The times and amplitude of neap tides, the low amplitude tides that

Question

The times and amplitude of neap tides, the low amplitude tides that occur during first and third quarters of the lunar month, are  due to not only the cancellation of the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon but also a host of factors—amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline, and near-shore bathymetry—any of which can  lead to significant fluctuations in the time and amplitude of neap tides only miles apart.

due to not only the cancellation of the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon but also a host of factors—amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline, and near-shore bathymetry—any of which can

attributed not only to the cancelling of the Sun and Moon’s tidal forces but also to a host of factors, including amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline and near-shore bathymetry, which can

attributed to not only the cancellation of the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon but also to a host of factors—amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline, and near-shore bathymetry—these can

not only because of the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon that have been cancelled but also a host of factors: amphidromic systems, the shape of the coastline, and near-shores bathymetry, any of which can

due to the cancellation of not only the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon but also to a host of factors, which includes amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline and near-shore bathymetry; any of which

Abhishek009 · Answer

IMHO (A) best among the rest, errors in he other options highlighted in RED..

Request  mikemcgarry  for his OE...

GGMU · Answer

Here is the OE

(A) The construction X is due to Y is perfectly correct. This choice is elegant and problem free. It correctly sets off a list of examples with em-dashes.

(B) This choice is fine up until the word "which." What on earth is the antecedent of "which"? Whatever the antecedent is, it is a different meaning from the "any of which" construction in the prompt. This is both grammatically incorrect and it changes the meaning. Choice (B) is not correct.

(C) This choice violates the once-outside-twice-inside rule. That's one mistake. Another occurs after the em-dashes. When a list or other element is set off by a pair of em-dashes, the rest of the second should work perfectly well without it. Here, we have:

. . . but also to a host of factors, these can . . .

This is a comma-splice, which is a type of run-on sentence. Choice (C) is not correct.

(D) The structure in the prompt, X is due to Y, is perfectly correct. This choice uses the structure "X is because of Y," which is incorrect. Also, the construct "the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon that have been cancelled" is awkward: it sound as if some Cosmic Manager came along and canceled them! The prompt makes clear the forces cancelled each other, which is not conveyed here. Choice (D) is incorrect.

(E) This choice puts the parallelism of the first part of the sentence in the wrong place. The correct parallelism, from the prompt, is due to //not only //but also

This choice has due to  the cancellation  // not only of the tidal forces // but also  to a host of other features

The tidal forces cancel, but the host of other factors doesn't cancel! Also, we are placing an "of" preposition in parallel with "to" preposition, and they are playing different logical roles in the sentence. This is a disastrous failure of parallelism. Also, what follows a semicolon must be a full clause, but this choice has only a subordinate clause after the semicolon. Choice (E) is incorrect.

The only possible answer is (A)

Vishvesh88 · Answer

1) Due to vs Because of vs Attributed to :
2) One inside vs Two inside rule

The times and amplitude of neap tides, the low amplitude tides that occur during first and third quarters of the lunar month,  are due to not only the cancellation of the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon but also a host of factors—amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline, and near-shore bathymetry—any of which can  lead to significant fluctuations in the time and amplitude of neap tides only miles apart.

A. due to not only the cancellation of the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon but also a host of factors—amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline, and near-shore bathymetry—any of which can

No mistake here. CORRECT

B.  attributed  not only to the cancelling of the Sun and Moon’s tidal forces but also to a host of factors, including amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline and near-shore bathymetry,  which  can

i) Attributed has a very different meaning from due to (caused by). This changes the meaning of the original prompt.
ii) which is a relative pronoun, modifying near-shre bathymetry. This changes the meaning of the original prompt

C.  attributed  to not only the cancellation of the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon but also  to  a host of factors—amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline, and near-shore bathymetry—these can

i) Attributed has a very different meaning from due to (caused by). This changes the meaning of the original prompt.
ii) the one outside vs two inside rule : "to" --> is used outside "not only" and hence should not be repeated. The highlighted "to" is wrongly used.

D. not only  because of  the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon that  have been cancelled  but also  a host of factors : amphidromic systems, the shape of the coastline, and near-shores bathymetry, any of which can

i) Because of vs due to : Because of would've been used if the statement were to tell : "Because of not only the tidal forces of the sun and moon that  were cancelled 
ii) ii) the one outside vs two inside rule :  "because of"  --> is used after "not only" and hence should be repeated. The highlighted "host of factors" has to be preceeded by   "because of" .

E. due to  the cancellation of  not only the tidal forces of the Sun and the Moon but also to a host of factors, which  includes  amphidromic systems, the shape of coastline and near-shore bathymetry; any of which

i)  the cancellation of   --> changes the meaning of the sentence implying that the host of factors are also cancelled.
ii) Includes must be include.

sayantanc2k · Answer

The OA is correct and explanation provided above appear sufficient. If there are any specific questions, please post them here and then click again on the "Request Expert Reply" button – closing this request.

Nightmare007 · Answer

A IMO : A and B correct parallelism not only .. but also ... but, B - corrects parallelism but changes the meaning that "re bathymetry, which can" saying bathymetry only changes .

so narrowed down to A.

abhishekmayank · Answer

Hi  DmitryFarber

In the correct option A, whether  cancellation of the tidal forces  and  a host of factors  are parallel, given that MGMAT book suggests that an action noun (cancellation) could be parallel to either another action noun or a complex gerund. Could you also throw light whether a concrete noun could be parallel to a simple/complex gerund/action noun ?

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The times and amplitude of neap tides, the low amplitude tides that

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The times and amplitude of neap tides, the low amplitude tides that

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