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Antarctica

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by ranell » Sun Jun 21, 2009 12:07 pm
Antarctica receives more solar radiation than does any other place on Earth, yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, the water levels of the oceans would rise 250 feet and engulf most of the world’s great cities.

A. is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise,
B. is so reflective tha t little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so,
C. so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else
D. reflective, so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer, or
E. reflects so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; if it did
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by goelmohit2002 » Sun Jun 21, 2009 12:10 pm
so...that...

are so...is that...

so IMO B.
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IMO

by kc_raj » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:46 pm
IMO C so adj that verb is correct
Antarctica receives more solar radiation than does any other place on Earth, yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, the water levels of the oceans would rise 250 feet and engulf most of the world’s great cities.

A. is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise,
B. is so reflective tha t little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so,
C. so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else
D. reflective, so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer, or
E. reflects so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; if it did
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by mittalashwani13 » Sun Jun 21, 2009 3:15 pm
IMO B without any doubt...


case of parallelism... temperatures [color=red]are so [/color]high, and the ice case [color=red]is so[/color] ...
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Re: Antarctica

by thetrystero » Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:00 pm
ranell wrote:Antarctica receives more solar radiation than does any other place on Earth, yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, the water levels of the oceans would rise 250 feet and engulf most of the world’s great cities.

A. is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise,
B. is so reflective tha t little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so,
C. so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else
D. reflective, so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer, or
E. reflects so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; if it did
C. so cold .. so reflective
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by thetrystero » Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:04 pm
mittalashwani13 wrote:IMO B without any doubt...


case of parallelism... temperatures [color=red]are so [/color]high, and the ice case [color=red]is so[/color] ...
as noted by @kc_raj, "were it to do so" is contradictory. it says the ice cap melting a little will cause cities to be engulfed.
but the I believe the main reason (b) is wrong is the placement of "is" before "so". It just sounds wrong to me but I'm not sure which grammatical point this refers to. Perhaps an expert can explain.
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by mittalashwani13 » Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:12 pm
@thetrystero

Actually placement of 'is' before so makes it correct ...

X is so cold and Y is so reflective..

Here TWO phrases are parallel ...not so cold and so reflective...
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by thetrystero » Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:42 pm
@ranell: OA please
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by BlindVision » Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:35 pm
OA=B
Life is a Test
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Re: Antarctica

by rahulg83 » Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:08 am
ranell wrote:Antarctica receives more solar radiation than does any other place on Earth, yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, the water levels of the oceans would rise 250 feet and engulf most of the world’s great cities.

A. is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise,
B. is so reflective tha t little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so,
C. so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else
D. reflective, so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer, or
E. reflects so that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; if it did
can someone explain, what does the above highlighted phrase mean in context of the statement??
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by pops » Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:18 am
I think B is better than C because of the correct parallelism.

B. is so reflective that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so,
C. so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else

My doubt: If option C was:-
C. [u][b]is[/b][/u] so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else

isnt it better than B then?
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by zeppelin » Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:08 am
I also have the same doubt as above.
Please explain, what if C is "is so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else " .
Will it be better than B ?
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by haptas » Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:59 pm
Two things to und up up with B

1. The existence of "would" in a conditional sentence require the use of "past tense-were"---only B has it..
2. Parallel structure of so that..--only B has it..
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by gmat740 » Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:39 pm
Guys, here is the reason why B is correct.

I am writing the question with B in the underline portion :

Antarctica receives more solar radiation than does any other place on Earth, yet the temperaturesare so cold and the ice cap is so reflective tha t little of the polar ice melts during the summer;were it to do so, the water levels of the oceans would rise 250 feet and engulf most of the world’s great cities.

1. Parallelism :are(verb) so X, is (verb) so Y

2. were it to do so : this one is subjunctive mood : Remember - If I were a rich man!
This phrase is followed by a statement which makes every thing clear.

Please note : there is an error with the underline portion in the original question.

The underline starts after "the ice cap"

Hope this helps
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by zeppelin » Wed Jul 15, 2009 8:55 am
Thanks to both of you for the explanation, now the option B makes more sense to me.
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