GMAT PREP 1 Question

[shweta]

"(C)Unlike mammals, where the tiny tubes for conveying nutrients to bone cells are arrayed in parallel lines, birds' tubes ".

I got the answer to this question right. I understand option 'C' holds wrong on the basis of parallelism. However I need general clarity on the usage of "where" to modify mammals/living things. As per Manhattan SC guide, "where" can be used only to modify noun places.

Thanks!

[thanghnvn]

[quote="visitdhiraj"]Hi This is a question from GMAT PREP 1

I couldn't answer this question correctly. I chose E whereas the OA is A

Could you please explain all the errors in each and every choice.

Whereas in mammals the tiny tubes that convey
nutrients to bone cells are arrayed in parallel lines, in
birds the tubes form a random pattern.

(A) Whereas in mammals the tiny tubes that convey
nutrients to bone cells are arrayed in parallel
lines, in birds the tubes

(8) Whereas the tiny tubes for the conveying of
nutrients to bone cells are arrayed in mammals
in parallel lines, birds have tubes that

the most important point between A and C is "conveying of". this phrase refers to a general action, which dose not belong to a specific noun in the sentence. With that meaning expressed in B, choice B is not the intended meaning and is wrong.

am I corect?

[RonPurewal]

the most important point between A and C is "conveying of". this phrase refers to a general action, which dose not belong to a specific noun in the sentence. With that meaning expressed in B, choice B is not the intended meaning and is wrong.

am I corect?

You're right about that point, but your statement that it's "the most important point" is debatable.

It's easier to realize that the two parts of A are written in perfect correspondence.
In mammals the tubes are ...
whereas
in birds the tubes are ...

It's like parallelism on a larger scale.

That correspondence is broken in C.

[RonPurewal]

I got the answer to this question right. I understand option 'C' holds wrong on the basis of parallelism. However I need general clarity on the usage of "where" to modify mammals/living things. As per Manhattan SC guide, "where" can be used only to modify noun places.

I don't understand. Do you think that it's not possible for a choice to contain 2 errors?

In any case, "in mammals" is, in fact, a physical location.

[RonPurewal]

"where" can be used only to modify noun places.

Thanks!

"Where" has to describe physical locations, but those locations don't have to be nouns; they can be phrases, too.
E.g., The weather at base camp is not at all like the weather at the top of the mountain, where wind speeds regularly exceed 150 miles per hour.

[shweta]

Hey thanks Ron!
I know the question was not framed in the best possible manner, but both the examples you took helped clear the doubt!
:)

[RonPurewal]

You're welcome.

[VijayR318]

Could someone shed some light on how answers that start with a conjunction can be the correct one?

Thanks,

you should definitely know that kind of usage, as it's quite common.

the kinds of conjunctions you're talking about (which, as a google search reveals, are called "subordinating conjunctions") can be placed just as well at the beginning of a whole sentence as between two clauses. for instance, both of the following sentences are fine:
even though i was third in line, i had to wait two hours to be served.
i had to wait two hours to be served, even though i was third in line.

--

there is, however, a different group of conjunctions that indeed can't be placed at the beginning of a sentence. these are the so-called "coordinating conjunctions" -- and, but, yet, and so on.
for instance, the following sentence is ok...
i was third in line, but i still had to wait two hours to be served.
... but under no circumstances can you write a sentence like But xxxxx, yyyyy.

Hi,

for Subordinating conjunctions I understand that we need to have two complete sentences... but was wondering what is the subject in the right answer option..

(A) Whereas in mammals the tiny tubes that convey
nutrients to bone cells are arrayed in parallel
lines, in birds the tubes

Since the sentences where starting with a preposition, I overlooked this answer option and went on to choose B. After referring back to the answer options, I tried to understand how Answer option is A -- basically tried to find the subject of the clauses.

I ended up concluding the following.

"The tiny tubes" and the "the tubes" in the two sentences are the subjects of the two sentences respectively. In other words we could have written the statement as below..

Whereas the tiny tubes in mammals that convey
nutrients to bone cells are arrayed in parallel
lines, the tubes in birds

Can someone please correct me here.

[RonPurewal]

you've identified the subjects correctly.

the sentence can't be rearranged like that, though. "in mammals" and "in birds" describe the entire sentences that follow them, not just "tubes".

[VijayR318]

Got it thanks Ron.

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

[gbyhats]

Hi dear Manhattan instructors

When I see posts of my fellows talks about "in whom", they remind me of a question that confused me for a while:

What is (are) the difference(s) between "in which" and "when"?

The 13th edition OG sometimes distinguishes their difference, but sometimes it doesn't (question #35 vs. #72)

[RonPurewal]

2 completely different issues.

• to judge "NOUN in which...", just ask yourself, Can I write "in this/that NOUN?"
e.g.,
– i can put jewelry in a box. so, the box in which i put jewelry is ok.
– i can pay taxes in a certain year. so, the year in which i paid the taxes is ok.
– on the other hand, you don't do things in a date; you do them on a date, or at a date. so, you can't say "the date in which i finished the course". (you could use "on which" or "at which".)

• "when" is explained here:
usage-of-when-t30413.html#p104604

these are completely different, and largely independent, issues.
it's possible for both constructions to work, or for just one of them to work, or for neither of them to work.

[RonPurewal]

MOST IMPORTANTLY--
YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW THESE THINGS FOR THE EXAM.
THEY ARE MINOR TOPICS.

therefore, you should read the explanations below ONLY IF YOU ARE 100.000000% SURE that they will NOT pull your focus away from MAJOR sc topics!

if you let minor subtleties distract you from MAJOR topics, you will get WORSE at SC.[/b][/color]

i wrote about this here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p113615

[RonPurewal]

REMINDER: THESE ARE NOT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR THIS EXAM-- SEE THE POST ABOVE

in #35, we have "at a time". (this construction appears in all five choices, so it's a given.)
"at a time" implies that we're talking about a point on a timeline-- NOT a time period-- so we can't use "in which".

in #72 both options are fine.
it should be clear why "when" is ok.
"in which" is also ok, because it's acceptable to say that something happened in a certain age/era/geological period.

ANOTHER REMINDER: THESE ARE NOT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR THIS EXAM-- SEE THE POST ABOVE