Contrary to earlier conjectures, it may be that increased atmospheric

Question

Contrary to earlier conjectures, it may be that  increased atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of burning  fossil fuels would cool the globe by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by snow.

(A) increased atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of burning
(B) increased atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting from the combustion of
(C) increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere resulting from the combustion of
(D) carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that increase from burning
(E) atmospheric carbon dioxide that increased from burning

Please explain the differnece between "as a result of Ving" and "result from"?

manyu2409 · Accepted Answer

Hi jlgdr, • Contrary to earlier conjectures, it may be o that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of burning fossil fuels would cool the globe  by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by snow. MEANING • The sentence states something in contrast to the earlier hypotheses. It says: • It is possible that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide would cool the globe. o This increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide resulted from the burning of fossil fuels. • How can it cool the globe? - by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by snow. So, now we know what the author wants to convey through the original sentence. Let’s look at the options one by one and find out the errors, if there are any: OPTION A: Incorrect ‘…increased carbon dioxide as a result of burning fossil fuels…’: Let’s consider a simple example: India, as a result of win over Australia, moved into the semi-finals. In this sentence, the action of India moving into the semi-finals happened as a result of India’s win over Australia. Similarly, option A indicates that the atmospheric carbon dioxide would cool the globe as a result of the burning fossil fuels. This meaning is illogical. The possibility is that the increased atmospheric carbon dioxide would cool the globe. OPTION B: Correct The verb-ing modifier ‘resulting’ modifies the preceding noun ‘increased atmospheric carbon dioxide’ and tells us about the reason of the increase in the carbon dioxide. OPTION C: Incorrect The result of the combustion of fossil fuels is ‘increased atmospheric carbon dioxide’ not ‘increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere’. ‘Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere’ is wordy in comparison to ‘increased atmospheric carbon dioxide’. OPTION D: Incorrect 1. Since ‘that’ refers to ‘carbon dioxide’, it is singular. Hence using plural verb ‘increase’ is incorrect. 2. This option states that the carbon dioxide would cool the globe, while the original sentence stated that the increased carbon dioxide would cool the globe. The meaning is changed. OPTION E: Incorrect ‘…atmospheric carbon dioxide that increased from….’ means that the atmospheric carbon dioxide increased something. ‘increased’ is acting as a verb here for the subject ‘that’. It cannot act as a verb-ed modifier because then there would be no verb in the dependent clause starting with ‘that’. P.S.: ‘atmospheric carbon dioxide’ simply means the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. Hope this helps!

Manyu

sayantanc2k · Answer

The main reason that A is wrong is the usage of "as a result of".

The phrase "as a result of..." cannot directly refer to CO2, but should refer to the  formation  of CO2 ( either the verb "is formed" directly or the past participle "formed").

The correct construction could be as follows:
"As a result of burning fossile fuels, CO2 is formed." ( adverbial phrase used to refer to the verb "is formed")

Another alternative extension of this usage could be as follows:
Instead of a complete clause, even a past particple "formed" would be acceptable. The structure would then be as follows:
"CO2 formed as a result of burning...."

You are right that people who do not come from mechanical engineering background would not know that combustion is controlled burning. However even for them who consider both these words synonymous, "combustion" would be preferable, since in most cases a concrete noun form is preferred to a gerund form.

surat · Answer

chihao, are you sleeping? people crave for an answer... :-D

meanwhile, i think, the answer is e . c and d do not fit with would . a and b comparing with e are wordy...

marcodonzelli · Answer

Contrary to earlier conjectures, it may be that  increased atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of burning  fossil fuels would cool the globe by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by snow.

(A) increased atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of burning
 what does "as a result" refer to? 
(B) increased atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting from the combustion of
 correct. resulting refers to increased carbon dioxide. 
(C) increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere resulting from the combustion of
 it seems that the practice of increasing would cool..., changing the meaning. moreover, does resulting refer to atmosphere? unclear 
(D) carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that increase from burning
 that is unclear 
(E) atmospheric carbon dioxide that increased from burning 
 wrong tense

sudeep · Answer

Contrary to earlier conjectures, it may be that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (noun phrase) resulting from the combustion of burning fossil fuels (participle phrase modifying the noun phrase) would cool the globe by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by snow.

This is not reflected in the C.

This is not reflected in the C.

jlgdr · Answer

Alternative OE needed here, not one of the posts clearly explains this question. What the hell is atmospheric carbon dioxide anyways? Cheers! J

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Contrary to earlier conjectures, it may be that  increased atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of burning  fossil fuels would cool the globe by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by snow.
(A) increased atmospheric carbon dioxide  as a result of burning   as a result of + noun comes before a consequence, not to describe the cause of the consequence 
 (B) increased atmospheric carbon dioxide resulting from the combustion of 
 (C)  increasing  carbon dioxide in the atmosphere resulting from the combustion of 
(D) carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that  increase  from burning  suggests more than one type of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and should say "increases" 
(E) atmospheric carbon dioxide  that increased from burning   suggests more than one type of atmospheric carbon dioxide

daagh · Answer

Fossil fuels (coal, crude oil and natural gas) are those that have been fossilized from millions of years ago. The process of using them is called combustion, which is to ignite them in a closed chamber such as a furnace, an engine etc; Combustion’s main purpose is to harness heat.

On the contrary burning refers to using sources such as wood that are not fossilized but used immediately. Burning is mostly done in open fires. The purpose here would be mostly for lighting and sometimes to generate heat like in cooking.

Base on the above description choices A, D and E. that call usage of fossil fuel as burning are out. Between B and C: Increased atmospheric CO2 means, high level of CO2. This is the correct meaning as in B;

However, it may be that increasing Co2 in the atmosphere may mean two things. 1. Increasing may be an on - going effect or it may mean that increasing CO2 in the atmosphere by some agent; both the prospects are not the intended meaning. So C is out

techiesam · Answer

There is no doubt that B is the right choice,but the questions needs the student to understand the difference between combustion and burning.Doesn't that require outside knowledge?

emcheeks · Answer

In my guide book, that is exactly what it says. So yes.

Bambi2021 · Answer

A vs B.

A) Increased from burning. Not a perfect match between tenses, I guess. If its still burning, it must be increasing.

B) Increased from the combustion of. The combustion can be interpreted as ended and the past tense is justified.

Posted from my mobile device

gmatimothy · Answer

Jezza · Answer

In my opinion, "increasing carbon dioxide" is not a thing, this alone would be sufficient to eliminate C. How can CO2 increase? only the volume of CO2 may increase.

This is analogous to say something like "rising money spent on national events".

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