The growth in the human population of the Amazon along with

Question

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The growth in the human population of the Amazon, along with the inevitable spread of pollution and destruction of habitats, poses many problems  for the ecologists struggling to preserve the region’s biodiversity.

A) The growth in the human population of the Amazon, along with the inevitable spread of pollution and destruction of habitats, poses many problems

B) The growing human population of the Amazon, along with the inevitable spread of pollution and destruction of habitats, is posing many problems

C) The growth in the human population of the Amazon, along with inevitably spreading pollution and the destruction of habitats, pose many problems

D) The growth in the human population of the Amazon, along with the inevitable spread of pollution and the destruction of habitats, are posing many problems

E) In the Amazon, a growing human population, as well as the inevitable spread of pollution and the destruction of habitats, are posing many problems

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

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•  Split 1 - ALONG WITH, AS WELL AS, and TOGETHER WITH do not act as coordinating conjunctions  and  do not make the subject plural .  
 Correct : The president, along with her security detail, exercises every morning.
 Wrong : The president, along with her security detail, exercise every morning.

The singular subject in options C and D is  growth , and in E is  population .
" Along with  ... pollution and destruction of habitats" does not change the fact that "growth" or "population" is each a singular subject that requires a singular verb.
Options C, D, and E incorrectly pair a singular subject with a plural verb: pose, are posing, and are posing, respectively.
Eliminate C, D, and E

• Split #2 - Meaning and Diction / Verb tense

Meaning and Diction
→ Option A states, "The growth of the human population . . ."
→ Option B states, "The  growing human  population . . .
The phrasing in Option A is better than option B.
Option B can be read as the "growing human" population—as in, the part of the population that consists of maturing humans.
That meaning is absurd.

Option A is better than option B.

Verb
→ The simple present tense in option A ("pose") is ideal for expressing  general truths and unchanging situations. 
If we are dealing with a calcified situation that will not go away anytime soon, we should use simple present.

→ THe present continuous in option B ("is posing") is used to describe temporary, immediate, or future situations.
This much is true: the verb in option B is not exactly ungrammatical. But it's not as apt as the verb in option A.

Finally, GMAC tends to prefer simple past and simple present.
Part of that inclination is a preference for concision: one word is shorter than two.

Another part of that inclination is a preference for active voice:  poses  is punchier and livelier than the verb  is posing .
 Poses  is active;  is posing  is passive. 
The sentence discusses an alarming situation; the active verb  poses  imparts a sense of alarm and urgency better than its verb counterpart in option B.

Eliminate B

• Split #3: "Fuzzy" Parallelism that creates superior style  
→ Option A uses  growth, spread,  and  destruction —all "action nouns."
It is not required that these nouns be parallel;  along with  is not a coordinating conjunction.
That said, if we look at rhetorical effectiveness, the use of three similar nouns (all action nouns) and a direct, active verb create a better sentence than does a sentence without three parallel nouns and without an active verb.

→ Option B uses  population, spread,  and  destruction. 
The first noun, population, is an inert (or "concrete") noun; the other two are action nouns.
Again, these nouns do not need to be parallel, but when we compare the three parallel action nouns in A to the different types of verbs in option B that lack parallelism, the verb construction in A creates cadence, flow, and that elusive thing call "rhetorical effectiveness."

If you read a decent bit, you should pick option A pretty easily.
Game this test: eliminate as quickly as you can, and if you are stuck on two remaining choices, ask yourself both "Which is worse? and "Which is better?".
You'll find that most of the time, you really do know the answer.
Eliminate B

The answer is A.

COMMENTS

VIGHNESHKAMATH ,  acf840  and  theichimaru90  , welcome to SC Butler.
(EDIT:  theichimaru90  , good catch on the "growing human" issue. I didn't see your post earlier.)

We are always glad to have new participants.
All aspirants have a standing invitation to post.
If you've been hesitant to post, give posting a go; you'll learn the material better—and you'll notice details that you normally do not, details that also get into your "test brain" more quickly and more deeply.

This question is not easy.

So -- kudos to all for effort or excellence or both.

kungfury42 · Answer

I could eliminate CDE as the plural verbs used are incorrect. We have two singular entities separated by alongwith / as well as, and we should use a singular verb.

Between A and B, I really don't know how to differentiate. But I would guess B should be correct.

Posted from my mobile device

acf840 · Answer

CDE have SV agreement error.
Between A & B, A is better as this looks like a general point. Present tense makes it look that it is happening right now and should be incorrect.

VIGHNESHKAMATH · Answer

In my opinion, the answer is Option B. The problem with Option A is that it uses a simple present tense- poses , as if it is some universal fact. The problem is currently ongoing and present continuous tense seems more logical to me. Second problem I would say with option A is usage of ''growth in the human population'' whereas option B says '' growing human population'' , what is posing a problem ? A growth or growing human population, it is latter, because the process of growth is happening right now, it is not static, this continuous growth is what causing a problem , thus usage of growing as an adjective is much better and direct than using a noun + prepositional phrase. This is my opinion.

Thank you
Vighnesh

zhanbo · Answer

Ultimately, I chose  (A) . I spent 02:23 mainly between (A) and (B).

(A)(B) Keep for now. 
(C) The subject "The growth" (singular) does not agree with the verb "pose". 
(D) The subject "The growth" (singular) does not agree with the verb "are posing". 
(E) The subject "a growing human population" (singular) does not agree with the verb "are posing".

Let's compare (A) and (B):
(1) (A) uses "poses many problem" while (B) uses "is posing many problems".
(2) (A) uses "The growth in the human population of the Amazon" while (B) uses "The growing human population of the Amazon".

For (1), I think both are okay. But if we have to take a stand, we really cannot say only "is posing" is correct. Just think about millions of sentences thus rendered incorrect by the insistence that we have to use progressive tense. 
It is fine to use progressive tense, but it is not a must.

For (2), (B) is slightly shorter at 7 words against (A) with 9 words. GMAT SC is not a strict word count task. Forget about it.

Now, let's pay attention to "the inevitable spread of pollution and destruction of habitats" and play the parallelism card. Which noun is most parallel with "the spread and destruction"? To me, it is "the growth" not "the population". The "population" is an entity, while "the spread / destruction / growth" describe an action.

Let's wait for OA with bated breath.

theichimaru90 · Answer

For me, a key differentiator is the sentence opening: (B) 'the growing human population' vs (A) 'the growth in the human population'. I was unclear whether the growing of B was referring to the humans or the population. Like, is it the population of humans who are growing? Or the growing population of humans? So I chose A because it removes the ambiguity.

generis · Answer

You can find the official explanation by clicking  here .

VerbalBot · Answer

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The growth in the human population of the Amazon along with

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

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