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Antarctica

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Antarctica

by reachac » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:29 pm
Antarctica receives more solar radiation than does any other place on Earth, yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, the water levels of the oceans would rise 250 feet and engulf most of the world’s great cities.

A. is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise,
B. is so reflective that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so,
C. so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else
D. reflective, so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer, or
E. reflects so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; if it did
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by BlueRain » Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:20 pm
Eliminate A and C since it should be "little of". Otherwise, it sounds as polar ice is actually "little".

Eliminate B since "were it to do so" does not illustrate the contrast. The opposite must occur to cause the rise in water level.

Eliminate E since "if it did" does not illustrate the contrast as well.

I'd pick D. Confirm OA?
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Re: Antarctica

by mutuslick » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:28 am
A - is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, - should be little of

B-is so reflective that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so, (not contrasting )

C -so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else

D-reflective,(should be verb) so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer, or

E - reflects so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; if it did

So IMO E-corect
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by kiranlegend » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:37 am
IMO B
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by codesnooker » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:40 am
IMO (B).

Actually we can solve this question by applying two different methods/test.

Method #1 (Adverb test)

'Little' is used here as an adverb. Adverb modifies verb, adjective and gerund nouns. But 'polor ice' is noun. So, 'little' cannot modify it directly. It needs some preposition in between to modify it. Therefore choice (A) and (C) are out.

Method #2 (Idiom test)

Correct Idiom is "Xs are so cold and so Y is so reflective that". Hence choice (D) and (E) are also out. We left with choice (B), which should be the correct answer.

Confusion ?

This particular question can be solved by directly applying Idiom Test. But our ears are not used to listen or recognize such subsentence. That's where the trap lies. On first look if we ignore (B), then choice (C) and (D) look more appropriate answers. However, choice (C) can be out by applying Adverb Test in the question. At the end to we have to apply Idiom Test on (D) because GMAT looks for the answer which is correct, not the answers which our ears assumes correct.

Why (B) should be correct choice ?

1. It passes both Idiom and Adverb test.
2. The phrase "were it to do so" introduces hypothetical situation/uncertainty which is required in the second half the sentence.

Hope this helps...
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by raunekk » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:52 am
IMO:B

Well,, i cant give an explanation better than "codesnooker" :wink:
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by BlueRain » Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:53 am
Would be good to know the OA right now. :?

The other problem I had with B was that it looked like a run-on sentence with (x is so ...) and (y is so ...). Both of those are complete thoughts, so possibly missing a coma in front of and. Or is it because of the idiom, that rule can be ignored?
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by gmatgoal750 » Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:41 am
IMO C.

'Were it to do so' in the Answer choice B is ambiguous and doesn't sound right.

Does anyone know what the OA is?
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OA

by ektamatta » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:13 am
what is OA?
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by erjamit » Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:51 am
Were it not to do so is correct usage bocz:-

1. We have an independent sentence.

2. It clearly refers to polar ice-cap.

3. do so is also correct usage.

4. It is not a run-on sentence since conjunction and is used.

I hope it helps.

btw OA is indeed B.
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by stubbornp » Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:49 am
wats the OA?
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by kv_ajay » Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:21 pm
OA is B.
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by dileepsinha » Thu Oct 16, 2008 6:46 am
I am confused about the use of "little polar ice", after going through the posts in forum, otherwise I feel the use of "little" is right in modifying a noun as in "little work was done", hence by all means, I will stick to my choice -"C".
Reachac, please help with OA.
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by ssgmatter » Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:20 am
Can someone please explain me this one in details.....

Regards,
Phil
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by tomada » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:22 pm
Dileep, I agree with you. The OA of 'B' notwithstanding, I think 'C' is more grammatically sound.
I think the 'it' in the phrase 'were it to do so' refers to the closest noun which, in this case, is 'summer'.
Does this mean 'were the summer to do so?' Or, perhaps 'it' refers to 'Antarctica' ? This usage seems ambiguous.

I also wonder why the consensus is that 'little polar ice' requires the word 'of', to form 'little of polar ice'.
Couldn't 'little' be considered an adjective describing 'polar ice', as in:

Q: How much polar ice?
A: Little polar ice.

Doesn't "very little salt was put on your food" sound better than "very little of salt was put on your food" ?
Maybe this is a bad example, though.
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