Hi All,

Discussion of greenhouse effects has usually focused on whether the Earth would warm and by how much, but climatologists have indicated all along that the most obvious effects, and those that would have the largest impact on people, would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess.


Error Analysis:

1. All the subject verb pairs are accounted for: “the most obvious effects” and “those” – “would be”, “that’ (refers to obvious effects) – “would have”.
2. The verb tenses used are correct. Since the sentence talks about future possibility, use of “would” is correct.
3. Pronoun “those” correct refers to “most obvious effects”.
4. Relative pronoun “that” correctly modifies “those” that refers to “the most obvious effects”.
5. “the most obvious effects” is parallel to “those” while “temperature”, “precipitation”, and “storminess” are parallel.
6. There are no idiom error and meaning error in this sentence.
7. This sentence is correct as is.

POE:

Choice A: the most obvious effects, and those that would have the largest impact on people, would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess: Correct for the reasons stated above.

Choice B: the effects that are the most obvious ones, extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, would be those impacting the most on people: Incorrect.
1. “the effects that are the most obvious ones” is way too wordy when we can say “the most obvious effects”.
2. The parallel list has been violated. The entities in the list are now “effects”, “extreme of temperature”, “precipitation”, and “storminess”.
3. Reference of “those” is ambiguous.
4. “impacting the most on people” is absolutely ungrammatical. The correct expression is either “have impact on people” or “impacting people”.

Choice C: those effects to have the largest impact on people, extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, are what are the most obvious effects: Incorrect.
1. Repeats the same parallelism error as in Choice B.
2. “what are “ is not needed.
3. This choice distorts the intended meaning. It says that the effects that would have the largest impact are the most obvious ones.

Choice D: extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, the most obvious effects, that they would have the largest impact on people: Incorrect. There is no verb for “extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess”. This leads to a fragment.

Choice E: extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, which are the most obvious effects, are those to impact the most on people: Incorrect.
1. Use of “which” is incorrect.
2. “to impact the most on people” is ungrammatical.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha