A question of Modifier

[RonPurewal]

I understand that "come" in A is wrong. But I do not understand other errors in A.

Pls, tell and explain the other errors in A. Thank you.

* it's unclear whether "which" refers to the bony house of the brain or just to the brain.

* "which is the cranium" isn't a proper way to write that modifier. if you're giving the name of something, there are a few acceptable ways to do that ... but this isn't one of them.
for instance, these are correct:
South American cowboys wield the bola, a cord with several heavy balls at the end.
South American cowboys wield a cord, known as the bola, with several heavy balls at the end.
... but if you take out "known as the bola" and replace it with "which is the bola", that's not ok.

if pressed for an explanation, i would explain it like this: if you say "X is Y", then it's generally assumed that the reader already understands what "Y" is, in general. for instance,
the whale is a mammal
would make no sense if your readers didn't already know what a mammal is.
this is problematic in choice (a), then, because the sentence is trying (among other things) to explain what the "cranium" is.

[salmant90]

Isn't D a comma splice. Can someone explain it to me?

[messi10]

No, its not. Comma splice is when two sentences are connected by a comma.

The structure of Choice D is:

Sentence, Modifier

i.e. the first part is the sentence: What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium

This is the modifier: the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull

The modifier describes the cranium. It has no verb so it cannot stand as a sentence.

[RonPurewal]

Isn't D a comma splice.

... no, it's not.

OFFICIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS ARE CORRECT!
do not question officially correct answers!
far too many students on this forum make the mistake of questioning the correct answers; please note that doing so is a complete waste of your time and effort. i.e., exactly 0% of the time that you spend posting "isn't this official answer wrong?" is productive, and exactly 100% of that time is wasted.

"is this correct?" is NEVER a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers -- the answer is always yes.
"is this wrong?" / "is this X type of error?" is NEVER a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers -- the answer is always no.

instead, the questions you should be asking about correct official answers, if you don't understand them, are:
"why is this correct?"
"how does this work?"
"what understanding am i lacking that i need to understand this choice?"

this is a small, but hugely significant, change to your way of thinking -- you will suddenly find it much easier to understand the format, style, and conventions of the official problems if you dispose of the idea that they might be wrong.

---

with that said, messi10 (one post up) has done a nice job of explaining why this is not a run-on sentence. but, more importantly, you already know that it's not a run-on sentence ... because it's the officially correct answer.

[supratim7]

OA: What scientists know about X comes from studies of Y.

I guess the the rule is "if something before the verb can be a legit subject then that's the subject or else the subject is after the verb"

Here "what scientists know about X" seems a legit subject.

A) Why is "what scientists know about X" considered singular? what's the underlying grammar rule?

B) Would "From studies of Y come what scientist know about X" be incorrect? If yes, why?

Thanks you.

[RonPurewal]

"What people know" / "what people do" / etc. is always going to be singular.

A) Why is "what scientists know about X" considered singular? what's the underlying grammar rule?

I can't give you a "rule"; all I can tell you is that it's singular.

More importantly, you don't need a "rule". The hardest thing to figure out here -- namely, the fact that "what scientists know..." acts as a noun -- is something you've already figured out.

B) Would "From studies of Y come what scientist know about X" be incorrect? If yes, why?

Incorrect, because "what scientists know" is still singular.

[supratim7]

"What people know" / "what people do" / etc. is always going to be singular.

I can't give you a "rule"; all I can tell you is that it's singular.

More importantly, you don't need a "rule". The hardest thing to figure out here -- namely, the fact that "what scientists know..." acts as a noun -- is something you've already figured out.

Noted. Thank you

B) Would "From studies of Y come what scientist know about X" be incorrect? If yes, why?

Incorrect, because "what scientists know" is still singular.

So, you're saying that "From studies of Y" cant be a legit subject. Is it so because "From studies of Y" is a prepositional phrase?

[thanghnvn]

[quote="soundok"]6. From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.

