Whereas the use of synthetic fertilizers has greatly

[RonPurewal]

I do not understand the following, pls, help explain clearly.

C says "if these fertilizers are used increasingly" which is incorrect wording. Correct wording would be something such as "if these fertilizers are increasingly used".

i don't think that either of these word orders is necessarily wrong.

Dose C contain any other errors? I am not easy with C but do not understand why.

the main problem i see with choice (c) is "if used as substitutions for..."
this implies that the fertilizers themselves are "substitutions". that doesn't make sense; a "substitution" is actually the process of substituting one thing for another, not one of the things themselves.
as an analogy, it would be correct to say i exchanged my rental car for a truck, but incorrect to say this truck was an exchange for my rental car.

[thanghnvn]

the main problem i see with choice (c) is "if used as substitutions for..."
this implies that the fertilizers themselves are "substitutions". that doesn't make sense; a "substitution" is actually the process of substituting one thing for another, not one of the things themselves.
as an analogy, it would be correct to say i exchanged my rental car for a truck, but incorrect to say this truck was an exchange for my rental car.


pls, help.

in C, if I write " as subsitutes for ..." not " as substitutions for ..."

this part of sentence would be correct

Am I right?

second thing.

in C, apart from the incorrect thing " as substitutions"

Is there any other thing incorrect? I do not understand the explanation of Stacey of the incorrect thing in C.

Pls, help.

[RonPurewal]

the main problem i see with choice (c) is "if used as substitutions for..."
this implies that the fertilizers themselves are "substitutions". that doesn't make sense; a "substitution" is actually the process of substituting one thing for another, not one of the things themselves.
as an analogy, it would be correct to say i exchanged my rental car for a truck, but incorrect to say this truck was an exchange for my rental car.


pls, help.

in C, if I write " as subsitutes for ..." not " as substitutions for ..."

this part of sentence would be correct

Am I right?

i believe you are, yes.

second thing.

in C, apart from the incorrect thing " as substitutions"

Is there any other thing incorrect? I do not understand the explanation of Stacey of the incorrect thing in C.

Pls, help.

that is the main thing i see wrong with that choice.

please quote the response from stacey that you are referring to; thanks. (this thread is currently 33 posts long, so it will be difficult to find references that you haven't quoted or linked.)

[thanghnvn]

C messes up the contrast I want to make by starting with "if these fertilizers." Also generally kind of awkward / wordy, but only use that as a tiebreak.


I do not understand the above explanation from Stacey. Please, help.

I already understand why "used as substitutions " in C is wrong. Please, explain the other errors in C.

pls, help, Ron, manhantant experts, members.

[rachelhong2012]

Whereas the use of synthetic fertilizers has greatly expanded agricultural productivity in many parts of the world, an increase in their use can create serious environmental problems such as water pollution, and their substitution for more traditional fertilizers may accelerate soil structure deterioration and soil erosion.

C. if these fertilizers are used increasingly, they can create serious environmental problems such as water pollution, and if used as substitutions for more traditional fertilizers, they


I picked C too because I thought it's wrong to say "use of XXX" , rather, we should say "usage of XXX". But I think I know what Stacey was talking about when she said: "C messes up the contrast I want to make by starting with "if these fertilizers."

It has to do with the intended meaning. The original sentence was trying to compare the use of fertilizers, not fertilizers per se. C makes the wrong comparison between the "use of fertilizers" and "these fertilizers" whereas the original makes the correct comparison between "the use of fertilizers" and increased use of fertilizers

[jnelson0612]

Great, Rachel! You got it! :-)

[MBA_ARUN]

Stacey u rock.. u r the epitome of verbal intelligence for me..and I love u for that :-)

A bit of a red herring - you could technically construct the sentence correctly either way. I'd prefer the "an increase in their use" however because that emphasizes the distinction I'm trying to make - the key point is the increase, and this is emphasized by making "the increase" the subject. But I'd go look for other, more definitive grammar errors first before deciding on this.

Luci correctly points out a distinction between "such as" and "like" in the answers. Such as means "for example" - like means "similar to." (In everyday spoken language, people use "like" as the default now - but that's grammatically incorrect.) Eliminate B and E. (B also has a pronoun error - "it" refers to a plural noun.)

C messes up the contrast I want to make by starting with "if these fertilizers." Also generally kind of awkward / wordy, but only use that as a tiebreak.

The problem with D lies at the end of the choice: "while if substituted for more traditional fertilizers, this substitution..." Notice the first part of that, before the comma - it never actually mentions what is being substituted, either via a noun or pronoun. This is a modifying clause. The modifier is meant to modify "synthetic fertilizers" which is a noun, so this is a noun modifier - and noun modifiers must touch the noun they modify. But "this substitution" follows the comma, not "synthetic fertilizers" (or some other noun or pronoun that refers to synthetic fertilizers). No good. Eliminate D.

Which leaves us with A. Notice that A doesn't sound particularly good. But there's nothing grammatically wrong with it... It's not uncommon for A to sound not-so-good when it is the right answer - otherwise, how would they get someone to cross off A when it's right, especially on a hard question?

[tim]

we all love Stacey for that!

[vidhya.rao]

Guys,

This may be a damn question. Does not the subject of the sentence is "THE USE" , which is singular.

Based on the above deduction, I assumed "an increase in their use" is wrong Subject- verb agreement.

Thanks

[tim]

i'm not sure what a "damn question" is, but whatever it is that term probably pushes the limits of what is acceptable speech on this forum..

the subject of the sentence is not "the use", but regardless of whether it is, there is no subject-verb agreement problem here..

[vidhya.rao]

Tim,

Damn = bad . So sentence will read as "This may be a bad question". My apology if the use of language is inappropriate.

Thanks for your help.

[tim]

no worries. thanks for clarifying, and let us know if you have any further questions on this one..

[vikram4689]

i think C can be eliminated on the basis that it mentions "they may accelerate soil structure deterioration and soil erosion" but they==fertilizers cannot do the action. meaning is that "their substitution may accelerate soil structure deterioration and soil erosion. "

am i correct ?

[RonPurewal]

i think C can be eliminated on the basis that it mentions "they may accelerate soil structure deterioration and soil erosion" but they==fertilizers cannot do the action. meaning is that "their substitution may accelerate soil structure deterioration and soil erosion. "

am i correct ?

nah. if you actually ask yourself "What causes the deterioration of the soil here?", you could respond with either (a) the substitution of the fertilizers for xxxx or (b) the fertilizers themselves. after all, both are responsible. without (a) the fertilizers wouldn't be in the ground in the first place, but, of course, (b) the fertilizers themselves are actually what's wreaking havoc on the stuff in the ground.

similarly:
Johnny's use of cocaine is destroying his health.
Cocaine is destroying Johnny's health.
you could use these pretty much interchangeably.

the real issue with (c) is described in my post earlier in the thread
post60901.html#p60901

[divineacclivity]

A is better than D. D has problem : whereas - while : redudant

"their" in A is Ok .
the use of synthetic fertilizers, their use ...and their substitution.

Tutor, please explain "their" .

Thanks

"Their" is a 3rd person plural possessive pronoun. It replaces "synthetic fertilizers".

-Jon

In choice A: couldn't their in ".., and their substitution for more traditional fertilizer.." refer to either of "synthetic fertilizer" and "environmental problems"?

thanks.