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
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Choosing between A and E, i would stick with A since to impact the most on people is grammaticaly wrong. To impact someone and to have an impact on something/someone are correct uses.

In this case, I am rather skeptical about the use of the modal would rather than will. Would Is normally used
1. when a direct speech that is set in the past is converted into a reported or indirect speech, where in the term will is turned into ther past would, to avoid the shift of tense.

2. As a past subjunctive, when presenting a hypothetical ness that is never going to happen.

Ex: if I were to choose to visit a planet, I would rather choose Jupiter, because it is the biggest.

3. Where you want to impart a certain degree of speculation about the event or the phenomenon

Ex: With Sachin losing his sheen, I think that Mumbai Indians would be hammered out in this IPL.
Well, it is just a crude guess and it may or may not happen. There may be other instances, but by and large, these are the uses of the auxiliary verb 'would'.

In this case, the climatologists have all along indicated that the most obvious effects were those three things. In fact, it sounds as if these are the only three things that are sure to happen. There seems to be not even an iota of speculation about it. How can we use a verb such as would in such cock-sure circumstances. I rather think that the use of will be the most appropriate in the given text and in A
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Hi E-GMAT,
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.
A. the most obvious effects, and those that would have the largest
impact on people, would be extremes of temperature,
precipitation, and storminess
B. the effects that are the most obvious ones, extremes of temperature,
precipitation, and storminess, would be those impacting
the most on people
C. those effects to have the largest impact on people, extremes of
temperature, precipitation, and storminess, are what are the
most obvious effects
D. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, the most
obvious effects, that they would have the largest impact on people
E. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, which are
the most obvious effects, are those to impact the most on people.

Could you please explain Choice A & B.

My Analysis, the noun phrase "extremes of temperature,
precipitation, and storminess," should come in between the modifier.

Thanks

Hi there,

Option B changes the intended meaning significantly. Notice what the original sentence says, and how it uses "would".

The sentence uses "would" to indicate what the most obvious effects would be. "The most obvious effects... would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess."

However, in option B, the placement of "would" -- and thus, the meaning it indicates -- has changed. This option says that "the effects... would be those impacting." So, this option is using "would" to refer to the impact of the effects, whereas the original uses "would" to identify what the effects would be. I hope this distinction in meaning is now clearer.

Regards,
Meghna
_________________

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.

Lets break the sentence:
Clause 1: Discussion of greenhouse effects has usually focused on - Discussion is the subject and has focused is the verb
Clause 2 : whether the Earth would warm and by how much - the earth is the subject and would warm is the verb
Clause 3: but climatologists have indicated all along - Climatologists is the subject and have indicated is the verb
Clause 4: that the most obvious effects - effects is the subject
Clause 5: and those that would have the largest impact on people - those is sub and would have is verb
Continuation of clause 4 : would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess - would be is the verb

Sentence is correct as is. there is no error in the sentence

A. the most obvious effects, and those that would have the largest impact on people, would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess

B. the effects that are the most obvious ones, extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, would be those impacting the most on people - This sentence changes the meaning. Notice that original sentence says that the most obvious effects and those that would effect people would be X,Y and Z but this sentence says that most obvious effects would be X,Y and Z that effect the people.

C. those effects to have the largest impact on people, extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, are what are the most obvious effects - incomplete sentence. try to read the whole sentence.

D. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, the most obvious effects, that they would have the largest impact on people-

E. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, which are the most obvious effects, are those to impact the most on people : use of which is wrong

Is the usage of present "have ..." and past "would" correct ?

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.

Can someone explain why the use of and? What are we listing?

Breaking down the sentence
Discussion(Main Subject) of greenhouse effects has (verb) usually focused on whether the Earth would warm AND by how much , BUT (coordinating conjunction)
climatologists (subject) have indicated (verb) 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.

The words in blue are the prepositional phrases in parallel separated by AND
the words in green are the relative clauses in parallel separated by AND
Lastly, 'AND' is used in the list -temperature , precipitation AND Storminess

The bare sentence structure without fluff : Discussion has focused on (X) and (Y) BUT Climatologist have indicated that [A] and [ B] would be extremes of P,Q,and R .

Usage of AND:--
AND is used to combine two words (Andy and George) --compound subject that takes a plural verb ;
combine two sentences/independent clauses (I went to school AND played football )--coordinating conjunction
and indicate the end of a list (U,V,W,X,Y,AND Z)
Hence AND is a excellent marker for //m since you can easily spots whether the grammatical elements on either side of AND are // or not and eliminate the options accordingly

Question about "would"
whenever we talk about a FUTURE prediction we use "would"
Here the scientist are predicating the climatic factors with the largest impact in the FUTURE .Hence, the usage of WOULD is correct.

Question about "HAVE"
Present perfect tense is used for a task that has begun in the past and continues in the present or the effect of the task continues upto the present (though the task is over)

Here the task of Indicating (by the scientist ) has already been done and its effect (the indication/prediction) goes on upto the present point . So HAVE INDICATED is correctly used.

