The recent floods in Pakistan were caused by an incessant

consider as is just unidiomatic. Consider X Y is the correct idiom, it's worth remembering because it is quite a common idiom.

(B) Pakistan have been caused by an incessant spell of rains, a spell that weather scientists have forecast to continue into late next month and they consider

the wrong tense is used here, have forecast implies that the scientists started the forecasting in the past and they continue doing so in the present. Also remember the rule that perfect is only used when doing otherwise will create an ambiguity regarding the time of the action or distort meaning when not used.

who can explain what's wrong with B?

In order to maintain parralism, 2 parallel clauses should start with the same word.

Since the first clause begins with that ( This is because 'That' here modifies the noun 'Spell' ) so to maintain parallism the scond parallel clause needs to start with 'that'.

However can someone explain why consider 'Consider as' is incorrect .... i.e I am confused between option C and D

Hey Rafi,
Yes that makes sense, Consider X,Y is the correct idiom ... I guess I missed it as I could not put it in that format.

Splits
1) considered as X vs considered X (Considered X is correct) So, (A) and (D) are out.
2) Pakistan were caused vs Pakistan have been caused (both possible)
3) Parallelism, so (B) is out
4) active vs passive ,so (E) is out

Only (C) uses "considered X", maintains ||sm, and uses active voice.

Why is E wrong, is it only because of the passive voice? Is this a valid error?

Thanks!

(E)Pakistan have been caused by an incessant spell of rains, a spell that is forecast to continue by weather scientists into late next month and that is considered

E’s problem is an illogical change in word order.

that is forecast to continue by weather scientists --- by weather scientists after to continue is wrong word order. It implies the continuance is done is by the weather scientists.

The correct word order should be: that is forecast by weather scientists to continue -- here it is clear, that the weather scientist are only forecasting that the spell will continue
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Deepak



These are relative clause modifiers of the noun ‘spell’. The relative clauses have their own verbs in the form of forecast and consider
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Can someone explain why have been is used instead of were...

When one predicts something to continue into future, it has to be going on at the moment;
We cannot use the term 'continue' for something that is already ended. Hence a present perfect ‘have been’.
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Following is my take on this question
A- the second which clause after and uses a plural verb. This use of plural suggests that the which clause refers to rains and not spell. The major mistake in this sentence is the use of present perfect for forecast. This implies that the forecast happened in the past and continued into the present which is not true. Also, consider as is unidiomatic.
B - same error as A. Also, I think the parallel structure is maintained in this question. We dnt necessarily need the that after and because the pronoun after and implies the parallel structure.
C - Uses present tense to correct the error.
D - consider as is unidiomatic
E - no need to cover active to passive in this case.

Posted from my mobile device

What are "They" here in Answer C:
(C) and that they consider the worst in the area for nearly a century

erictse1103

C. Pakistan have been caused by an incessant spell of rains, a spell that weather scientists forecast to continue into late next month and that they consider

You can see the construction -- a spell that the weather scientists forecast and that they ( the scientists) consider.

Obviously, you can see the reason that neither the floods nor the rains have the capacity to consider.
Please appreciate that SC is just not grammar but a part of verbal reasoning.

I see that this is your first posting and I welcome you to the forum for undergoing a never-before experience.

Best wishes
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GMATNinja

Isnt the passive construction in E more clear in meaning than C?
Pl shed your thoughts.
Thanks in advance

Take another look at the relevant portion of (C): "a spell that weather scientists forecast to continue into late next month and that they consider the worst in the area for nearly a century."

We're given two "that" modifiers that both clearly describe the "spell." And the two "that" modifiers are parallel to each other. We can see that the weather scientists are the agent of both actions: they forecast the spell of rains to continue and they consider the spell of rains the worst in a century. Everything looks good.

Now compare the above construction to (E): "a spell that is forecast to continue by weather scientists into late next month and that is considered the worst in the area for nearly a century." Again, we have two "that" clauses describing the spell. But the modifiers aren't as clear now. The first is a passive voice construction in which we we're told that weather scientists forecasted the spell to continue. That's fine. But the second modifier is a passive construction in which no agent is mentioned, so we don't know who considers the spell of rain the worst in a century. Is it the weather scientists again? Everyone? An anonymous hot dog vendor? It's not clear.

This is why the passive voice is sometimes problematic: not because it's inherently wrong, but because in certain instances, it creates confusion. (E) might not be definitively wrong, but (C) is clearer, and therefore better.

I hope that helps!
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The recent floods in Pakistan were caused by an incessant spell of rains, which, weather scientists have forecast to continue into late next month and which were considered as the worst in the area for nearly a century

(A) Pakistan were caused by an incessant spell of rains, which weather scientists have forecast to continue into late next month and which were considered as -> Consider take nothing. So, "as" is incorrect to add.

(B) Pakistan have been caused by an incessant spell of rains, a spell that weather scientists have forecast to continue into late next month and they consider -> "that weather scientists have forecast" and "they consider..." are not parallel. Incorrect.

(C) Pakistan have been caused by an incessant spell of rains, a spell that weather scientists forecast to continue into late next month and that they consider -> Now, "that weather scientists have forecast" and "that they (weather scientists) consider..." are parallel. I didn't get any error further. Let's keep it.

(D)Pakistan have been caused by an incessant spell of rains, a spell that weather scientists forecast to continue into late next month and that they consider as -> Consider takes nothing. Incorrect.

(E)Pakistan have been caused by an incessant spell of rains, a spell that is forecast to continue by weather scientists into late next month and that is considered -> "that weather scientists have forecast" and "that is consider..." are not parallel. Incorrect.

So, I think C.

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