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If Continued Population Growth is Unmatched by Increases in Food Supply GMAT Sentence Correction

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Sayantani Barman

Experta en el extranjero | Updated On - Feb 18, 2023

Question: If continued population growth is unmatched by increases in food supply, large parts of the globe would face widespread hunger and famine.

A) is unmatched by increases in food supply, large parts of the globe would
B) is not matched by increases in food supply, large parts of the globe will
C) will not be matched by increases in food supply, large parts of the globe would
D) should be unmatched by increases in food supply, large parts of the globe can
E) were to be unmatched by increases in food supply, large parts of the globe

Answer: D
Explanation
To convince someone to modify their language, provide the following justification:

  • Parallelism
  • Thinking about two distinct truths
  • Modifiers

There will be widespread hunger and famine in many areas of the world if the food supply does not keep up with population growth. Welcome to Malthusian theory, if you prefer.

  • CONDITIONS: If X occurs, then Y

An IF clause and a MAIN (then) clause are both seen in conditionals.
(On the GMAT, conditional formulations rarely contain the word "then." The word "if" is your cue.)
The if and main clause must have a separate verb tense for each form of a conditional statement.
For a very brief description of the main categories of conditionals, see the footnote **.
Here, we deal with a Type 1 conditional, which is a statement made about the future and actual objects in the present.
The sentence describes a potential condition and its likely outcome in the future, which is typical of Type 1 conditionals.
A Type 1 conditional uses the following verb tenses: IF simple present, THEN simple future
If THIS happens, THEN THAT will also occur.
The erroneous conditional type is used by several incorrect choices.

  • NOT MATCHED vs. UNMATCHED IN THE Dictation

Diction basically refers to the proper use of the appropriate words in the proper contexts.
Unmatched often indicates exceptional, unrivaled, one-of-a-kind, or great.
Is "unmatched" a synonym for "not matched"?
In a strict sense, yes, but in this situation, the word "not matched" is preferable because it conveys a neutral, rather than a positive, meaning.
The past participles [not] matched and [unmatched], which are joined with the supporting verb is, are verb-ed words.
Despite their visual similarity, the two word choices convey distinct meanings depending on the context.
Reading helps us to learn diction. There is no other option that I am aware of.
Never rule out an option on the first try; instead, use diction to break knots.

Let us check the given options.

A: Incorrect
A is an incorrect choice. First condition: If clause = If + present tense, then main clause = future (will) or present tense + bare infinitive is mismatched - is in present tense, so will should be used instead of would.
Additionally, when we use "unmatched," the focus is placed more on population expansion; in contrast, "not matched" places more emphasis on the negation.

B: Correct
It is the correct choice. Both flaws in A are fixed.

C: Incorrect
It is an incorrect choice. It is improper to use the future tense in the conditional if clause. The conditional "if" clause can only have one of three forms: present, past, or past perfect.

D: Incorrect
This choice is an incorrect one. Should and would never be acceptable in if clauses. The use of can transforms a conditional into a possibility, changing the meaning of the then clause.

E: Incorrect
This is an incorrect choice. If there were to be an imbalance, a conditional becomes a hypothetical scenario. The word "would" is necessary in the then clause in hypothetical cases.

“If continued population growth is unmatched by increases in food supp” is a GMAT sentence correction question. The text that is underlined in these questions has grammatical mistakes, and we must select the right response from the list of possibilities. The GMAT verbal section includes GMAT sentence correction.

Suggested GMAT Sentence Correction Samples:

*The article might have information for the previous academic years, please refer the official website of the exam.

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