The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon

Hi Deepak,

Thanks for posting your query here. Also, thanks to Mike for the informative response!

Deepak, do you think you've correctly identified the subject of the verb 'is caused'? Is the subject 'phenomenon' or 'that'? 'That' is not merely a connector here, but the subject of the verb 'is caused'. So, it can't be dropped without making the sentence grammatically incorrect. Note that the part beginning with 'that' is a modifier for 'phenomenon'. To retain the grammatical correctness of the sentence, we would need to remove the clause and make 'caused' a verb-ed modifier: that is, a phenomenon caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels.

I hope this helps!

Regards,
Meghna

Hi Meghna ,

Thanks for your reply ,

I agree that subject of verb "is caused " is "that ",but my confusion rose because of another S-V pair "most scientists agree " after "that " .

a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels

Without that S-V pair ,our sentence is ,

a phenomenon that is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels ---------> "that"----subject ,"is caused " -----verb .

If we insert that S-V pair "most scientists agree "

a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by .........
Meaning :
scientists also agree on the same point that phenomena is caused by ......

So my confusion still remains ----> "that " ---used as a connector , "that" ---used as a modifier of "phenomena" , or both .

Am I missing something over here .

Thanks in advance ,
Deepak

Dear Deepak,
I'm happy to respond.

The word "that" is tricky --- sometimes it is purely a subordinate conjunction, followed by a full [noun]+[verb] clause, and sometime is a relative pronoun, and therefore acts as the subject (or some other noun role) within the clause. In this latter role, as a pronoun, it must have an antecedent.

The "that" in this sentence is in this latter role. It is a relative pronoun and it is the subject of the verb "is caused"; its antecedent is the noun "phenomenon". Relative pronouns often play this role.
... a phenomenon that is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels ....
... a man who collects baseball cards ...
... a book that explains gravity ...
... the composer who wrote the opera Carmen ...
In every case, the red word is a relative pronoun: it begins a clause, it is the subject of the clause, and the antecedent of the pronoun is the noun that the clause modifies.

The little addition "most scientists agree" confuses issues. This is a somewhat informal and colloquial phrasing, and I don't know that you would see that in the formal language of the GMAT.

Your use of "that", as a simple noun modifier ---- as in "that phenomenon" ---- is yet another use of the word, but definitely not its role in the sentence under discussion here.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

Hi Pretzel,

Before we move on to option D, let’s first understand the meaning of the original sentence:
• The World Wildlife Fund has declared (Clause-I)
o that global warming, (Clause-II)
 a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels, (Clause-III)
o will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats. (Clause II Contd.)

MEANING

The author tells us about a declaration made by the World Wildlife Fund. According to this declaration the global warming will change the environment and make it harmful to the living places of the migratory birds.
The author also tells us that majority of the scientists agree that global warming is caused by the humans by burning fossil fuels.

Now, let’s move on to option D:
D.) which most scientists agree on as a phenomenon caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels,

Now, this sentence has a meaning error. It states that the phenomenon is caused by human beings. These human beings burn fossil fuels is presented only as additional information. This is incorrect. Global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels not by the human beings.


Hope this helps!
Deepak

However this is not the only error in answer choice D. The word "which" is not necessary right?

Hi Ashish,
I don't know whether you are still looking for a reply, but here it is anyways.

Let’s take a look at the structure of this sentence with option C:

• The World Wildlife Fund has declared (Clause I)
o that global warming, (Clause II)
 a phenomenon
• that (Clause III)
o most scientists agree (Clause IV)
• is caused by human beings’ burning of fossil fuels, (Clause III Contd.)
o will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats. (Clause II Contd. )

Now, as we can see all the clauses in this sentence are properly connected. The structure “a phenomenon that….fossil fuels” is a Noun + Noun modifier, in which "a phenomenon" refers to "global warming" and the part that follows it is the noun modifier. So, option C is the correct answer and it does not create a run-on sentence.

Hope this helps!
Deepak

Dear akash.tripathi,

I'm happy to respond. I am responding to the report you posted on yashii9's post from 2012.09.30

My friend, please DO NOT open a report simply when you disagree or do not understand something. The reports are not for individual students to air their own opinions. Only use a report if you have evidence, say, from another webpage or from the GMAT OG, that the question or OA is incorrect.

My friend, this is a question from the GMAT OG, and you are disagreeing with the answer given by the OG. Do you see the problem with this? You will never get any points for disagreeing with what the GMAT thinks is right, and in fact, deciding that the GMAT is wrong and that you know more than the GMAT constitute perhaps the single most ineffective way to achieve any sort of mastery on the GMAT.

You are citing a rule about what you think the GMAT wants, but you are using it to argue against what the GMAT says is right.

In fact, the use of the possessive is perfectly fine in (C). The possessive is not just used for physical possessions. It can be used for actions with a gerund, as it is used here. Choice (C) is not ideal, but it is definitely the best answer from among the five.

