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Japan's rainfall

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Japan's rainfall

by amysky_0205 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 1:20 am
Japan's abundant rainfall and the typically mild temperature throughout most of the country have produced a lush vegetation cover and, despite the mountainous terrain and generally poor soils, it has made possible the raising of a variety of crops.
A. it has made possible the raising of
B. has made it possible for them to raise
C. have made it possible to raise
D. have made it possible for raising
E. thus making it possible for them to raise


OA: C

can someone explain what's wrong with each options? thank u!!!
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by challenger63 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:28 am
I am not an expert, so I can make mistakes. If you see a mistake, please notify me.

Japan's abundant rainfall and the typically mild temperature throughout most of the country have produced a lush vegetation cover and, despite the mountainous terrain and generally poor soils, it has made possible the raising of a variety of crops.
A. it has made possible the raising of

>>>
Subject is plural - "rainfall" and "mild temperature". Thus,"it" is wrong pronoun here.

There is no comma before "and". Thus, it is not independent clause. Verb should refer to the initial verb. "despite...." is just a descriptive phrase here. So, we can't use "it" here.


B. has made it possible for them to raise
>> Subject is plural, so "has" is wrong. "Them" who??

C. have made it possible to raise
>>> Good one. Construction "to make it..." is a standard construction which allows "undefined" it.

D. have made it possible for raising
>> "possible to do something" is better than "for raising". Can't explain this. It sounds wrong.

In my view, it should like this:
It is possible that somebody does something
It is possible to do something
It is possible for somebody to do something.

E. thus making it possible for them to raise
>> "making" is not parallel to the initial verb - "have produced"
"them" is ambiguous.

POE: C
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by aman88 » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:19 am
amysky_0205 wrote:Japan's abundant rainfall and the typically mild temperature throughout most of the country have produced a lush vegetation cover and, despite the mountainous terrain and generally poor soils, it has made possible the raising of a variety of crops.
A. it has made possible the raising of
B. has made it possible for them to raise
C. have made it possible to raise
D. have made it possible for raising
E. thus making it possible for them to raise


OA: C

can someone explain what's wrong with each options? thank u!!!
challenger63 is right. But apart from what he said, subject-verb agreement is the main lookout.

Japan's abundant rainfall and the typically mild temperature throughout most of the country have produced ..., it has made possible the raising of a variety of crops.

A and B have produced ... and HAVE made it possible ... -> This is how this sentence should be read.

Now look at the answer choices: A, B and E are out at first glance.
Among C and D, look for further errors. As challenger63 mentioned above, choice D is wordy and unidiomatic. Moreover, the VERB + ing construction should be avoided in the GMAT.

Thus, C is the right answer.

Thanks.
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by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:31 pm
This question is particularly tricky because it employs two different uses of the pronoun IT.

As others have pointed out, the subject is plural - RAINFALL and TEMPERATURE. This means that we can't use the subject pronoun "it" in the original sentence, as it would refer to a plural subject. Nor could we have a singular verb HAS, as in B.

The other answer choices also contain IT, but in a different context. TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE is an idiomatic expression, and within idiomatic expressions, we can sometimes use vague pronouns that don't have a specific antecedent. Generally speaking, the GMAT doesn't like vague pronouns, unless they're in idiomatic expressions, such as It is raining, etc.

In E, there is a different pronoun problem: THEM. Who is the "them" raising the variety of crops? The rainfall and the temperature? The Japanese people? If it's the former, that doesn't make much sense. If the latter, we don't actually have that antecedent in the sentence, so THEM is incorrect.

When choosing between C and D, we're left with an idiom distinction: MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO DO or MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR DOING. As with other idioms, there's no rule here. MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO DO is simply the preferred form.
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by arias » Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:44 am
ceilidh.erickson wrote:This question is particularly tricky because it employs two different uses of the pronoun IT.

As others have pointed out, the subject is plural - RAINFALL and TEMPERATURE. This means that we can't use the subject pronoun "it" in the original sentence, as it would refer to a plural subject. Nor could we have a singular verb HAS, as in B.

The other answer choices also contain IT, but in a different context. TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE is an idiomatic expression, and within idiomatic expressions, we can sometimes use vague pronouns that don't have a specific antecedent. Generally speaking, the GMAT doesn't like vague pronouns, unless they're in idiomatic expressions, such as It is raining, etc.

In E, there is a different pronoun problem: THEM. Who is the "them" raising the variety of crops? The rainfall and the temperature? The Japanese people? If it's the former, that doesn't make much sense. If the latter, we don't actually have that antecedent in the sentence, so THEM is incorrect.

When choosing between C and D, we're left with an idiom distinction: MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO DO or MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR DOING. As with other idioms, there's no rule here. MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO DO is simply the preferred form.
Hi expert:

Could you please explain what is the difference between below sentence.
Japen's rainall and temperature have made it possible to raise a variety of crops.
Japen's rainall and temperature have made it possible for japanese to raise a variety of crops.

What is the agent of the action to raise, or who/what raise, if we do not explicite for japanese here?

I ask this question is because I remember Ron's explain of same structure for a prep question
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/hea ... t3173.html

I quote the explain from Ron:

* "heavy commitment by an executive to a course of action" is awkward and difficult to read. (you may have to be a native speaker to pick up on this, though)

much more importantly:
* makes it likely to miss...
this doesn't work.
technically, this would mean that "it" - an unspecified entity - is likely to miss the signs.
if you use the "it is ADJ..." construction, and the verb has a specific subject, you MUST include that subject in the construction. it is likely that the executive will miss...

The take away I can get is we can not inplicate the agent for the TO DO, otherwise the reader will keep on asking: Hey! who miss signs of incipient trouble ?

Many thanks
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