Newly built irrigation canals, which carry water from the neighboring

Question

Newly built irrigation canals, which carry water from the neighboring river to farms,  makes it possible to grow crops all year long with lesser dependency on rain than before.

A) makes it possible to grow crops all year long with lesser dependency on rain than before
B) makes growing crops all year long with less dependency on rain more possible than before
C) make it possible to grow crops all year long with less dependency on rain than before
D) make possible the growing of year long crops with less dependency on rain than before
E) have made it possible to grow crops all year long with less dependency on rain than before

ayushkumar22941 · Answer

why is e wrong ? crops can still be grown with help of newly built canal so I think present perfect is correct .

ajaygaur319 · Answer

If we go by  (C)  then it makes the whole sentence a fact but the phrase  Newly built canals  refers that canals are built recently and from the time they are built to now, they  have made it possible  but experts' global thinks otherwise.

Also, it would be great if you can help me explain what  it  refers here. It should refer  growing crop  but I doubt I guessed the use case here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIizAzWKTbw

MayankDimri · Answer

Can someone explain what is the antecedent of pronoun 'it'? What is here 'it' referring back to?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  MayankDimri . In the sentence at hand,  it  has no antecedent—it is being used as a  placeholder , no different from saying,  It is raining . (What is raining? A cloud? The sky? The weather?) The GMAT™  does  include correct answers with such a placeholder from time to time, as  this question  shows, or  this one . The takeaway is not to be too strict in your application of grammar rules. There might be some lesser-known point that you simply have not come across in a formal setting (or at least been tested on).

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Vibhav10 · Answer

hello,
can someone make me understand why e is wrong?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Vibhav10 . There is no problem with choice (E), which is probably why no one has heeded the call for an Expert to weigh in on it. Either (C) or (E) will work just fine, but in such a case, the GMAT™ prefers the more concise option. Consider the two answers, side by side:

I disagree with what someone said earlier about (C) presenting the sentence as a fact. Yes, in isolation,  make  can be definitive, but here we have  make it  possible  , so we understand that the potential exists only when it had not in the past. It is unknown whether crops at present are actually being grown all year, since the sentence could be interpreted that way (as though a ghost  now  could be slotted in somewhere). This is similar to saying,  With the new greenhouse, I can add two months to the growing season , in which  can  serves in the capacity of  make it possible  above. Can we rule out the possibility that I have already used or am using the greenhouse? No. Choice (E) presents the same scenario. The present perfect does  not  necessarily indicate that crops have been grown all year because of the new irrigation canals, only that the potential exists to do so. The operative word here is  possible , not the way in which the verb  to make  is conjugated.

In the end, (C) is the safer answer choice because it uses one fewer word, and that is all. I hope that helps. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.

- Andrew

Ritesh1191 · Answer

GMATNINJA!
Please explain why option E is incorrect. Present perfect makes complete sense here. In fact, the use of simple present looks awkward.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Ritesh1191 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the use of the modifier "Newly built" makes the use of the present perfect tense a bit redundant, so Option C is superior to Option E.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

adi883 · Answer

A and B are clearly out due to SV disagreement
D: nobody is talking about the fact that D changes the meaning of the sentence: growing year-long crops (a particular type of crops) as against growing crops (perhaps any type)
E: The "newly built" was made to throw us off, making us think that canals have  now  made it possible. As a present perfect,  Have made  it possible means that canals made it possible to grow crops all year long in the past and continue to do so even now. In such a case, what's the use 
of the comparison? The comparison is happening between the past and the present.  Have made  creates a discrepancy in the comparison by making the past and present the same.
  Consider this : if E had no comparison " than before", then the sentence would be quite right individually.

Hope this helps

VerbalBot · Answer

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Newly built irrigation canals, which carry water from the neighboring

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Newly built irrigation canals, which carry water from the neighboring

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