Clouds are formed from the evaporation of the oceans water

Hello Experts,
MartyTargetTestPrep, GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, AjiteshArun, VeritasPrepHailey, AndrewN
It's hard to digest the meaning of the correct choice C! Should I consider the whole sentence is the list of 3 items of the action(evaporates, rises, and condenses)? Or, should I consider the 'rises high into the atmosphere' is the modification of 'ocean water evaporates'? It seems they are the items of 3 actions. But, what role the 'warmed by the Sun' part play in choice D? Is it modifier? If this one is the modifier, and if we withdraw that part (with COMMA), then the reaming part could be:
(D) The water in the oceans evaporates, warmed by the Sun, rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust, which forms clouds.

^^
(D) The water in the oceans evaporates (without comma) rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust, which forms clouds.
Two verbs trying to be the verb at a time of one subject! so, that seems wrong. This one is my explanation.
Q: How can we remove (other than WHICH part) choice D? Can you share your own thought, please?

Thanks in Advanced...
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Good questions, TheUltimateWinner. I also see (C) as a list, for the reason you provided. If the second verb were turned into rising instead, then it would indeed be serving as a modifier, but since it is conjugated the same way as evaporates and condenses, we are left with a list. In (D), warmed by the sun is logically modifying the water, jumping over the prepositional phrase and verb. It would be better placed before the verb, though, for clarity, rather than disrupting the list of actions. Consider:

The water in the oceans, warmed by the Sun, evaporates, rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust, which forms clouds.

Yes, we still have that which clause at the end, but if I have come up with a reason to doubt the placement of a phrase in (D), and my altered sentence better resembles (C), then I will only feel more confident getting behind the harder-to-argue-against answer in (C).

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me.

- Andrew
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AndrewN
Thanks for the feedback.
You make me confused by the highlighted part. It seems that the highlighted part does not work! If we put the 'warmed by the Sun' part before the verb (evaporates), it essentially means that 'warmed by the Sun' part is going to modify only 'The water in the oceans'. Now we can ask questions like:
warmed by the Sun what? It is actually-warmed by the Sun The water in the oceans. Right? But, why did we use the word 'warm'? Actually, 'warm' is connected with the verb 'evaporates'. So, we must keep the modifier after 'evaporates' or before 'The water in the oceans (good version: ocean water)'. I don't know that i missed anything.
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Apologies for the confusion, but I am sorry to say that your understanding is incorrect on this one. The highlighted part would work just fine. It is water that is warmed by the Sun and subsequently evaporates (and does other things), similar to saying, Because the water in the ocean is warmed by the Sun, some water evaporates... I would argue that although the placement of the phrase is flexible, putting it after the first verb in an interrupted three-verb list is less clear than keeping the three verbs together.

If some other Expert wishes to comment on the issue, I would be happy to hear him or her out. You asked how to cast doubt on (D) without referring to the which clause, so I answered with that request in mind. If you have your own answers already, then it begs the question, why ask for the input of others? (It seems you have made up your mind as to what the sentence needs to say.)

- Andrew
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Hi,
I have explained above why do I think the choice D is wrong, but my reasoning may not be correct-I'm confused in this type of modifier (warmed by the Sun).
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OA: Warmed by the sun, ocean water evaporates, rises, and condenses.
Here, the four colored actions are presented in a logical sequence.
First, the water is WARMED.
Then, the water EVAPORATES, RISES and CONDENSES.
The implication is that the incipient green action leads to the three subsequent blue actions.

D: The water in the oceans evaporates, warmed by the Sun, rises, and condenses.
Here, the four colored actions are presented OUT OF SEQUENCE, with the incipient red action inserted inexplicably between the first two blue actions.
As a result, the intended meaning -- that the incipient red action leads to the three subsequent blue actions -- is not conveyed.
Since the ordering in D is illogical, eliminate D and choose C.
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GMATGuruNY
kudos for the nice explanation.
So, can we think of the following happen by the above explanation?

1/ Warmed by the sun, ocean water evaporates
2/ Warmed by the sun, ocean water rises
3/ Warmed by the sun, ocean water condenses


1/ warmed by the Sun, The water in the oceans evaporates
2/ The water in the oceans rises
3/ The water in the oceans condenses
Am I missing anything?
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Your understanding is correct in this respect:
In the OA, warmed precipitates all three actions that follow (evaporates, rises, condenses).
In D, warmed seems to precipitate only the first of these three actions (evaporates).
The meaning conveyed by the OA is more logical.



This line of reasoning is invalid.
It presupposes that -- if we remove the nonessential warmed-modifier from D -- we must also remove the comma that directly follows this modifier.
Not so.

SC100 in the OG12:
Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.
Here, if we remove the nonessential modifier in blue, we must retain the comma that follows this modifier, as follows:
Like the planets, the stars are in motion, but they are so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.
Even when the nonessential blue modifier is omitted, the comma immediately before but must be retained.

Similarly:
If remove the nonessential warmed-modifier from D, we must retain the comma directly before rises, as follows:
The water in the oceans evaporates, rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust.
The resulting structure is not invalid.
D can be eliminated primarily for its illogical sequence and for its misuse of which.
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Thanks for the feedback, awesome.
GMATGuruNY
Sir,
For the use of fanboys the highlighted part is ok for sure, but for the following sentence that does not make sense to me! I need to have a strong clarification on this issue, because I am facing so many problems on this sorta question.

Mr. X devoured his lunch, crunching loudly, and fell asleep.
^^
If we remove the modifier (crunching loudly) with COMMA, which has been kept after 'lunch' then we've the following one.

