Bunuel wrote:
With exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies, severe shortness of breath is caused, weakening the pulse and often leading to a loss of consciousness.A. With exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies, severe shortness of breath is caused, weakening the pulse and often leading to a loss of consciousness.
B. Exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies causes severe shortness of breath, weakens the pulse, and often leads to a loss of consciousness.
C. Exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies cause severe shortness of breath, and often leads to a loss of consciousness, weakening the pulse.
D. Exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies often leads to a loss of consciousness and shortness of breath, weakening the pulse.
E. Exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies cause severe shortness of breath and a weak pulse, often leading to a loss of consciousness.
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Expert's Global Official ExplanationMeaning + Grammatical Construction + Parallelism + Subject-verb AgreementUnderstanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamines by antibodies cause two things, severe shortness of breath and a weak pulse, and in doing so, they often lead to a loss of consciousness.
• The introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “leading” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
• Two singular nouns joined by “and” form one plural noun phrase.
• If a phrase shares a cause-effect relationship with another (or is subordinate to it in terms of importance), the phrases do not maintain parallelism.
A. This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “weakening the pulse and often leading …”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that severe shortness of breath both weakens the pulse and often leads to a loss of consciousness; the intended meaning is that the exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies cause severe shortness of breath and weaken the pulse, and in doing so, they often lead to a loss of consciousness; please remember, the introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “weakening” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
B. This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun phrase “Exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies” with the singular verbs “causes”, “weakens”, and “leads”; please remember, two singular nouns joined by “and” form one plural noun phrase. Further, Option B incorrectly maintains parallelism between “causes severe shortness of breath” and “weakens the pulse”; please remember, if a phrase shares a cause-effect relationship with another (or is subordinate to it in terms of importance), the phrases do not maintain parallelism.
C. This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun phrase “Exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies” with the singular verb “leads”; please remember, two singular nouns joined by “and” form one plural noun phrase. Further, Option C alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “cause…and leads…”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies both cause severe shortness of breath and often lead to a loss of consciousness; the intended meaning is that exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamines by antibodies cause two things, severe shortness of breath and a weak pulse. Moreover, Option C further alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “weakening the pulse”; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that leading to a loss of consciousness and shortness of breath weakens the pulse; the intended meaning is that severe shortness of breath, alongside a weak pulse, leads to a loss of consciousness; please remember, the introduction of present participle ("verb+ing"- “weakening” in this case) after comma generally leads to a cause-effect relationship.
D. This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun phrase “Exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies” with the singular verb “leads”; please remember, two singular nouns joined by “and” form one plural noun phrase.
E. Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the plural noun phrase “Exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamine by antibodies” with the plural verb “cause”. Further, Option E correctly uses the phrase “cause severe shortness of breath and a weak pulse” and the “comma + present participle ("verb+ing"- “leading” in this case)” construction, conveying the intended meaning of the sentence – exposure to certain allergens and the production of histamines by antibodies cause two things, severe shortness of breath and a weak pulse, and in doing so, they often lead to a loss of consciousness.
E is the best answer choice.
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31 Dec 2021, 06:00
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