Government officials announced that restrictions on the use of water would continue because no appreciative increase in the level of the river resulted from the intermittent showers that had fallen throughout the area the day before.
Meaning Analysis
- Government officials announced
- that restrictions on the use of water would continue
The sentence begins by talking about an announcement made by the government. Per this announcement, the government has decided to carry on with certain regulations on the use of water. Reading further:
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- because no appreciative increase in the level of the river resulted from the intermittent showers
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- that had fallen throughout the area the day before.
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- because no appreciative increase in the level of the river resulted from the intermittent showers
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This part of the sentence starts with the key-word because. Hence, we will read the reason that the government has decided to carry on with the said regulations. The reason behind the decision is that the sporadic rains that occured in the area the previous day did not increase the water level of a particular river to a considerable level.
To sum up, the sentence says that certain government officials declared to continue the ongoing regulations on the usage of water. The author also gives the reason for the announcement. We find out that the reason the government made the announcement is that the non-continuous downpours the day prior to the announcement had failed to increase the water in a specific river to a significant level.
Error Analysis
- Meaning Error
“appreciative” means “expressing gratitude” and is a word used to define the personality of living beings, usually people.
For instance:
He is appreciative of the assistance provided by his teacher.
Since the meaning conveyed by this word doesn’t match with the intended meaning, we have a meaning error in this sentence.
P.S: The use of the simple past tense verb resulted does NOT lead to meaning error in the sentence. The way the sentence is written, the chronology of the events is absolutely clear. The following is the sequence of events in which they appeared:
- Intermittent showers the day before.
- Not enough increase in the rover’s level.
- Govt. officials made the announcement.
- Restrictions would continue.
The word “because” makes it clear why the restrictions would continue. Since, cause ALWAYS occurs before the effect, despite the use of the simple past tense verb “resulted”, we know this event took place before the announcement was made. So, there are verb tense errors in this sentence.
POE
Choice A
Incorrect
This choice has the error pointed out in the error analysis.
Choice B
Incorrect
1. Verb Tense Error
This choice repeats the verb tense error of Choice A.
2. Modifier Error
The relative pronoun modifier that illogically modifies the immediate preceding noun entity the river’s level. This noun modifier cannot jump over the preceding prepositional phrase in river’s level because this phrase modifies the action had not been and not any appreciative level, the noun entity preceding this phrase.
3. Meaning Error
This choice repeats the meaning error of Choice A.
Choice C
Incorrect
Sentence Structure Error
The portion “not any appreciable increase in the river’s level…” is awkwardly constructed. One way to correctly express the intended meaning is to say “no appreciable increase in the river’s level…”
Choice D
Correct
This choice is correct as it uses the correct verb tense to show the correct sequence of the events.
Choice E
Incorrect
1. Verb Tense Error
This choice repeats the verb tense error of Choice A.
2. Idiom Error
The word being has not been used correctly here. It is neither a noun with a verb or part of continuous tense verb in passive voice construction – the two correct uses of being on GMAT SC.
3. Sentence Structure Error
This choice repeats the sentence structure error of Choice C.
