Some of the early warning signs of climate change are the warming of ocean waters and a corresponding rise in sea levels, melting glaciers, and the bleaching of coral reefs.

A. a corresponding rise in sea levels, melting glaciers, and the bleaching of

B. rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and the bleaching of

C. a correspondence in the rise of sea levels, melted glaciers, and bleached

D. a corresponding rise in sea levels, the melting of glaciers, and the bleaching of

E. corresponding rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and bleaching

OA:

the warming of ocean waters and a corresponding rise in sea levels, the melting of glaciers, and the bleaching of

'Warming of' and 'of' (necessarily with belching, making 'belching of') shows that we need parallelism and require 'of' element with -ing form.

A. a corresponding rise in sea levels, melting glaciers, and the bleaching of 'of' with melting is laking

B. rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and the bleaching of 'of' with melting is laking

C. a correspondence in the rise of sea levels, melted glaciers, and bleached -ing form is not present

D. a corresponding rise in sea levels, the melting of glaciers, and the bleaching of. correct choice

E. corresponding rising sea levels, melting glaciers, and bleaching 'of' with melting is laking
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gmat1393 , eagle-eyed as always. Edited. Thank you.
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MY CORRECTIONS:


There are three early signs of climate change:
(1) the warming of ocean waters and a connected or resultant (corresponding) rise in sea levels,
(2) the melting of glaciers, and
(3) the bleaching of coral reefs.

dave13 , in (D) the indefinite article a is correct.
You caught a subtle distinction.

Watch the punctuation in this sentence and what that punctuation forces us to do.
We can only have three items. The first item has two elements: warm waters and higher sea levels.
The word "a" clarifies the list of three by contrast; the list items begin with "the."

• The sentence structure creates a list of signs
We have three gerund phrases, not four.
The first is longer and more complex than the other two, but it is still a gerund phrase.
The gerund phrases are also subject complements that follow the linking verb are.

The sentence structure and options force "the warming of ocean waters" and "the corresponding RISE of sea levels" together.
-- and follows waters
-- every option has a comma after levels
" . are . . . ocean waters and [something about a rise in] sea levels,
Warm ocean waters and a rise in sea levels cannot be split.
Finally, every option has glaciers + COMMA + and

We cannot escape this construction, given the prompt and our options:

... warming of the oceans AND _________ (1) , ___________ (2) , AND _________ (3).

WRONG: 1 and 2, 3, and 4
We cannot have two ands among four equals.
We do not have four equals. We have three.

Correct: 1 and 1a, 2, and 3
Incorrect: 1 and 2, 3, and 4

The indefinite article also helps the reader.
The three gerund phrases open with "the," in contrast to "a."

• Do not get bamboozled by the ING in corresponding.
Corresponding is an adjective that describes rise and is not a subject complement.

Parallel structure

This question epitomizes why we should eliminate four incorrect answers rather than trying to find and justify the correct answer.

On the GMAT, a list of more than two things always has an "Oxford" comma, a comma before the last item in the list.

WRONG: The farm chores included planting carrots, potato weeding, and the harvesting of squash.
CORRECT: The farm chores included planting carrots, weeding potatoes, and harvesting squash.

The first item in the list, The warming of ocean waters sets the structure:

THE + gerund + preposition + adjective + direct object

Split #1: Each item in the list should have the struture THE verbING OF
Eliminate A, which should state: THE melting OF glaciers
Eliminate B, which should state: THE melting OF glaciers
Eliminate E, which should state: THE melting OF glaciers, and THE bleaching (of coral reefs)

Split #2 - the participle should be in the present, that is, verbING . . . NOT verbED
Eliminate C, which states incorrectly . . . meltED glacers, and bleachED

Answer D

Hope that helps.
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