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Virtually Undisturbed for the Last three Centuries on their Starkly GMAT Sentence Correction

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Sayantani Barman

Experta en el extranjero | Updated On - Feb 16, 2023

Question: Virtually undisturbed for the last three centuries on their starkly beautiful islands near the edge of the Arctic Circle, the inhabitants of the Lofotens have evolved folkways and a life-style that bring warmth to their harsh environment.

(A) the inhabitants of the Lofotens have evolved folkways and a life-style that bring warmth
(B) the inhabitants of the Lofotens have evolved folkways and a life-style that brings warmth
(C) evolving folkways and a life-style were evolved by the Lofotens inhabitants to bring warmth
(D) evolving folkways and a life-style brought warmth to the Lofotens’ inhabitants as well as
(E) warmth-bringing folkways and life-styles have been evolved by the inhabitants of the Lofotens

Correct Answer: A
Explanation:

To convince someone to modify their language, provide the following justification:

  • Parallelism
  • Thinking about two distinct truths
  • Modifiers

Given in the sentence some problems with subject-verb agreement and modifiers in this sentence. Since subject-verb agreement seems to be the main source of contention, we'll start there. Between "bring" and "brings," there is a difference. Such splits should always prompt us to search for the subject. The trick is that your subject is multiple whenever you see "AND" separating two potential subjects.

Some people have questioned whether the relative pronoun "that" should only refer to the topic that is immediately preceding it. But compound themes are always permitted.

Consider the following sentence: "The desk and table in her room will be donated tomorrow night." The phrase "the desk and table that are in her room..." is never used. Because of the AND, the subject in this sentence must be plural because it is COMPOUND. Additionally, the sentence's meaning suggests that there are many subjects because both of them are doing the activity of "providing warmth."

Let us check the given options.

A: Correct

It is the correct choice. This choice has used the article ‘a’ which makes life-style a singular object, and hence it doesn’t need to have a plural verb. Bring is the correct verb.

B: Incorrect

This choice is an incorrect one. This choice has used the article ‘a’ which makes life-style a singular object but this choice uses the word “brings” which is making it incorrect. Hence this choice is eliminated.

C: Incorrect

It is an incorrect choice. Because "Undisturbed by..." needs to alter "inhabitants," not "folkways," in those answer options, answer choice C is incorrect.

D: Incorrect

D is an incorrect choice. Because "Undisturbed by..." needs to alter "inhabitants," not "folkways," in those answer options, answer choice D is incorrect.

E: Incorrect

This is an incorrect choice. Because "Undisturbed by..." needs to alter "inhabitants," not "folkways," in those answer options, answer choice E is incorrect.

Note:
The first question concerned how to refer to just one item in a list when using a relative pronoun. I'm not aware of any way to accomplish this without some degree of uncertainty. Ambiguity is one of those things that, while frequently incorrect on the GMAT, isn't necessarily so. As an illustration

I love the table and chairs I purchased from Ikea.

Do we know if I purchased the table and chairs from Ikea or only the chairs? No. Uncertain, but probably acceptable.

My ex-wife will receive the house and the birds—which are incapable of flight—as part of the divorce settlement.

Although the which in this instance plainly refers to birds, we understand it through logical context rather than syntax. So while it would still be confusing, it would probably be OK (ideally there would be a better response alternative). In any case, because the word AND always results in a compound subject, the verb "will" in this example, just as the word "are" in the preceding example, must be the verb that goes with the compound subject (table and chairs OR house and birds).

#2: With regard to the other query, this calls for the employment of ARTICLES. Words with articles include "a," "the," and "an." We occasionally lose sight of the norms for things since they are so deeply ingrained in our minds. In general, you must use articles in the singular situations of:

My head is hurting. NOT My head is hurting.

I DO NOT HAVE A HOME; I HAVE THE HOME.

However, the article typically modifies the meaning of plural nouns.

In general, I own dogs OR I own the dogs. (specific)

This illustration uses a singular term (life-style). An article must come before this.

I live a certain way. NOT I have a way of life.

As a result, answer option A is inadmissible. The number of the word itself is NOT defined by the articles, though. The singular form of "life-style" is not determined by the presence of an "a" before the word. In this scenario, you just need to place an "a" in front of a singular noun.

“Virtually undisturbed for the last three centuries on their starkly be” is a GMAT sentence correction question. The text that is underlined in these questions has grammatical mistakes, and we must select the right response from the list of possibilities. The GMAT verbal section includes GMAT sentence correction.

Suggested GMAT Sentence Correction Samples

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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