(A) From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.
(B) The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium.
(C) The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium.
(D) What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull.
(E) Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains.

The answer is D.

I want to write something and pls, confirm me following idea
- C is wrong because " have come". grammartical error.
- E is wrong because there is no clause to be parallel with clause " and it is from..."
- B is wrong because of "that is, cranium.." . "that" do not need many commas. grammartical error can be seen without understanding meaning.

why A is wrong? A is wrong just because it is wordier than D.

I think "which" is A can logically refer to "house of brain" as "located in ...." in D refers to "house of brain..." . NO problem here.

but "which is" in A is wordy. we can eliminate "which is" is A

From studies of the bony house of the brain,....... the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains (in fact, D use this concise pattern)

so, it is clear that A is wordier than D.

wordiness is the ONLY reason to eliminate A, I think.

is my thinking correct?

[RonPurewal]

"What scientists know" is singular (as are all similar constructions); "come" is plural.
So, (A) is disqualified by subject-verb disagreement.

[jha.madhavi85]

Hi Ron ,

Can you please validate my understanding !

[quote="soundok"]6. From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.

(A) From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.

i) Incorrect usage of which
ii)Incorrect SV agreement between come and what Scientist know
as MGMAT Sc says subject clauses are always singular.


(B) The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium.

i) that clause is wrong as knowledge cannot be the direct object of verb know
ii)Incorrect sequence of modifier -
bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium -- had cranium been mentioned between 2 consecutive sequence of modifiers it would have been better.


(C) The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium.

i) Incorrect usage of that - come cannot take brains as direct object
ii) wrong usage of which as it seems to refer to brain
iii) is called the cranium seems to refer to brain which is subject of which clause .

(D) What scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the cranium, the bony house of the brain located in the back of the skull.

--correct

(E) Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains.

--this is wrong here
--know repeated twice .
--it is wrong

[RonPurewal]

(A) From studies of the bony house of the brain, which is the cranium, located in the back of the skull, come what scientists know about dinosaur brains.

i) Incorrect usage of which
ii)Incorrect SV agreement between come and what Scientist know
as MGMAT Sc says subject clauses are always singular.

Yeah.

If you have a name and then a clarification, you can write "[name], which is [clarification]", but you can't write "[clarification], which is [name]".
E.g., Chicago, which is the largest city in the Midwest... --> ok.
The largest city in the Midwest, which is Chicago... --> not ok.

If you think conceptually about which things are the actual topics at hand, vs. which are the modifiers, then this should make sense.

(B) The knowledge that scientists know about dinosaur brains comes from studies of the bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium.

i) that clause is wrong as knowledge cannot be the direct object of verb know

Not ungrammatical, but redundant.

ii)Incorrect sequence of modifier -
bony house of the brain, located in the back of the skull, that is, the cranium -- had cranium been mentioned between 2 consecutive sequence of modifiers it would have been better.

This part is also ungrammatical. It's not ok to just throw "that is" onto something (although it happens all the time in more informal language).

[RonPurewal]

(C) The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have come from studies of the bony house of the brain, which is located in the back of the skull and is called the cranium.

i) Incorrect usage of that - come cannot take brains as direct object

No. The problem there is s-v disagreement. ("The knowledge of dinosaur brains that scientists have" -- which is not strictly wrong, although it's clunky/awkward -- is the subject. "Knowledge" is singular, but "come" is plural.)

ii) wrong usage of which as it seems to refer to brain
iii) is called the cranium seems to refer to brain which is subject of which clause .

Yes.

[RonPurewal]

(E) Located in the back of the skull is the cranium, the bony house of the brain, and it is from studies of this that scientists know what they know about dinosaur brains.

--this is wrong here
--know repeated twice .
--it is wrong

[/quote]

Actually, this kind of "it" is fine.
See type #1 here:
post49622.html#p49622

Yes to the rest of what you wrote.