Florida will gain another quarter-million jobs this year alone, many

When we say that Florida will gain quarter million jobs ………to make the state’s economy far more diversified than….., we are saying that Florida is going to make he economy more diversified, which is not the intent of the text. It is the gain of the jobs that is going to turn the economy more diversified. Hence the use of the infinitive ‘to make’ alters the meaning, by shifting the focus from gain of jobs to Florida. By employing the participial modifier, ‘making’, and thus by referring to the entire process lying before, the shift is avoided.
_________________

High paying fields "like" electronics is wrong. "Like" is used to refer to things that are similar in nature, while "such as" is used to list examples. So you can eliminate options A, B and C.

Between D and E, the "making state's economy" is a result of the first part of the statement, and hence you should keep it as a modifier rather than change it to "and make". Thus the right answer is D.

And C is wrong because of multiple reasons - use of infinitive and the last word "than" - the state's economy is far more diversified than the economy ten years ago. You can't just use "than" because that would compare the state's economy to "ten years ago" which is meaningless. Only objects of similar nature can be compared.

Agree that D may be right but why have you pointed out that "use of infinitive" is wrong. What is the problem of having an infinitive there ?Please explain

Read the sentence without the modifier - "to make" slightly twists the meaning of the sentence. "making" indicates a more direct causal relationship. I'm not sure how to explain this in technical terms, so let me get back to you on that.

Posted from my mobile device

Can anyone explain what is exactly wrong with E?? ...

E is wrong in the sense that it removes the cause and effect relationship by introducing and. And introduce two different aspects of Florida's gain in jobs
-ing modifier keeps intact the causation.

(A) high-paying fields like electronics and banking, making the state’s economy far more diversified than

We should use such as instead of like when mentioning examples. In addition, the comparison is flawed by contrasting "the economy" vs "10 years ago"

(B) high-paying fields like electronics and banking, and making the state’s economy far more diversified than its economy

We should use such as instead of like when mentioning examples.

(C) high-paying fields such as electronics and banking, to make the state’s economy far more diversified than

The comparison is flawed by contrasting "the economy" vs "10 years ago"

(D) such high-paying fields as electronics and banking, making the state’s economy far more diversified than it was

looks good

(E) such high-paying fields as electronics and banking, and make the state’s economy far more diversified than it was

Here we use "and" to connect two facts: "will gain" and "will make", so know on the second part we have that "Florida will make the economy more diversified". We can say that that meaning is flawed, because the second part is actually an effect of the "gain" that the Florida will have.

Answer is D
_________________

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
_________________