HOT Competition 28 Aug/8PM: Northern Alaska receives more sunlight tha

“little polar ice melts during the summer” – implies that actually certain amount of ice melts. There is anyway some melting.
Here, “little” is an adjective and “polar ice” is the noun to which “melts” refers. So, “polar ice” melts.

“little of the polar ice melts” – almost no ice melts because sun reflects the sunlight. Here, “of the polar ice” is a noun modifier and “little” is a noun to which “melts” refers. So, “little” melts. When we say “I have little to complain about”, we mean “I have almost nothing to complain about”.

The intended meaning of the sentence requires the latter because it wants to deliver that “the ice reflects much of sunlight, and thus almost NO ice melts during the summer. If it melted, then cities would be flooded”. Let’s bear this in the box on top of our neck and start to analyze the choices.


A. yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, the water levels would rise 245 feet and submerge cities.

1. “temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective” – is an unacceptable parallelism.
2. “so cold… so that” is unidiomatic
3. “little polar ice melts during the summer” implies that actually certain amount of ice melts, not the intended meaning.
4. “otherwise, the water levels would” – to which part of the preceding sentence “otherwise” refers? What could be otherwise? The temperatures are so cold? Little ice melts? Ambiguous.


B. yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is so reflective that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so, the water levels would rise 245 feet and submerge cities.

Bingo.
1. “the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is so reflective that” is the correct parallelism.
2. “little of the polar ice” is the needed phrase
3. “were it to do so” correctly introduces a hypothetical situation. Ice actually doesn’t melt, but if it melted…
Correct


C. yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else the water levels would rise

1. “the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap so reflective” misses “is” after “ice cap”. Otherwise, “are” would be implied in the place of “is”, leading to subject-verb disagreement.
2. “little polar ice melts” implies that actually certain amount of ice melts, not the intended meaning.
3. “or else” cannot deliver a contrast. We need a reverse hypothetical situation.


D. yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective, that little of the polar ice melts during the summer, additionally the water levels would rise

1. “the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective” - is unidiomatic
2. “additionally” is not a conjunction, so D is run-on sentence.
3. no hypothetical situation is introduced. “additionally the water levels would rise” contradicts what the first clause says.


E. yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap reflects so that little of the polar ice melts during the e summer; if it did the water levels would rise

1. “the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap reflects so that” - is unidiomatic
2. “the ice cap reflects” – reflects what? “reflects” misses an object.


Hence B

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IMO B

Concepts Checked: Parallelism & Uses of IDIOM "So that" Vs "So X that Y"
# So that - "Shows Purpose". eg: i will go tomorrow so that she can join me.
# So X that Y - "Shows Cause & Effects". eg: the bracelet was so expensive that i couldn't afford it.

Ques: Northern Alaska receives more sunlight than does any other place, yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, the water levels would rise 245 feet and submerge cities.

A. is ** reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise, - Incorrect
IDIOM "so that" is wrongly used here. Also "so" is req before reflective to maintain parallelism.

B. is so reflective that little of the polar ice melts during the summer; were it to do so, Correct
IDIOM ‘so x that Y’ is perfectly fine here. In addition the subjunctive phrase ‘were it to do so’ indicates a hypothetical situation that result in increase in the levels of ocean water. Correct parallelism - "the temperatures are so cold" & "the ice cap is so reflective"

C. so reflective that little polar ice melts during the summer, or else Incorrect
Parallelism issue- Auxiliary verb "IS" missing after "the ice cap"

D. is ** reflective, that little of the polar ice melts during the summer, additionally Incorrect
"So" is required before reflective to maintain parallelism with "the temperatures are so cold "

E. reflects so that little of the polar ice melts during the e summer; if it did Incorrect
IDIOM "so that" is wrongly used here. Also parallelism isn't maintained in "yet the temperatures are so cold and the ice cap reflects,

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Error Analysis
This sentence test knowledge of
- idiom "So that"
- parallelism
- conditional sentence.

A. is reflective, so that little polar ice melts during the summer; otherwise,
Parallelism is missing in this option. The temperatures are so cold and the ice is so reflective could have been better.
Sentence after (;) should be independent.

Parallelism is maintained in this option. Sentence after (;) is independent. This option looks good to me.

"is" is missing before "so reflective" . This option has broken parallelism.

"so" is missing between "is reflective" . This option has broken parallelism. Later part of sentence changes intended meaning of sentence.

This option has broken parallelism. "If it did" is wrong for condition.

IMO Answer: B

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CRACK Verbal Explanation:

A. so cold' and 'reflective' are not parallel. 'so that' is incorrect usage. "so that" is used to express intent. It implies that the "ice cap is reflective" because it wants "little polar ice to melt during summer" - clearly nonsensical.

B. Correct Answer. 'so cold' and so reflective' are parallel. The semicolon separates two independent but related clauses.

C. temperatures are so cold' and 'ice cap so reflective' are not parallel. (One is a clause; the other is a phrase). Note that we cannot use a coordinating conjunction to make a present tense clause and a hypothetical clause parallel.

D. Usage of 'so that' is incorrect. It seems to imply intent; there is none in the sentence. 'temperatures are so cold' and 'ice cap reflective' are not parallel.

E. Usage of 'so that' is incorrect. 'so cold' and 'reflects' are not parallel. Moreover, what?

Even though I marked B as my correct choice because it looked the best out of all 5, I am confused about the usage of 'it' in the clause following the semicolon and antecedent of the 'it'

Can someone help me out with that?

This one is based upon this old problem. It’s tagged as a GMATPrep problem in gmatclub, whereas ManhattanPrep’s forum finds it unofficial.

For a good explanation, read GMATGuruNY here

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