In 1988, the Council on Economic Priorities began publishing Shopping

In 1988, the Council on Economic Priorities began ( past tense ) publishing Shopping for a Better World, with the simple thesis of consumers having the power to change companies by the simple expedient of refusing to buy.

a. with the simple thesis of consumers having
b. which had the simple thesis of consumers having
c. where the thsis was simple: consumers having
d. with a thesis that is a simple one: consumers have
e. whose thesis was (]( past tense )simple: consumers have

IMO-E

Answer is E. whose can be used to modify non-person objects such as "Shopping for a Better World" in this case. It also is in the past tense with the use of "was". I originally selected A so would like someone to explain to me in what circumstances can you use the "with" and initially also thought you had to parallel the "having the power...." to " with the "refusing to buy"

THIS is a great question showing the class of authentic problem.

comma+with phrase
is never modifies the preceding/touching noun. why do we need a comma? any one see comma+with phrase modifies the preceding/touching noun in og problem, pls , speak out.

"consumer having" is distorted meaning. the intended meaning is "consumer have". this is the classical distortion gmat plays on us in nearly most of og questions.

"where" is not correct in C.

"with phrase" can be absolute phrase to modifies the previous clause, providing the context for the main clause. this situation is not correct in A . "with phrase" in the absolute pattern may or may not refer to a specific noun in the main clause, but in this sentence, both the references is incorrect.

Hi Experts,

Could you please let me know here use of with is right or not in option A?

thanks

The prepositional modifier "with...." can be used as a verb modifier to depict the meaning "accompanied by".

I came here with a lot of hope.... correct ( "with a lot of hope" modifies "came" correctly).

Similarly the following sentence would be correct:

The council began publishing X with a simple thesis. ("with a simple Thesis" correctly modifies the verb "began".)

However A is wrong because the prepositional noun modifier "of consumers having..." is incorrect.

In 1988, the Council on Economic Priorities began publishing Shopping for a Better World, with the simple thesis of consumers having the power to change companies by the simple expedient of refusing to buy.

(a) with the simple thesis of consumers having

The 'having' modifies the customers. Therefore, the sentence implies that Council began (X) with the thesis of customers. This is quite illogical.

(b) which had the simple thesis of consumers having

This option commits the same mistake as A does. Moreover, this option uses "had" which signifies that the thesis is no more fashioned by the magazine. This idea goes against the idea presented in the question.

(c) where the thesis was simple: consumers having

"Shopping for a Better World" is not a place and therefore the use of "where" is erroneous.

(d) with a thesis that is a simple one: consumers have

"with a simple thesis" seems to be a superior way of writing the same thing.

(e) whose thesis was simple: consumers have

"whose" refers to "the Council" and the use of "was" is also justified as it is a fair possibility that the same committee doesn't exist anymore.

Option E is better than option D. Thus, option E.

VeritasKarishma please help me in understanding 'with' modifier used in opt A. I think it is incorrect because now the sentence means that COuncil began publishing two things (1) - Shopping...world (2). the thesis. whereas the intended meaning is Council began publishing one thing ie shopping...world whose thesis was ....buy

"with" can be used as a modifier. It needn't imply two things. I am ok with a sentence which looks like this:

A began publishing B with the simple thesis that consumers have the power ...

My big problem with (A) is the use of "having". The thesis is "consumers have the power...".
When we say "consumers having the power ...", it shows "having the power" modifies 'consumers'.
It implies the thesis is "consumers who have the power ...." But the thesis is not some kind of consumers. The thesis is that consumers have the power.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-


Choice A: In this answer choice, the word "with" is incorrectly used to link two clauses; the only relative pronouns that can link clauses are "which" and "whose". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice B: This answer choice incorrectly utilizes the present continuous tense to express a general idea; general ideas are always expressed in the simple past tense. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice C: In this answer choice, the pronoun "where" is used to connect two clauses; the only relative pronouns that can link clauses are "which" and "whose". Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice D: This answer choice repeats the error displayed in Option A. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.

Choice E: This answer choice maintains proper pronoun use and tense use throughout the sentence. Thus, this answer choice is correct.

Hence, E is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses on GMAT", you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Which, Who, Whose, and Where on GMAT" you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Dear EXPERTS GLOBAL AND TEAM!!!
Your reasoning to eliminate Option A, C and D are incorrect.
In option A, we dont have two clauses. (Publishing an article with a simple thesis is correct; However, simple thesis of consumers is illogical; use of "having" is less preferred than verb in Option E)
Option C is incorrect because of "Where" : where is used to refer a place and not an Editorial/Book/Article/Newspaper per GMAT.
And Option D is wordy (with a thesis that is a simple one=> with a simple thesis).

Regards
Padfoot

Why option D is incorrect?
Looking at explanation above ,use of 'with' is correct and i don't want believe 'wordy' is some criteria to eliminate an option.
VeritasKarishma GMATNinja
Please explain.

Posted from my mobile device

'wordy' doesn't mean 2 words vs 3 words. It means saying something simply and directly vs taking a circuitous route.

... with the simple thesis that...
... whose thesis is simple: ...

vs

with a thesis that is a simple one:

The first two are much more elegant than the third.

@e-gmat
Hi egmat team,
Can you please help with this question?
In 1988, the Council on Economic Priorities began publishing Shopping for a Better World, with the simple thesis of consumers having the power to change companies by the simple expedient of refusing to buy.

(A) with the simple thesis of consumers having ---> Lets keep A

(B) which had the simple thesis of consumers having -----> Unnecessary use of had. Change of meaning

(C) where the thesis was simple: consumers having ---> use of where is wrong. Where should modify a place.

(D) with a thesis that is a simple one: consumers have ----> with the simple thesis in choice A is better than "with the thesis that is a simple one"

(E) whose thesis was simple: consumers have ----> Looks like it modifies the Shopping for a better world. so seems correct.

I don't know why choice A is wrong. Can you please help?

Regards,
arorni

The problem with (A) is that "with the simple thesis..." seems to modify the entire preceding clause -- so it seems as though the Council had a simple thesis when it began publishing the work (Shopping for a Better World).

(E), on the other hand, uses the noun modifier "whose," and that makes it clear that the work (Shopping for a Better World) has the thesis, not the council--and that makes much more sense.

Because the logical meaning is more clear in (E), that's our winner.

VeritasKarishma egmat GMATNinja mikemcgarry

Can somebody explain to me more about "with modifier" as given in this sentence?

As with modifier really doesn't look wrong according to me, and option D makes perfect sense

What I am able to intercept from the main sentence is "In 1988, Council begun publishing something...... and that something is simple......."

But option E uses "was" doesn't this changes the meaning by suggesting that "something(thesis) was simple"

E is definitely the right answer, but that doesn't mean that "with" is inherently wrong. Sure, the CEP could have had this thesis in mind when it began this publication. However, A and D are both bad in other ways. For D, it's simple: there's no reason to say "a thesis that is a simple one" rather than "a simple thesis." I rarely accept "awkward and wordy" as the sole reason to cut an answer, even when that's what the OG offers, but in this case adding those words serves no purpose and makes us do extra work to understand the sentence. For A, we can't have a "thesis of consumers having the power." For proposed ideas, we generally use THAT to introduce a clause: "the thesis that consumers have the power." E uses a colon, which accomplishes the same thing.

sid0791
Careful about "changes the meaning." Part of our job is to determine the intended meaning by reading all 5 choices, and A has no precedence in determining that meaning. If we decide too quickly what the meaning is supposed to be, we may miss the right answer. Also, in this case, the difference is very slight. Since the CEP is the one producing the report, we could easily argue that the council and the publication have the same thesis.