Sentence Correction

There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.
(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been
(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was
(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been
(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was
(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been

I am confused in this this one.

weather is noun... cold qualifies weather - adjective.. increase+X shall be adverb

=> increasingly
'speculation and may' are redundant
"that is important"

I think I am left with C by POE

There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.
(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been
(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was
(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been
(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was
(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been

increasing v/s increasingly: Though both represent the same meaning but their usage is different.
Increasing is used as an adjective whereas Increasingly is used as an adverb.

Here in this case, weather is a noun described by the adjective cold. 'Increasingly' is used to describe cold, an adjective. Since, an adverb can also describe an adjective, increasingly is more appropriate over increasing.


Experts guidance solicited.

I will go wth E. increasingly shud modify adj/adv so left wth C D and E
C and D are wordeir and seem to have tense issues too.
though not sure abt speculate ...may...

agree with E.. C "what had been" isnt correct

Hi Rohu27,

I see that you identified increasingly as an adverb.

Can you tell me how you did that? I mean I have referred to dictionary to find out what it is (posted above your post). So is there any generic rule that can readily help in identifying the form of a word?

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:Hi Rohu27,

I see that you identified increasingly as an adverb.

Can you tell me how you did that? I mean I have referred to dictionary to find out what it is (posted above your post). So is there any generic rule that can readily help in identifying the form of a word?

most adverbs are of -ly form (exceptions are there)
moreover here cold is an adj, so whtevr tht is modifying cold has to be an adverb. and increasing is not an adverb. so can eliminate choices wth increasing.

PS:my IE behaves erractically at time, so i ended up thanking this post instead of cliking on quote. dnt mind

increasing is adj ... adj qualifes noun
and
adv can qualify adj, verb or adv

HSPA wrote:increasing is adj ... adj qualifes noun
and
adv can qualify adj, verb or adv

Buddy, m interrupting but "increasing" is not an adjective...i checked in dictionary..in fact in oxford dictionary there is no such word..
increasing is generally used as verb only...something is increasing etc...

Atul, I guess this URL should help.

https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/increasing

bubbliiiiiiii wrote:Atul, I guess this URL should help.

https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/increasing

Your link is showing "increasing" as an adjective...though i checked again in my oxford dictionar software and there is no such word...the only words written are "INCREASE" (can act as NOUN and VERB both) and "Increasingly" (Adverb)

Moreover, i found this link

https://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_an_ad ... r_increase

suggesting that the adjective for INCREASE can be INCREASING OR INCREASED both depending on the meaning required.

'Increasing' or 'increased', depending on the meaning you require.

'While he was living in the village he met increasing hostility from his neighbours.'

'When he returned to the village after a year away, he met increased hostility from his neighbours.'

Some more inputs , please kindly refer the below link :-

https://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entr ... _gb0405790

Increasing is an Adjective, whereas Increasingly is an Adverb. Adjectives are use to modify the nouns whereas adverbs are use to modify the verbs, adverbs and gerund. Adverb cannot directly modify noun without using preposition between adverb and noun. In this SC increasing/increasingly modifies the adjective cold. So in this case to modify adjective we need to pick adverb rather than an adjective.

atulmangal wrote:

HSPA wrote:increasing is adj ... adj qualifes noun
and
adv can qualify adj, verb or adv

Buddy, m interrupting but "increasing" is not an adjective...i checked in dictionary..in fact in oxford dictionary there is no such word..
increasing is generally used as verb only...something is increasing etc...

increasing in the example that you gave is adjective that modifies the linking verb form of Be .

@mundasingh123 - How does anything modify a linking verb? a linking verb is used to connect a modifier to the noun it modifies.

something is increasing... here "is increasing" is just the progressive form of the verb 'increase'.


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bnair wrote:@mundasingh123 - How does anything modify a linking verb? a linking verb is used to connect a modifier to the noun it modifies.

something is increasing... here "is increasing" is just the progressive form of the verb 'increase'.


...

only that i am not talking about Linking verbs.I am talking about the word that follows a linking verb ie whether the word is an adverb or an adjective.
When u say something is increasing .
Increasing is not the verb
is is the auxiliary verb
is increasing is the full working verb
-Courtesy Manhattan gmat Strat guide