bdumpala
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 the 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 feared earlier in the year, 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
There are a couple of ways you can eliminate answers quickly using logic and precise intended meaning.
B, C, and D use the “infinitive of purpose” following a noun other than the subject.
At the very least, the construction in B, C, and D leads to ambiguity, if not an illogical meaning.
Generally, if we wrote the following sentence:
Ex: “The coach lost faith in his players to bring home the trophy.”
In this case, the “agent” of the infinitive is the noun “players.” It is the “players” who are responsible for the action conveyed by “to bring home the trophy.”
Using this interpretation of the infinitive in answers B and D, we are conceding that the “economy” had the ability and opportunity itself “to avoid the recession”: an illogical meaning.
Another interpretation of B and D is one that reads the sentence as conveying the message that the the subject noun is the Agent of the infinitive “to avoid.”
This would lead to the absurd meaning that the “gains” in the stock market reflect a growing confidence IN ORDER TO AVOID the recession.
Any way you try to interpret the infinitive, the meaning is nonsensical. B and D can be eliminated.
The author compounds the meaning issue in answer C by including the construction “the economy’s ability to avoid the recession.”
Answer C directly attributes an ability to the economy to purposefully avoid a recession (and also provides a hint to look closer at B and D)
What remains is A and E.
E: …..that the economy will avoid the recession THAT was feared earlier this year by many…
The “that” begins an essential noun modifier delineating the exact type of “recession”: it is the “recession that was feared earlier this year by many.”
To have feared an event (in the past time frame), the event must have already occurred.
Therefore, the implication of this construction is that this was a recession that ALREADY OCCURRED and “was feared earlier this year.”
This reason alone gives on enough reason to confidently eliminate E, to say nothing of the illogical “comma + with” modifier at the end of the sentence.
Through process of elimination, the only answer that conveys the intended meaning correctly is A.
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