Hydrocarbons, with which fruit flies perfume themselves

[divineacclivity]

Nah. Relatively few people take the time to post such pleasantries; it's always nice when they do.

:)

[RonPurewal]

.

[TooLong150]

Hi Experts,

I thought that prepositions can only take nouns or noun phrases as their objects. Given that this is the case, can you explain how "distinguishing...species" in E, the OA, is a noun phrase? I eliminated that choice, because I considered it a participial phrase (Verb ING phrase). As always, I am not questioning the OA, but I am desiring to know the gap in my thinking. Thank you!

[RonPurewal]

that __ing is a noun.

analogy:
you will find these techniques useful in mathematics.
you will find these techniques useful in solving math problems.
^^ should be clear that "solving..." plays the same role as does "mathematics".

[750plus]

Team,

Can you please explain what is wrong with choice C. I have read all the posts and nothing in regard with option C is discussed.

(C) Hydrocarbons, with which fruit flies perfume themselves in species-specific blends, are known to be important in courtship,which apparently assists flies that taste the hydrocarbons on prospective mates in being able to distinguish their own species fromothers

If I remove the fluff (i.e. modifier) the sentence becomes

Hydrocarbons are known to be important in courtship,which apparently assists flies that taste the hydrocarbons on prospective mates in being able to distinguish their own species fromothers

Here, 'which' incorrectly refers to courtship and therefore it is incorrect.

I'd like to know the problem with the usage of 'in being able to distinguish ..... ' (if any)

Warm Regards
Rajat Gugnani

[RonPurewal]

'assist' (= 'help') is already there,
so, 'being able' is redundant (or just nonsense, if you think about it more carefully/literally).

i.e., you don't "help someone be able to" do something... you just help them (to) do something.

(not only is the first one redundant, but it actually carries the wrong meaning.
what are you helping someone with? ...with actually DOING something! not with having an ability.)

[YANFEIG811]

I have read through the thread, since none of those posts answered my question, I just post it here. Can someone help answer my question?

I immediately crossed out CDE because i thought the underlined part is a complete sentence, so it need to have a conjunction at the beginning. What is wrong with my understanding?

Thanks a lot!

[RonPurewal]

"which assists..." and "assisting..." are modifiers, not complete sentences.

[RonPurewal]

moreover—connecting these ideas with "and" is WRONG.
when you connect two sentences with "and", you are implying that the two ideas are separate and do not modify/describe each other.
that's the whole point of "and" between sentences... to say "These are 2 DIFFERENT observations."

here, it's quite clear that the second observation ("assisting...") is meant to describe or elaborate on the first part. so...
... it's nonsense to use "and"
... you NEED a modifier.

[YANFEIG811]

moreover—connecting these ideas with "and" is WRONG.
when you connect two sentences with "and", you are implying that the two ideas are separate and do not modify/describe each other.
that's the whole point of "and" between sentences... to say "These are 2 DIFFERENT observations."

here, it's quite clear that the second observation ("assisting...") is meant to describe or elaborate on the first part. so...
... it's nonsense to use "and"
... you NEED a modifier.

I think I got it. This is really helpful, Ron.

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

[arpit.garg]

assist flies in distinguishing their own species from those of the others.
Doesn't it mean distinguishing their own species from the species of other flies.

Wherever I read about this problem, explanation goes "others" stand for other species. And in "those of others" means "species of species" which is wrong.

But am I wrong when I say "those of others" means "species of other flies". In this question there were other issues which helped reach "E". But I am not able to comprehend that "others" v/s "those of others".

Problem is that few courses have made questions just on the basis of this split. And they consider "those of others" wrong.

For example, Distinguish their own shoes from those of others. It means to distinguish their own shoes from shoes of other people. This sentence seems correct to me.

I have read this post and lot other posts but none seem to get to my brain.

[RonPurewal]

you need to think of "other species" the same way you'd think of "other animals" or "other creatures" or "other insects".

if you make one of those substitutions, it should be obvious why "those of..." doesn't work here.

[arpit.garg]

Thanks Ron. I think I get it now.
It's about a subtle difference between something you possess and something "you are" (part of).

Here a fly would smell say fly A and fly B and would determine if A is my species(type)/B is my species (type).
I don't possess species (unlike shoes/emotions) . I belong to my species.

distinguishing their own shoes from the shoes of others.
distinguishing their own kind/species from other kinds/species.

[RonPurewal]

yes.