Recent indications of weakness in the economy have lead consumers to

There are two important issues here:

1) SO idioms! The 'so' idiom that is in play here is

so+adjective/adverb+that+clause --> expresses cause and result!

Example: He was so hungry that he stopped at Burger King. / They ran so fast that they were out of breath by the time they got there.

Note: You can start with the descriptive word too! Ex: So hungry was he that he stopped....

2)Redundancy: The 'so' idiom already expresses cause and result; thus, 'as a result' is redundant in all the answers except for B in which 'as a result' describes only the word 'depressed' and not the resulting actions of the government.

If this helped, kindly give Kudos!

Find more idioms and tips at gmaxonline!

Sarai

I was looking at this question.

My observations -
1. sentence can start with so (cause and effect)
2. sales figures > the sales figures. "the" determiner in B does not have a reference point unless we are talking about specific sales figures say 2009 sales.

In this question C, D and E are OUT. Its between A and B. Please clarify.

Thanks in advance !

Hi nusmavrik,

B just keeps the modifier "as a result" attached to what it modifies, namely, "depressed," so the reader does not need to "reattach" the modifier in his/her head-- the phrase "depressed as a result" stays complete on the page.

Let me know if that's still confusing...

Best,
Sarai

yes. You are right. It should be ''so depressed have sales figures been as a result that'' the goverment.
I had a typo mistake and this is a prbolem from kaplan 800, nt OG. I wasn't sure about it's origin 1st. Sorry.

Meanwhile, I understood why the answer should be "A" instead of others.

At 1st we need to look for the proper use of "The". Here in every option, THE has been misused.

THE is a definite article and we can't use "The Sales figures" because the question goes for " Over all sales figure" , there is no refrence such as 2009 sales figures. Then we can use "The".

Then the usage of "As a result." "As a result" refers to some kind of result.

What is the actual meaning of the question?
Recent indications of weakness in the economy have led consumers to be more conservative with their purchases. As a result, sales figures have been so depressed that Gov. Has to take some initiatives.

But, option E changed the meaning. It seemed that the sales figures have been so depressed as a result of gov. Initiatives.
Optiön C and D can be easily eliminated.

B has misused the definite article.

We have one option left. But, it has some sort of awkward structure. Perhaps, at 1st look. But, there is no grammatical mistake.
Though after semicolon, we should use an independent clause, there should be some link or relationship with the previous one. From that ground A seems ok.

Look at the following sentence.
" The garden is so beautiful" we can rephrase it via " So beautiful is the garden."

According to aforementioned clauses, A is the best option.

Am i correct? Let me know. Thanks.

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Recent indications of weakness in the economy have lead consumers to be more conservative with their purchases; so depressed have sales figures been as a result that government has launched several initiatives to actively encourage consumer spending.

A. so depressed have sales figures been as a result that

B. the sales figures have been so depressed as a result that

C. as a result, so depressed has the sales been that.................have (Plural verb) is needed

D. the resulting sales figures having been so depressed that..................having been depressed changes the meaning here.

E. the sales figures have been so depressed that, as a result,

Selected E out of A, B and E.

Placement of Idiom so...........that and as a result have to be observed thoroughly here.

A. so depressed have sales figures been as a result that --- I would reckon this as the best

B. the sales figures have been so depressed as a result that ---Use of the definite articles changes the meaning as if we are talking about a specific set of figures but not overall figures.

C. as a result, so depressed has the sales been that --- SV number agreement problem

D. the resulting sales figures having been so depressed that -- ‘having been’ gives an impression that depression is already over and that government is initiating an unnecessary belated remedial action ; on the contrary ‘have been’ implies the depressing is still on-going.

E. the sales figures have been so depressed that, as a result, -- The sales figures have been depressed as a result of tardy consumer purchases. Government’s action is not as a result; sly pitfall

A is the preferred choice; a nice question because the choices hinge on subtle change of meaning.

I always think it's weird when experts say this, but "I received a PM asking me to reply" (I do like noting that when it looks like I may be trying to take credit away from another expert...kind of like "appearing in this thread by popular demand!").

