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

Question

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

bakfed · Accepted Answer

E is right because it uses the correct advert.

"Increasingly", in this case, is modifying the the word "cold". "Cold" is then modifying the word "weather". By saying "increasing cold weather", one can literally take it as the weather is "increasing", which in this case, doesn't make sense at all. What is increasing? The coldness is increasing; therefore, to modify "cold", one has to use "increasingLY". Hope this helps!

seekmba · Answer

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

subjunctive mood....so "speculation.....that" is needed

that takes (B) and (D) out.

(A) is wrong because of "increasing cold weather"

Between (B) and (E), I liked (E) because the sentence is about speculation and so should have "may". But I thought "have" is wrong because "have" is used for plural subjects and so picked (B).

can someone explain why (E) is correct and if I need any thought readjustment.

TheGmatTutor · Answer

"May have been" can be used with a singular subject. For example, "The dog may have been..." or "The student may have been..." It this case "may have been" is correct to use with the subject "weather."

bakfed gives a good explanation of why B is wrong as well.

seekmba · Answer

Sorry...I meant to say that I picked (C).

I knew (A), (B) and (D) are straight out.

I was struggling between (C) and (E).

I picked (C) because "increasingly cold weather had been responsible for the move" ...seemed correct.

What is wrong with (C)?

Scrat · Answer

I think the usage of the tense in C is wrong. I don't think we need "Had been" structure in this context and also the "may" structure in E matches "speculations" much better.

Indien · Answer

I will go for E.

past perfect is not necessary for two past events. It is used when there is a need to establish chronology.

RaviChandra · Answer

increasing cold weather

here i feel increasing(a ADJ) is modifying "cold weather"

but can some give a Ex: of ADJ2 ADJ1 NOUN(adj1 modifying NOUN and ADJ2 modify ADJ1)

rlevochkin · Answer

I'll go with E. I still think that, on top of everything, option C unnecessary changes the meaning of the original sentence.

jlgdr · Answer

Isn't speculation....may redundant?

hsbinfy · Answer

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.

AmritaSarkar89 · Answer

First step 2/3 split: when there is a speculation then it should be followed by That specially in this case where we are determining the speculation. This eliminates the options with weather.

Now E is the only option which depicts the entire case in a lucid way without fancy gibberish.

thangvietname · Answer

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.

dabaobao · Answer

Main Issues: 
1) Adjective vs Adverb: We need an adverb "increasingly" instead of an adjective "increasing" since it is modifying an adjective "cold". Using an adjective to modify "cold weather" distorts the meaning.
2) Concision: Fewer words to imply the same meaning are preferred on GMAT.

(A) that increasing cold weather was what may have been  - Wrong: Need "increasingly" instead of "increasing"

(B) whether increasing cold weather was what was  - Wrong: Need "increasingly" instead of "increasing"

(C) that increasingly cold weather was what had been  - Wrong: Concision

(D) whether increasingly cold weather may have been what was  - Wrong: Concision

(E) that increasingly cold weather may have been  - Correct

emcheeks · Answer

(is/are/been) + what +   (is/are/been) (in this problem, A, B, C, and D all use this construction) is usually used in explaining/defining a term. For example,  a logarithm  is what is  known in algebra as an exponent.  Here, "is what is" is used because it is defining what "logarithm" is. However, in this problem, we are not defining anything. Therefore   + what +  may seem unnecessary and redundant.

chiragthukral · Answer

IMO, Speculation and whether are redundant together, eliminating B and D.
We need increasing ly  (Adverb) modifying cold and not "Increasing" (adjective) modifying weather, eliminating A.
Between B and D, There is no need of had (past perfect) as there is only 1 action of the past. 
Furthermore, always remember "may/will/ can" will always have plural verbs, in this case, "may have". 
Thus D will win.

vasuca10 · Answer

VeritasKarishma  Mam kindly explain this question with POE

twoface07 · Answer

- '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).

KarishmaB · Answer

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.

VIGHNESHKAMATH · Answer

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)

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

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

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

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