The crisis in California is the result of a cascade effect

Question

The crisis in California is the result of a cascade effect,  in which a series of disasters overlap, triggering or amplifying each other.

(A) in which a series of disasters overlap, triggering or amplifying each other.
(B) in which a series of disasters had overlapped, triggering or amplifying each other.
(C) which is a series of disasters overlap, triggering or amplified each other.
(D) in which a series of disasters overlap, triggering or amplifying the other.
(E) which is a series of disasters overlap, triggering or amplifying each other.

DhruvS · Accepted Answer

"The crisis in California is the result of a cascade effect" —> is a clause(contains both verb and noun in it). Hence "which" cannot directly modify the clause. Also which cannot modify "effect" as "effect" is not the "is a series of disasters overlap". Hence we can eliminate (C) and (E) also in (C) there is a parallelism problem "triggering or amplified" in option (B) "had" is not needed in "disasters had overlapped" in option (D) "the other" is wrong in "triggering or amplifying the other". Hence (A) is the answer. Kudos are appreciated if you liked my solution.

dungeon123 · Answer

It can not be ‘A’ because of the use of each other; answer will be ‘D’.

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dp14695 · Answer

It will be A because option D changes meaning by using “the other”. Moreover, “The” refer specific entity, and this is not intended meaning

PallabiKundu · Answer

I think the answer should be D ,
according to me,if something overlaps 'it should trigger or amplify the other'.
Kindly help if I am wrong.

dp14695 · Answer

Word “THE” is article.

“The” is used to refer to specific or particular nouns; “a/an” is used to modify non-specific or non-particular nouns. We call “the” the definite article and “a/an” the indefinite article.

Now coming to this question, In option D “the other” refers to “disasters” and this “disasters” is general terms not specific. Hence, You can not use “The” here.

Hope it helps.

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DexterZabula · Answer

daagh   mikemcgarry   GMATNinja   generis   BillyZ   Abhi077  @VaritasKarishma  carcass   souvik101990

Apologies for disturbing.
I think that answer should be D.

triggering or amplifying each other 
An event can NOT trigger itself, however, it can trigger the subsequent event.

DhruvS · Answer

DexterZabula  is your question related to "triggering or amplifying the other" in option D ?

DexterZabula · Answer

Yes! I suspect the usage of word "each".
 triggering each other  means the event is triggering the subsequent event as well as itself that cannot be the case.

DhruvS · Answer

DexterZabula I don't think each other would mean "itself" in this case. I'll try my best to explain with the help of an example. Eg: Movement of plates under the Earth's crust can cause Earthquake which in turn can cause Floods (if the earthquake damages any Dams constructed near the point of focus of Earthquake OR if the city is just next to a Sea) Or a Tornado for that matter can cause Domino effect on the infrastructure and also cause Floods at the same time. Hope this helps.

Abhi077 · Answer

Answer choice A is correct as is.

The crisis in California is the result of a cascade effect, in which  a series of disasters overlap ,  triggering or amplifying each other.

Triggering or amplifying each other is modifying  "A series of disasters"  Telling us more information about the the previous clause. 
What happens after a series of disasters overlap? They trigger and amplify each other. So basically present participle phrase or more commonly known as verb-ing modifier is modifying the entire clause, in this case, it's telling us about the result of the action mentioned.

Closing present participial phrases that modify entire clauses often describe

1.The results of the action mentioned in the previous clause
2.The causes of the events described in the previous clasue

abhik1502 · Answer

I really doubt "A" as the answer.

"each other" is used in scenarios in which there are only 2 element. And for more than 2 elements "others", any other etc are used.

As per original sentence it's obvious that there are multiple elements and in absence of any count we should assume this count could be anything.
So "each other" is not correct for sure.

At the same time D is best among all, but it could have been constructed in better way.

dp14695 · Answer

Answer is A because option D changes meaning by using “the other”. Moreover, “The” refer specific entity, and this is not intended meaning

Satyavathi · Answer

Can I know why the answer is not E but A. In what cases do we use which and in what cases do we use in which? There's a comma after cascade effect. Therfore I assumed that the statement which comes after comma will give extra information about the noun preceding the comma. please correct me if I'm wrong

svasan05 · Answer

Hi Satyavathi

"which" is a relative pronoun which is used to refer to any "things". It usually refers to the noun or noun equivalent which immediately precedes the "which". For example:

John returned the book,  which  had some pages missing, to the store.

The "which" here refers to the immediately preceding noun, "the book", which makes sense.

"In which" is used in two distinct scenarios:

i) to point to a physical location/inside something, for example:

On the shelf there is a blue box, in which the sugar is kept.

"in which" here refers to the blue box  inside  which the sugar is kept.

ii) to describe metaphorical place such as situations or circumstances, for example:

My friend and I had an argument in which she nearly lost her temper.

"in which" here refers to a circumstance, the "argument".

In the sentence above, the underlined portion explains the "cascade effect", which is a metaphorical, a situation. Hence, we should use "in which" and not "which", due to which option (E) is incorrect.

Hope this clarifies.

abhishekmayank · Answer

Still I didn't get any response from the posts that whether the use of "each other" is justified in A, as "each other" is used for two entities, but a "series" may involve more than two entities.

Experts kindly help !!

VeritasKarishma

deep31993 · Answer

Can you please clarify the difference between choice A and choice D. i was stuck on "each other" vs "the other"

KarishmaB · Answer

Use of "the other" is certainly incorrect. There is no specific 'other' to which we are referring. 
All other options have "each other" so there is no confusion and you don't need to decide on this point. Whether each other is correct depends on context from which this sentence was picked. Perhaps it talks about how each disaster is triggered by the previous disaster and then the two amplify each other. In any case, since we are not asked to evaluate this point, we can ignore it.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The crisis in California is the result of a cascade effect

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The crisis in California is the result of a cascade effect

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