Atmospheric conditions that helped create the extended drought in New

HI Experts,

Please advise why Option A is wrong

Thanks

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

An easy decision point to start with in this problem is the pronoun choice between “its” and “their” at the start of the answers. Looking back in the sentence, it is clear that the antecedent of this pronoun is “the region,” so “their” is incorrect and you can confidently eliminate (D) and (E).

While you might now notice a choice between “if” and “whether” in (A), (B), and (C), that type of diction choice is best avoided, as the two words are often interchangeable. Instead, notice that (A) and (B) use “wonder” while (C) uses “wondering”. Looking back in the sentence, you see that there is a participial modifier attached to the main clause: “have returned, leaving the region dry and warm this summer and its residents wondering…” - choice (C) is correct.

Using the active verb “wonder” in (A) and (B) creates a sentence construction error – you cannot link a new clause on after “this summer” unless you have a comma before the “and” indicating that there is a separate clause. Furthermore, this part of the sentence goes more logically as a second part of the modifying phrase that indicates what has happened because the atmospheric conditions have returned.