GMAT Sentence Correction - Studying the Fruit Fly, a Household Nuisance but a Time-Honored Experimental Subject

Question - Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

(A) Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

(B) By the study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, it was possible for the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

(C) By studying a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, the fruit fly enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

(D) By studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, the secrets of how embryos develop are beginning to be unraveled by scientists.

(E) The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

“Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject” - is a GMAT sentence correction question. These types of questions contain grammatical errors in the underlined sentence and we have to choose the correct statement from the options. GMAT sentence correction is a part of GMAT verbal. A few things that candidates must know to ace the sentence correction section are Creative problem solving, Good decision making, Critical thinking, Hypervigilance, and Effective communication.

Answer: E

Explanation: The given sentence correction question can be checked by the given-below rules:

• Parallelism
• Comparison of two elements
• Modifiers

Lets evaluate our options 

(A) Studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

This is incorrect
The sentence is Wordy and ambiguous, the sentence "develop to begin to be unravelled" is also ambiguous due to the inverted word order.

(B) By the study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, it was possible for the secrets of how embryos develop to begin to be unraveled by scientists.

This is incorrect
The phrase "by the study of the.." is dangling; the word "was" changes the sense of the sentence because it no longer continues into the present; and the phrase "begin to be unravelled by" is wordy.

(C) By studying a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, the fruit fly enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

This is incorrect
In addition to being generally irrational, fruit flies are unable to study themselves and offer scientists any useful information.

(D) By studying the fruit fly, a household nuisance and also a time-honored experimental subject, the secrets of how embryos develop are beginning to be unraveled by scientists.

This is incorrect
Dangling modifier; "are beginning" denotes progressive action rather than something ongoing or an everlasting condition, which alters the meaning of the statement.

(E) The study of the fruit fly, a household nuisance but a time-honored experimental subject, has enabled scientists to begin to unravel the secrets of how embryos develop.

This is correct 
Instead of an opening modifier, "the study" is the subject, and the verb infinitives "to begin to unravel" are appropriate for expressing intent.

The answer is E.

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