The paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating flo

Question

Pack 7, Question 4 of 5:

The paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area can, in part, be explained as  the effect of climate change, which causes increased moisture in the atmosphere, shifts in the jet stream, and rising arctic temperatures.

A. The paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area can, in part, be explained as
B. Longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods being a paradox in the same area, one explanation is
C. One explanation for the paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area is that it is
D. That longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods are a paradox is, in part, explainable as
E. In the same area longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods are a paradox, with one explanation of this being

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EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Accepted Answer

Official Explanation

The paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area can, in part, be explained as  the effect of climate change, which causes increased moisture in the atmosphere, shifts in the jet stream, and rising arctic temperatures.

A. The paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area can, in part, be explained as 
 B. Longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods being a paradox in the same area, one explanation is 
 C. One explanation for the paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area is that it is 
 D. That longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods are a paradox is, in part, explainable as 
 E. In the same area longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods are a paradox, with one explanation of this being

A review of our answer choices shows that our choices are all over the place, with different beginnings, different subjects, and different verbs. The easiest way to tackle this is probably to just go through each option one at a time.

Option A:  The paradox  of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area  can, in part, be explained as  the effect of climate change. 
The simple subject (the paradox) has a lot of modifiers that provide us more information about the subject, but for the moment, let’s ignore those modifiers and look at the subject and verb. “The paradox can be explained as the effect of climate change.” Saying that “X can be explained as Y” implies that they are the same thing. “The paradox is the effect of climate change.” No, this paradox is not the only effect of climate change; the paradox is caused by all the effects of climate change (more moisture, shift in jet stream, etc.). Option A is not logical, so it cannot be the best answer.

Option B: Longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods being a paradox in the same area,  one explanation is the effect of climate change.  
Droughts and floods is not the subject here, because there is no verb. The subject is “one explanation.” “One explanation is the effect of climate change.” One explanation of what? It is not clear what the effect of climate change is supposed to explain. Option B cannot be the best answer.

Option C:  One explanation for the paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area  is that it is the result of climate change. 
This makes sense. “One explanation” is the subject, but the prepositional phrase that includes the droughts and the floods tells us what is being explained. The awkward use of “is that it is” does leave room for improvement in this sentence. We’ll come back to this if there are no better answers.

Option D: That longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods are a paradox  is, in part, explainable as the effect of climate change.  
This says the reason drier droughts and larger floods are a paradox is the effect of climate change. No. They are a paradox because they seem to be complete contradictions; it doesn’t seem like we can have both at the same time—that is why it is a paradox, not the effect of climate change. This sentence is nonsensical, so Option D cannot be the best answer.

Option E:  In the same area longer , drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods are a paradox,  with one explanation  of  this  being the effect of climate change. 
“In the same area” is a modifying, opening phrase, but it should be followed by a comma. “This” lacks a clear antecedent. Does it refer to the droughts and floods or to the paradox? This sentence is also awkward with the use of the prepositional phrase “with one explanation” followed by another prepositional phrase “of this being.” There are better ways to say this.

While Option C uses a wordy, awkward construction (is that it is), it is not ungrammatical.  When compared with the other choices, Option C is the best answer.

DinoPen · Answer

I said A.
Nothing seems wrong here. "Longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods" are parallel. Correct use of 'as'. I don't see anything out of the ordinary. 
B: Wrong use of being. 'Being" needs to follow a conjugation of 'to be'. In this case, floods is not a form of 'to be'.
C: 'that it' is vague. There are stronger choices out there. Does 'that it' refer to the explanation? Or the longer, drier droughts? Or even the larger, more devastating floods? I was confused here. In my humble opinion, I thought that A was the better choice. (Please correct me if I am wrong)
D: "is that" is not pointing to a subject. Same reasoning as choice C. This also changes the meaning of the sentence. Instead of a possibility that the paradox will lead to these event, the paradox is seen as the main cause.
E: Wrong use of being.

NandishSS · Answer

Here the subject is paradox of flood is correctly explained.Also Explained as is correct idiom - Correct

Being considered when it comes in the middle of the sentence. When being is preceded by a comma and beginning of the sentence.
Explanation is - Incorrect

that it is bit awkward, what is it referring to - Incorrect

Subject should be paradox of something - Incorrect

Being considered when it comes in the middle of the sentence. When being is preceded by a comma and beginning of the sentence.
Explanation of this being - Incorrect

ektakdawla · Answer

Correct ans is A. Both adjectives describing drought & floods are parallel. usage of as is correct 
B-usage of being is wrong......floods being a paradox...one explanation is....
c- wrong becoz of sentence structure...one explanation is that.. & becoz of present tense
D-wrong becoz of explainable...actually this word does not fit in this sentence
E-weird sentence ....with one explanation of this being..

Russ19 · Answer

Separating clauses, I will attempt an explanation.

Clause -1
 The paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area can, in part, be explained as the effect of climate change,

Subject: The paradox
Verbs: can be explained
Parallelism: correctly maintained by using comparative adjectives

Clause -2
 which causes increased moisture in the atmosphere, shifts in the jet stream, and rising arctic temperatures.

Subject: which
Verbs: causes/ shifts
Parallelism: correctly maintained by using verb phrases

In the clause, which refers to ‘the effect of climate change’ meaningfully. The use of present simple tense to present fact (the result of climate change) seems okay here. So A must be the correct option.

Raxit85 · Answer

Imo. A

The paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area can, in part, be explained as the effect of climate change, which causes increased moisture in the atmosphere, shifts in the jet stream, and rising arctic temperatures.

The paradox of X and Y in the same area can be explained as the effect of climate change (CC), CC causes A, B and C. Here X & Y and A, B and C maintain parallelism.This sentence coveys meaning clearly.

A. The paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area can, in part, be explained as - correct as above.
B. Longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods being a paradox in the same area, one explanation is - being a paradox is incorrectly used. 
C. One explanation for the paradox of longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods in the same area is that it is - Usage of present simple tense changes the meaning of original sentence, which mentions possibility. Hence, distorts the meaning itself. One explanation... is that it is - unnecessary wordy.
D. That longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods are a paradox is, in part, explainable as - That and explainable as should modify paradox, as a subject but here subject is converted into object by placing after verb.
E. In the same area longer, drier droughts and larger, more devastating floods are a paradox, with one explanation of this being - with incorrectly modifies preceding clause and incorrect usage of being.

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EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were really close on this one,  DinoPen ! This was a tricky question for sure! Check out the Official Explanation in the comments to see why option C, while not perfect, is still the best choice.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were so close,  NandishSS ! A lot of people struggled with this one! Check out the Official Explanation in the comments to see why option C, while not perfect, is the best choice.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were close,  ektakdawla ! This was a tricky one! Check out the Official Explanation in the comments to see why Option C, while not perfect, is the best choice.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were on the right track,  sjuniv32 , but didn't arrive at the correct answer this time. Check out the Official Explanation in the comments to see why option C, while not perfect, is the best choice.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

You were close,  Raxit85 ! This question gave everyone trouble. Check out the official explanation in the comments to see why option C, while not perfect, is the best choice.

dinubisht003 · Answer

in my opinion option a is in passive form while C in active form

amathur88 · Answer

If we drop the unnecessary modifiers, C becomes "One explanation is that it is the effect of X" 
how can the explanation be the effect of something? C is wrong IMO

VerbalBot · Answer

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