Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumIllogical and Incomplete Comparisons

The navigation systems of migratory monarch butterflies, which rely on a solar compass and magnetic cues, are significantly more complex than a typical garden insect.

Which of the following options best replaces the underlined portion to ensure the sentence is grammatically correct and logically clear?

  1. A
    a typical garden insect
  2. those of a typical garden insectAnswer
  3. C
    a typical garden insect, they are much simpler
  4. D
    those of a typical garden insect; lacking complex mechanisms

Answer

those of a typical garden insect
The correct answer correctly uses the pronoun 'those' to represent 'navigation systems', ensuring that the plural systems of migratory monarch butterflies are logically compared to the plural systems of a typical garden insect.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the two elements being compared in the sentence.
The sentence attempts to compare 'The navigation systems of migratory monarch butterflies' to another noun phrase.
To ensure grammatical correctness, the items being compared must be of the same type (noun-to-noun or system-to-system).
2
Evaluate the underlined portion to check for comparison errors.
The underlined phrase 'a typical garden insect' compares systems to an insect, which is illogical.
An insect's navigation systems should be compared to another insect's navigation systems, not to the insect itself.
3
Select the option that corrects the comparison error without introducing new punctuation or structural errors.
Replacing the underlined portion with 'those of a typical garden insect' makes the comparison logical, where 'those' acts as a pronoun for the plural noun 'navigation systems'.
This establishes a clear, parallel, and grammatically correct comparison.

Key Concept

Illogical and Incomplete Comparisons
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

Illogical and Incomplete Comparisons

More questions from this topic