Sentence Correction

In the last decade, the number of environmental pollutants released into the atmosphere, which harm the environment and raise the global temperature, have declined dramatically.

(a) atmosphere, which harm the environment and raise the global temperature, have
(b) atmosphere, harming the environment and thereby raising global temperatures, have
(c) atmosphere, that harms the environment by raising global temperatures, have
(d) atmosphere which harms the environment in that they raise the global temperature, has
(e) atmosphere that harm the environment by raising global temperatures has



im confused between which and that. for answer d, what is "which" modifying and in e, what is "that" modifying? answer to come after some discussion

That is a good point. I thought that 'which' had to modify the noun it was closest to. In this context I would think it'd be safe to assume the pollutants are obviously causing the harm.

A - harm and have signify plurality when the sentence uses the phrase '...the number of.'

B - '...thereby raising global temperatures,' sounds awkward. I don't think temperatures should be plural. There should be one global temperature if I am thinking about this correctly.

C - that does not seem correct proceeding from a comma (cannot quote rule off the top of my head). Additionally, temperatures is plural again.

So, it's either between D and E then...

D - '...in that they raise,' sounds awkward, however, has seems to be correct because '...the number of ,' expression signifies singularity.

E - Seems fine except the plurality in temperatures. I guess I am going to have to guess E.

There's some flaws in my logic I'm sure but this is my long winded way of getting there.

E wins here.

sk8ternite wrote: (d) atmosphere which harms the environment in that they raise the global temperature, has
(e) atmosphere that harm the environment by raising global temperatures has

Will go with E on this.

E is the best one here.

(d) atmosphere which harms the environment in that they raise the global temperature, has

Verb should be Harm, because subject is Pollutants, also "WHICH" when not preceeded by comma, will always loose to "THAT".

(e) atmosphere that harm the environment by raising global temperatures has

pandeyvineet24 wrote:E is the best one here.

(d) atmosphere which harms the environment in that they raise the global temperature, has

Verb should be Harm, because subject is Pollutants, also "WHICH" when not preceeded by comma, will always loose to "THAT".

(e) atmosphere that harm the environment by raising global temperatures has

The reason I chose D was because I thought which referred to number of environmental pollutants. I thought which or that could not refer to the noun in a prepositional phrase. Therefore, the correct verb is harms rather than harm. Whats incorrect in my thinking?

I'm second guessing myself. The number of is singular so D might be the correct version. A number of is plural and that is not used. Expert opinion please?

sk8ternite wrote:

pandeyvineet24 wrote:E is the best one here.

(d) atmosphere which harms the environment in that they raise the global temperature, has

Verb should be Harm, because subject is Pollutants, also "WHICH" when not preceeded by comma, will always loose to "THAT".

(e) atmosphere that harm the environment by raising global temperatures has

The reason I chose D was because I thought which referred to number of environmental pollutants. I thought which or that could not refer to the noun in a prepositional phrase. Therefore, the correct verb is harms rather than harm. Whats incorrect in my thinking?

sk8ternite, the way i interpreted this question was, the pollutants are doing the "harm" and not the phrase "the number of environmental pollutants ". Therefore the subject should be pollutants and hence plural. I hope i am clear.

pandeyvineet24 wrote:

sk8ternite wrote:

pandeyvineet24 wrote:E is the best one here.

(d) atmosphere which harms the environment in that they raise the global temperature, has

Verb should be Harm, because subject is Pollutants, also "WHICH" when not preceeded by comma, will always loose to "THAT".

(e) atmosphere that harm the environment by raising global temperatures has

The reason I chose D was because I thought which referred to number of environmental pollutants. I thought which or that could not refer to the noun in a prepositional phrase. Therefore, the correct verb is harms rather than harm. Whats incorrect in my thinking?

sk8ternite, the way i interpreted this question was, the pollutants are doing the "harm" and not the phrase "the number of environmental pollutants ". Therefore the subject should be pollutants and hence plural. I hope i am clear.

pandey, my question is...the number of pollutants, doesnt which or that always refer to the noun rather than the noun in the prepositional phrase? I learned in manhattan gmat that information in prepositional phrases are not part of the subject. So the subject is the number. This is what I need clarification on

I WILL GO WITH E


In the last decade, the number of environmental pollutants released into the atmosphere, which harm the environment and raise the global temperature, have declined dramatically.

(a) atmosphere, which harm the environment and raise the global temperature, have
(b) atmosphere, harming the environment and thereby raising global temperatures, have
(c) atmosphere, that harms the environment by raising global temperatures, have
(d) atmosphere which harms the environment in that they raise the global temperature, has
(e) atmosphere that harm the environment by raising global temperatures has



e is correct because, a,b,c we can easily eliminate on subverb agreement.

d can be elemenated as which used without comma is considered wrong and that is prefferd in its place at that situation.

whats the OA?

OA is E

sk8ternite wrote:

pandeyvineet24 wrote:

sk8ternite wrote:

pandeyvineet24 wrote:E is the best one here.

(d) atmosphere which harms the environment in that they raise the global temperature, has

Verb should be Harm, because subject is Pollutants, also "WHICH" when not preceeded by comma, will always loose to "THAT".

(e) atmosphere that harm the environment by raising global temperatures has

The reason I chose D was because I thought which referred to number of environmental pollutants. I thought which or that could not refer to the noun in a prepositional phrase. Therefore, the correct verb is harms rather than harm. Whats incorrect in my thinking?

sk8ternite, the way i interpreted this question was, the pollutants are doing the "harm" and not the phrase "the number of environmental pollutants ". Therefore the subject should be pollutants and hence plural. I hope i am clear.

pandey, my question is...the number of pollutants, doesnt which or that always refer to the noun rather than the noun in the prepositional phrase? I learned in manhattan gmat that information in prepositional phrases are not part of the subject. So the subject is the number. This is what I need clarification on

and that is correct sk8ternite, look at the last part of the underlined sentence, the verb is "HAS". THE NUMBER OF ....., corresponds to "HAS" and not "HARM" as per my understanding.

I am still looking for an explanation to my question, if a sentence says, the number of environmental pollutants, which blah blah..., does which modify the number of or environmental pollutions? It seems in this question it modifies environmental pollutants, but I thought which modifies the noun NOT in the prepositional phrase.

i chose D
because the 'by' in the E is wrong...i think 'raising global temperatures'is the result rather than the method of 'harm the environment'

1)"In that they raise global temperature" is wordy.

2)Harms should be "harm" because "pollutants" raise temperatures.


Hope that helps,