Sentence Correction

Source: Platinum GMAT

Heightened land erosion, caused by human activity, has many negative effects including the following: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, imbalance of the fish population, and the introduction of harmful chemicals to the ocean's environment.

A) including the following: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, imbalance of the fish population, and the introduction of harmful chemicals to the ocean's environment.

B) including: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, imbalance of the fish population, and harmful chemicals entering the ocean's environment.

C) including: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, imbalance of the fish population, and the introduction of harmful chemicals to the ocean's environment.

D) including the following: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, imbalance of the fish population, and harmful chemicals entering the ocean's environment.

E) including the following: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, certain fish populations rising, certain fish populations falling, and the introduction of harmful chemicals to the ocean's environment.

OA given is Op A. Can anyone suggest why Op C is wrong with proper reasoning.

gmat25 wrote:Source: Platinum GMAT

Heightened land erosion, caused by human activity, has many negative effects including the following: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, imbalance of the fish population, and the introduction of harmful chemicals to the ocean's environment.

A) including the following: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, imbalance of the fish population, and the introduction of harmful chemicals to the ocean's environment.

C) including: algae blooms, coral reef destruction, imbalance of the fish population, and the introduction of harmful chemicals to the ocean's environment. [/spoiler]

C: Colon & Including is used to give example here. Use of colon (after including, such as, or for example) means the same things as these words and therefore one or the other should have been used

WRONG: Cynthia likes fruit, including: bananas, apples, and oranges.

RIGHT: Cynthia likes fruit, including bananas, apples, and oranges.


In A, inlcuding the following - "including" is not used to give example directly as in C and therefore correct

Source: https://academics.smcvt.edu/writingctr/semicolons.htm

Hope it helps

Thanks