Sentence Correction

OG v12

The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

(a) a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels,
(b) a phenomenon most scientists agree that is caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,
(c) a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels,
(d) which most scientists agree on as a phenomenon caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels,
(e) which most scientists agree to be a phenomenon caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,

OA C

I am looking for a better explanation that the OG, which basically says "cause it... uh... sounds better.."

cephaslr wrote:OG v12

The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

(a) a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels,
(b) a phenomenon most scientists agree that is caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,
(c) a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels,
(d) which most scientists agree on as a phenomenon caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels,
(e) which most scientists agree to be a phenomenon caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,

OA C

I am looking for a better explanation that the OG, which basically says "cause it... uh... sounds better.."

A). In general "to be" is usually incorrect in GMAT sentence correction as it is wording and can generally be replaced with an active verb.
B.) It is hard to determine what "That" is representing, is it WWF, scientists, or the phenomenon.
C.)
D & E.) Can't really come up with a good explanation as to why these are wrong except for they don't sound correct which is usually an indicator of an unidiomatic expression.

Sorry I can't be of more definitive help but hopefully this aids you a bit.

I am surprised

As per my understanding, we should not use gerund form as possessive noun.

Experts???

karmayogi wrote:I am surprised

As per my understanding, we should not use gerund form as possessive noun.

imo noun + gerund = subject

besides, i think human being sounds so inseparable that even gerund is hard one to spot in it.

a - ...agree to be......in burning... - noisy
b,e - ...by fossils... - rather by human
d - verb&noun-kamasutra

S0laris wrote:
besides, i think human being sounds so inseparable that even gerund is hard one to spot in it.

thats a good one, s0laris.

Looks like I have short term memory loss problem . In a recent post(https://www.beatthegmat.com/gerund-being ... tml#135910), scoobydooby said that “a gerund should be preceded by a possessive noun.” Although there is small correction to this rule, as per the rule “human beings’ burning of fossil fuels” is correct.

My bad when I said “we should not use gerund form as possessive noun.” What I meant was “human beings’ burning” is wrong, in which burning is a gerund and human beings’ a possessive noun. Phew! I was totally wrong. I made this wrong rule for OG11 SC#19. Following is the explanation given in OG:
The gerund (-ing form of a verb) can be used as noun (e.g. Running is her favorite sport), but it is often awkward, particularly when used with a possessive.
In the options
A.The organism’s trying to metabolize… (wrong)
B.The organism’s attempt to metabolize… (correct)

Substituting the noun attempt for the gerund trying eliminates the problem.

Now I got how I made this rule. Without understanding the rule properly, I mugged it up. Half baked understanding is a very dangerous thing.

The correct rule is gerund can be preceded by a possessive noun. In fact, typically, a gerund should be precede by a possessive noun, but it’s not mandatory. Check the following link: https://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive ... erunds.htm

Scoobydooby do you agree with me?

Good discussion.

I will add the following:

"a noun preceding a gerund must be in the possessive case if the noun is the doer of the action described by the gerund"

btw - this did not come from me - but I am following it

Here, "burning" is a gerund and "human beings" are the doers. They are responsible for the burning.

ohwell wrote:Good discussion.

I will add the following:

"a noun preceding a gerund must be in the possessive case if the noun is the doer of the action described by the gerund"

btw - this did not come from me - but I am following it

Here, "burning" is a gerund and "human beings" are the doers. They are responsible for the burning.

Thanks for sharing the rule. Do you have the source of this rule?

yes karmayogi and ohwell, totally agree.

however, if there is a readily available noun form which can substitute the gerund, then that noun form is preferred to the gerund form


A.The organism’s trying to metabolize… (wrong)
B.The organism’s attempt to metabolize… (correct)

therefore "attempt" is better than "trying" in the example KY quoted. read this somewhere, not sure where

if there are no synonymous/ready noun forms available then possessive noun+gerund form works fine like in the following

"Her singing/swimming was much apprediated."