When the temperature of a gas is increased, it is either

[vivs.gupta]

the increase is either accompanied by an increase in pressure if the gas is enclosed in a container or by an increase in volume of the gas.

Hi Ron,

In the above sentence, can't we use the concept of ellipse and assume 'accompained' after 'or':

the increase is either accompanied by an increase in pressure if the gas is enclosed in a container or (accompained) by an increase in volume of the gas.

With a single parallel marker you are given some wiggle room, but not with two parallel markers.

Either X or Y

X and Y need to be completely parallel, ESPECIALLY with the initial structure of the sentence.

Either (accompanied by...) or (by...) WRONG

thanks Joe,

Is the following statement right:

I was accompained by X and my brother by Y.

[RonPurewal]

I was accompained by X and my brother by Y.

yes, you can do this sort of thing.

[vivs.gupta]

I was accompained by X and my brother by Y.

yes, you can do this sort of thing.

Thanks

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.

[peterm35]

I have a question about A) and B). Please consider the following example...
The fans threw glassware onto the field, and it resulted in a penalty for the home team. In this example "it" is wrong because it refers to the entire previous clause. Are A) and B) subject to the same error? One of the previous posts says that "it" is wrong in A and B because of ambiguity, but the issue I am referencing here is different than simple ambiguity. Is this an accurate observation?
Thanks,
Peter

[RonPurewal]

Basically the same type of error, yeah.

Nothing to do with "ambiguity" here. "Pronoun ambiguity" is a complete non-issue on the GMAT. Not tested at all. Do not think about it at all.

Here, in context, it's clear that "it" in choices A/B is meant to stand for the increase in temperature.
Like "threw" here, though, "increased" is not a noun, so the pronoun is wrong.

Again, there's no issue of "ambiguity". In each case, the pronoun is clearly intended to stand for one specific thing——but, in each case, that thing is ineligible because it isn't a noun.

[uddipan.d]

Hi Ron

Sorry for such naive question.

As you mentioned in your previous post :

Here, in context, it's clear that "it" in choices A/B is meant to stand for the increase in temperature.

How do I understand that It is not referring to "the temperature of a gas" but to "the increase in temperature"

A similar issue in the following sentence

There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now as it was in 1990

How do I understand that It is not referring to "energy" but to "energy generated through wind power"

[RonPurewal]

Hi Ron

Sorry for such naive question.

As you mentioned in your previous post :

Here, in context, it's clear that "it" in choices A/B is meant to stand for the increase in temperature.

How do I understand that It is not referring to "the temperature of a gas" but to "the increase in temperature"

if this is not clear, you just aren't thinking enough about what the sentence means.

remember—when you first read the sentence, you should read as though you were reading a book or magazine.
during that first reading, you should not be thinking AT ALL about grammar.

i'd bet good money that, if you were to see this sentence in a scientific magazine, its meaning would be obvious to you. i'd win that bet, right?

[RonPurewal]

A similar issue in the following sentence

There are hopeful signs that we are shifting away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels: more than ten times as much energy is generated through wind power now as it was in 1990

How do I understand that It is not referring to "energy" but to "energy generated through wind power"

this ^^ is a different issue altogether.

this time, we're NOT talking about the intended meaning (as determined by common sense).
rather, this is a discussion of how pronouns work.

this is a fundamental characteristic of "it" and "they": they refer to nouns exactly as characterized earlier, including all the modifiers that those nouns might be carrying.

so, in the above instance, we have a problem because this rule contrasts with the common-sense interpretation of the sentence.

[ShriramC110]

Hi Ron,

In the orignal sentence 'It' should refer to the temperature of gas,as 'it' normally refers to the entire noun with all the modifiers attached to it.
Is my understanding right??

Thanks,

[RonPurewal]

'it' could still refer to a gas.
the point is this:
if 'it' as intended to refer to 'gas' and there are modifiers attached to 'gas', then those modifiers are understood in the context of 'it' as well.

[RonPurewal]

in the problem at hand, though, this is a non-issue.

the non-underlined part contains an increase in volume if the gas is able to expand. so here we have a simple parallelism issue.
choice D is constructed in EXACTLY the same way.
choice E is not.
thus D and not E.