An analysis published online indicates that global warming will cause

First we identify all the nouns in the sentence:
- An analysis
- online
- global warming
- more deaths
- in summer
- higher temperatures

The intended antecedent of "these" is pretty clear:
- " ... these will not be offset by less death ..."

>> The only noun that can be "offset by less death" is "more deaths"
>> I would prefer the sentence to use "more number of deaths" and have "these" refer to "number of deaths" instead, but we get what we get


We want to check if "more deaths" as the antecedent of "these" is ambiguous in the sentences:
- "these" is plural, so you can safely remove all the singular nouns

>> Not "An analysis", Not "online", Not "global warming", Not "in summer" <-- Also pronouns cannot refer object of preposition iirc
>> Could be "more deaths" or "higher temperatures"


To reduce ambiguity, we want "these" to be closer to "more deaths" than to "higher temperatures", but you will notice we don't have such an option choice to choose from.
- (E) "... more deaths in summer because of higher temperatures but these..."
- You will notice that the above is actually a noun phrase (no verbs in it)
- "in summer" modifies "more deaths"
- "because of higher temperatures" modifies "more deaths"

>> in above case, the "these" can refer to "more deaths"
>> Also notice that there is almost no way to put the "because of higher temperatures" modifier before "more deaths"
>> It is also preferred to have (more deaths in summer) vs (fewer deaths in winter), so we cannot use (more deaths because of higher temperature in summer)

Hello VeritasKarishma GMATNinja daagh

Is it a good practice to eliminate an answer choice such as, in this case, answer option B, C, and D, primarily on the basis of the sentence structure?
I eliminated B,C and D because in a "Cause and Effect" type of sentence a Cause (global warming) must be followed by an effect(more deaths), not the other way around.

An analysis published online indicates that global warming will cause more deaths in summer due to higher temperatures, however, these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters.

A. global warming will cause more deaths in summer due to higher temperatures, however, these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters

B. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer due to higher temperatures but these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters

C. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer due to higher temperatures; however, these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters

D. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer because of higher temperatures and these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters

E. global warming will cause more deaths in summer because of higher temperatures but these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters

---

A / B can be eliminated because "less death" is incorrect. "Death" is not countable and should be used with "fewer" instead.

D is eliminated because of the use of "and". The sentence is not incorrect in and of itself, but you can find "but" or "however" in all the other options. This highly suggests some comparison is in order. Also, the use of "X and Y" requires both X and Y to be parallel - we have a "(passive) and (active)" construct here which is not parallel.

C is eliminated not because it is incorrect, but we just have a better option available. We also have the passive-active not parallel problem we see in option D, though im not entirely sure if the use of "however" requires parallelism.

E is the best option here - GW will cause (more deaths in summer) ... but the deaths will not be offset by (fewer deaths in winters)

Note:
Upon further inspection, I've also noticed that it is clearer for "in summer" to modify "deaths" (i.e. more deaths in summer) than for it is to modify "Global Warming" (i.e. Global Warming in summer). Can't really explain why.

Sorry to jump in here, but i recall seeing your example and i found the source:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/usage-of-ver ... 35220.html

If i recall correctly, there is a "rule" somewhere that states that a clause beginning with a "comma-verb-ing" modifier will either (1) give more information on the preceding clause, or (2) give the result of the preceding clause. I'm not completely sure this rule is true - just wanted to let you know that you did not lose your mind while studying for GMAT!

Hi Experts,

As far as I know, due to is always followed by Noun and because of is followed by Clause. But how come because of is correct here even though it is followed by Noun?

Also, is there any other reason why option C is incorrect?

Query--

daagh
@ expers

In E , Isn't "But " starting a new independent clause. Why we are not using it as FANBOY?

option a ) uses less for a countable noun - deaths
option b) Same as option A
option c) uses "however" to connect but it uses ";" making the X "however " Y unparallel.
option d) uses "and" to connect and fails to show contrast which was intended in the original sentence.
option e) uses "but" and keeps the structure X "but" Y parallel.

can anyone shed some light on "these"? what is it referring to?

Thank you for your reply.

I don't remember the source where I read this, but I have written this in my notes with an example:
Marry made a beautiful bouquet, winning accolades from everyone.
Cause then Effect

Here the Ing modifier is the result and the clause it modifies is the cause. Now here, clearly we can not switch the position, can we ?

Am I mixing up to different concepts ?

shrey

Yes, I am afraid you are getting mixed up. Modifiers are not the only kind of cause and effect. You cannot make a general English rule based on modifiers.

Thank you! You are right!

"these" refers to death in summer. meaning the number of deaths in summer will not be offset by the (fewer) number of deaths in milder winter.

