The 19th-Century Proponents of the School of Thought Known as Mechanism GMAT Sentence Correction

Question: The 19th-century proponents of the school of thought known as mechanism held that life process are not the products of some mysterious life force, but are the same chemical and physical processes that operate in inorganic systems, which is still a subject of debate between biologists today.

(A) systems, which is still a subject of debate between
(B) systems, which are still debated between
(C) systems still debated among
(D) systems, a theory still debated by
(E) systems, a theory still debated between

“The 19th-century proponents of the school of thought known as mechanism held that life process” - 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.

Answer:
Explanation:

The adjustment that is being asked for for the given phrase can be verified using the guidelines below:

• Parallelism
• Examining two separate aspects
• Modifiers

The following is the sentence structure:

The mechanism school of thought, which is still a point of controversy among biologists today, was founded in the 19th century and claimed that life activities are not the byproducts of some enigmatic life force but rather are the same chemical and physical processes that occur in inorganic systems.

Option A: Incorrect
A is the incorrect answer. Option A is erroneous because "which" modifies "inorganic systems" in the wrong way. Systems, which are still a topic of discussion between ---> A topic of discussion is "mechanism" ---> Since "which" becomes a topic of discussion "inorganic system," all "which" is abolished.

Option B: Incorrect
Choice B is incorrect. Once more, the word "which" modifies the systems improperly. The same error that was present in option A is present here.

Option C: Incorrect
This option is incorrect. Again, Option C modifies the meaning. The theory is not mentioned. Therefore, it wouldn't fit well in the sentence.

Option D: Correct
This is the correct choice. Option D is valid because "between" has been changed to "by," the modifier error has been addressed, and the meaning has not changed. The statement that is emphasized fits perfectly with "by."

Option E: Incorrect
This is an incorrect choice. Because the author is referring to a disagreement among biologists, Option E is untrue. The proper form of "between" when referring to two entities is "between X and Y." This mistake is present in all of the aforementioned choices.

Since "between" is used when two of something are specified, D is the correct answer between D and E. The community of biologists as a whole must be debating in this instance; it cannot be just two biologists. Furthermore, if the word "between" is employed, the two biologists who are arguing it lack an antecedent. Thus, Option D.

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