In some species of Cricket, the number of chirps per minute

[ivonnecy]

We do need to use "which" to refer to "number" but choice B creates an ambiguity. Although we should not use the AMBIGUITY RULE, choice D totally avoids this issue and is more parallel so we should prefer choice D.

No, choice B does not "create an ambiguity".
"Which" in choice B is unequivocally, unambiguously, totally 100% wrong.

In all of its materials published thus far, GMAC has used "which" only to modify 2 kinds of things:
* Nouns
* Noun + preposition + noun
Nothing else.

So, in choice B, "which" refers to "temperature". Nonsense.

Also, when it comes to "which", I always get confused whether it is an AMBIGUITY issue. Is there any helpful thread or resources I can learn from?

No issue of ambiguity. If "which" refers to one of the two types of constructions above (and makes sense in context), then it's fine. If not, it's wrong.

All the discussions are based on clear intended meaning, got it.
thanks, ron.

[RonPurewal]

Sure.

[aditya8062]

hi Ron
i can understand as why E is wrong but somehow i am not able to appreciate the presence of "and" in option D

D says: to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and it can in fact serve.

i have learned in your videos that "AND" connects two independent ideas which are equal in priority and unless there is a transition word these two ideas are independent of each other .also if are putting two things in parallel with "and" then we should be able to talk about those two things as A and B OR as 1 AND 2 .
however in option D the construction after "AND" is very much an extension of the idea of previous clause and hence nothing of the sort (as described above in blue) is happening in option D

is it that D is right because we are using a transition word "and it can in fact" ,thereby making this relationship(the dependency of two clauses) clear ?

in other words will the following modified D be incorrect?

modified D : . to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and it can serve



question 2 : also please tell me if the modified E would be correct ?

modified E : to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, possibly serving

Best

[RonPurewal]

In response to your first question"”"”Yes, the presence of transition words can allow "and" to connect related ideas.

E.g.,

There was a mess of traffic on the freeway, and I was late to work.
"”"”> Plain "and"; NO necessary relationship.
The meaning conveyed by this sentence (in writing) is "Here are 2 bad things that happened today."

There was a mess of traffic on the freeway, and so I was late to work.
"”"”> Cause/effect.

"In fact" plays a similar role here.

[RonPurewal]

question 2 : also please tell me if the modified E would be correct ?

modified E : to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, possibly serving

Still not really.
"Can ____" and "possibly ____ing" are not the same.
"Can ____" is a statement about potential capabilities, while "possibly ____ing" is a statement about what someone/something might be doing right now (or in whatever other timeframe in the sentence).

E.g.,
A man on the island is waving his arms at a passing cruise ship, possibly indicating that he needs to be rescued.
"”> Note two things:
- This is a direct explanation of the man's behavior.
"- But, we're not sure whether it's actually the correct explanation. (He could just be waving "Hi!" at people on the ship.)

This is definitely not the same thing as saying that the man can indicate that he needs to be rescued!

So, this sentence doesn't work with "possibly serving", because there is not an issue of "What is the number of chirps doing right now?"
This time, we're talking about what the number of chirps CAN (potentially) do.

[thanghnvn]

In some species of Cricket, the number of chirps per minute used by the male for attracting females rise and fall in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and they can infact serve as an approximate thermometer

1. Same
2. for attracting females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, which can infact serve
3. in attracting females rise and fall in accordance with the surrounding temperature, infact possibly serving
4. to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, and it can infact serve
5. to attract females rises and falls in accordance with the surrounding temperature, infact possibly serving

The ans is between D and E.
Please explain why.. [/url]

oa is c from some source, and e from other source.

when gmat makes us choose between "and do" and " comma+doing", the problem is hard.

comma+doing shows an aspect of preceding action. This standard is on gmat. other standards on gmat books are not accepted.

from this standard, I think E is correct, not D.

do you agree with me?

[harika.apu]

"It" is used as a subject pronoun, and so it most logically connects to the subject of the previous clause. This is "clear enough." In general, don't go nuts with your pronoun-clarity rules; if something really seems perfectly clear to you, let it be. (Huge caveat here: you need to develop a sense of when things are really clear, and reviewing problems that you get incorrect will help you to build that up over time.)

Hi Jonathon ,
i have a doubt in D
when we have same subject [ number ] for the verb in second part "can" , is there a necessity to include "it" ?
Could you please clarify my understanding?

