vahuja999 wrote:
There is no consensus on what role, if any, is played by acid rain in
slowing the growth or damaging forests in the eastern United States.
(A) slowing the growth or damaging
(B) the damage or the slowing of the growth of
(C) the damage to or the slowness of the growth of
(D) damaged or slowed growth of
(E) damaging or slowing the growth of
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/26/us/broad-damage-found-in-trees-in-eastern-us.htmlThere is no consensus on what role, if any, is played by acid rain in
damaging or slowing the growth of the forests. Acid rain occurs when air pollutants, chiefly sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, change chemically in the atmosphere and fall to earth as acidic rain, snow, fog or dry particles.
The corrected sentence must make clear that both
damaging and
slowing the growth of refer to forests. E is the only choice that does so without introducing errors. In choice A,
of is required after
growth. In choices B and C, the use of
the damage instead of
damaging produces awkward and wordy constructions, and without to after damage, B is grammatically incomplete. In C,
the slowness of does not convey the original sense that the rate of growth has been slowed by acid rain. Choice D also changes the meaning of the sentence by making both
damaged and
slowed refer to
growth.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
The corrected sentence must make clear that both
damaging and
slowing the growth of refer to
forests. E is the only choice that does so without introducing errors. In choice A,
of is required after
growth. In choices B and C, the use of
the damage instead of
damaging produces awkward and wordy constructions, and without
to after
damage, B is grammatically incomplete. In C,
the slowness of does not convey the original sense that the rate of growth has been slowed by acid rain. Choice D also changes the meaning of the sentence by making both
damaged and
slowed refer to
growth.