C is wrong because "in summer" should modify "death" instead of "global warming". modifier issue.

Personally, I wouldn't exactly classify this as a modifier issue.

It IS possible to compare (effects of global warming in summer) v (effects of global warming in winter). I wouldn't reject this option even with the ommission of "effects of", because global warming is a phenomenon, and without context, a phenomenon in summer is valid.

I would classify this as a parallelism issue.

I classify modifier issue as one where (1) a modifier modifies the wrong thing, making the sentence illogical, or (2) a modifier can modify more than one thing, making the sentence ambiguous. (Global warming in summer) is neither wrong nor ambiguous.

It's a subtle difference in classification, but for me a modifier issue should cause some problems to the sentence in the context of the sentence, and never relative to OA.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi Monu

Both "due to" and "because of" are followed by nouns - the difference in them lies in what they modify.

"Because of" modifies a clause: <clause> because of <noun>
eg: The flight was cancelled because of engine failure.

"Due to" modifies a noun": noun> (<helping verb>) due to <noun>
eg: The flight’s cancellation was due to engine failure.

In this question, "global warming will cause more deaths in summer" is a clause and hence must be followed by "because of" to show causation, not "due to". Option (C) also has an unnecessary passive voice construction.

Hope this helps.

GMAT WHIZ OFFICIAL EXPLANATION


Step 1: Understanding Intended Meaning

An analysis published online indicates that

We are talking about an analysis that was published online. Per this analysis
global warming will cause more deaths in summer due to higher temperatures,

Incorrect usage of “due to” – Due to is a noun modifier that tells us a reason behind the noun. Here, “due to” is being used to tell us the reason behind the verb “will cause” – why will global warming cause more deaths in summer? Because of higher temperatures.
Correct version: “because of” should replace “due to” since “because of” is a verb modifier.
Per this analysis, global warming will cause more deaths in summer because of higher temperatures
however, these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters.

Incorrect punctuation used to separate two independent clauses
Correct version: use a semi-colon to separate “however” from the previous clause.
Incorrect modifier used:
“deaths” is a countable noun and “fewer” should be used instead of “less” which is used for uncountable nouns.
Intended meaning:

An analysis was published online.
Per this analysis, global warming will cause more deaths in summer because of higher temperatures.
But these higher number of deaths in summer will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters.


Step 2: Eliminate choices with identified errors

Checking for five aspects

1. Golden rules

2. Meaning

3. Lists

a. No error

4. Tenses

a. No error

5. Idioms

a. Incorrect usage of “due to”

Eliminate

The following choice/s have one or more of the errors present in Choice A.

Choice B and C

A. global warming will cause more deaths in summer due to higher temperatures, however, these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters

Option A Feedback:
Incorrect and Eliminated in Step 2

B. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer due to higher temperatures but these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters

Option B Feedback:
Incorrect and Eliminated in Step 2

C. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer due to higher temperatures; however, these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters

Option C Feedback:
Incorrect and Eliminated in Step 2

D. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer because of higher temperatures and these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters

Option D Feedback:
Fitting in the original sentence:

An analysis published online indicates that more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer because of higher temperatures and these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters.

Incorrect placement of the prepositional phrase “in summer”.
It seems the global warming will take place in summer
“And” does not bring about the intended contrast presented in the original statement. Instead two separate pieces of information seem to be presented here.
Incorrect Choice.

E. global warming will cause more deaths in summer because of higher temperatures but these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters

Correct Option

Option E Feedback:
Fitting in the original sentence

An analysis published online indicates that global warming will cause more deaths in summer because of higher temperatures but these deaths will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters.

Correct Choice.

An analysis published online indicates that global warming will cause more deaths in summer due to higher temperatures, however, these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters.

Option Elimination -

A. global warming will cause more deaths in summer due to higher temperatures, however, these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters - we need "because of" which is an adverbial modifier than the noun modifier "due to." Moreover, as the number of deaths is countable, we need "fewer" and not the singular uncountable "less." We need a semi-colon before "however." It it not tested that much on the GMAT.

B. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer due to higher temperatures but these will not be offset by less deaths in milder winters - the same issue as A. Moreover, it seems "in summer" is modifying "global warming." Are we saying "global warming in summer"? Not the intended meaning here.

C. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer due to higher temperatures; however, these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters - The same issues of A and B.

D. more deaths will be caused by global warming in summer because of higher temperatures and these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters - "global warming in summer" not the intended meaning.

E. global warming will cause more deaths in summer because of higher temperatures but these will not be offset by fewer deaths in milder winters - ok.