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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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Naptiste wrote:
(A) a phenomenon most scientists agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels,

I am not a 100% sure why A) is wrong here.

It is because "to be" always imply future ?

Or is it just because, in general, it is better to use present tense to state general facts?

Can anyone explain why A) is definitely wrong and how "to be" works in general please.

Thanks:)


city92 wrote:
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,



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Hello Naptiste,

We hope this finds you well.

"to be" is an infinitive verb form ("to + base form of verb"); this verb form is most commonly used to show purpose/intent of action, moderately used to modify adjectives and verbs, and rarely used as a noun. As such, Option A is incorrect because the use of the infinitive verb form seems to convey that most scientists agree for the purpose of global warming being caused by humans. The use of simple present tense here is a far superior option. Further, as GMATNinja has written, "in burning fossil fuels" can also be interpreted to mean global warming is caused by human beings who are inside burning fossil fuels.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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jabhatta2 wrote:
Hi RonTargetTestPrep AnishPassi AnthonyRitz AjiteshArun avigutman - In my view, there are two ways to read (C). Per my screenshot

(first interpretation) -- is how the intended way [most scientists agree is ANOTHER mini-subordinate modifier [blacked out in the screenshot]

But there is another way to read (C)

(Second interpretation) -- [that most scientists agree] is a relative clause (circled in red) referring to "phenomenon " as seen in my screenshot (#2)

When i read first (C) - i read (C), thinking [that most scientists agree] (seen in red in the screenshot) is itself a mini-relative clause and referring to "phenomenon". If you interpret (C) this way, obviously then (c) does not make sense because this interpretation of (C) -- implies -- there are scientists who dont believe in the phenomenon, global warming.

Question : How were you so sure NOT to interpret (C) in this manner ?


Jabhatta,

I see. You're reading this as "[a phenomenon that most scientists agree] is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels" rather than as "a phenomenon [that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels]."

But one cannot "agree" a phenomenon. Properly stated, one might "agree to" a phenomenon or, far more likely, "agree about" a phenomenon.

This is why the reading in which "agree" describes phenomenon in that way isn't a concern. There's no real ambiguity here. We must mean, basically, "scientists agree [that] the phenomenon is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels" -- and not the nonsensical "scientists agree the phenomenon [that] is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels."

As a bonus, your reading leaves us with an extra verb, since "is caused" isn't in the relative clause in your reading. As a result the verb "will create" ends up dangling, creating a sentence construction error. There's just no way that C can be intended like that. So, again, there's no ambiguity, and no problem with C.

I hope this helps!
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The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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PriyamRathor wrote:
Does this mean that human beings have caused a phenomena (global warming) purposefully which is agreed by most scientists.

I would just choose to not select "agree to be" purely for idiomatic reasons, rather than "intention".

While it is true that intention is often best demonstrated by "to + verb" construct, the other way round is not necessarily true; in other words, every "to + verb" does not show intention.

An example that comes to mind:

Australian embryologists have found evidence to suggest that the elephant is descended from an aquatic animal and that its trunk originally evolved as a kind of snorkel.

This is a correct sentence; it clearly does not depict that embryologists have found evidence with the intention to suggest <something>.
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
sandeep86 wrote:
Tks mate. I've read the link, but it doesn't get me through my doubt,
my question is about grammar issue (not meaning).

Why bother to put 'that most scientists agree' in C while all we can say is
'a phenomenon (that most scientists agree) is caused by....', most scientists
agree what ?? it's not a complete clause.

Does 'a phenomenon that most scientist agree to be caused by...' make more sense
and grammatically correct ?

Meaning wise, i agree C is the best, but grammatically i doubt about it. What i am missing ?


Choice C is grammatically correct. "that most scientists agree" is a modifier used to describe the phenomenon and it is correctly placed next to the noun it describes.

As the first line of Manhattan Sc says -Ideal answer is not the right answer. We need to pick the best among the options given.

Going by this ideology - clause after "caused by" is correct only in C. Then why bother about the sentence formation before "caused by".

