1) According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market

Question

1) According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence  that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come  in for a "soft landing," followed by a gradual increase in business activity. 

A)that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come 
B)in the economy to avoid the recession, what many had feared earlier, rather to come 
C)in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared, and instead to come 
D)in the economy to avoid the recession many were fearing earlier in the year, and rather to come 
E)that the economy will avoid the recession that was feared earlier this year by many, with it instead coming 

I narrowed the choices to A and E. Because of the past perfect in A, I ruled it out. However, the answer is A. I'm confused because normally past perfect has to be used with past tense, but there is no past tense in A. So, I wonder why it is correct. Thank you in advance for your help!!!

karlfurt · Answer

I have the same question. I excluded A because I thought the tense was wrong.  Followed  is not used as a verb but as a participle:

According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come in for a "soft landing,"  (which is/will be) followed  by a gradual increase in business activity


So there are no other past tense but 'had feared'. Is that really correct?

dwivedys · Answer

The fear about the recession is a thing of the past..... Many people HAD FEARED IT EARLIER IN THE YEAR. Earlier in the year is the ADVERBIAL phrase describing the participle FEARED and telling WHEN THEY FEARED it. 

And now Instead of the EARLIER Fear about the recession what they ARE NOW SEEING is that the economy will go in for a soft landing etc..


Even if you get too stuck on a particular issue - as in this example with the usage of past perfect, a quick scan of the other choices may help reveal other more familiar grammatical patterns that could be in error. I would park a choice if I find only one POTENTIAL error in it and move to the others to see if I can eliminate the others on the basis of other patterns I may be more familiar with.

ywilfred · Answer

Here's another reason why you should reject E -> 'it' points to recession when it should point to economy..

tennis1ball · Answer

A for me by POE.

BCD are clearly wrong,.

E is not good due to the passive voice.

ggarr · Answer

(is/will be) followed is a verb phrase. It could also have read "was followed". This would also have made it a verb phrase and would've definitely put it in the past tense.

karlfurt · Answer

I don't agree! You cannot put that part of the sentence in the past, because it refers to future events! Look at this sentence, it is clearly wrong:


According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come in for a "soft landing,"  which was followed  by a gradual increase in business activity.

The economy will avoid X and instead will come in Y, which will be followed by Z, i think, is the correct meaning.

gmat_06 · Answer

Hey,karlfurt

From your question:
 So there are no other past tense but 'had feared'. Is that really correct? 

Yeah, A is really correct. I got this question from either OG11 or OG verbal book. However, the book' explaination doesn't talk about past perfect at all. I guess E has awkward sectence and passive voice that outweigh the past perfect from A.

1) According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market

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