GMAT Prep SC

[poojaswamy]

Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

A. Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

B. By the study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time honored experimental subject, it was possible for the secrets of how embryos develo0p to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

C. By studying a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, the fruit fly enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

D. By studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, the secrets of how embryos develop are beginning to be unraveled by scientists.

E. The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

OA - E
My question is, The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject - Here the subject is The study. Is a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject referring to the fruitfly? Is it an appositive? I am a little confused, if a household nuisance refers to the fruit fly or is incorrectly referring to the "study"?

Please advise, what a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject stands for?

[seraphicgirl]

Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

A. Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

B. By the study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time honored experimental subject, it was possible for the secrets of how embryos develo0p to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

C. By studying a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, the fruit fly enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

D. By studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, the secrets of how embryos develop are beginning to be unraveled by scientists.

E. The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

OA - E
My question is, The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject - Here the subject is The study. Is a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject referring to the fruitfly? Is it an appositive? I am a little confused, if a household nuisance refers to the fruit fly or is incorrectly referring to the "study"?

Please advise, what a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject stands for?

what is the subject of the study? it is the fruit fly.
now, what does the author feel about the fruit fly?
a. that it is a household nuisance
b. that it is also a time honored experimental subject

therefore, 'a household nuisance' and ' a time-honored experimental subject' refer to the fruit fly.

Also, it could not be answer choice A, because then studying would become a household nuisance, which is not the intent;
it could not have been B, because it was not possible for the secrets but for the scientists;
not c, because it was the study which enabled and not the fruit fly,
not d, because the action should be as close(as possible) to the person who performs such action .

[messi10]

Hi,

I think seraphicgirl has answered the question correctly, however I agree with Pooja that in answer choice E, "study" is the subject and not fruit fly. That is because the "fruit fly" is in the of-prepositional phrase and that makes it an unlikely candidate for the subject.

"a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject" is a modifier modifying the noun fruit fly. Again, you may be right in that it is an appositive or two appositives joined by a "but".

So to answer this question, you are actually eliminating the modifier:

....fruit fly -modifier removed- has enabled...
.
I agree with seraphicgirl on all the reasons she has given for the incorrect answer choices, with a slight clarification of choice A. I think choice A is wrong because "Studying the fruit fly" seems to be acting as a modifier modifying "a household nuisance".

Thanks

[jnelson0612]

Varun, excellent! I agree with everything you have said. The subject is indeed "the study" since "of the fruit fly" is a prepositional phrase.

[gtonggtong]

Hi,

I think seraphicgirl has answered the question correctly, however I agree with Pooja that in answer choice E, "study" is the subject and not fruit fly. That is because the "fruit fly" is in the of-prepositional phrase and that makes it an unlikely candidate for the subject.

"a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject" is a modifier modifying the noun fruit fly. Again, you may be right in that it is an appositive or two appositives joined by a "but".

So to answer this question, you are actually eliminating the modifier:

....fruit fly -modifier removed- has enabled...
.
I agree with seraphicgirl on all the reasons she has given for the incorrect answer choices, with a slight clarification of choice A. I think choice A is wrong because "Studying the fruit fly" seems to be acting as a modifier modifying "a household nuisance".

Thanks

However, I think Studying the fruit fly" does not seems to be acting as a modifier modifying "a household nuisance".

*I think the problem in choice (A) is that "Studying the fruit fly~has enabled the secrets~" is illogical since secrets do not possess any ability.

*Moreover, the passive structure is inferior to choice (E)(active).

Please correct me!

Thanks!

[tim]

You should generally avoid making decisions based on active versus passive voice, but your observations on this one all seem to be correct. As such, I'm afraid I cannot help you with your request to correct you, because there's nothing to correct! :)

As for the "studying" issue at the beginning of choice A, the main problem of course is that some people will look at it as a modifier and others as a subject, and this is one reason why we want to avoid that construction..

[ericyuan0811]

hi experts

in (B) "it was possible for the secrets to begin" is illogical since secrets can not do an action(to begin)

am i right? thanks in advance

[RonPurewal]

hi experts

in (B) "it was possible for the secrets to begin" is illogical since secrets can not do an action(to begin)

am i right? thanks in advance

That's a valid criticism.

[Suapplle]

Hi,instructors,
In choice A,
Studying the fruit fly,modifier,has enabled the .....
What is wrong with this construction?I can not find anything wrong in the grammar,I choice E just because active is preferred.please shed light on,thanks!

[RonPurewal]

It's not true that "active is preferred".

It's true that most sentences use the active, but, when the difference is actually tested, it's pretty much 50/50.
We actually counted: There are 34 splits between active and passive in OG13. Of those, 17 go in favor of the active, and the other 17 in favor of the passive. So much for the "preference"!

--

"Enable" is like "ability", so the issue with choice A is explained here:
post94106.html

[JerryS390]

hi experts

in (B) "it was possible for the secrets to begin" is illogical since secrets can not do an action(to begin)

am i right? thanks in advance

That's a valid criticism.

Hi, Ron

As you say, if all of the "to begin" were removed from the original sentence and the chooses, the (A) would be correct, right?

Thanks in advance!

[RonPurewal]

Still no, because "enabled" should still be used to describe an actual ability. I.e., if you wouldn't say that someone/something is able to do something, then you can't use "enabled" to express that idea, either.

That still leaves room for many possibilities. Obviously, people and animals are "able" to do lots and lots of things, but, occasionally, inanimate objects can be, too. (E.g., Of the halogenic acids, only hydrofluoric acid is able to dissolve glass.)

[RonPurewal]

In fact, we can generalize:

"Able to be ___ed" will essentially never make sense.

The two ideas are mutually exclusive. "Able to" should describe an active ability of the subject"”"”but "to be __ed" describes an action done TO the subject by someone/something else. Those don't mix.

E.g., it makes no sense to say Peter will be able to be influenced by almost anyone.
Instead, you'd say Almost anyone will be able to influence Peter"”"”because the actual ability here belongs to the other people, not to Peter.

[JerryS390]

Thanks you so much! Ron. You make me so clear about it.

Considering with your previous thread, now I totally understand that it is not because "active is preferred", but because using passive here is not reasonable!

[tim]

Glad to hear Ron's explanation helped!