Sentence Correction

dumb.doofus wrote: A is incorrect because of the use of "while". While is used to show contrast and not cause.

lunarpower wrote:

goelmohit2002 wrote:

dumb.doofus wrote:Why can't it be case of simultaneous action here ?

not simultaneous action. one of these is the CONSEQUENCE of the other; they are not two separate events happening at the same time.

if you say "X-ing while Y-ing", then you must be describing two separate but simultaneous actions.


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incidentally, this is an absolutely textbook-perfect case of a situation in which you should use COMMA + -ING.

for more or that particular construction, see here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/which-usage- ... tml#183920

Thanks Ron !!

Would it have been correct to say i.e. removing "while" from A ?

"leaking its cargo of 750000 gallons into the ocean, causing the pollution of"

lunarpower wrote:

hariharakarthi wrote:B. with its cargo of 750000 gallons leaking into the ocean, and it polluted

in January 1994 an oil barge ran aground off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with its cargo of 750000 gallons leaking into the ocean, and it polluted
the city's beaches.

Is it a pronoun error?
Can you explain what is wrong with B?

Regards,
hhk

if you write "...with X VERBing", the implication is that this is happening at the same time as the verb in the main clause.

analogy:
roy ran down the hallway, with his arms flapping frantically.
the implication is that roy's arms are flapping frantically AS he runs down the hallway.

by the same reasoning, the above choice (b) asserts that the oil was already leaking in the ocean AS the barge ran aground. this clearly isn't the case; the two events actually occurred in sequence, and the one was the consequence of the other.

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the other problem with that choice is "...and it polluted..."

you don't use "and" in this sense unless the two items you're describing are essentially independent of each other.
for instance, if i said the following:
there was lots of traffic on the freeway and i was late to work.
...then i'm implying, strangely enough, that the traffic had nothing to do with my being late. (perhaps i'm just listing two reasons why it was A Bad Day.)

on the other hand, you could salvage the construction with a connector word that implies causation, such as "so" or "thus". for instance, either of the following would convey the intended meaning accurately in the aforementioned case:
there was lots of traffic on the freeway and i was thus late to work.
there was lots of traffic on the freeway and so i was late to work.
these are both ok.
however, choice (b) doesn't use such a word; it merely uses "and" by itself, which, for the reasons mentioned above, is wrong.