SC question

[shree.neve]

Ostria's abundant rainfall and the typically temperate temperature throughout most of the country have produced a lush vegetation cover and, despite the rugged terrain and generally poor soils, it has made possible the raising of a variety of crops.
A) it has made possible the raising of
B) has made possible fro them to raise
C) have made it possible to raise
D) have made it possible for raising
E) thus making it possible for them to raise

Source: Altered GMATprep question

The official answer is given as C.


a)As per the MGMAT SC guide:
eg: Wrong:The weight was lifted by concentrating.
This is wrong because 'whoever lifted the weight should be present in the sentence'.The subject is not present.

Similarly, wouldn't option 'C) have made it possible to raise'
require a subject to indicate who would actually raise the crop?(to raise)(e.g farmers,peasants)

b)Also,wouldn't D be a better answer because it contains gerund 'raising' instead of participle 'to raise'?

c) As per accepted English usage,a preposition is likely followed by a gerund ( Adjective + Preposition + Gerund)
http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/part_2.htm
Wouldn't option D score over C in this regard?

Thanks!

[tim]

"have" in the underlined section has the same compound subject as the "have" earlier in the sentence, so yes there is a subject. there is no need for a subject for "to raise", as it is not technically a verb..

there is no rule that says you need to prefer a gerund in this situation, as C does not contain a preposition the way D does. the "to" in C is part of an infinitive, not a prepositional phrase. please remember to avoid using ANY grammar references that are not specific to the GMAT, as they may not always agree with GMAT grammar..

[sabharwal.bhavna]

Can anyone tell me why should 'it' not be the subject of the clause?
Why is A incorrect?
Is the use of 'have' in C and D correct because it follows the parallelism:
'..most of the country have..and,..'
The modifier 'despite the rugged..' is added to deflect the attention from the main parts of the structure. If we remove the structure and start to create the structure, we would be able to determine the correct answer choice.

[myivymba]

'It' cannot be used here as sentence has a plural subject Ostria's abundant rainfall and the typically temperate temperature Hence A can't be the answer

Finally we chose C over D, because D has a modifier which is unnecessary here!

[RonPurewal]

'It' cannot be used here as sentence has a plural subject Ostria's abundant rainfall and the typically temperate temperature Hence A can't be the answer

yes.

Finally we chose C over D, because D has a modifier which is unnecessary here!

not really. however, note that (c) vs (d) is an idiom issue, of the type that gmac no longer tests. so, you don't have to worry about it.
see here for more info:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmac/