climate on the Earth

[tankobe]

During the last interglacial period, the climate on the Earth was warmer than it is today, and the consequent melting of the polar ice caps caused the sea level to raise about 60 feet over and above what its height presently is now.

(A) sea level to raise about 60 feet over and above what its height presently is now
(B) sea level to be raised over its height presently about 60 feet
(C) sea level to rise about 60 feet above its present height
(D) level of the seas to rise over and above its present height about 60 feet
(E) level of the seas to be raised over their height, now about 60 feet

OA is C.
what is wrong with B and D.

[cyber_office]

It would be easier to follow your posts if you underlined the segment that needs to be replaced.

[RonPurewal]

During the last interglacial period, the climate on the Earth was warmer than it is today, and the consequent melting of the polar ice caps caused the sea level to raise about 60 feet over and above what its height presently is now.

(A) sea level to raise about 60 feet over and above what its height presently is now
(B) sea level to be raised over its height presently about 60 feet
(C) sea level to rise about 60 feet above its present height
(D) level of the seas to rise over and above its present height about 60 feet
(E) level of the seas to be raised over their height, now about 60 feet

OA is C.
what is wrong with B and D.

* in both (b) and (d), the placement of "about 60 feet" is incorrect. it leads to a sentence that's unreadable, and that suggests that the present sea level is about 60 feet.

if you're not familiar with this idiom - "X miles longer than", "X years more than", "X feet above", etc., you should memorize it.

it's possible to put the numbers and units after the "more/longer/above/etc", but only if you use by:
my throw was 5 feet longer than yours.
my throw was longer than yours BY 5 feet.

in (b):

* the passive voice isn't grammatically wrong, but its use suggests that someone or something else was involved in raising the sea level.

* you shouldn't use the adverb "presently". the only thing that's present in this sentence is the height (a noun), so you need an adjective to modify it.
if you use this adverb, it seems as though the action in the sentence is occurring presently (an incorrect interpretation).

in (d):

* while "level of the seas" is not totally incorrect, it's clearly inferior to "sea level".

* "over and above" is redundant. (this is enough to kill the choice right here)

[shishir266]

Instructors please let me know if this wrong, but when I viewed this question, I arrived at a 3-2 split with 'raise' vs 'rise', and I assumed that 'rise' is the correct word to indicate an increase in the level of water?

Hence I was down to options c and d. Between c and d, d is redundant: 'over and about'.

Hence I chose C.

Please do let me know if I thought about this problem incorrectly.

Thanks,
Shishir Shah

[tim]

This would be fine if the split were really between "rise" and "raise"; in this one though, there is also a "be raised", so you need to analyze that separately from "raise"..

[ntr1989512]

do "its" refers to"sea level""sea" or "level"??

[mylittled2008]

Hi
In my view,
B the passive voice is not as good as active voice. This sentence want to emphasize that the melting of the polar ice caps caused the sea level to rise.

D over and above is awkward

[tim]

do "its" refers to"sea level""sea" or "level"??

"sea level" or "level"; they are equivalent..

mylittled, remember that the active/passive distinction is VERY rarely used on the GMAT to distinguish between correct and incorrect answers. in most cases you need to look for another grammar reason to eliminate an answer rather than simply whether it exhibits active or passive voice..

[Suapplle]

During the last interglacial period, the climate on the Earth was warmer than it is today, and the consequent melting of the polar ice caps caused the sea level to raise about 60 feet over and above what its height presently is now.

(A) sea level to raise about 60 feet over and above what its height presently is now
(B) sea level to be raised over its height presently about 60 feet
(C) sea level to rise about 60 feet above its present height
(D) level of the seas to rise over and above its present height about 60 feet
(E) level of the seas to be raised over their height, now about 60 feet

OA is C.
what is wrong with B and D.

