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There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be

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hsbinfy
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   13 Jul 2016, 23:53
jlgdr wrote:
Isn't speculation....may redundant?


yes i am thinking the same.

Marked C.

cold weather had been responsible for the move.

that move is finished with the cold weather described.I thought 'had' had more energy here.
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   10 Jan 2017, 06:21
raghavs wrote:
3. There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.
(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been
(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was
(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been
(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was
(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been

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OA E


let me try to say something.
in a and b, "increasing" modify "wheather" grammatically. this modification is not logic. it should modify "cold" and become "increasingly". this error is easy.
"speculation" must go with "that-clause", and can not go with "whether-clause. we can remember this idiom through the meaning of "whether-clause". d is gone.

in c, "had been" is not justified. we need a sequence to use had done. grammatically, "what had been" must happen before "was what". but this is not logic. c can be correct if a shorter version is " cold weather was responsible...".

in "that-clause" after "speculation" both confirmation verb "was" or " possibility" verb can be used, I think. This point can not be explained in grammar books but must be infered by us.
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   01 Jun 2021, 09:26
VeritasKarishma Mam kindly explain this question with POE
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There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 02 Jun 2021, 20:39
raghavs wrote:
There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.

(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been
(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was
(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been
(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was
(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been


- 'increasing' should modify the adjective 'cold' and hence the appropriate word form should be used - in this case it would be 'increasingly' (adverb). Eliminate (A) and (B).

- The sentence contests a fact (keyword: speculation) about the Anasazi's resettlement to move from one place to the other and hence, the introduction of past perfect tense (had been) is incorrect. Eliminate choice (C).

- 'whether' should be followed by 'or' as in the case of the idiomatic expression: 'whether X or Y'. Since the sentence states one reason, the use of 'whether' is incorrect. Eliminate (D).

The answer is choice (E).

Originally posted by twoface07 on 01 Jun 2021, 10:47.
Last edited by twoface07 on 02 Jun 2021, 20:39, edited 1 time in total.
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There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   05 Jan 2022, 00:31
My analysis for this question is as follows:

There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.

(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been ( increasing is adjective which is wrongly used, it should be adverb -increasingly modifying the adjective cold, thus incorrect)

(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was (error same as in A)

(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been (Past perfect tense cannot be used as the movement of Anasazi is second event, first event is increasingly cold weather)

(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was (''Whether'' and ''may'' is redundant as both indicates uncertainty)

(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been (correct option ,present perfect usage is correct for the speculation as it is still being done)[color=#ff0000][/color]
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   25 May 2022, 02:59
KarishmaB wrote:
raghavs wrote:
There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.

(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been

(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was

(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been

(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was

(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been


First decision point is increasing/increasingly.
"Increase" modifies the adjective "cold" (it was getting colder) so we will use the adverb form here - increasingly. Eliminate (A) and (B).

In (C), you do not need the pronoun 'what'. Also, the use of 'had been' (past perfect) is incorrect. We don't have two events in the past. We just want to say that "A was responsible for B in the past".
In (D) too, the use of pronoun 'what' is circuitous.
(E) is direct and clean.


Hi Karishma, In fact we do have 2 events in the past. Notice that a lot of times the use of past perfect is justfied even if the sentence doesn't clearly indicates a time frame, as long as the logic clealy tell us that one event happened in the past of another event. In option C, the Anasazi move is the event in the past that happened after the weather change, I don't think this is open to debate.

The divorce of Tim's parents had been responsible for his move from Boston to LA. --- I think this is perfectly logical.

I agree with you that the use of "what" is somehow wordy, but wordy is usually not a decisive factor.

In Option E, the use of "may" is redundant right? speculation .... may, they do the same thing.
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   12 Oct 2022, 22:24
KarishmaB Ma'am,
Why do we need an adverb(increasingly) over adjective(increasing) over here?
Please clarify.
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   30 Nov 2022, 22:06
Can increasing modify the cold weather? How to say that the span of cold weather is increasing?
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   14 Jan 2023, 07:28
I understand that the usage of increasing is incorrect , but I would like to know if the usage past tense (was what) is correct in the sentence?
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   15 Jan 2023, 04:31
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akt715 wrote:
I understand that the usage of increasing is incorrect , but I would like to know if the usage past tense (was what) is correct in the sentence?


Yes, we could have used past tense since we are talking about an event in the past.
There is speculation that A was responsible for B (talking about an event B that happened in the past)

That said, 'was what may have been' is an indirect way of saying 'may have been' and hence is less preferable.
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   02 Mar 2023, 10:28
GMATRockstar Can you please explain the strategy to solve this question?
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink] New post   31 Jul 2023, 22:48
KarishmaB wrote:
raghavs wrote:
There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have been responsible for the Anasazi move from Mesa Verde to sites in other canyons.

(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been

(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was

(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been

(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was

(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been


First decision point is increasing/increasingly.
"Increase" modifies the adjective "cold" (it was getting colder) so we will use the adverb form here - increasingly. Eliminate (A) and (B).

In (C), you do not need the pronoun 'what'. Also, the use of 'had been' (past perfect) is incorrect. We don't have two events in the past. We just want to say that "A was responsible for B in the past".
In (D) too, the use of pronoun 'what' is circuitous.
(E) is direct and clean.


KarishmaB Is it correct to use "speculation" and "may" together?
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Re: There is speculation that increasing cold weather was what may have be [#permalink]
31 Jul 2023, 22:48
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