almost all the questions wrong which were using "COMMA+each" construction, so I was trying to learn correct way to form sentences using subgroup modifier some/each. I always get confused with this kind of sentence construction.

Sorry to ask you one more question:
Whether Independent clause, each of them+verb-ing modifier construction is correct?

Thanks!!!

[RonPurewal]

"of them" creates redundancy; that idea is already contained in the meaning of "each". so, you're not likely to see that construction.