QUESTION
The hypothesis of dark matter consisting of giant particles, light-years across in length, width, and depth, is gaining interest among astrophysicists.
ANSWER SELECTION
(C) that dark matter consists of giant particles, light-years across in length, width, and depth, is gaining interest among astrophysicists (THIS IS CORRECT!)
(E) which is that dark matter consists of giant particles, light-years across in length, width, and depth, is gaining interest among astrophysicists
ANSWER EXPLANATION
The sentence as written contains a usage error. The proper idiom is the hypothesis that …, not “the hypothesis of ….” Note that this is a case of an -ing verb form, “consisting,” signaling an error on the GMAT. The correct sentence will be structured to say dark matter consists of giant particles. However, the verb later in the sentence, “is gaining,” is the correct present progressive tense to indicate an ongoing action and uses a helping verb, “is,” along with the -ing form.
A vertical scan of the first words of the choices reveals that (A) and (B) use the incorrect “of,” (C) and (D) use the correct “that,” and (E) uses the incorrect “which is that.”
(A), (B), and (E) can be eliminated immediately, because they don’t use the idiomatic form the hypothesis that. Proceed to compare (C) and (D).
(D) changes the meaning of the sentence slightly. By saying “the hypothesis that is gaining interest,” (D) misleadingly implies that this hypothesis is the only hypothesis that is gaining interest among astrophysicists. The original sentence intends to convey the fact that this particular hypothesis is gaining interest, regardless of what is happening with other hypotheses.
(C) uses the correct form “the hypothesis that. . .” without introducing any new problems. Therefore (C) is correct.
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