Sentence Correction

Can someone please explain this one to me? Also, I am having so much trouble with apostrophes and when and when not to use them. I thought apostrophes were only used with living things. Thanks for any help.


As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips' circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.

(A) the chips' circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

(B) the chips' circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has

(C) the chips' circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has

(D) their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

(E) their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

I will go with E). Kindly post the OA

The answer is actually B I got it wrong as well.

I don't really know how E) is wrong. The possessive pronoun 'their' is referring to computer memory chips (so, no ambiguity). In fact, adding chips' circuits sounds too verbose and awkward (though not wrong).

Kanwar - Answer choice E cannot be correct and here is the reason.

Which of the following sentences if correct ?
Power of Anil's machine and Kanwar's machine HAS increased.
Power of Anil's machine and Kanwar's machine HAVE increased.

If you choose the former, then you question is answered.
So, A,D,E can be eliminated.

Between B and C, C is incorrect because 'are' shouldn't be used(Not really sure of the rule but ..)

msbelasco wrote:Can someone please explain this one to me? Also, I am having so much trouble with apostrophes and when and when not to use them. I thought apostrophes were only used with living things. Thanks for any help.


As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips' circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.

(A) the chips' circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

(B) the chips' circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has

(C) the chips' circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has

(D) their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

(E) their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

I go with B

neelgandham wrote:Kanwar - Answer choice E cannot be correct and here is the reason.

Which of the following sentences if correct ?
Power of Anil's machine and Kanwar's machine HAS increased.
Power of Anil's machine and Kanwar's machine HAVE increased.

If you choose the former, then you question is answered.
So, A,D,E can be eliminated.

Between B and C, C is incorrect because 'are' shouldn't be used(Not really sure of the rule but ..)

are actually makes it redundant, that's what I think.

Adding "are" into the sentence removes the parallelism. Hence B) is the correct option [spoiler][/spoiler]

C and D , use of are is wrong.

The sentence in its correct form means Both the power of the chips and devices both have increased. This is not what the author intends to say. There you need to restructure to make it logical to say that the
POWER OF BOTH THE CHIPS AND DEVICES HAS INCREASED. Eliminate A and E.

msbelasco wrote:Can someone please explain this one to me? Also, I am having so much trouble with apostrophes and when and when not to use them. I thought apostrophes were only used with living things. Thanks for any help.


As the etched lines on computer memory chips have become thinner and the chips' circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have vastly increased.

(A) the chips' circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

(B) the chips' circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has

(C) the chips' circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has

(D) their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

(E) their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have

the answer choice "B" is the right answer..its not "both the power of chips and electronics"
we use to say "The Power of both a and b has"
both should be as close to the word that it modifies as possible....A and C are not parallel whereas D and E have ambiguous referents.
(A) the chips' circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have (wrong)

(B) the chips' circuits more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive has (right)

(C) the chips' circuits are more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive has (wrong)

(D) their circuits are more complex, the power of both the chips and the electronic devices they drive have (wrong as "the power" should go with "has"

(E) their circuits more complex, both the power of the chips and the electronic devices they drive have (wrong)