While causing more damage to wildlife than to urban development

Core Meaning: The damage that is caused by leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires is more to wildlife than to urban development. But, most media attention and funds are received by residential/commercial damage than by wildlife.

A) While causing more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding.
( Incorrect: The sentence starts with "while causing", however, we don't have a noun modifier after the dependent clause. Independent Clause starts with "It" which has no referent. Also, the meaning seems all jumbled up. Something is causing damage to wildlife and urban development to leave 10 million acres vulnerable?)

B) While leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development, the residential and commercial damage from wildfires receives the most attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding. (Correct: Something causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development. Something here is noun clause - "While leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires". )

C) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, and it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding. (Incorrect: "It" has no noun to refer to )

D) The damage caused by leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires is more for wildlife than for urban development, but the residential and commercial damage receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding. ( Incorrect: I think this statement is almost correct barring the correct use of idioms. "Damage to" is right and not "damage for")

E) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, but the media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding are the most for residential and commercial damage. (Incorrect : Again "It" has no noun to refer)

My answer is (B). It took me 01:29.

(A) I dismissed it rather quickly and confidently because "it" cannot be the logical subject for "causing more damage to wildlife than to urban development". This sentence is poorly written but I managed to get the gist of it.

(B) <First Pass>
Without reading everything in this sentence, I quickly dismissed it because "the residential and commercial damage" cannot appropriately be the logical subject for "leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable". I did not notice the misjudgment until later.

(C) If anything, "and“ should be "but". The first "it" and the second "it" serve different purpose, a practice that should better be avoided in a single sentence.

The use of linking verb "be" is not as powerful or elegant as an action verb.
(D) "the damage ... is more for wildlife than for urban development" is rather awkward.
(E) "are the most for residential and commercial damage" is equally awkward.

So I am running out of options. Only at this time did I take a second look at (B)
(B) <Second Look>
"While..." is actually a subordinate clause; "Leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires” is gerund not present participle. This sentence is clearly without any awkwardness. So I picked (B).

POE:

A:
1) Opening modifier issue: There should be a DOER after modifier (causing…) to make better sense
2) Redundant phrase: The most MEDIA attention from the MEDIA

B:
1) The contrast appears clearer in option (D)
2) No need to repeat 2nd THE MOST before FUNDS

C: Meaning changed: Original meaning to present CONTRAST is lost in this structure

D: Correct

E: The contrast appears clearer in option (D)

Based on the given meaning of the original sentence, the sentence should be of the following format:

While A causes X(the problem/solution) than B, it is B that receives Y(discredit/credit).

While causing more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding.


A) While causing more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding.
Terrible comparison, parallel & language usage. Eliminate


B) While leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development, the residential and commercial damage from wildfires receives the most attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding.
Perfect as per analysis. Answer is choice B

C) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, and it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding.
Awkward pronoun usage, and it looks like two separate complete sentence, separated by and conjunction. But is required here. Eliminate

D) The damage caused by leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires is more for wildlife than for urban development, but the residential and commercial damage receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding.
Here, "damage for"(colloquial typically meaning cost/price) is incorrect. You can do a damage to a property and not a damage for a property. Eliminate


E) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, but the media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding are the most for residential and commercial damage.
Awkward pronoun usage and 'wildfires' is far away from being the subject(ask what causes most damage?). The structure of the clause, "the media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding are the most" makes the entire sentence awkward. Eliminate

A) While causing more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding.
While is followed by a clause: While Subject + Verb. This option doesnt contain Verb.

B) While leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development, the residential and commercial damage from wildfires receives the most attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding.
-> while clause: correct. SVA: correct

C) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, and it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding.
- Problem with pronoun "it" -> confusing

D) The damage caused by leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires is more for wildlife than for urban development, but the residential and commercial damage receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding.

E) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, but the media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding are the most for residential and commercial damage.
- meaning problem

Correct Option : B

Sentence exam on :
- Modifier
- sentence structure (cause and effect)
- intended meaning
- pronoun

Original sentence:
While
<causing more damage to wildlife
than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires>,
it is the (residential and commercial) damage
that receives
the most media attention from the media and
the most funds for (relief and rebuilding)
Flaw :
- Modifier marked in sentnce <causing ....> modify pronoun "IT"
- Modifier structure highlights 1st Effect (damage to wildlife) happened and then Cause (10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires)

This error are corrected in option B

B) While
<leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires
causes more damage
to wildlife than
to urban development>
,the residential and commercial damage from wildfires receives
(the most attention) from the media and
(the most funds) for relief and rebuilding.
Improvement
- Modifier structure is corrected.
- Modifier refered to Noun
- cause and effect sentnece structure well placed.
- no pronoun error.
- leaving wildfire X causes damage Y

Other option are wrong due to :

C) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, and it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding.
- Use of "IT" refer to who or whom?
- use of ,and conjunction states additional information, which demean meaning of the sentence.
- use of "That" after damage is wrong idiom, it must be damage to or damage from


D) The damage caused by leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires is more for wildlife than for urban development, but the residential and commercial damage receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding.
- use of , but conjuction, give contrast meaning between two, actually it must give cause and effect structure.
- wrong sentence structure "wildlife than for urban development"

E) <It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires>, but the media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding are the most for residential and commercial damage.
- use of pronoun IT
- use of ,but
- Wrong Modifier structure

While causing more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding.

A) While causing more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding. -> "it" doesn't have precedent. Incorrect.

B) While leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development, the residential and commercial damage from wildfires receives the most attention from the media and the most funds for relief and rebuilding. -> There is a contrast in the sentence and no error as such. Let's keep it.

C) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, and it is the residential and commercial damage that receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding. -> "And" is not used for presenting contrast in the sentence. Incorrect/

D) The damage caused by leaving more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires is more for wildlife than for urban development, but the residential and commercial damage receives the most media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding. -> The damage....is for X than for Y. Incorrect.

E) It causes more damage to wildlife than to urban development to leave more than 10 million acres vulnerable to wildfires, but the media attention and funds for relief and rebuilding are the most for residential and commercial damage. -> It doesn't have precedent. If we compare with B, still B is far better in terms of modifier placing. Incorrect.

So, I think B.

Okay, so I am a bit confused here regarding the bold part. Before "receives" it's saying "the residential AND commercial..", doesn't it infer to use "receive". Since we always use a plural verb after AND?