Mr. X devoured his lunch, crunching loudly, and fell asleep.
--> Mr. X devoured his lunch, and fell asleep.
^^ This sentence does not make sense at all! But, if we remove both COMMA then it should make sense, right?
--> Mr. X devoured his lunch and fell asleep.

Ron has discussed the use of COMMA in modifier in his study hall 'Thursdays with Ron'. I've attached a screenshot where Ron said we need to keep/remove both COMMA when considering modifier.

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If the ONLY purpose of a comma is to enclose a nonessential modifier -- and that nonessential modifier is removed -- then the comma must also be removed.
But if the comma serves an ADDITIONAL purpose, it must be retained after removal of the nonessential modifier.

SC100 in the OG12:
Like the planets, the stars are in motion, some of them at tremendous speeds, but they are so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.
Here, the comma between speeds and but serves not only to enclose the nonessential modifier in blue but also to precede the following FANBOY + INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.
Because the comma serves this additional purpose, it must be retained after we move the nonessential modifier, as shown below:
Like the planets, the stars are in motion, but they are so far away from the Earth that their apparent positions in the sky do not change enough for their movement to be observed during a single human lifetime.

D: The water in the oceans evaporates, warmed by the sun, rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust.
Here, the comma between sun and rises serves not only to enclose the nonessential modifier in blue but also to precede the second entry in a list of three parallel verbs (evaporates, rises and condenses).
Because the comma serves this additional purpose, it must be retained after we move the nonessential modifier, as shown below:
The water in the oceans evaporates, rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust.
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There are actually three working verbs that go with the subject of (C). The subject is "ocean water," and the verbs are "evaporates," "rises," and "condenses." It's totally fine to have more than one working verb in a sentence -- here, the three actions are all directly tied to the subject.

I hope that helps a bit!
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Hey GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, AndrewN and other members.

In option A, what do you all think about "oceans’ water". It sounds like the ocean is somehow in possession of the water or somehow owns the water. Is this correct?

Of course, I understand that there are other issues with A.

To be honest, Brian123, I am generally wary of possessives with apostrophes when it comes to GMAT™ SC, and for the very reason you touched on: such constructs often make the meaning of the sentence harder to pin down. When I first encountered oceans' water here, I was thinking of all the water in all the oceans until I reached the clause that follows, which singles out just the portion of water that is warmed. But I should not have to correct an earlier interpretation of a sentence if the meaning is clearly expressed. Rather, a well-written sentence should build forward momentum from beginning to end.

In other cases, a possessive might short-circuit an otherwise parallel series of nouns. Take a look at this 1000 Series question, for example (whatever else you may think of the series).

I am not arguing that the presence of an apostrophe warrants an automatic dismissal of an answer choice, just that you should be cautious when you see one in a sentence, and you should look at other options to see how they handle the same issue.

I hope that proves helpful to you. Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew
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Q: Clouds are formed from the evaporation of the oceans’ water that is warmed by the Sun and rises high into the atmosphere, condensing in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust.

Look out for modifier 'which'

(A) Clouds are formed from the evaporation of the oceans’ water that is warmed by the Sun and rises high into the atmosphere, condensing in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust. – the order of things is unclear in this sentence; evaporation of the ocean’s water happens to the water that has already been warmed by the sun and risen into the atmosphere (evaporation by definition)

(B) Clouds form by the Sun’s warmth evaporating the water in the oceans, which rises high into the atmosphere, condensing in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust. – ‘which’ seems to be modifying ‘oceans’ and not ‘the water’

(C) Warmed by the Sun, ocean water evaporates, rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust to form clouds. – correct order of things, grammatical

(D) The water in the oceans evaporates, warmed by the Sun, rises high into the atmosphere, and condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust, which forms clouds. – position of ‘which’ in this sentence makes it sound like particles of dust form clouds

(E) Ocean water, warmed by the Sun, evaporates and rises high into the atmosphere, which then condenses in tiny droplets on minute particles of dust to form as clouds. – position of ‘which’ in this sentence makes it sound like the atmosphere condenses instead of ocean water
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An OA in GMATPrep:
Scientists have become able to provide ever more accurate models of the atmosphere’s complex responses.
Note the usage of an apostrophe in the green portion.

That said, I would be wary of the following construction:
THE + POSSESSIVE + SINGULAR NOUN + that-MODIFIER
A: the oceans' water that is warmed by the sun
Here, the modifier in red does not seem viable.
Whereas the green portion seems to refer to ALL of the water in the world's oceans, the red portion restricts the meaning to only a SUBSET of the water.
As a result, the two colored portions seem to contradict each other.
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GMATNinja KarishmaB

Bit confused, "rises" is verb for the subject ocean water. How can water rise in the atmosphere.
Refer to the comment of GMATNinja

"In B, "which" can modify - "oceans or water". It can't modify oceans. I am not sure whether it is correct to say water rises in atmosphere, but the correct option has the construction - " evaporates, rises high into the atmosphere" can be say " rises high into the atmosphere" is wrongly modifying "evaporates"? since modifiers are placed closest to the word it is modifying, and hence becomes adverb in this case. However, meaning is incorrect "


Wont the same rationale apply to option C.

Hello Rickooreo,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the intended meaning here is that the water evaporates due to the sun's heat and then rises as water vapor.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Hey experts,

Could you please help me with option A? I am not unable to understand the exact reasoning behind it. Can we eliminate it basis that ,condensing refers back to main subject clouds which is an error. Can ,condensing refer back to oceans' water? Is there a rule that ,verb-ing will refer back to subject of main clause?

KarishmaB AndrewN ExpertsGlobal5