In addition to Jen's comments, I see another problem with B and E - the addition of "the" to "sales figures". In A, we just have the term "sales figures", which is a generic way to describe overall sales. Consumer confidence is low, and sales are down. With the addition of the definite article "the", now we're talking about a specific set of sales figures. But which figures? The sentence overall has a general connotation - overall, sales are down, and the government is taking action. When we add that term "the", there's an increased level of specificity that is illogical. Much like a pronoun reference problem or a misplaced modifier, this sentence doesn't have a reference point for "the", so choices B and E have a somewhat illogical meaning.



Regarding the changed meaning of the placement of "as a result", this one gets into Osirus' point about the use of the semicolon. In addition to the necessity of an independent clause after a semicolon (more on that in a second), the semicolon requires that there be a relationship between both clauses - they need to be related enough that you'd want to link them together with a semicolon and not simply end the sentence with a period and begin a new one.

With "as a result" corresponding to weak economy-->conservative spending --> SEMICOLON --> AS A RESULT sales are down---> government action, the "as a result" links the first clause (prior to the semicolon) to the second, so there's a natural reason that you'd use a semicolon and not a period.

With "as a result coming later: weak economy --> conservative spending --> SEMICOLON --> sales are down --> AS A RESULT government action, the use of the semicolon is less justified, as "as a result" only applies to the second half, which could just stand alone as its own sentence.

Meaning on the GMAT is tricky - make sure that the meaning of your answer choice is logical. It doesn't necessarily have to match the meaning of the initial sentence, as that one could be incorrect (choice A is just one of five; there's no "tie goes to the first one" rule). Here, the meaning of choice A better justifies the use of the semicolon than does the meaning of choice E.


Finally, my favorite part of this sentence is exactly what Osirus mentioned - choice A is, indeed, an independent clause, but the GMAT flips the subject and verb in order to make it look otherwise. If A read:

...sales figures have been so depressed as a result that...

You'd love it. But that's too easy, so the GMAT inverts the subject and verb - which is grammatically okay to do - so that the sentence instead reads:

...so depressed have sales figures been as a result that...

It sounds a little awkward, but it doesn't have the fatal grammatical flaws of the others, so A is correct. Make sure that you're looking for definitive grammatical errors first, and then letting your ear (or style) decide from there. Most difficult SC questions involve some "justifiable awkwardness" in an attempt to throw you off the scent of the right answer.

_________________
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Director of Academic Programs
Veritas Prep

I agree with you with almost everything you have said; however, I would like to point out that in A there is a problem of Subject-verb agreement: “so depressed have sales figure been as a result that…”

This mistake has been already posted.

As for the other choices, I would like to point out that they, as written, are wrong because they use capital letters.

If it were not for the capital letters, I would go for B. It is exactly what you explained except for the article “the.” Nevertheless, I am not quite sure that the article “the” changes the meaning.
You mentioned: “With the addition of the definite article "the", now we're talking about a specific set of sales figures. But which figures? The sentence overall has a general connotation - overall, sales are down, and the government is taking action. When we add that term "the", there's an increased level of specificity that is illogical.”
Does the term "sales figures" really describe overall sales figures or only the recent sales figures? If the sentence refers “specifically” to the recent sales figures, then why the use of “the” is illogical?

hi,
Can someone explain why a is correct and e is wrong?

Option A implies that decline in sales figure was a result of conservative purchases.
Option E implies that the launch of initiatives was a result of decline in sales. Note that in this case the phrase "as a result" is redundant because "so...that" already indicates a cause and effect relation.

A. so depressed have sales figures been as a result that - Correct (so X as Y)

B. the sales figures have been so depressed as a result that - use of 'The' changes the meaning.

C. as a result, so depressed has the sales been that - SV Error

D. the resulting sales figures having been so depressed that - meaning error.

E. the sales figures have been so depressed that, as a result, - keeping 'as a result' within commas makes it unwanted and so changes the meaning.

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

There's nothing strictly wrong with the original sentence; it uses the so... that idiom correctly, the verb tenses are fine, and it makes sense. Scan the answer choices for better options. You can eliminate (C) because its subject sales and verb has been do not agree. (D) creates a sentence fragment since it makes every phrase after the semicolon subordinate (remember that a semicolon is only used correctly when the pieces on both sides of it could function as grammatically correct and complete sentences on their own). Finally, as a result functions as a modifier that refers to the sales slump. Choices (B) and (E) misplace the modifier and unnecessarily distort the original meaning of the sentence. That leaves (A).

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