2 points to note here -

1. the sentence structure in C might sound awkward but isn't incorrect
2. we should always follow the rules in order while eliminating answers - Grammar first - then meaning -then concision

concision - third round of elimination is only required if we have more than one choice here

hope this helps.

Originally posted by yashii9 on 15 Oct 2012, 05:04.
Last edited by yashii9 on 15 Oct 2012, 23:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
Let us split it

The world wildlife fund has declared
that global warming,
a phenomenon most scientsts agree to be caused by human beings in burning fossil fuels,
will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the enviroment in ways harmful to their habitats.



error:
a phenomenon(that)most scientsts- that can not be ommited as it is going to work as a subject
to be caused - wrong



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,
it should be of the format noun+ noun modifier- I can't craete appositive with
verb


c) a phenomenon
that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels
noun+noun modfier
d) which most scientists agree on as phenomenon caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels,
meaning modified , its the fossil not human beings, also we non essential which should be avoided here
e) which most scientsts agree to be a phenomenon caused by fossil fuels burned by human beings
meaning modified , its a phenomenon - no issue on that , only scientists differ on reason
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
120. The WorldWildlife Fund has declared that global
warming, a phenomenon most scientists agree to be
caused bv 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,
(0 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 answer is C, however, if we change "human beings' burning" to "burning of human being" will not make sense. The sense here is "burning by human beings". Please clarify.
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
120. The WorldWildlife Fund has declared that global
warming, a phenomenon most scientists agree to be
caused bv human beings in burning fossil fuels, will
create havoc among migratory birds by altering the
environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

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

The correct answer is c. But I have hard time to understand the structure of the sentence in answer c.

A phenomenon ( that most scientist agree. is caused by - )
.............................(Subject). (Verb / agree) ( verb / is caused )

It seems that there are two verbs in a row in one descriptive sentence. Please explain this.
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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deepak1990verma wrote:
The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.
this is the correct option of OG13-Q-120 .

But I have a doubt here ,

Can we have a construction like :

IC1,IC2,IC1

The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels, will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the

All SV pairs are color marked accordingly

Here the yellow colored "that" is separating (S-V pair )" most scientists agree " from "a phenomena is caused by ... "

So my question is :is this construction acceptable IC1,IC2,IC1 (if I remove connector "that" )

global warming, a phenomenon is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels, will create havoc .....

Its a Noun+Noun Modifier construction ,but I got confused because of the verb " is caused " without
"that " connector .Although one "that " is there but that is to separate another S-V pair " most scientists agree "

Thanks ,
Deepak

Dear Deepak,
I'm happy to help. :-)

The grammatical form you are seeing here is an appositive phrase. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... e-phrases/
The entire phrase "a phenomenon that most scientists agree is caused by human beings' burning of fossil fuels" is an appositive phrase that simply modifies and provides information about "global warming". If we omit the appositive phrase, the sentence is

The World Wildlife Fund has declared that global warming will create havoc among migratory birds by altering the environment in ways harmful to their habitats.

BTW, we can't drop the "that" --- that move would be too informal. It could pass as acceptable in colloquial English, but it will never pass on the GMAT.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)

Originally posted by mikemcgarry on 04 Nov 2013, 14:20.
Last edited by mikemcgarry on 12 Nov 2013, 16:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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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
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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 ,
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
Can anyone explain rule regarding possessive and what all to look out for .
Thanks in advance
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
[quote="souvik101990"]

Verbal Question of The Day: Day 87: Sentence Correction


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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.....
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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KB04 wrote:
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



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.
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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pikolo2510 wrote:
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!
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
GMATNinja wrote:
pikolo2510 wrote:
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!


Hey GMATNinja

Unfortunately, i didn't get what you are trying to convey here. I even asked a couple of my friends and even they didnt get what you are trying to convey.

Sorry :cry: , but can you explain in some other way?
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
city92 wrote:
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,



GMATNinja
Good Morning!
In option D or rather any option which uses "human beings", Can we say that "their" at the end of the sentence causes ambiguity? Or the "their" at the end of the sentence refers to "migratory birds" only.

Thank you!
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Re: The world wildlife fund has declared that global warming, a phenomenon [#permalink]
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