Question: A fire in an enclosed space burns with the aid of reflected radiation that preheats the fuel, making ignition much easier and flames spreading more quickly.

(A) flames spreading
(B) flame spreads
(C) flames are caused to spread
(D) causing flames to spread
(E) causing spreading of the flames

Correct Answer: D
Explanation: “Causing flames to spread” is the most suitable phrase for the sentence. Because spreading flames is the reaction of the action. Choice D, the modifier 'more quickly' modifies the verb that is spread but in E the modifier 'more quickly' modifies the noun 'flames'. Quickly is an adverb so it should modify verbs and not nouns. So D is the right answer. Let’s take a look at the other choices.

Option A
flames spreading- Incorrect. Parallelism is ignored. “Flames spreading” is not parallel to making ignition. Flames Spreading- Noun + Verb. Making Ignition- Verb + Noun

Option B
flame spreads- Incorrect. Not parallel.

Option C
flames are caused to spread.- Incorrect. Passive and not parallel

Option E
causing spreading of the flames- Incorrect. “More Quickly” modifies flames which is not correct. No parallelism as well. The sentence is not idiomatic.

“A fire in an enclosed space burns with the aid of reflected radiation”- is a GMAT sentence correction question. These sorts of questions come up with grammatical errors in the underlined part of the sentence. The candidates need to select the correct statement given in the options. The GMAT sentence correction section demands good skills in grammar since the candidate has to identify common grammatical errors. GMAT sentence correction is a part of GMAT verbal.

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