The infamous lake baikal question...

[mwilliams82]

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.
(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.
(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.

I concluded A was wrong since ", which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water," is a non-essential modifier, no? So the sentence should be able to work without this clause and if it can't, then that would mean the sentence is incorrect, right? If someone can explain how my though process is wrong it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[sunny.jain]

IMO : A

very hard to pick, Actually B,C and E can be eliminated easily.
Out of A and D : A seems to be winner.

(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal,....., more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

Sound clear .

(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.

Siberia's Lake Baikal ,With 20% of fresh water, that is more than all the N.A.L combined, has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.

Wrong comparison also.


(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.

'IT' is not required here.
again wrong comparison.


(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

WRONG:
Usage of while looks wrong here. While should be use where there are two things parallelly happening.

(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
WRONG:
Seems like compairing baikal with more than all the north american great lakes.

[ayushrastogi82]

More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.

(A) More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal, which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
(B) With 20 percent of the world's fresh water, that is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal has more than 300 rivers that drain into it.
(C) Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, it holds more of the world's fresh water than all that of the North American Great Lakes combined, 20 percent.
(D) While more than 300 rivers drain into it, Siberia's Lake Baikal holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water, which is more than all the North American Great Lakes combined.
(E) More than all the North American Great Lakes combined, Siberia's Lake Baikal, with more than 300 rivers draining into it, holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water.

I concluded A was wrong since ", which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water," is a non-essential modifier, no? So the sentence should be able to work without this clause and if it can't, then that would mean the sentence is incorrect, right? If someone can explain how my though process is wrong it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

IMO A.

Yes, that is a non-essential modifier.
In fact the main clause in just 'More than 300 rivers drain into Siberia's Lake Baikal' with "More than 300 rivers" as subject, "drain" as verb and "into Siberia's Lake Baikal" as adverbial phrase.

'which holds 20 percent of the world's fresh water' is adjective clause modifier modifying preceding noun 'Siberia's Lake Baikal'
and 'more than all the North American Great Lakes combined' is appositive modifying preceding noun '20 percent of the world's fresh water'.

[vrajesh.dave]

what is the OA?

[mwilliams82]

OA is A

[RonPurewal]

the principal thread on this problem is located here:

more-than-300-rivers-drain-into-t5054.html