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50.000 to 100.000 of the different genes


jonnysunn

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As a result of the ground-breaking work of Barbara McClintock, many scientists now believe that all of the information encoded in 50.000 to 100.000 of the different genes found in a human cell are contained in merely three percent of the cell's DNA.

  1. 50,000 to 100,000 of the different genes found in a human cell are contained in merely
  2. 50,000 to 100,000 of the human cell's different genes are contained in a mere
  3. the 50,000 to 100,000 different genes found in human cells are contained in merely
  4. 50,000 to 100,000 of human cells' different genes is contained in merely
  5. the 50,000 to 100,000 different genes found in a human cell is contained in a mere

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Absolutely E

 

"the information" is singular "is" should be used.

1,2,3 are out

 

4- "human cells' different genes" - awkward construction

 

IMO 5

 

MarsAlien, where did u read, apostrophe is used for non-living things. Apostrophe is used to create possesive form, plural or contraction. For example :

 

My shirt's button is broken. - possesive form and shirt is non-living :)

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well,

the correct ans is 4, i think; i thibnk that in 5 there is a change of meaning:

"50,000 to 100,000 of..." does not mean the same that "the 50,000 to 100,000 different". What do you think?

 

On the other hand I agree that possesives x´s should be used for living things but a plant does not talk and it is alive for sure...Anyone could plz explain if thre is a GMAT rule for that?? :hmm: :hmm:

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As a result of the ground-breaking work of Barbara McClintock, many scientists now believe that all of the information encoded in 50.000 to 100.000 of the different genes found in a human cell are contained in merely three percent of the cell's DNA.

  1. 50,000 to 100,000 of the different genes found in a human cell are contained in merely
  2. 50,000 to 100,000 of the human cell's different genes are contained in a mere
  3. the 50,000 to 100,000 different genes found in human cells are contained in merely
  4. 50,000 to 100,000 of human cells' different genes is contained in merely
  5. the 50,000 to 100,000 different genes found in a human cell is contained in a mere

1, 2, and 4 have the range of numbers 50k to 100k as the subject. 5 says "genes...is" and therefore wrong. C is correct.

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Sandeep, to your question about usage of apostrophe s.

 

In case of non-living things, usage of "of" is preferred over the usage of apostrophe "s" -- "The button of my shirt is broken." instead of "my shirt's button is broken"

 

Two more examples,

"It's written clearly at the page's top." is INCORRECT.

"It's written clearly at the top of the page." is CORRECT

 

"I really like the colour of the eyes of Caroline." is INCORRECT

"I really like the colour of Caroline's eyes." is CORRECT

 

At least this is what I have been taught.

 

After you asked this question, I searched on the internet and found these pages which mentioned about this rule:

http://www.llrx.com/columns/grammar8.htm

http://forum.wordreference.com/archive/index.php/t-10237.html

 

Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule too.

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IMO D

 

information (Singular) ......

A. ....are (plural- SV agreement)

B. .....are (plural - SV agreement)

C. ....are (plural - SV agreement)

D. .....is

E.......is...in a mere (dont know why is it wrong but doesn't sound right). I think it has something to do with mere not being an adjective

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Sucks being wrong twice on one question. Good thing you can only get dinged once for changing from a wrong ans to another wrong ans. Clearly the reason here is that merely is correctly modifying three, whereas a mere is not considered to be modifying three but rather percent. So D conveys the intended meaning of the sentence and E does not. Never thought of it that way but guess that must be it. Easy to fall into it since we mostly think of 3% as being one whole as opposed to two parts with 3 modifying %. Whoever wrote this could've cleared this up by using only or just instead. Wonder why he/she didn't? Keep on trucking GMATers.
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The best response is E.

 

D is wrong, but not really because of the possessive construction used with an inanimate object. Here are a few very common examples of such a construction:

 

New Year's Day

a month's salary

the water's edge

today's newspaper

 

In this particular SC the possessive form is awkward, but that alone is not enough to eliminate D. The clincher is that D distorts the intended meaning by changing the singular "cell" into the plural "cells." The sentence speaks of the 50,000 to 100,000 genes in one cell. To be accurate D would have to read: "50,000 to 100,000 of a human cell's different genes is contained in merely..."

 

D is problematic. Nothing wrong with E. So the best response is E.

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