GMATNinja I understand that "which" can refer to a noun that is not the closest one, for example: The box of nails, which is laying on the table is really heavy. In this case, "which" refers to the box, not the nails. But regarding (B), the use of which is wrong because it can refers only to oceans or water and both of these meaning are wrong. The evaporated water is the one that "rises high...". Also, "which"cannot refer to evaporating. So the use of "which" is wrong. Right? Many tks!

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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.



This question tests parallelism along with intended Meaning

A). Evaporation, rises, condensing - None of the verbs is parallel to one another
B). Evaporating , Rises,condensing - None of the verbs is parallel to one another
c) . Evaporates, Rises, condenses - Parallel and correct
D). Usage of which is wrong - which refers to minute dust particles . And Minute dust particles didnot form clouds
The evaporation of ocean water forms clouds
E). Which refers to Atmosphere - again atmosphere didnot condense in tiny droplets


IMO - C

Hi GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo VeritasKarishma

Although I got this question correct, I have a doubt regarding option E. Only reason to eliminate option E is that - relative modifier which illogically modifies atmosphere.

But as per my knowledge 'which' can modify a noun away from it (exception to touch rule). Then why it cannot modify Ocean water in this case?

Please correct my conceptual gap. Thanks in advance.

Hi GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo VeritasKarishma

Although I got this question correct, I have a doubt regarding option E. Only reason to eliminate option E is that - relative modifier which illogically modifies atmosphere.

But as per my knowledge 'which' can modify a noun away from it (exception to touch rule). Then why it cannot modify Ocean water in this case?

Please correct my conceptual gap. Thanks in advance.

"which" can modify a noun slightly away but it does so when there is a good reason for it to do so, say multiple modifiers or a prepositional phrase.

(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.

Note here that which is very far away from what it is modifying with two other nouns in between.

Also note the structure of the sentence:
Ocean water .... evaporates and rises ..., which then condenses

Ocean water does A and B, which then does C.

Here, A, B and C are not parallel, hence I am bound to think that they do not refer to the same thing.

It should be:
"Ocean water does A, B and C."
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Hello experts MartyTargetTestPrep GMATNinja egmat

Within A and B,

(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.

(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.

Is the "oceans??? water" and "Sun???s warmth" incorrect? Those almost sound as though the water is possessed by the ocean and the warmth is possessed by the sun. Is it wrong to rule out for these reasons?

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.

(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. This has a meaning problem. This implies that the same water that is "warmed by the sun" and "rises high into the atmosphere", then evaporates. Eliminate.

(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" incorrectly modifies "oceans". It is not the oceans that rise into the atmosphere but the water. Eliminate.

(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 answer. Gets the chronology correct and no new errors are introduced.

(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. "which" modifies "dust", implying that the clouds are formed by dust, which is incorrect. Eliminate.

(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. "which" incorrectly modifies "atmosphere". The atmosphere does not condense in tiny droplets, the water does. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.
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GMATNinja
I think, ocean water doesn't rise high into the atmosphere directly; it warmed by the Sun first and then it rises high into the atmosphere.
Am I right?
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svasan05
Thanks for the support.
'which' can jump on the prepositional phrase. So, we can say that there is no issue with use of 'which' in choice B, because 'which' can indicate 'water' too. Most importantly, 'rises' is the singular verb, so we can think of the 'subject-verb' (the water rises) agreement perfectly makes sense.
Can you share your logic about how did you think that 'which' modifies 'oceans'?
Thanks__
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Yes! The liquid ocean water is warmed by the sun, causing it to evaporate (turn into water vapor, which is a gaseous state) and rise high into the atmosphere.
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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.

(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.- Warmed and rises are not parallel.

(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.- Does Oceans rises high into atmosphere. Modifier error.

(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.- Seems parallel and doesn't have modifier error. Let's keep it.

(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.- evaporates, warmed and rises are not parallel. Parallelism error.

(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. Does atmosphere condenses. Modifier error.

So, I think C.

GMATNinja
(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. red part acts as parallelism. yellow part modifies the whole sentence

(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.
I am not able to find the working verb in option C that is my biggest problem with choice
therefore I choose option A I am not able to find where I am wrong I do agree option C has no parallel issues but the working verb bothers me.
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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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