* in both (b) and (d), the placement of "about 60 feet" is incorrect. it leads to a sentence that's unreadable, and that suggests that the present sea level is about 60 feet.

if you're not familiar with this idiom - "X miles longer than", "X years more than", "X feet above", etc., you should memorize it.

it's possible to put the numbers and units after the "more/longer/above/etc", but only if you use by:
my throw was 5 feet longer than yours.
my throw was longer than yours BY 5 feet.

in (b):

* the passive voice isn't grammatically wrong, but its use suggests that someone or something else was involved in raising the sea level.

* you shouldn't use the adverb "presently". the only thing that's present in this sentence is the height (a noun), so you need an adjective to modify it.
if you use this adverb, it seems as though the action in the sentence is occurring presently (an incorrect interpretation).

in (d):

* while "level of the seas" is not totally incorrect, it's clearly inferior to "sea level".

* "over and above" is redundant. (this is enough to kill the choice right here)

Hi,Ron, I am still confused about choice (B)
in choice (B),can the"presently" modify the verb "raised"?
besides, I cannot understand that "to be raised over its height presently about 60 feet",here,why it suggests that the present sea level is about 60 feet? as I see, sea level was raised about 60 feet.
please clarify,thanks!

[RonPurewal]

Hi,Ron, I am still confused about choice (B)
in choice (B),can the"presently" modify the verb "raised"?

In context, it's not supposed to. The clear intention is for "present" to describe "height".

"Presently" can't describe "height" because "height" is a noun, so it's immaterial what it can describe.

besides, I cannot understand that "to be raised over its height presently about 60 feet",here,why it suggests that the present sea level is about 60 feet? as I see, sea level was raised about 60 feet.
please clarify,thanks!

Your interpretation is obviously what the sentence is supposed to say, in context. But, in that choice, "about 60 feet" is placed directly after "presently", suggesting the interpretation I mentioned.
In any case, it should be clear that this modifier isn't where it is supposed to be, and that's all that really matters here.

[Suapplle]

Hi,Ron, I am still confused about choice (B)
in choice (B),can the"presently" modify the verb "raised"?

In context, it's not supposed to. The clear intention is for "present" to describe "height".

"Presently" can't describe "height" because "height" is a noun, so it's immaterial what it can describe.

besides, I cannot understand that "to be raised over its height presently about 60 feet",here,why it suggests that the present sea level is about 60 feet? as I see, sea level was raised about 60 feet.
please clarify,thanks!

Your interpretation is obviously what the sentence is supposed to say, in context. But, in that choice, "about 60 feet" is placed directly after "presently", suggesting the interpretation I mentioned.
In any case, it should be clear that this modifier isn't where it is supposed to be, and that's all that really matters here.

Ron,your explanation is very helpful, thank you very much!

[RonPurewal]

Sure.

[SudiptaB23]

Hi,

I am not doubting the correct option (c) in any way but I have a few questions regarding option (c).

Question 1: What does the possessive pronoun "its" refer to in option (c) ? Does "its" refer to "sea level" or "sea"?

Question 2: If the possessive pronoun "its" refers to "sea level" then doesn't the meaning "present height of sea level" seems awkward? "present height of sea" makes more sense than "present height of sea level" do.

Question 3: On the contrary, if the possessive pronoun "its" refers to "sea" then is it possible for a possessive pronoun to refer to an adjective noun such as "sea" in this case ? If so, then please cite some examples.

Thanks,
Sudipta.

[RonPurewal]

Question 1: What does the possessive pronoun "its" refer to in option (c) ? Does "its" refer to "sea level" or "sea"?

"sea" is not a noun in this sentence (it's an adjective describing "level").
or, alternatively, you can just think of "sea level" as a single word -- like lots of other nouns that consist of several words stuck together (e.g., "the United States of America").

so, it refers to "sea level".

[RonPurewal]

Question 2: If the possessive pronoun "its" refers to "sea level" then doesn't the meaning "present height of sea level" seems awkward? "present height of sea" makes more sense than "present height of sea level" do.

i see what you're saying, but, you are forgetting that this is a multiple-choice test.

there are no choices in which "it" = the sea, so, this is a non-issue. there's no point in even thinking about it. in EVERY sentence containing "its", "sea level" is the only possible antecedent.

if something doesn't actually let you eliminate choices ... don't think about it!