vaivish wrote:857. There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.
(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been
(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was
(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been
(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was
(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been


OA is e.

Can somebody explain the usage of increasing and increasingly in teh above case?>

Increasing is an Adjective, whereas Increasingly is an Adverb.

Adjectives are use to modify the nouns whereas adverbs are use to modify the verbs, adverbs and gerund. Adverb cannot directly modify noun without using preposition between adverb and noun.

Now, look at the original sentence. Here increasing/increasingly modifies the adjective cold. So, to modify adjective we need to pickup adverb rather than an adjective. In this way, option (A) and (B) are out.

Option (C) and (D) are simply wordy because of usage of word what and (E) is the best alternative.

Hope it helps... Let me know in case any further clarification is required.

Regards,
CodeSnooker