Hope it's clear

I found this convincing explanation in another forum

E.
no clear referent

E.
akward

E.
set the part as non-essential when it is actually essential in the stem

I also add that there is a clear shift in voice here from would be to are

This is my analysis
A. this alternative sounds good, It could be consider a posible answer
B. the function of "extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess," is not clear. It is a noun phrase but does not have a function
C. The same problem as B
D.The conector ", " that join "storminess, the most" create a run on sentence
E. the use of "the most on people' is wrong, The correct for of superlative is "The most + noun/noun phrase".

Other alternative to be considered is evaluate the structure the superlative 'The most" that need a noun/noun phrase.
With this analysis B and E are out.
D is a run on sentence
C presents a noun phrase "extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess" that does not have function.
A is the best

Option B:

The phrase "extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess," is an appositive used as a non-essential modifier to refer to "effects". The problem with option B is the faulty use of pronoun "those" - "those" is used to create a new copy of the noun it refers: The cars you have is bigger than those I have. "Those" does not refer to the same cars, but different ones (the ones that I own). However in option B "those" is used to refer to the same effects, not different ones. Hence B is wrong. The correct pronoun should be "the ones" instead of "those".

Another problem with option B is that "effects that are the most obvious ones" is wordy - better is "most obvious effects".

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.
A. the most obvious effects, and those that would have the largest
impact on people, would be extremes of temperature,
precipitation, and storminess
B. the effects that are the most obvious ones, extremes of temperature,
precipitation, and storminess, would be those impacting
the most on people
C. those effects to have the largest impact on people, extremes of
temperature, precipitation, and storminess, are what are the
most obvious effects
D. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, the most
obvious effects, that they would have the largest impact on people
E. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, which are
the most obvious effects, are those to impact the most on people
_________________

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.

A. the most obvious effects, and those that would have the largest impact on people, would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess
B. the effects that are the most obvious ones, extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, would be those impacting the most on people
--> ones stands for effects --> the effects that are the most obvious effects --> awkward
C. those effects to have the largest impact on people, extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, are what are the most obvious effects
D. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, the most obvious effects, that they would have the largest impact on people
E. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, which are the most obvious effects, are those to impact the most on people
_________________

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


Hi, E GMAT
Thanks to your explanation I can eliminate answer choices (B), (C),(D),and (E).
However, as a non native, I feel uncomfortable about sentence structure of (A).

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.


(A) the most obvious effects,and those that would have the largest impact on people,would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess

this sentence can be revised like bellow, thereby the phrase "and those that would have the ...." works as absolute phrase or apposition?

Revised version (my opinion)
climatologists indicated that the most obvious effects would be extremes of temperature, precipi, and stormi, and those that would have the largest impact on people.


climatologists have indicated all along that the most obvious effects would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess and those that would have the largest impact on people

Please help me !

Gmat club verbal expert (GMATNinja) can you please explain the parallelism in question option A.

Hi TamYooo, your revised version would be interpreted as:-

The most obvious effects would be:
(i) extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess and
(ii) those (effects) that would have the largest impact on people

This is clearly changing the meaning of the original sentence, for it fails to mention that extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess are the effects that would have the largest impact on people.
_________________

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.

Looking through the lens of grammar, notwithstanding the change of meaning contained in many choices in the choices, we can say :

to impact people is ok
impacting the people is ok
to have an impact on people is ok

to impact the most on people is not ok
Impacting the most on the people is not ok


A. the most obvious effects, and those that would have the largest impact on people, would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess --- Probably, the least twisted presentation, although it is not clear whether the compound subject -- the most obvious effects, and those that would have the largest impact on people-- can be taken per se as structurally parallel with a mere noun phrase on one side of the conjunction 'and' followed by a relative clause on the other side. The comma before 'would' that essentially separates the subject form the verb is also aggravating the muddle

B. the effects that are the most obvious ones, extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, would be those impacting the most on people--impacting the most on people is unidiomatic

C. those effects to have the largest impact on people, extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, are what are the most obvious effects ---are what are - This is an error of double verbing. The phrase 'are what' is redundant.

D. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, the most obvious effects, that they would have the largest impact on people--- A deep fragment, with no sign of verb for the relative clause starting with that extremes …


E. extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess, which are the most obvious effects, are those to impact the most on people -- to impact the most on people is unidiomatic.


The takeaway is that this is a GMAT question and we must learn to live with it.
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The main clause here is "Climatologists have indicated all along that the most obvious effects would be extremes of temperature, precipitation, and storminess." The three elements in red are the aforementioned "obvious effects." Note that it's perfectly acceptable for one of the elements to be a noun phrase - "extremes of temperature" - and two of the elements to be simple nouns - "precipitation" and "storminess." The important consideration is that all the elements in the list perform the same function, and here they do.

I hope that helps!
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