Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of ne

[mcmebk]

Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that either cells secreted hormones, which made them endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

(A) either cells secreted hormones, which made them

(B) either cells secreted hormones, making them

(C) either cells secreted hormones and were

(D) cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were

(E) cells either secreted hormones, which made them

D or E？thoughts？ THX^-^

Hi Ron/Stacy

In the correct answer D, "cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were", what is the antecedent for "WHICH", I don't know what noun "which" is modifying.

Thanks.

[tim]

It modifies "case".

[mcmebk]

It modifies "case".

Thank you Tim.

I thought there are two usage of which:

1. use in a question to represent a matter of choice - Which book book do you prefer?

2. Use in a relative clause - I prefer that book, which my sister likes more too.

In this question - In which case - I don't see how it fits into the two situations. Could you please explain further?

In additional, if it is okay to use "In this case" here instead of "in which case"? and what is the difference?

Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

mcmebk, you should just remember "in which case" as a special animal that doesn't fit neatly into any other category.

personally, i don't have clue #1 how to analyze the grammar of that modifier -- but, luckily, that doesn't matter. (the gmat is not going to ask you for a grammatical analysis!)
what matters is how it's used.
"in which case..." is a modifier that can describe the entire situation in the preceding clause. that's all you have to remember.

[RonPurewal]

"in this case" won't work here, because "this" is not a modifier of things that come before it. if you were going to use that construction, you'd have to start a new sentence with it (= not an option in SC, where everything is always 1 sentence).

e.g.,
xxxxxx happens. In this case, yyyyy will happen.

[gmatkiller_24]

can we eliminate choice E based on bad parallelism

Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, which made them endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

the correct choice is way more parallel and logical.

Please clarify, thanks

[RonPurewal]

not a parallelism issue, since both of those are legitimate modifiers. this is SOLELY an issue of "logical".

i.e., "which made them..." is nonsense, because the hormones don't make those cells into (= turn them from something else into) endocrine cells.

[RonPurewal]

in other words, it's possible to construct a correct sentence with the type of thing you're calling nonparallel.

e.g.,
Any given man either has sperm, which can fertilize a woman's eggs, or lacks them, in which case he has no means of impregnating a woman.

(makes sense to write the sentence this way, since the first modifier is about the sperm, while the second is about the man himself)

[aflaamM589]

Dear instructors,
Hope you guys are doing good

Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

As per my understanding if pronoun such as they appears in a sentence and if there is also another occurrence of they pronoun in the same sentence then both they should refer to same noun.

are both they here refer to cells?

Appreciate help

[RonPurewal]

Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.

hm?

that red part is definitely missing some words... please try again.

[XianqiZ59]

Hi instructors!

Until Berta and Ernst Scharrer established the concept of neurosecretion in 1928, scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, in which case they were endocrine cells and thus part of the endocrine system, or conducted electrical impulses, in which case they were nerve cells and thus part of the nervous system.


Question: Could the "they" here be ambiguous and might mean "hormones"?
Indeed that the object of they is "endocrine CELLS", so we might infer that the subject is some kind of CELLS or just CELLS, but in GMAT how can I determine if the pronoun is ambiguous or not?

[tim]

Pronouns are never ambiguous on the GMAT. Use common sense on this one and it will be clear what the antecedent is. It will ALWAYS be clear. Don't create a problem where there isn't one; the GMAT is good enough at making things difficult without you doing their job for them.

[JbhB682]

Hi Experts - On the either X or Y idiom, both answer choices D and E are good.

But I have read there should be another parallelism, specifically between the modifiers

(option D) Scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, <in which case modifier>, or conducted electrical impulses, <in which case.... modifier>

(option E) Scientists believed that cells either secreted hormones, <which modifier>, or conducted electrical impulses, <in which case .....modifier>

Is this true ?

Can we really eliminate E because of parallelism (or lack of parallelism within the modifiers) ?

I have read this on some other forums but I am surprised this is an elimination strategy

I am aware E is wrong for other reasons but Is this reason an accurate reason in your view to eliminate E ?

If so, please let me know where can i read / learn about parallelism within modifiers (that are embedded within X and Y elements)

Thank you !

[JbhB682]

Never mind - I see that it is NOT an issue when I read Ron's post above

Link : https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p112566

[esledge]

Yep, that parallelism between "in which case" and "in which case" is like icing on a cake--it's still cake (i.e. D is still parallel) without it.