In the 21st century, [u]the countries of the world will either find a

Question

In the 21st century,  the countries of the world will either find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emissions, or it will likely face unprecedented environmental problems in relation to global warming.

A. the countries of the world will either find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emissions, or it will face unprecedented environmental problems in relation to global warming
 
B. the countries of the world will either find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emissions, or they will face unprecedented environmental problems relating to global warming
 
C. either the countries of the world will find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emission, or it will face unprecedented environmental problems relating to global warming
 
D. either the countries of the world will find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emission or face unprecedented environmental problems in relation to global warming
 
E. the countries of the world will either find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emissions or face unprecedented environmental problems relating to global warming

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This question is based on Parallelism.

The sentence contains the correlative conjunctions – either-or.

To maintain parallelism of correlative conjunctions, each of the pair of conjunctions must be followed by a word of the same part of speech. For example, if ‘either’ is followed by a verb, so must ‘or’.

In Option A,  ‘either’ is followed by the verb ‘find, and ‘or’ is followed by the pronoun ‘it’. Furthermore, the singular pronoun ‘it’ cannot refer to the plural antecedent ‘countries’.  So, Option A can be eliminated.

In Option B,  ‘either’ is followed by the verb ‘find’, and ‘or’ is followed by the pronoun ‘they’. The helping verb ‘will’ is also repeated unnecessarily.  So, Option B can be eliminated.

In Option C,  ‘either’ is followed by the noun ‘the countries’, and ‘or’ is followed by the pronoun ‘it’. While this doesn’t affect parallelism, the singular pronoun ‘it’ cannot refer to the plural antecedent, ‘countries’.  So, Option C can also be eliminated.

In Option D,  ‘either’ is followed by the noun ‘the countries’, and ‘or’ is followed by the verb ‘face’.  So, Option D can also be eliminated.

Option E maintains parallelism. In this option,  ‘either’ is followed by the verb ‘find’, and ‘or’ is followed by the verb ‘face’. Therefore, E is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

ramlala · Answer

In the 21st century,  the countries of the world will either find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emissions, or it will likely face unprecedented environmental problems in relation to global warming.

A. the countries of the world  will either find  a way to drastically reduce global carbon emissions,  or it will face  unprecedented environmental problems in relation to global warming
 Parallelism error. It shall be  will either find.....or face....  
 
B. the countries of the world  will either find  a way to drastically reduce global carbon emissions,  or they will  face unprecedented environmental problems relating to global warming
 Same as A 
 
C. either the countries of the world will find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emission, or  it  will face unprecedented environmental problems relating to global warming
  it  does not have proper antecedent 
 
D.  either the countries  of the world will find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emission  or face  unprecedented environmental problems in relation to global warming
 No subject after  or  
 
E. the countries of the world will either find a way to drastically reduce global carbon emissions or face unprecedented environmental problems relating to global warming
 No Remarks

Bunuel · Answer

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

The primary issue in this sentence correction problem is parallelism within common constructions (not only/but also, either/or, etc.). The structure that follows the first component of the common construction – in this case “either” – must exactly match the structure that follows the second component – in this case “or”. In (A) there are numerous problems, the easiest of which is the error of agreement with the pronoun “it”. Since “it” is referring to “countries” the pronoun should be plural. Also, the sentence lacks the parallelism discussed above because what follows “or” is very different structurally from what follows “either.” (B) reads much better than (A) and eliminates the pronoun error, but is still incorrect because it lacks parallelism. The sentence needs to be: “the countries will either find….or VERB” Answer choice (B) has “or” followed by “they” and “will”, both of which are incorrect as they do not match structurally what follows “either”. (C) contains the same pronoun error as (A) so can be quickly eliminated. In (D) “countries” and “will” are put after the term “either” so this needs to be matched structurally by what follows “or”. Since this is not the case, (D) is also incorrect. Only (E) gets it right: “the countries will either find….or face”.  Correct answer is (E).

VerbalBot · Answer

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In the 21st century, [u]the countries of the world will either find a

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In the 21st century, [u]the countries of the world will either find a

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