Bansal,
The 1000SC doc I have does show the OA as D. I had no idea (until I saw your post) that this was a question from OG. Just to make it clear I had no intention of misleading people here. You will see this question has been posted several times on GMATclub and people have been debating about the validity of the OA

D is awkward.
Correct answer is A. Because it describes the causal sequence of events of the sentence.

‘Because + Main Clause’ and ‘Because of + Noun Phrase’ are acceptable at the start of a sentence. So are ‘Due to + Noun Phrase’ and ‘Due to the fact that + Main Clause’.

Due to plunging and due to over supply are incorrect. Due to the fact that over supply is correct.
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Hi,

Because an oversupply of computer chips has sent prices plunging, the manufacturer has announced that it will cut production by closing its factories for two days a month.



I believe most of the people are confused because there has been some gap in understanding the meaning of the sentence. The sentence presents cause and effect. Cause: An oversupply of computer chips has sent prices plunging. Effect: The manufacturer has announced that it will cut production by closing its factories for two days a month.



1) Use of “because” in the beginning of the sentence is correct to show the causal relationship of the first clause with the second.

2) Singular subject “oversupply” agrees in number with singular verb “has sent”. Note, that plural “computer chips” cannot be the subject as it lies in a prepositional phrase “oversupply of computer chips”. Since “oversupply” is the head of this prepositional phrase, it is the subject of the sentence.

3) The present perfect verb “has sent” in the first clause clearly indicates that the cause has already taken place. The present perfect verb “has announced” in the second clause also clearly states that the announcement has been made because of the plunging prices. Thus, there is no error in the sentence.

POE:

A) Because an oversupply of computer chips has sent prices plunging,: Correct. This choice is correct as is as pointed out in sentence analysis.

B) Because of plunging prices for computer chips, which is due to an oversupply: 1) Relative pronoun “which” refers to plural subject “prices”. But the following verb “is” is singular that does not agree in the number with its noun antecedent.
2) This choice is wordy.

C) Because computer chip prices have been sent plunging, which resulted from an oversupply: 1) Reference to “which” is vague. It is not clear whether it refers to the price that was there before plunging or to plunging price.
2) Passive voice unnecessarily makes the choice wordy.

D) Due to plunging computer chip prices from an oversupply: 1) The events here are not presented in the chronological order. The order of the events is: oversupply of chips, plunging prices and announcement by the manufacturer. But this choice states the order as: plunging prices, (due to) oversupply and announcement by the manufacturer. This change in order creates a bit confusion as to what happened first: plunging in prices or oversupply?

E) Due to an oversupply, with the result that computer chip prices have been sent plunging: 1) It is better to say, due to x, y happened rather than due to x what resulted in is y. This expression makes “with the result” redundant.
2) This choice is too wordy.



1. Understand the logical intended meaning of the sentence.
2. Subject and verb must always agree in number.
3. Be vary of choices that are wordy and confusing.
4. Pronouns must have a clear referent.

Hope this helps.
Shraddha

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due to
mean
caused by

if you can not replace "due to" with "caused by", "due to" is wrong. D and E is out.

Guys, I remember this from the SAT which I took three years ago. There cannot be a grammatically correct sentence which starts with Due to. If you see something like this cross it off. Usually GMAC does not like due to in the middle of the sentence as well, but it is always wrong to start a sentence with Due to.e

I'm confused on the which statement here.

In choice B, "Because of plunging prices for computer chips, which is due to an oversupply,"

Does which refer to "plunging prices," or "computer chips?" I recognize that in either case, "is" should be "are," but I'd like to make sure I'm clear on the grammar rule.

In particular, I'm confused because in a previous question, "The electronics company has unveiled what it claims to be the smallest network digital camera in the world, which is as long as a handheld computer..." which seems to be incorrectly modifying world, not correctly modifying camera.

In what cases of "Because of A for B, which ..." can the which refer to B versus A?"