New theories propose that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused reversals in the Earth's magnetic field, the onset of ice ages, splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and great volcanic eruptions.
New theories propose that catastrophic impacts of asteroids and comets may have caused reversals in the Earth’s magnetic field, the onset of ice ages, splitting apart continents 80 million years ago, and great volcanic eruptions. (A) splitting apart continents (B) the splitting apart of continents (C) split apart continents (D) continents split apart (E) continents that were split apart Parallelism Th is sentence lists four eff ects of catastrophic impacts; each eff ect, except the one included in the underlined portion, is given in noun form: reversals, the onset, eruptions. Splitting is a verb and thus not parallel to the other nouns in the series; in the second option splitting is a noun. Splitting may be transformed into a noun by adding the article the. A Splitting, a verb, is not parallel to reversals, the onset, and eruptions, and its role as a member in the series is unclear. B Correct. Th e splitting is a gerund, or noun form, and is properly used in this sentence; it is parallel to the other nouns. C Verb split is not parallel to reversals, the onset, and eruptions. D If the impacts truly caused continents the verb created would be used, but it makes no sense to say impacts caused continents and this phrase is not parallel to the other noun phrases. E Th is option is similar to the previous option: continents cannot be said to be caused. 选B 我想问的是为什么这些并列的有的没有the,有的the呢?