In option A,B,C the term may is redundant since the term Possible is already used in the sentence.

We are left with Options D and E.

Option D consists of include melting the polar ice caps and sea levels that are rising which is wrong.

Option E is the correct answer choice.

chetan2u mikemcgarry - Can you please help me eliminate A,B,C,D without the reason such as wordy,awkward and :May: does not go with possible.

I am not able to eliminate the options and do not want to rely on the edge of :May is not acceptable/or goes with possible:

Possible long-term consequences of the “greenhouse effect,” the gradual warming of the Earth’s climate, may include melting the polar ice caps and a rising sea level.

A. may include melting the polar ice caps and a rising sea level
B. may include the melting of polar ice caps and the rising sea level
C. may include polar ice caps that are melting and sea levels that are rising
D. include melting the polar ice caps and sea levels that are rising melting is a verb: we need a noun
E. include melting of the polar ice caps and a rise in sea level


A, B and C are incorrect. 'May' is redundant when we have 'possible.'

E is the only correct one. POE.

Though I know that A, B and C should be out for redundancy ie Possible and may
But choice E is not parallel " melting of the polar ice caps and a rise in Sea level"
and according to me parallelism should be given more weightage, so B is a better answer?

I agree with choice E.

But here I have one doubt with redundancy of possible and may. Is it always true with all auxiliary verbs such as could, may, might etc. that show possibility in sentence?
It might be possible that they had stuck up in traffic. Is it correct sentence? Answer to this will clear my doubt for life long.

Hello. Can you please clear up a confusion I'm facing. My understanding is that gerunds are of two types: simple and complex. A complex gerund will always be preceded by an article, such as "a" or "the". The rules I have read state that complex gerunds can only be parallel to action nouns. In this question I have understood how "a rise in" is an action noun.

BUT

How is "melting of the polar..." a complex gerund. Should it not say "the melting of polar..." and so correctly become parallel to the action noun that follows.

Appreciate your help!

Hassan

E. include melting of the polar ice caps and a rise in sea level
Pl do not mistake rise as an action verb; it is merely a linking verb. We say the sun rises in the east. However, who does the action of 'rising'? Does the sun exert itself to rise? Therefore, it is a natural phenomenon. On the contrary, if somebody raises something, it becomes an action verb. For example, we can say Gmatclub has raised the standard of GMAT performance by the candidates largely.

As you doubt, melting of the ice caps is not a complex gerund; it is just a simple gerund. However, the problem with melting is that it both an action verb and a linking verb. When we say that the melody of Asha's voice melts in the ears, it is a linking verb. When we say 'the factory melts metals into profiles' it is an action verb.

In the context, melting is the gerund of a linking verb and the 'rise; the noun of a linking verb is enough to go parallelly.
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daagh is "may" redundant here?
teaserbae

bishal
Yes. May and possible together. are redundant.
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This is a tricky one :P

The beginning of the sentence tells "Possible long-term consequences of the", using "may" is redundant because they mean the same thing. So A, B and C are out
Between D and E, D is not parallel.

E is the answer!

This is an easy one...

'possible' and 'may' means same. so eliminate A, B & C based on redundancy.

'melting' is used in noun form which should be parallel to a noun (rise). so eliminate D.

Ans: E

Possible and may can't exist in the same sentence. Hence, E! Be careful. I almost picked A or B

possible is already mention in the sentence, you dont need 'may'..its redundant. so A,B and C are out.
E maintain parallelism as well.
B is out because MAY is redundant. B doesn't maintain parallelism.
the melting of polar ice caps and the rising sea level
Melting :- Gerund Rising : Adjective.
E is parallel because of
melting of PIC (Gerund... equivalent to noun) || the rise in sea level :- NOUN.

Though we can eliminate A solely based on redundancy (May and possible), can somebody shed some light on the parallelism in A :
Melting the polar ice cap -Participle phrase
A rising sea level -Is it a noun?
also can we say a participle phrase is a gerund?

Posted from my mobile device

This question is based on Parallelism and Word usage.

The sentence begins with the adjective “Possible”. When we do a vertical scan of the options, we see that Options A, B, and C begin with the modal auxiliary verb ‘may’. The modal auxiliary verbs convey possibility, probability, permission, ability etc. The verb ‘may’ conveys either permission or a possibility. In this sentence, since the adjective ‘Possible’ has already been used, the verb ‘may’ is redundant.

Furthermore, Options A and D contain the expression “melting the polar ice caps”. This participle phrase implies that someone is melting the ice caps. This is an illogical expression in this sentence as a natural phenomenon is under discussion.

Option C contains the clause “polar ice caps that are melting”. This clause also is illogical in this sentence as polar ice caps cannot be a consequence.

Based on the above-mentioned errors, we can rule out Options A, B, C, and D.

Option E corrects the error in Options A, B, and C by excluding the auxiliary verb ‘may’.

The option also corrects the error in Options A and D by replacing the phrase “melting the polar ice caps” with “melting of the ice caps”, which is a gerund phrase and can take the place of a noun to convey a consequence.
Parallelism is also maintained in Option E – “include melting of the polar ice caps and a rise in sea level”.
Since the sentence lists out the consequences of the greenhouse effect, both the consequences must be structured in a similar manner. A gerund phrase (melting of the polar ice caps) and a noun phrase (a rise in sea level) are similar in structure.

Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.
Jayanthi Kumar.
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