what is the OA, Looks like A to me.

Mechmeera wrote:Rainfall is, after all, limited in quantity and the availability of H2O in our rivers and lakes is decreasing rapidly as population grows, agricultural and industrial usages increase and lifestyle changes occur.

as population grows, agricultural and industrial usages increase and lifestyle changes occur.

as populations rise, agricultural and industrial usage increases and lifestyle change occur.

as population figures rise, agricultural and industrial usage is on the increase and lifestyle changes occur.

as populations rise, agricultural and industrial usages increase and lifestyle changes occur.

as populations rise, agricultural and industrial uses increase and lifestyle changes occur.

OA is D

Hello Mechmeera,

The OA IMO is A. The concept tested in this question is parallelism within the list. Each element in the list consists of a clause so we have to keep each clause as much parallel as possible to the other.Uncountable noun 'population' requires a singular verb grows, Plural 'usages' requires plural verb increase and plural 'changes' requires plural verb occur. The structure of each clause in the elliptical construction is a noun phrase followed by a finite verb; this structure is consistent among all the elements of the list and hence, parallelism maintained. Hence, A.

Hi Friends,

Can anyone explain why D is wrong ?

Thanks
Regards,
Uva

Uva@90 wrote:Hi Friends,

Can anyone explain why D is wrong ?

Thanks
Regards,
Uva

Well, we have to go with the intended meaning of the sentence. The uncountable noun population generally means all the people in a particular area, group etc. Whereas the countable noun means a specific group within a larger specific group e.g frog populations, female populations, etc . What appears to be sense within the sentence is that the author intends to mention all the people within the area which is not a specific group but the general population. Hence, the uncountable version is appropriate. Also, you must have heard of population growth, not population rise. So, it might be unidiomatic on the GMAT, though I am not sure. Inform me, if you know. Generally, the basic structure of the parallel elements needs to be matched. It is not necessary that all the nouns and verbs must also be plural. But if the OA is D, it will be wrong on this account that the word populations was used for reference to general population.

B,C,D,E all can be eliminated on the basis of 'populations' I guess.