Pack 6 Q2: The concerns about feeding the growing global population...

Imo D.

The concerns about feeding the growing global population has usually emphasized the possibility of available farmland and soil nutrients decreasing and to what extent it might, but agriculturists are more concerned about water scarcity caused by inefficient and uncoordinated water use that has reduced river flows, depleted aquifers, and caused salinization of irrigated land.


Meaning: The concerns about feeding of growing global population HAVE usually emphasized the possibility of X & Y and to what extent IT MIGHT, but agriculturists are more concerned about water scarcity caused by A & B that has impacts: P, Q & M.

SVA Error in A & E, The concerns, plural form, takes singular verb, has. Hence incorrect. Here, elliptic construction, without 'it might', makes sense to convey exact meaning.

A. The concerns about feeding the growing global population has usually emphasized the possibility of available farmland and soil nutrients decreasing and to what extent it might, - incorrect due to SVA error & wordiness

B. The concerns about feeding the growing global population have usually emphasized whether available farmland and soil nutrients would decrease and the extent that is, - SVA error corrected but another error, pronoun error, introduced, which led to meaning error.

C. Concerns about feeding the growing global population have usually had as its emphasis whether available farmland and soil nutrients would decrease and what that extent would be,- have usually has as its emphasis & usage of would on both side of 'and' change the meaning of the sentence.

D. Concerns about feeding the growing global population have usually emphasized whether available farmland and soil nutrients would decrease and to what extent, - SVA error is corrected & elliptical structure conveys meaning clearly. Correct.

E. Concerns about feeding the growing global population has usually had as an emphasis the possibility of available farmland and soil nutrients decreasing and to what extent it might, - incorrect due to SVA error & wordiness
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Official Explanation

The concerns about feeding the growing global population has usually emphasized the possibility of available farmland and soil nutrients decreasing and to what extent it might, but agriculturists are more concerned about water scarcity caused by inefficient and uncoordinated water use that has reduced river flows, depleted aquifers, and caused salinization of irrigated land.

A. The concerns about feeding the growing global population has usually emphasized the possibility of available farmland and soil nutrients decreasing and to what extent it might,
B. The concerns about feeding the growing global population have usually emphasized whether available farmland and soil nutrients would decrease and the extent that is,
C. Concerns about feeding the growing global population have usually had as its emphasis whether available farmland and soil nutrients would decrease and what that extent would be,
D. Concerns about feeding the growing global population have usually emphasized whether available farmland and soil nutrients would decrease and to what extent,
E. Concerns about feeding the growing global population has usually had as an emphasis the possibility of available farmland and soil nutrients decreasing and to what extent it might,

Our answer choices reveal a few differences among our options. One that stands out are the helping verbs “has” or “have.” There is also a difference in using past perfect tense (has/have emphasized) and verb + noun (have/has had + emphasis). The phrase that includes “extent” varies a great deal across the various answer choices. Finally, there is a choice between using the definite article (“the”) with “concerns” and not using it.

The standout issue of “has” or “have” is a good place to start because subject-verb agreement is crucial and is usually easy to figure out. Our subject is “concerns,” which is plural. Plural subjects require plural verbs, and “have” is the plural, not “has.” Options A and E cannot be the correct answers.

Should we use an action-oriented verb in the past perfect tense or weaker verbs + a noun. Typically, action-oriented verbs are always preferred over a weaker verb + a noun. “Have emphasized” is the past perfect tense of the action verb “emphasize,” while “have had + an emphasis” is weaker and less concise. Options C and E use the less desirable verb and noun combo, so they cannot be the best answers.

Concision should always be a consideration. There is no difference in meaning between “the concerns” and “concerns,” so the definite article is not needed. Additionally, Option B uses the phrase “the extent that is,” which when considered with the sentence as a whole is nonsensical. Option B cannot be the best answer.

We have successfully eliminated four answer choices. Option D is the best answer.

Well done, MahmoudFawzy! You cracked the code on this one! Great job finding the splits and starting there - splits are the easiest way to narrow down your choices quickly!

Great job, suchithra! Great job catching the parallelism problem in option B - that's a tricky one to spot! Kudos to you!

Well done, Raxit85! You figured it out, and hopefully in a short amount of time too!

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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