[harika.apu]

"It" is used as a subject pronoun, and so it most logically connects to the subject of the previous clause. This is "clear enough." In general, don't go nuts with your pronoun-clarity rules; if something really seems perfectly clear to you, let it be. (Huge caveat here: you need to develop a sense of when things are really clear, and reviewing problems that you get incorrect will help you to build that up over time.)

Hi Jonathon ,
when we have same subject [number ] for the verb in the second part "can serve" , is there a necessity to include "it" ?
Please clarify my understanding.

[tim]

oa is c from some source, and e from other source.

when gmat makes us choose between "and do" and " comma+doing", the problem is hard.

comma+doing shows an aspect of preceding action. This standard is on gmat. other standards on gmat books are not accepted.

from this standard, I think E is correct, not D.

do you agree with me?

No. Please stop confusing our readers or you will be banned from the forums. It has been made clear multiple times by our instructors that the answer is D. If you have legitimate sources that claim answers of C *or* E, post them. Otherwise, an apology and retraction is in order, and as I said, you need to stop adding confusion to our forums.

[tim]

when we have same subject [number ] for the verb in the second part "can serve" , is there a necessity to include "it" ?
Please clarify my understanding.

In general, it is not necessary. However, in this case, we have a ",and" situation, which calls for an independent clause after the ",and". As such, we do need a subject in the final clause.

[Crisc419]

the subject is number of chirps, is that the reson why "IT" refers to the number of chirps and not surrounding temperature.

i believe this is accurate, yes.

I am asking this because i have seen lots of questions where Gmat places a trap for pronoun antecedent and in the minimal time it sometimes gets confusing.

thanks.

remember that PRONOUN AMBIGUITY IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE RULE.

in general, eliminating on pronoun ambiguity is not a reliable thing to do, unless the ambiguous pronoun is specifically contrasted against a SPECIFIC NOUN in other choices. for instance, if you saw a split between "it" and "that number", then you could safely choose the latter. however, you should not generally eliminate choices just because they have ambiguous pronouns.
we have seen way too many correct answers with ambiguous pronouns to advise this sort of elimination anymore.

I thought if in D,"it" can refer to "the number of chirps per minute", then i think it's right to say "it (the number of chirps per minute) can in fact serve as an appropriate thermometer"; but if "it" just refer to "the number ", in my opinion, it will be wrong to say "it (the number) can in fact serve as an appropriate thermometer".

My question is the pronoun should only refer to the NOUN, or should refer to the NOUN with the NOUN's modifiers?

Thanks.

Cris

[Crisc419]

HI i am still not convinced with D as i have read somewhere that "IT" can't refer back to a phrase. Isnt ' The number of chirps' a phrase.

if you want to get technical, it just refers to "the number" -- a noun. that noun is, in turn, modified by the prepositional phrase ("of chirps").

if you look at what you're saying, it seems that you're saying that you can't use a pronoun to refer to any noun that has any modifiers attached to it. if that were the case, then you'd almost never be able to use any pronouns, ever! (it's rare for nouns in these sentences to stand completely alone, without any sort of modifiers attached to them.)

if a noun is decorated with one or more modifiers, that noun is still a perfectly good antecedent for a pronoun.

Sorry, Ron, actually, i have the same concern.

I thought if in D,"it" can refer to "the number of chirps per minute", then i think it's right to say "it (the number of chirps per minute) can in fact serve as an appropriate thermometer"; but if "it" just refer to "the number ", in my opinion, it will be wrong to say "it (the number) can in fact serve as an appropriate thermometer".

My question is the pronoun should only refer to the NOUN, or should refer to the NOUN with the NOUN's modifiers?

Looking forward to your reply.

Cris

[Crisc419]

most of the discussion about choice E is the misusage of "in fact and possibly".

are there other errors in choice E ? is there something wrong to use " comma+ v-ing" here?

thanks.

Cris.

[RonPurewal]

nah, comma + __ing is fine there ("serving as xxxx" modifies what's happening in the preceding whole sentence).

[JeJ99]

Hi,


Very sorry to open this thread after so long. Here is why I choose D over E

'D' Has two independent clauses joined by 'and, and pronoun 'it' refers to noun number of thermometers, which is all fine and clear.
'E' has (in fact possibly) serving which acts as an -ing modifier preceded by comma which modifies the entire clause and refers to the subject. However, here "The number of chirps....................with the surrounding temperature' is enclosed within two commas which makes it a parenthetical information and serving illogically refers to "species of cricket".

Can anyone confirm/explain if my reasoning for ruling out 'E' correct?

Thanks in advance.