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SC_parallel structure(increasing,decreasing,resulting)

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SC_parallel structure(increasing,decreasing,resulting)

by Soumita » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:36 pm
Many environmental scientists believe that global warming could lead to increased precipitation, as well as increased evaporation, a decline in soil moisture, and a resulting increasing of desert lands into current rangelands.

A)increased precipitation, as well as increased evaporation, a decline in soil moisture, and a resulting increasing
B)an increase in precipitation and evaporation, a decline in soil moisture, and a resulting expansion
C)an increase in precipitation and evaporation, declining soil moisture, and a resulting expansion
D)increasing precipitation, as well as increased evaporation, a decline in soil moisture, and a resulting increasing
E)increasing precipitation, increasing evaporation, decreasing soil moisture, and therefore a resulting expansion

Can anyone explain me why E is not correct. The choice E is maintaining parallel structure."increasing precipitation, increasing evaporation, decreasing soil moisture and resulting expansion"

But choice B fails to maintain parallel structure. " an increase in precipitation and there must be in evaporation to maintain parallelism. "

How C is incorrect compared to B?
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by Sapana » Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:15 pm
C is incorrect because article is not repeated in each of the items in the list which makes the sentence unparallel. My answer is B. What is OA?
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by Soumita » Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:49 pm
I am posting OA B.

Can you just explain me in detail how choice E is incorrect. The choice E is maintaining parallel structure."increasing precipitation, increasing evaporation, decreasing soil moisture and resulting expansion"

and also how C is correct compared to B . Explain me in details.
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by gmat6087 » Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:31 am
Soumita wrote:Many environmental scientists believe that global warming could lead to increased precipitation, as well as increased evaporation, a decline in soil moisture, and a resulting increasing of desert lands into current rangelands.

A)increased precipitation, as well as increased evaporation, a decline in soil moisture, and a resulting increasing
B)an increase in precipitation and evaporation, a decline in soil moisture, and a resulting expansion
C)an increase in precipitation and evaporation, declining soil moisture, and a resulting expansion
D)increasing precipitation, as well as increased evaporation, a decline in soil moisture, and a resulting increasing
E)increasing precipitation, increasing evaporation, decreasing soil moisture, and therefore a resulting expansion

Can anyone explain me why E is not correct. The choice E is maintaining parallel structure."increasing precipitation, increasing evaporation, decreasing soil moisture and resulting expansion"

But choice B fails to maintain parallel structure. " an increase in precipitation and there must be in evaporation to maintain parallelism. "

How C is incorrect compared to B?
Still not convinced why C is incorrect

c)an increase in precipitation and evaporation, declining soil moisture, and a resulting expansion
if we consider the clause global warming could lead to an increase in precipitation and evaporation, declining soil moisture,and a resulting expansion . Here declining soil moisture acts as a modifier modifying the previous clause. And this decline can be caused by the increased precipitation and evaporation.

What is the source??

Experts view is required.
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by e-GMAT » Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:08 am
Hi @soumita and @gmat6087,

This is a good parallelism question, one that exemplifies the importance of identifying the intended parallel list.

What is the original sentence telling us?

Its talking about the belief of scientists regarding what all global warming could lead to. Global warming could lead to a few things. Here they are:
1. Increase in Precipitation
2. Increase in Evaporation
3. Decline in Soil Moisture
4. Conversion of Desert lands into current rangelands.

These four things appear to be at the same level. However, focus on the last element "a resulting increasing of desert lands into current rangelands". The use of "resulting" here implies that this effect is due to the preceding three impacts # 1, 2, and 3. Now how do we express result of a clause. You may use a verb-ing modifier, or you may use the construction as is used in choice B in this question.

Why C is incorrect - it is not parallel. "an increase in ..." is not parallel to "declining soil moisture".

Why E is incorrect - This is a smartly worded choice. It appears to be parallel - all are verb-ing + noun forms. But look at the construction of these elements and notice that this construction does not communicate the intended meaning.

Increasing precipitation is not the same as increase in precipitation.

Increase in precipitation - Per the context of the sentence, this phrase suggests that global warming will eventually lead to a rise in precipitation. There will be gradual rise in the level of precipitation.

Increasing precipitation -Here "increasing" is an adjective that modifies "precipitation". It seems to denote the continuity in the action. And continuity in action is not the intended meaning of the sentence.

Lets take a simple example:
The rising crime in the city has led to increased police vigilance. - This sentence implies that the crime is still rising. There is a continuous increase in crime.

The rise in crime in the city has led to increased police vigilance. - This sentence implies that rise in crime has happened. It's now at an increased level.

I hope this helps clarify your confusion. I suggest you review a few correct official sentences. Take some in which correct answer has verb-ing form as in choice E. Notice the sense that those elements communicate. Take some in which the correct form is as in choice B. Notice the sense communicated in those. This will help cement the difference in your mind. And remember another key point:

Parallelism is not just about maintaining similarity across all elements. It is about making sure that the elements are logically parallel and that the elements communicate the intended meaning. For more on logic vs grammar on parallelism click here .

Regards,

Payal
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by BTG14 » Fri Jan 18, 2013 1:35 am
Hi e-Gmat,

Thanks for your detailed explanation. But still i have one query.

Why C is incorrect - it is not parallel. "an increase in ..." is not parallel to "declining soil moisture".

But in this question "an increase in.. " is inside "could lead to".( could lead to x and y)

So we can't compare " an increase in" with " declining soil moisture". Some how i am not able to compare it. Please clarify
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by sana.noor » Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:55 am
C is incorrect because it gives a wrong meaning.
according to C "an increase in precipitation and evaporation, declining soil moisture, it seems that it is not gloabl warming that declines soil moisture rather it is increase in precipitation and evaporation. You are right that C has no problem but it has problem in conveying message. the original sentence shows the effects of Global warming but C shows that gloabl warming causes increase in precipitation and evaporation which further leads to decline of soil mositure. Hope its helpful though i am worst in explaining things.
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by pankajjindal » Fri Jan 18, 2013 6:42 pm
Let me explain that why E is correct. I am not expert but just trying to help you understand my point.

Whenever we see ", and" then it may or may not show parallelism but show show serialism which is the case here.
Like
I saw an accident while driving ,and so I was late to office
.

Here the author wants to say that first he saw an accident and then he was late to office. This simply means serial nature of two events . The word "so" is necessary to show the serial nature otherwise this would be parallel.

In the same way the choice (E) uses therefore to show that result of earlier three action results in fourth.
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