Sentence Correction

Recent studies suggest that an intake of vitamin E in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet may actually increase the risk of developing certain illnesses, despite the claims of thousands of people who swear by it as a dietary supplement.
a) Recent studies suggest that an intake of vitamin E in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet may actually increase the risk of developing certain illnesses
b) Recent studies suggest that taking vitamin E in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet actually increases the risk of developing certain illnesses
c) Certain illnesses may be at a higher risk of development if vitamin E is taken in excess of a balanced diet, according to recent studies
d) According to recent studies, the intake of vitamin E, if in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet, may actually increase developing certain illnesses
e) Vitamin E, recent studies suggest, if in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet, may actually increase the development risk of certain illnesses

4 mnths back when i attempeted this question i guessed it wrong
and now when i was dead sure that my choices is 100% correct , i found out that i opted the same ans
luks as if what ever i have studied in 4 mnths is wasted
so guys help me out with reasons
plain IMO's are not accepted
hope to learn a new rule
source MGMAT test

A- Even though this is unnecessarily wordy, since B changes the meaning, I would choose this one.

B- They change the meaning by taking away the "may". Otherwise, this would probably be the preferred answer.

C- This is just awkward

D - may increase what? something is lacking in this choice, discard it.

E- this needs a verb in the first part of the sentence. As it stands, its a fragment

osirus0830 wrote:A- Even though this is unnecessarily wordy, since B changes the meaning, I would choose this one.

B- They change the meaning by taking away the "may". Otherwise, this would probably be the preferred answer.

C- This is just awkward

D - may increase what? something is lacking in this choice, discard it.

E- this needs a verb in the first part of the sentence. As it stands, its a fragment

okay agreed
leave apart other choices how do u justify the use of increase in A vs increases in B
wht subject these verbs are actually reffering and are they llel to that sub
y elimination is not based on the difference of the case(singulur or plural) of these verbs
your explanation is inline with OE but i am hung on these issue
hope conceptually i am not way out!!!!

I remember reading in the MGMAT SC guide that helping verbs like "may" don't necessarily follow the subject verb agreement rules. I don't have the book on me, so someone else please chime in on this.

The sentence uses the subjunctive form i.e. it expresses something that may or may not be true. In these cases we use the plural verb.
For e.g.
If I were rich, I would donate money to charity.

Hope this helps.

What is the OA? I choose A

I'll go A.

soumyopriyosaha hit it right on the head.

"Suggest" implies the subjunctive so the "may" in A is needed.

lunarpower wrote:

thephoenix wrote:
leave apart other choices how do u justify the use of increase in A vs increases in B

this is a specious comparison; "increase" is not the entire verb in choice (a).
the verb is "may increase".

when you have verbs including helping verbs -- such as "may increase", "might increase", "will increase", "would increase", etc. -- you're not conjugating the verb anymore; you just slap the infinitive form onto the helping verb.
probably the easiest example i can concoct: "is" is singular, and "are" is plural; however, you write "may be", not "may is" or "may are".

thanks ron

and for others the OA is A

Hi Ron...

What is the problem with choice D.

d) ........., may actually increase developing certain illnesses

remember what the author wants to convey : "recent studies indicate that additional intake increases risk of developing illnesses "

D changes the meaning : "may actually increase developing certain illnesses"
Moreover, "increase developing certain......" the use of gerund is incorrect.

Ron, please correct me if I'm wrong. ( BTW, nice to see you after long time! )

Honestly, I dont think this is a good question.
My answer would be B. I would have ruled out A for redundancy/wordiness.
In another example (I think from OG) we ruled out options including "attempt to try"
in this case it is similar...
1. Studies "suggest" this as posssible
2. Studies suggest this may be possible
these are same to me

Had B said:
1. Studies conclude that... or
2. According to studies this "would happen"
then I would have ruled this out. All in all I think this is a Q worth ignoring as far as A vs B goes. As long as one can boil down to A & B I think one is ok for GMAT standard Qs

I would choose B also. IMO "may" makes the sentence wordy. I disagree that B changes the meaning.