In the Summer of 1990, the galleries of the fine arts

Question

In the Summer of 1990, the galleries of the fine arts museum in Washington were closed  due to excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system,which raised its humidity to such levels so that artificats were beginning to show damage  and employees were falling ill due to heat exhaustion.

A)due to excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system,which raised its humidity to such levels so that artifacts were beginning to show damage
B)due to excessive heat from a faulty cooling system,thereby raising its humidity to levels such that artifacts were beginning to show damage
C)because of a faulty cooling system causing excessive heat, which raised their humidity to such levels that artifacts began to show damage
D)because of excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system,which raised its humidity to such levels that artifacts were beginning to show damage
E)because of excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system,which raised their humidity to such levels that artifacts were beginning to show damage

dominicraj · Answer

Hi,

"the galleries were closed".... why? the reason follows... So "because of" is correct... and not "due to" A and B are out.

humidity of galleries.. hence "their" is correct... D is out..

Between C and E... in E... excessive heat caused by ... what? faulty cooling system.. hence caused by is correct.

Hence E is correct.

Regards,
Dom.

Jawss · Answer

Option E does not imply a wrong causality?
  "because of excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system"  suggests than excessive head was caused by cooling system itself, which doesn't make sense!

Turkish · Answer

I went for C. Experts can you please help?

BhavikRamani · Answer

One needs to decide between c and E. the answer is E because the last sentence must be parallel were beginning to show.... and employees were falling...

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

In the Summer of 1990, the galleries of the fine arts museum in Washington were closed due to excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system,which raised its humidity to such levels so that artifacts were beginning to show damage and employees were falling ill due to heat exhaustion.

A)due to excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system, which raised its humidity to such levels so that artifacts were beginning to show damage
B)due to excessive heat from a faulty cooling system, thereby raising its humidity to levels such that artifacts were beginning to show damage
C)because of a faulty cooling system causing excessive heat, which raised their humidity to such levels that artifacts began to show damage
D)because of excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system, which raised its humidity to such levels that artifacts were beginning to show damage
E)because of excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system, which raised their humidity to such levels that artifacts were beginning to show damage
Uncertain Source Questions
As a general rule, it's a good idea to be EXTREMELY cautious with questions labeled as Source: Other (please specify). Sometimes these questions suffer from errata, or test aspects not covered on the official exam. This in no way serves as any sort of a slight to the original poster here, RaviChandra, but just a strongly recommended general best practice.

The Apparent Source Question (OG15, Q8; OG16 Q30)
This question is actually remarkably (suspiciously) similar to the legendary chambers OG question:
(in-late-1997-the-chambers-inside-the-pyramid-of-the-pharaoh-85840.html#p643388)

In late 1997, the chambers inside the pyramid of the Pharaoh Menkaure at Giza were closed to visitors for cleaning and repair due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing and fungus was growing on the walls.

(A) due to moisture exhaled by tourists, which raised its humidity to such levels so that salt from the stone was crystallizing
(B) due to moisture that tourists had exhaled, thereby raising its humidity to such levels that salt from the stone would crystallize
(C) because tourists were exhaling moisture, which had raised the humidity within them to levels such that salt from the stone would crystallize
(D) because of moisture that was exhaled by tourists raising the humidity within them to levels so high as to make the salt from the stone crystallize
(E) because moisture exhaled by tourists had raised the humidity within them to such levels that salt from the stone was crystallizing

Let's begin by focusing our attention on the official question first:

Error Types: Parallelism, The Ws

The differences in the options between Crystallizing and Crystallize give us a clue. The right form could only be dictated by putting that word in parallel form with something else in the sentence.

After reading the full sentence carefully, check out that it says Crystallizing and fungus was Growing. BUT also notice that the "was growing" is outside of the underlined area. Which of the two variations, Crystallizing and Crystallize would have to be right? Crystallizing. Throw out B C and D. Once more we can toss 3 options in one swoop!

Compare A and E. Notice the WHICH in A. We can use the "What Is?" test to help us out here. What would Which be describing here? The Tourists. But is it the tourists raising the humidity level, or the moisture the tourists breathe? The latter. That means we can also get rid of A. E is our winner.

The Clone
Now to the clone. This question does one thing that official questions will never do. The last three words of the options are all the same. In official questions, the underlined portion only extends to precisely parts of the sentence that involve differences.

In the Summer of 1990, the galleries of the fine arts museum in Washington were closed due to excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system,which raised its humidity to such levels so that artifacts were beginning to show damage and employees were falling ill due to heat exhaustion.

A)due to excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system, which raised its humidity to such levels so that artifacts were beginning to show damage
B)due to excessive heat from a faulty cooling system, thereby raising its humidity to levels such that artifacts were beginning to show damage
C)because of a faulty cooling system causing excessive heat, which raised their humidity to such levels that artifacts began to show damage
D)because of excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system, which raised its humidity to such levels that artifacts were beginning to show damage
E)because of excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system, which raised their humidity to such levels that artifacts were beginning to show damage

Getting down to E is as simple as this:

1) Parallelism (just like in the official source question): beginning || falling Dump C
2) Pronoun agreement in number: The subject is THE GALLERIES (plural). See the distinction in the options between ITS/THEIR? Which ones can we get rid of? A, B, D.

Only E is left.

Again save uncertain source questions as a last resort only. There are plenty of high-quality questions from the official test writers, and test prep companies.

MorningRunner · Answer

According to the choice E, faulty cooling system raised humidity levels up... It doesn't make sense. 
Actual meaning should be --> the excessive heat raises humidity levels up.

I think this is bad question.... Stick to official guide questions..

Abhishek009 · Answer

In the Summer of 1990 , the  galleries   of the fine arts museum in Washington   were  closed because of excessive heat caused by a faulty cooling system, which raised  their  humidity to such levels that artifacts were beginning to show damage and employees were falling ill due to heat exhaustion.

IMHO (E) for correct S-V and Pronoun usage...

SSG21 · Answer

I read this very valuable post which says that the usage of 'due to' can only be correct if 'due to' can be replaced by 'caused by' in the sentence. If the sentence after the replacement does not sound correct, 'due to' is wrong.

With this 3 choices are eliminated and between D and E, choose E as SV agree.

With this 3 choices are eliminated and between D and E, choose E as SV agree.

VerbalBot · Answer

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In the Summer of 1990, the galleries of the fine arts

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In the Summer of 1990, the galleries of the fine arts

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