Municipal governments are beginning to confront the growing pension liabilities; this leads local politicians throughout the country to become increasingly vocal about restraining costs and limiting services.
the growing pension liabilities; this leads
their growing pension liabilities; leading

the growth in their pension liabilities, which leads

their growing pension liabilities, leading

their growing pension liabilities, that leads

i have some doubts regarding the explanation posted.

for choice 1 it says that
"The original sentence utilizes a semicolon, the proper use of which has two requirements: 1. The clauses before and after the semicolon must be able to function as independent sentences; and 2. the clauses must be closely related in terms of subject matter. Here, the second clause refers back to the first clause, both requirements are satisfied, and the semicolon is used properly. However, the verb form in the second clause is nonparallel to the verb form in the 1st clause (“beginning . . . leads”). Though the lack of parallelism is grammatically permissible between two independent clauses, the construction is awkward. Additionally, “the growing pension liabilities” in the 1st part of the sentence is incorrect in its use of the article “the,” as the pension liabilities were not referenced earlier in the sentence."

i didn't understand the last part of thhe sentence.if "lack of parallelism is grammatically correct then what does the last part of the explanation convey.

for the explnation of choice C it's mentioned that " In this answer choice, the verbs are not parallel (“beginning . . . leads”). As a result, the second part of the sentence is awkward and incorrect, as the use of a comma instead of a semicolon means that both verbs now appear in the same sentence. Also, “the growth in their pension liabilities” is wordy. "

i understand that the "the growth in their pension liabilities” is wordy but apart from that is the parallelism of verbs necessary.It can be that it's the growth which leads politicians to change their mind.which can refer to the pension liabilities but i need the explanation for the parallelism of verbs,is it correct?

their is the correct use for goverments.
leading is concurrent to first clause.
this /which is ambiguous ,it is not clear whether it refers to liabilities or first clause.
so, D is the correct .

the growing pension liabilities; this leads
This is wrong. This is a pronoun and can not refer to "growing" , which is a verb.

their growing pension liabilities; leading
if Verb+ing is to be used ";" is redundant.

the growth in their pension liabilities, which leads
grammatically, sentence is wrong but meaning clarity is important.
Sentence is checking your concept of cause and effect logical relationship. (Cause, verb+ing to indicate the effect)is preferred .
so choice D is right which tells the logical relationship correctly.
their growing pension liabilities, leading

their growing pension liabilities, that leads
that ???growth leads not liabilities

Correction in above post: grammatically, sentence is right but meaning clarity is important.

Hi,

I had a hard time pinpointing your question so please follow up if you still need help. My understanding is that you had a hard time understanding why the use of "the" is incorrect in the original sentence.

In this case "pension liabilities" are the object that the municipal governments are confronting. The object is meant to describe exactly what is being confronted and the use of "their" more clearly states that the municipal governments are confronting their own pension liabilities. Absent "their", the original sentence does not clearly point out which pension liabilities were confronted.

Thanks,
Chris

_________________
Chris Brusznicki
MGMAT Instructor
Chicago, IL

In terms of using a comma, why do we need it to separate the 2 clauses as indicated in the correct answer choice D with a comma. What is the rule of using a comma? Could we have had this answer choice to be correct without a comma, Can someone help me understand?
thanks

Will you please repost the entire question and answer choices? I'm not sure which one is D since only three are posted above.

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor