Question: Ranging from 1,500 to 2,300 kilograms, the body mass of the white rhinoceros is typically greater than the African hippopotamus.

(A) the African hippopotamus
(B) those of African hippopotamuses
(C) that of African hippopotamuses’
(D) that of the African hippopotamus
(E) the African hippopotamuses

“Ranging from 1,500 to 2,300 kilograms, the body mass of the white rhino” - is a GMAT sentence correction question. These GMAT sentence correction questions consist of grammatical errors in the underlined part of the sentence. The candidates must select the correct answer by verifying each of the options with the required logic. GMAT sentence correction section is designed to test the aptitudes of the candidates in analyzing the sentence and determining grammatical mistakes. The readers must observe the sentence precisely in order to answer this question. GMAT sentence correction is a part of GMAT verbal.

Answer: D
Explanation: The adjustment required for the given phrase can be justified with the applications of the guidelines provided below:

• Relative Pronoun
• Plural Pronoun
• Noun
• Parallelism

The following is the structure of the sentence:

The body mass of the white rhinoceros is typically greater than that of the African hippopotamus. It varies from 1,500 to 2,300 kilograms.

Option A: Incorrect
The statement suggests “Ranging from …, the body mass of the white rhinoceros is typically greater than the African hippopotamus.” Here, the body mass of the white rhinoceros is compared incorrectly with the body mass of the African hippopotamus. Therefore, the option is incorrect and hence it gets eliminated.

Option B: Incorrect
The statement states “Ranging from…, the body mass of the white rhinoceros is typically greater than those of African hippopotamuses.” The plural pronoun “those” does not hold an antecedent. Moreover, this plural pronoun indicating a singular noun “the body mass” is incorrect. Furthermore, the plural noun “hippopotamuses” is not consistent with the singular noun “rhinoceros”, thus leading to a wrong comparison. Therefore, the option is incorrect and hence gets out of scope.

Option C: Incorrect
The statement suggests “Ranging…, the body mass of the white rhinoceros is typically greater than that of African hippopotamuses’.” The relative pronoun “that” is used correctly in the sentence and it leads to a logical comparison between “the body mass” of the two animals. However, the statement possesses a wrong usage of double possessive construction “of hippopotamuses”. The plural noun “hippopotamuses” cannot be compared with the singular noun “rhinoceros”. Thus the sentence is not structurally parallel in this comparison. Therefore, the option is incorrect and hence gets out of scope.

Option D: Correct
The statement cites “Ranging…., the body mass of the white rhinoceros is typically greater than that of the African hippopotamus.” This statement is correct since it draws a correct comparison between “the body mass of the white rhinoceros” and “that of the African hippopotamus.” Moreover, the pronoun “that” precisely directs to its antecedent “the body mass”. Furthermore, the sentence maintains perfect parallelism between the singular noun “white rhinoceros” and the singular noun “African hippopotamus”.

Option E: Incorrect
The statement states “Ranging…, the body mass of the white rhinoceros is typically greater than the African hippopotamuses.” The phrase “the body mass of the white rhinoceros” is incorrectly compared with “the African hippopotamuses”. The singular noun “rhinoceros” cannot be compared with the plural noun “hippopotamuses”. Thus, it is distorting the parallelism of the statement. Hence, the option is incorrect and thereby gets eliminated.

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