Choice (D) makes a massive idiom mistake: "... which most scientists agree on as a phenomenon..."
This sounds incredibly awkward to any native English speaker. I realize that folks who are not native English speakers face considerably challenges on the GMAT Verbal section: I will simply point out this is all the more reason not to suggest that the GMAT's answer is wrong and another answer is correct.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

Can anyone explain rule regarding possessive and what all to look out for .
Thanks in advance

Dear arvind910619,

I'm happy to respond.

My friend, with all due respect, i have no idea what you question is. I have no idea what about possessives you understand and what still confuses you. The quality of this question is low because it has failed to make clear what the issue is. I am going to guess that it didn't take you much time or much effort to post this question. in other words, you did not put in time and effort to craft an excellent question. If you aspire to excellence in your GMAT performance, then you need to bring excellent to every aspect of your studies. How you do anything is how you do everything. One of many habits of excellence is knowing how to ask excellent questions. See:
Asking Excellent Questions
My friend, I hope you understand that I am urging you do more work in crafting your questions precisely because I am ambitious for you. I want to encourage your success in every aspect of your GMAT preparation. The habits of excellence are powerful and can transform even a mediocre student into a wildly successful student.

My challenge to you is to read that blog article, and then ask the most thoughtful and detailed version of this question that you can. If you do that, I will be happy to answer it.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

(A) a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels, -Phenomenon is not caused by human beings
(B) a phenomenon most scientists agree that is caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings, -Phenomenon is not caused by fossil fuels
(C) a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels, -Correct. Phenomenon is caused by the act of burning of fossil fuels
(D) which most scientists agree on as a phenomenon caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels, -Phenomenon is not caused by human beings
(E) which most scientists agree to be a phenomenon caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings, -Phenomenon is not caused by fossil fuels

[quote="souvik101990"]

The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

(A) a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels,
(B) a phenomenon most scientists agree that is caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,
(C) a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels,
(D) which most scientists agree on as a phenomenon caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels,
(E) which most scientists agree to be a phenomenon caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,

Answer B

global warming, a phenomenon.......correct modifier
caused by fossil fuel.......only correct in B......
hope it serves.....

The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

(A) a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels,-----"human beings in burning..."does not properly presents the action of human beings. it's an awkward construction

(B) a phenomenon most scientists agree that is caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,--------this is a passive construction and the use of "burned" signifies that the action happend in the past and is not continuing but that is not correct. the action of burning is continuing, hence it will create problems in future

(C) a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels,------Correct. the action of human being's is correctly presented

(D) which most scientists agree on as a phenomenon caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels,-----this changes the meaning of the sentence. now instead of a generic effect, the blame is only on human beings who burn fossil fules

(E) which most scientists agree to be a phenomenon caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,-----same error as B

Hello mrittik800,


The original sentence intends to say that global warming has been caused because human beings burn fossil fuels.

However, Choice B suggests that global warming has been caused by fossil fuels. The modifier burned by human beings only provide additional information about fossil fuels. But the main cause for global warming is fossil fuels per Choice B.


Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

(A) a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels,
(B) a phenomenon most scientists agree that is caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,
(C) a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels,
(D) which most scientists agree on as a phenomenon caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels,
(E) which most scientists agree to be a phenomenon caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings,

The correct sentence is c. This is a case of Noun + Noun modifier. A phenomenon is modifying global warning and that clause which immediately follows a phenomenon talks more about the phenomenon.

A is wordy and has a meaning error.
B again has a meaning error, it incorrectly implies that global warming is caused by fossil fuels.
D has the same meaning error. Yes, it is caused by human beings but how it is done by them is not clearly stated.
E is wordy and awkward.

Please comment if my explanation has any error.

Thank you

To make life simple, the fact is that Global warming is caused individually neither by human beings nor by the fossil fuels, but by a combination of human beings' burning of the fossils. This combination is stated only in C.

Hello KB04,

You have done a good job at solving this official sentence.

You have stated correct reasons to reject incorrect answer choices.

I would just like to say that Choice E has the same error as Choice B as this choice also says that that fossil fuels cause global warming.

Rest all is good.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

How do you read

Sam's book ----> book of sam

Black panther's fighting skills ----> Fighting skills of Black Panther

human beings' burning of fossil fuel ----> burning of fossil fuel of human beings?

The last one doesn't make sense. Hence I crossed out C.

Experts egmat, souvik101990, GMATNinja sayantanc2k - please help

I have to admit that this made me pause for a moment. I just put more thought into the word "of" than I ever have in my life -- and I've been teaching grammar in some form or another for... ick, too many years.

Here's the issue: you're right that the word "of" can indicate possession, as in your first two examples. But the word "of" can do a ton of other things as well:

• Indicate membership in a broader category: "the state of Colorado" or "the business of education".
• Indicate a directional relationship: "Golden is west of Denver."
• Indicate the material being used for something: "a hat made of meat", "a building of stone", or "the burning of fuel."

And we could go on. Prepositions are a mess in English, and plenty of them have multiple meanings -- and "of" definitely has quite a few.

I hope this helps!