Recent studies suggest that an intake of vitamin E in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet may actually increase the risk of developing certain illnesses, despite the claims of thousands of people who swear by it as a dietary supplement.


The subject of the sentence here is 'intake of Vit E' .In the last part of the sentence use of pronoun 'it ' actually refers to Vit E .Is this correct ?

The true subject of the sentence is actually "studies," but you're right that "intake" is also a subject (just of the next part, the cluase beginning with "that"). In either case, the "it" does refer back to the "vitamin E."

Recent studies suggest that an intake of vitamin E in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet may actually increase the risk of developing certain illnesses, despite the claims of thousands of people who swear by it as a dietary supplement.


should it not be increases, as the verb increases point to "intake of vitamin E",which is singular

to readers:
yes, this statement of jonathan's is true. however, this is NOT how you want to analyze sentences that start off with things like this.

if a sentence starts off with something like "my friend said that", "studies have shown that", "paleontologists believe that", "X has found that", etc., then simply IGNORE those words altogether. as pointed out in our subject-verb agreement lesson, these types of things are "WARMUPS".
if a sentence has the structure X has said/found/demonstrated that xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, then you can just consider the xxxxxxxxxxxx itself as the sentence.
unless, of course, the "warmup" is included in the underline (which will almost never be the case).

no, because it's paired with "may". you can't write "may increases".

if a verb is paired with a helping word such as may/might/could/etc., then you stick with the infinitive form (minus "to").
for instance, a clearer example: you would say
he may BE right.
you would definitely not say he may is right.

same deal here, although there is a little more noise in the way.

Might be a dumb question, so I apologize in advance. But how are we grammatically sure that It refers back to intake of vitamin E? Aren't there quite a few potential nouns in between that can serve as antecedents (I realize that logically, It refers to vitamin E, but wanted to be sure on the rule here)?

thanks!

I am also unsure on how "it" is referred directly to "Vitamin E" and not another singular noun like "diet".

MGMAT Staff, can you please clarify? thanks!

MGMAT staff, any takers?

remember, guys, pronoun ambiguity is NOT an absolute rule. i.e., not all ambiguous pronouns are incorrect.

here are several examples:
post35595.html#p35595
post35036.html#p35036
post30203.html#p30203
post30983.html#p30983
(all OFFICIAL problems on which ambiguous pronouns are tolerated in the correct answer)

Recent studies suggest that an intake of vitamin E in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet may actually increase the risk of developing certain illnesses, despite the claims of thousands of people who swear by it as a dietary supplement.

(A) Recent studies suggest that an intake of vitamin E in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet may actually increase the risk of developing certain illnesses

(B) Recent studies suggest that taking vitamin E in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet actually increases the risk of developing certain illnesses

(C) Certain illnesses may be at a higher risk of development if vitamin E is taken in excess of a balanced diet, according to recent studies

(D) According to recent studies, the intake of vitamin E, if in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet, may actually increase developing certain illnesses

(E) Vitamin E, recent studies suggest, if in excess of that found naturally in a balanced diet, may actually increase the development risk of certain illnesses



The explanation given is:
The phrase “actually increases” has a stronger meaning than the author intended - that high vitamin E consumption “may actually increase” certain risks.

My query is whether "B" has any other mistake apart from meaning?

I mean, how can we be certain of "what the author intends". Can't we say that as "suggests" already appears, "May" is redundant?

Pls help.

"suggest" and "may" is actually a natural pairing and appropriately hedges the research findings. The real reason B is wrong is because there is a parallelism problem. In A "intake" is parallel with "that", but in B "taking" is not parallel with "that"..

_________________
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

Hi,
Could you elaborate on the parallelism part in B.

Thanks,
Shev

Adding another angle to the SC forensics here pertaining to A over B discussion .

Doesn't A have an edge over B due to the correct idiomatic usage of "intake of", even if we missed, as I did :), the hard-to-spot-on-DDay'ish parallelism issue in B?

Isn't "Intake Of" related to whatever the hand can put into the mouth for bodily consumption, whereas the "taking" is little away from that idea.

I believe that THAT relates to VITAMIN E, rather than to AN INTAKE.

For me the usage of gerund with verb in B (TAKING ... INCREASES) does not sound good. Am I right?

I don't see the grammar problem. For example, I could say:

Walking daily decreases the risk of heart attack.

_________________
Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor