Harshgmat
sandman13
A leading maker of the computer servers and software behind the Internet lowered its revenue and profit forecasts for the current quarter, citing demand in Europe being surprisingly low as one reason for the change in its expectations.
A. citing demand in Europe being surprisingly low as
B. citing surprisingly low demand in Europe as
C. citing demand in Europe that was surprisingly low to be
D. with surprisingly low demand in Europe cited to be
E. with demand in Europe that was surprisingly low being cited as
Can we have discussion about errors in wrong answer choices?
Harshgmat , sure!
I will start with the issue that is most obvious to me, but I think that the issue may be obscure.
This question tests the
idiom:
• cite X as Y
• X is cited as Y"Cite" in this instance means "to give a reason for"
We have a 4-1 split. Every answer choice except B construes the idiom incorrectly.
We want "citing X as Y" or "X is cited as Y"Quote:
A. citing demand in Europe being surprisingly low as
The verb "being" is both unnecessary and unidiomatic.
Quote:
B. citing surprisingly low demand in Europe as
Citing
surprisingly low demand [X] as
[one reason for the change in its expectations] [Y]. Perfect.Quote:
C. citing demand in Europe that was surprisingly low to be
"Citing X
to be Y" is not idiomatic.
Quote:
D. with surprisingly low demand in Europe cited to be
Same as C.
Quote:
E. with demand in Europe that was surprisingly low being cited as
Same as A.
***
Do not panic if you have never seen or heard of this idiom before.
We are not expected to know every idiom.
I caught the idiom because I am a native speaker, a writer, and an editor.
We could replace "citing" with more familiar words and then assess the sentences.
Words we could use instead of "citing" (be careful NOT to use a participle that requires anything else such as "to"):
naming
identifying
specifying
referencing
Try replacing one of those words in order to see that you do not need to know the idiom "citing X as Y."
Almost always, other errors exist in the sentences with idioms.
If such other issues exist, I hope others will tease them out.
I have two requests:
1)
workout - you assert that in options C and E, the word "that" incorrectly modifies Europe
Did you rely on the "touch" rule about essential modifiers and their nouns?
Have you considered the exceptions to the "touch" rule?
I think
Manhattan Prep calls such exceptions "mission-critical" modifiers.
Might "in Europe" be a vital modifier?
2)
sudarshan22 , would you please
elaborate on those parts of sentences that you marked in red?
Why do you think that those portions of the sentences are incorrect?
Please offer analysis, reasoning, explanation, and the like.
Harshgmat , I hope that helps.
By the way, one mention of the idiom "cite X as Y" is here.