The parachutelike membranes of Africa’s scaly-tailed flying

[rschunti]

The parachutelike membranes of Africa’s scaly-tailed flying squirrels differ from those of the flying squirrels in the family Sciuridae because they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of the wrist.
A. because they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of
B. because of being attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at
C. in their attachment to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of being attached at
D. in that they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at
E. in their being attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of

This is GMATPREP question. Pls can you help me identify the right answer and also what are the errors in the wrong answer choices?

[Saurabh Malpani]

The parachutelike membranes of Africa’s scaly-tailed flying squirrels differ from those of the flying squirrels in the family Sciuridae because they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of the wrist.
A. because they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of
B. because of being attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at
C. in their attachment to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of being attached at
D. in that they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at
E. in their being attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of

This is GMATPREP question. Pls can you help me identify the right answer and also what are the errors in the wrong answer choices?

It's D.

Saurabh Malpani

[Guest]

The parachutelike membranes of Africa’s scaly-tailed flying squirrels differ from those of the flying squirrels in the family Sciuridae because they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of the wrist.
A. because they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of
B. because of being attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at
C. in their attachment to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of being attached at
D. in that they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at
E. in their being attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow instead of

This is GMATPREP question. Pls can you help me identify the right answer and also what are the errors in the wrong answer choices?

It's D.

Saurabh Malpani

Mr Chunti.why don't you clearly post the Official Answer with your questions..... whats the OA for this question ?

[rschunti]

Hi Ron, I am not sure how to split the two questions in to two thread. Pls can you help me do that. Also following are the
OA for first one is -->"E"
OA for second one -->"D"

On the second question I am not sure how I could have narrowed down the answer to option D as it say's "in that they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at" why this is best and what "they" is referring to and what criteria one should use to narrow down in scenarios where there is confusion in identifying clear antecedent of a pronouns like in this question?

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron, I am not sure how to split the two questions in to two thread. Pls can you help me do that. Also following are the
OA for first one is -->"E"
OA for second one -->"D"

On the second question I am not sure how I could have narrowed down the answer to option D as it say's "in that they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at" why this is best and what "they" is referring to and what criteria one should use to narrow down in scenarios where there is confusion in identifying clear antecedent of a pronouns like in this question?

well, you have a point. remember that you are looking for totally unambiguous pronouns whenever possible - but, in some cases, there aren't any correct answers with totally unambiguous pronouns. this happens to be one of those cases.

the correct idiomatic expression with 'differ' is 'differ in...', so a-b are out. (if you said 'differ because', you'd have to give the reason behind the genesis of the difference, not the nature of the difference itself.) that leaves c-d-e, which all contain the supposedly ambiguous pronoun - so you're stuck with it.

:(

[Guest]

Hi Ron, I am not sure how to split the two questions in to two thread. Pls can you help me do that. Also following are the
OA for first one is -->"E"
OA for second one -->"D"

On the second question I am not sure how I could have narrowed down the answer to option D as it say's "in that they are attached to a cartilage rod at the elbow rather than at" why this is best and what "they" is referring to and what criteria one should use to narrow down in scenarios where there is confusion in identifying clear antecedent of a pronouns like in this question?

well, you have a point. remember that you are looking for totally unambiguous pronouns whenever possible - but, in some cases, there aren't any correct answers with totally unambiguous pronouns. this happens to be one of those cases.

the correct idiomatic expression with 'differ' is 'differ in...', so a-b are out. (if you said 'differ because', you'd have to give the reason behind the genesis of the difference, not the nature of the difference itself.) that leaves c-d-e, which all contain the supposedly ambiguous pronoun - so you're stuck with it.

:(

Hello Ron,

I do not see "differ" in choice A and B for this problem. Are you still talking about "the Parachutelike..." problem?? For the parachutelike problem,
I am down to choices B and D. I eliminated B because it had "being" which is considered wordy in GMAT. Is this correct reasoning for eliminating B???

Thanks,

[RonPurewal]

Hello Ron,

I do not see "differ" in choice A and B for this problem.

it's in the non-underlined part, about 1/2 line from the beginning of the sentence. the first word of the underlined part - the split between "because" and "in..." - is attached to "differ", although there's an intervening prepositional phrase (the one beginning with 'from').

i'm a bit worried by this response, because it seems to indicate that you don't read the NON-underlined part of the sentence. if you don't, then you need to start doing so; the non-underlined part, which is unalterable, is the ultimate arbiter of the grammar in the underlined part.

[dps]

I'm not sure what's wrong with answer B
here debate is between "differ in" idiom and "they" as an ambiguous pronoun

B doesn't have any ambigous pronoun. So is there anything else wrong with it? I know about "being" in B but it doesn't seem to be that big a problem, at least to me

[RonPurewal]

I'm not sure what's wrong with answer B
here debate is between "differ in" idiom and "they" as an ambiguous pronoun

B doesn't have any ambigous pronoun. So is there anything else wrong with it? I know about "being" in B but it doesn't seem to be that big a problem, at least to me

"being" is a big problem. if you don't realize it's a big problem, you should recalibrate your idea of what's a big problem and what's not.
remember, the gmat is the only authority on these things, and the gmat really, really, really doesn't like "being" when you're discussing the identity or properties of things.

--

however, there's an even bigger problem: "because" is wrong.
in formal writing, "because" signifies an actual cause-effect relationship. if the latter thing didn't actually cause the former thing, then you can't use the word "because".

examples:

my brother and i are different in that he takes life much more seriously than i do.
according to this sentence, the way in which my brother and i are different is that he's a more serious guy than i am.
no cause and effect here.

my brother and i are different because he takes life much more seriously than i do.
according to this sentence, his more serious character, and my less serious one, have caused differences in us. in other words, the pre-existing difference in our character has actually led to further differences between us.
cause and effect relationship.

in this sentence, you're clearly trying to say that the cartilage rod attachment IS the difference, not that it causes the difference. therefore, "because" is incorrect.

--

[gnc88]

GMAT seems to be contradicting its own explanation.

If the OA is indeed D, i wonder why is it that we can still use IN THAT if it is stated in OG 11. Q.51 - In that is stilted and overly formal. Somemore, GMT mentioned that in that has largely gone out of use!

[RonPurewal]

GMAT seems to be contradicting its own explanation.

If the OA is indeed D, i wonder why is it that we can still use IN THAT if it is stated in OG 11. Q.51 - In that is stilted and overly formal. Somemore, GMT mentioned that in that has largely gone out of use!

nice catch.

that's actually just a terrible explanation. "in that" is actually used incorrectly in that problem.
for more, see here.

a fair # of the OG SC explanations are incomplete or, in rare cases, incorrect.
that's why we're here!

[violetwind]

Hi Ron,

Could you please clarify if choice D is without the last word "at", will it still be a right answer and won't cause ambiguity?

thank you in advance!

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron,

Could you please clarify if choice D is without the last word "at", will it still be a right answer and won't cause ambiguity?

thank you in advance!

no, if you take that word out, the sentence becomes ambiguous.

upon making this modification, "wrist" could be parallel to either "elbow" or "cartilage rod", thus creating two distinct meanings.

[violetwind]

Hi Ron,

Could you please clarify if choice D is without the last word "at", will it still be a right answer and won't cause ambiguity?

thank you in advance!

no, if you take that word out, the sentence becomes ambiguous.

upon making this modification, "wrist" could be parallel to either "elbow" or "cartilage rod", thus creating two distinct meanings.

:p get it! sorry for this silly question....

[RonPurewal]

don't worry about whether the questions are silly -- just worry about whether you are learning things.