Sentence Correction

Q15:
The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that
Why do we need “whose”

We can eliminate A, C, E since the word 'so' comes after enough... this doesn't make sense. This leaves us with B, D. But choice B doesn't complete the sentence; raising shouldn't be here... "which raises" should be here instead. So, this leaves us with D.

raises represent present tense..
raisng present progressive..

so left with "d" and"e"

so could not be used with enough..and also so that is wrong idiom..
it should be so .."adjective...that...

"d" is correct..

Why do we need “whose”

My original Question remains unanswered

gmat740 wrote:

Why do we need “whose”

My original Question remains unanswered

I feel it modifies the projects

gmat740 wrote:

Why do we need “whose”

My original Question remains unanswered

Well, the 'whose' is the linking word for the description to follow; the cost is an attribute of the collection of projects.

Whose relates to people or to things. You can tell when to use 'whose' by changing the adjective clause into a free-running sentence. If the free running sentence contains his, hers, its, theirs --use whose

eg. I am walking beside my father whose name is Simon Dedalus. (His name is Simon Dedalus)

--Amatgmatnotes

Why do we need a WHOSE here? it is used for living things but I think in this question it is used for the projects

Can anyone please shed some light on this aspect of the question

ssgmatter wrote:Why do we need a WHOSE here? it is used for living things

This is incorrect. AFAIK, whose for non living in GMATLand is equally fine.

Hi Mitch,

could you confirm the usage of "whose" in D is right?

and what's the problem with choice B?

Thank you very much!

gmat740 wrote:Q15:
The city has proposed a number of water treatment and conservation projects the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that even environmentalists are beginning to raise alarms.
A. the cost of which raises water bills high enough so that
B. at a cost raising water bills so high that
C. at a cost which raises water bills high enough so
D. whose cost will raise water bills so high that
E. whose cost will raise water bills high enough so that
Why do we need �whose�

In A and C, since the city has only PROPOSED the projects -- and these projects might not actually happen -- the sentence cannot say that their cost RAISES water bills (in the present). Eliminate A and C.

In B, a present participle (such as RAISING) implies an action happening at the same time as the main action (HAS PROPOSED). Since the city has only PROPOSED the projects -- and these projects might not actually happen -- the sentence cannot say that their cost is RAISING water bills (in the present). Eliminate B.

In E, enough so that is not idiomatic. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

Whereas who and whom can refer only to people, whose can refer to ANYTHING.

Thanks GmatGuruNY , you brought to light another angle that i didnt consider before

IMO D.
Thanks GMATGuruNY for great explanation.