Temperatures in the Arctic, which is warming about twice as fast as in

"which" is modifying Arctic" here. So we need a noun after "as fast as" to compare with "Arctic".

We are comparing "Arctic with other parts of the planet".

So, A, B, and C are out as we are wrongly comparing "noun" Arctic with "Prepositional phrase" In other parts.

From D and E, D seems better.

I will go with D.


A. in other parts of the planet, soared again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued to lose

B. in other parts of the planet and soaring again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued to lose

C. in other parts of the planet, soared again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued losing

D. other parts of the planet, soared again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued to lose

E. other parts of the planet, soaring again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued losing

Hello, TheNightKing, and thank you for tagging me. Remember that a which can be replaced by its referent to test for validity, and here, you correctly saw through the initial trap: you would not say, "The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as in other parts of the planet," nor would you say, "In the Arctic is warming about twice as fast as in other parts of the planet." So, well done on that part.

Concerning the second part, if you jump over the which clause, since it is self-contained, you will get two versions of the same sentence, and it becomes quite clear why (E) will not make sense. Compare:

(D)Temperatures in the Arctic... soared again during parts of 2015, and the region... continued to lose...
(E) Temperatures in the Arctic... soaring again during parts of 2015, and the region... continued losing...

In the second option, the first independent clause never resolves--the -ing phrase is modifying, rather than acting in the capacity of a verb, as in, were soaring--so the conjunction and after the comma is grammatically incorrect. In the other response, we get, at a barebones level (one of my favorite tricks for long-winded SC questions),

Temperatures soared, and the region continued to lose sea ice and permafrost.

This makes perfect sense, and a clear and grammatically sound answer is going to be harder to argue against than one that is not. Choice (D) is a clear winner, and to lose/losing does not even need to enter the picture. I hope that helps. If you have further questions, let me know.

- Andrew

Yes, rocky620. The "barebones level" I refer to is the essential subject-predicate relationship that forms the main clause. If you strip a lot of SC sentences down to their essentials, you can expose subject-verb agreement errors, meaning issues, and improper idioms. In the sentence at hand, temperatures is the subject of the main clause. Where is the verb that starts the predicate of the sentence? Well, we cannot look to is after which, since any information that follows the relative clause marker is subordinated until the next punctuation mark. Thus, we can look at each sentence in the following manner:

A) Temperatures soared, and the region continued to lose [something]. (Passes for now.)
B) Temperatures, and the region continued to lose [something]. (The first independent clause never resolves.)
C) Temperatures soared, and the region continued losing [something]. (The -ing form of the verb is at least questionable.)
D) Temperature soared, and the region continued to lose [something]. (Same as (A).)
E) Temperatures soaring, and the region continued losing [something]. (The part up to the comma is not an independent clause.)

After an initial pass, then, with an eye on the barebones structure of each sentence, (A) and (D) look like frontrunners, while (C) looks doubtful. If you can appreciate that the first word in (A) and (C), in is unwarranted, since the which could be replaced by the Arctic and NOT in the Arctic to form the first part of the comparison, then only (D), the correct answer, remains.

The takeaway is that no matter how difficult or lengthy a sentence may appear to be, it must still adhere to basic grammatical constructs for forming a sentence in written English. If you work up from a firm foundational understanding, then the sky is the limit on SC questions.

I hope that clarifies the matter from my earlier post. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Temperatures in the Arctic, which is warming about twice as fast as in other parts of the planet, soared again during 2016, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued to lose sea ice and permafrost.


A. in other parts of the planet, soared again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued to lose

B. in other parts of the planet and soaring again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued to lose

C. in other parts of the planet, soared again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued losing

D. other parts of the planet, soared again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued to lose

E. other parts of the planet, soaring again during parts of 2015, and the region, particularly parts of Greenland, continued losing

Correct Comparison should be used.

Arctic is warming about twice as fast as in other parts of the planet --> Incorrect comparison. Noun (Arctic) is being compared to prepositional phrase (in other parts of the planet).

Eliminate A,B and C.

D and E - corrects comparison error.

E has S-V error Temperature in Arctics soaring again.....and the region continued losing.... Need a helping verb for part of sentence before "and".

Hence D is correct.

Bunuel - OE please.

Original sentence said, "... during 2016 .." , but all options have correction , "during parts of..." Why was this change required?

Sent from my Redmi 3S using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

That is just a typo.

QZ

The first three can be eliminated since the have incorrect comparisons. They are comparing Arctic (noun) to a prepositional phrase, ‘in other parts of the planet’.

This leaves us with D and E. Out of these, E seems to have tense issues. It should not be in present continuous, as it is describing past events. So, D is the right option.

Main trick is here to notice that "Arctic " is noun and we need another noun for "as fast as"

Only D and E have " other parts" which is noun

D has rightly uses "continued to "

Ans D

chetan2u MentorTutoring

Between D and E, can you help me pick on the basis of "to lose vs losing". During the test I did not see the soared/soaring difference and ended up picking E, which is the incorrect choice.

Thanks!

Split 1: in vs as. A, B and C are gone.

Between D and E, D is the winner since E has a SV error. Temperatures no longer have a verb.

I went with A but I have realised that the usage of in changes the meaning comparison. Thanks guys for your comments.

Posted from my mobile device

AndrewN Sir Can you please shed some light on the highlighted part:

In the other response, we get, at a barebones level (one of my favorite tricks for long-winded SC questions),

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