Sentence Correction

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

so...that...

are so...is that...

so IMO B.

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

IMO B without any doubt...


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

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

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.

@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...

@ranell: OA please

OA=B

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??

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?

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 ?

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..

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

Thanks to both of you for the explanation, now the option B makes more sense to me.