At the beginning of the year, the city allocated $150 million to cover

The crux of the matter is that the $150 covers only the incremental portion of the total wages. So any reference to total wages per se as in B, C is out. Terming the 'increase' in plural as 'increases' as done in D and E, distorts the meaning that there are several increases. D also means that the negotiations are already over and only the approval is pending whereas the text means that the increase itself is going to occur as a result of some negotiations in the future. In addition, E is in passive voice. A seems to be the best though a little wordy
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the increasing/approved/expected/negotiating combo sounds awkward & the tense for negotiating appears to be wrong.

I can't elaborate beyond that. I'm still sharpening my SC game.

Whats the OA?

My guess is A - not perfect, but all other choices seem noticeably flawed.

C changes meaning -- wages are not increasing , it is actually an instance of increase that the city is looking at.

Not sure if I conveyed it correctly --

A it is.

also 'increasing wages expected to be approved as a result of negotiating' conveys that the wages are definitely increasing and is wrong when used with the rest of the sentence.....'expected to be approved'

At the beginning of the year, the city allocated $150 million to cover the increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations with the municipal labor unions.

(A) increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations
(B) increased wages it expected to approve from negotiations
(C) increasing wages expected to be approved as a result of negotiating
(D) negotiated increases in wages it expected to approve
(E) increases expected to be approved in wages from negotiating

Hi,
My answer is A
D is out in the first glance,because it changes the meaning of sentence.Increase,Increased,Increasing,Increases. Cover the increase in wages is much clear and correct grammatically.

(A) increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations Correct
(B) increased wages it expected to approve from negotiations ---> misplaced modifier "it" need to use preposition "that" to justify the reason.
(C) increasing wages expected to be approved as a result of negotiating --> avoid use of ing
(D) negotiated increases in wages it expected to approve ---> a meaning changer. Negotiation is to be done with municipal labor unions
(E) increases expected to be approved in wages from negotiating--> the sentence is aqward.

Answer:- A

+1 for A.

The extra 150 Million is to cover the increase (new - old wage) and not the increased wage (new wage). B,C are out as they seem to suggest the latter.

Also in B, "as a result of negotiating" is incorrect usage. Two parties indulge in negotiations , not negotiating.

Crick

D is straight out;

"to approve with the municipal labor unions" does not make any sense.

C is out;

increasing wages can not be approved, only increase in wages can be.

D is out;

similar with C. increases can not be approved.

between B&A;

B is clearly wrong. first increased wages, second "approve from".

A is best.

At the beginning of the year, the city allocated $150 million to cover the increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations with the municipal labor unions.

(A) increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations
(B) increased wages it expected to approve from negotiations
(C) increasing wages expected to be approved as a result of negotiating
(D) negotiated increases in wages it expected to approve. Increase is not been negotiated
(E) increases expected to be approved in wages from negotiating. "The increases in wages"is nonsensical

Note: Original meaning: expected to cover the Increase in wages "not increased wages" . for e.g. Wage = 500$ Increase = 100$. So, as per original sentence allocation will cover $100 not $600. Thus, B , C are out
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I go with A. " Increasing wages" distorts meaning. $150 million is used to cover the increase ( just the increased amount) , not the whole " increasing wages".

i was between a and b but unfortunately i choose "b" as it is much more concise than "a" can somebody please explain why "b" is incorrect?

"From negotiations" is wrong - the wages are not approved from negotiations; they are approved as a result of negotiations.

OA has been added.

151. At the beginning of the year, the city allocated $150 million to cover the increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations with the municipal labor unions.

(A) increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations - Correct
(B) increased wages it expected to approve from negotiations - Changes meaning - as per the original sentence , the city expected to approve, and thus needed to cover, an increase in wages. in particular, you should not shift the meaning to say that they needed to cover the wages themselves.
(C) increasing wages expected to be approved as a result of negotiating - changes the meaning
(D) negotiated increases in wages it expected to approve - Changes meaning to convey the negotiations have already been done
(E) increases expected to be approved in wages from negotiating - In the original sentence, the city expected to approve wage negotiations; approved in wages is awkward

Answer A
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At the beginning of the year, the city allocated $150 million to cover the increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations with the municipal labor unions.

(A) increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations- increase in wages mean just the increase
100 is initial wage
increased wage = 120
increase in wage is 20
So it is correct
(B) increased wages it expected to approve from negotiations-
Here it is talking about
increased wage = 120
(C) increasing wages expected to be approved as a result of negotiating
(D) negotiated increases in wages it expected to approve-
Negotiated increases is disaster
(E) increases expected to be approved in wages from negotiating
Multiple increases dosent make sense

Still not sure why A is right. In fact, I couldn't find solid reasons to do any elimination. Can you help? GMATNinja?

There is no way A is correct here.
GMAT experts can correct me if I am wrong.

At the beginning of the year, the city allocated $150 million to cover the increase in wages that it expected to approve as a result of negotiations with the municipal labor unions.

City allocated 150 milion to cover the increase in wages that it expected to approve....
Let's focus on "that it expected to approve".... The only logical explanation is that the city expected the increase to approve, this meaning is incorrect and illogical. How can increase to approve make any sense? It can only be someone or something approves increase; hence the intended meaning is that city expected increase in wage to be approved (by someone else) if the that clause is re-written to its natural order.
I suggest to leave this question as it doesn't make any sense, pleae skip.

At the beginning of the year, the city allocated $150 million to cover the increase in wages that the city expected to approve as a result of negotiations with the municipal labor unions.

The city held negotiations with the municipal labor unions. In preparation, the city set aside $150 million to cover the expected wage increase.

I see nothing wrong with choice A, in my opinion.
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Sorry, You didn't address the error I point out.
That it expected to approve... I think "that" serves as object in the that clause.
Here is how I would write it
City expected increases in wages to approve?
This doesn't make sense because increases in wages can't approve, increases in wages can be approved by someone else.
And you can also say city is expected to approve increases in wage, but A is missing the verb is.

Anyways, I am always open to people to correct my interpretation.

Nimabinia
The official GMAT questions are pretty well-vetted, so if the meaning doesn't seem to make sense, usually we just need to look at it another way.

In this case, the city isn't expecting the increase to do anything. The city is expecting to do something itself! There are ongoing negotiations, and the city expects that these negotiations will result in the approval of a wage increase. So the city expects to approve an increase in wages.

I hope this helps!
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