sunny91 wrote:
GMATNinja wrote:
rekhabishop wrote:
Isn't C a run on??
The answer should be E, right?
Please explain each and every option in detail.
(C) definitely isn't a run-on. By definition, a run-on sentence consists of two independent clauses that aren't appropriately separated by punctuation or a conjunction.
In (C), the sentence begins with an independent clause: "A newly released study on the tectonic plates forming the Pacific basin indicates..." The rest of the sentence is a subordinate clause, beginning with the word "that": "...
that by the time they have shifted even a few miles, a vast percentage of the coastline currently home to major world cities already will have become entirely submerged because of global warming."
So grammatically speaking, this is completely fine: just an independent clause with a long subordinate clause.
Check out the excellent explanations by
daagh and
akshayk above. If you still have specific questions after that, let us know!
Hi GmatNinja,
Sorry for troubling you. I will be obliged if you can help me to understand why option E is wrong. I got why option C is correct, but is having a difficulty to eliminate option E.
E) a vast percentage of the coastline that is currently home to major world cities, by the time the plates have shifted even a few miles, will become entirely submerged because of global warming
here cities will become submerged and not plates as, by the time the plates have shifted even a few miles, are set of by commas, so this looks like non-essential modifier. now, the plates will modify the previous clause- a vast percentage of the coastline that is currently home to major world cities. Plates cant modify the next clause- will become entirely submerged because of global warming because then the clause a vast percentage of the coastline that is currently home to major world cities will modify what? both plates and cities cant modify the same thing- will become entirely submerged because of global warming.
The only reason I find option E to eliminate is that by the time the plates have shifted even a few miles needs to be part of the main sentence and not as a non-essential modifier.
Please help.
Use of future perfect is necessary in this case.
First consider the use of past perfect: When there are references of two interrelated past events (verbs or time references), then the former event should be in past perfect.
By year 2000, I had completed my studies.... correct. (past perfect)
By year 2000, I completed my studies... wrong. (simple past)
In year 1999, I completed my studies.... correct. (simple past)
(Here note that the latter event may not necessarily be a verb and can merely be a time reference , e.g. year 2000 in the above example).
Now with the above idea in mind, examine option E.
By year 2075, the coastline will have become submerged.. correct (future perfect)
By year 2075, the coastline will become submerged.... wrong. (simple future).
In year 2074, the coastline will become submerged.. correct (simple future).
Now you would see why simple future in option E is wrong and future perfect in option C is correct.