Metallicafan wrote




The problem with this question is that it is a recent OG question and that we have to take the OA and OE per se, however cryptic or abnormal they are. Let me give my own interpretation of the GMAC’s thinking.


a) According to the OE in the OG 12th: "The original sentence successfully avoids the problems that may occur in a long sentence with multiple modifiers. Two subordinate clauses begin with "that", and one of them is contained within another


(A) that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come

The question here is what is going to avoid the recession? Is it the economy or the confidence? If we realize that it is the economy that will avoid the recession, then the expression ‘in the economy’ becomes irrelevant. Thus A avoids the pitfall of multiple modifier sentences in which it will be difficult to fix which noun will be modified by which modifier. A seems to be better than B, C and D

b) How can one be sure that "come" is parallel with "avoid", and not with "reflect" of the main clause?,

The confidence does two things and those two things must be parallel. One is that the economy will avoid something and instead (will) come in for something. Reflect is a present tense plural verb and (will) come is a singular future tense verb as in ‘will avoid’. Please do not lose sight of the auxiliary verb ‘will’. So 'reflect' and 'come' are
not parallel.

C In B, why does "rather to come" is wrong

Pl lread in full - “According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence in the economy to avoid the recession, what many feared earlier in the year, rather to come in for a 'soft landing', followed by a gradual increase in the business activity.”

First part: The gains reflect confidence (in the economy) to avoid the recession
Second part: The gains reflect confidence (in the economy) to come in for soft landing

When OG says that ‘to come’ is not idiomatic, it may be meaning that ‘to come’, though grammatically parallel ‘to avoid’, is not the normal usage. Common usage is to describe it as ‘to avoid’ ‘but / instead come’, dropping the infinitive marker ‘to” in the second part.
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Hi guhancr7! I'd be glad to give an explanation for this question! To begin, here is the original with any major differences between the options highlighted in orange:

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

After a quick glance over the options, we see a few areas we can focus our attention on:

1. will avoid vs. to avoid (Verb Tense & Meaning)
2. feared / had feared / fearing (Verb Tense)
3. and instead come / rather to come / and instead to come / and rather to come / with it instead to come (Parallelism)

The quickest way to answer this question is to actually focus on #3 on our list: parallelism. There are two actions the economy will take in this sentence, and they must be parallel. Let's take a look at the original sentence for clues:

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.

We need to make sure that the options all use parallel wording with "avoid." Let's see how they stack up:

(A) that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come = PARALLEL
(B) in the economy to avoid the recession, what many feared earlier in the year, rather to come = NOT PARALLEL
(C) in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared , and instead to come = NOT PARALLEL
(D) in the economy to avoid the recession many were fearing earlier in the year, and rather to come = NOT PARALLEL
(E) that the economy will avoid the recession that was feared earlier this year by many, with it instead coming = NOT PARALLEL

There you have it - option A is the correct choice! It's the only option that uses parallel structure throughout the sentence.

So why didn't I start with #1 or #2 on my list?

#1 on my list (to avoid vs. will avoid) is incredibly confusing to try to explain. It has more to do with how to handle modifiers and intended meaning, which will take you more time to work out while taking the GMAT. Parallelism typically is a quicker thing to check for, so it makes more sense to start there.

#2 on my list (how each option ends) relies on your understanding of idioms that use words like "rather" and "instead." As I understand it, the word "rather" deals with degrees of something (it's rather cold outside) and "instead" is used to offer up an alternative (let's go to the mall instead). However, trying to focus on this option will also take a lot more time than necessary.

I hope this helps! By focusing on the grammar concepts that are easier to handle, you might find that they help you answer the question much faster than just picking the first thing you notice!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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Option A is correct in this case. The split is between "That" and "in" + "Will avoid" and "to avoid"
Now not considering the portion" growing confidence" we get ..... "the gains in the stock market reflect ..... that the economy will avoid...."
Therefore its either A or E.

The past perfect form had feared is used to keep the logical flow of events. The sequence is jumbled up in the original sentence but can be read like following:
" many had feared earlier in the year" (Past perfect - had feared economy will slow down in past) ....... ( implicit past - economy recovered ) "the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence" (present - reflect confidence now) ...... "the economy will avoid the recession" (future)

The Past Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past. - people feared that economy will slow down but stopped fearing after it recovered.

I hope I am correct. Please let me know your views on this.

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 eariler this year by many, with it instead coming

Meaning :

Analyst Said : Gains Reflect confidence . Confidence that Economy with Avoid recession. A recession that was feared by many but come soft with increase in business activity.

Sentence Structure :

According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence (Clause - Gain : Subject, Reflect - Verb)
That the economy will avoid the recession, (clause - Economy: Subject, Will avoid : Verb )
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. (clause That (Recession) : Subject, had Feared and had come verb)

Second clause modifies "Confidence" and Third clause modifies Recession.

Error Analysis :

1. Use of "that" - Usually That introduces clause (S + V), ( when lot of action is happening in small part of sentence GMAT always prefer Clause instead of Phrases ) As per above structure analysis, we have full clause after every occurrence of that and hence Use of that is correct.

2. Use of Will : Any future prediction need Use of simple future hence use of Will is correct.

3. Use of Past perfect Had : Is fear still exist ? No, It was expected / Feared by many but that fear is not there at the time of analyst making that statement. Analyst made that sentence in past and they talked about "Fear" their past event - So Use of "HAD" is not incorrect.

4. Modifiers : there is not misplaces or dangling modifiers, clauses introduced by "that" logically modifies its preceding noun.

So sentence is correct

Option B,C,D can be eliminated based on the absence of "that"
There are other issues as well in Option B,C and D, such as Incorrect usage of "Rather or Instead"

Let's analyse Option E (only option with "That")
that the economy will avoid the recession - Correct
that was feared eariler this year by many - Simple past tense, that means, when analyst made that statement Fear was in existence that means analyst statement in void. this part changes the intended meaning - incorrect
with it instead coming - Adverbial phrase acting as modifier, what this guy is trying to modify, Recession or economy not clear.

A is the correct answer. Usage of 'that' makes all the difference. "Gains reflect the confidence that economy will avoid..." is correct. "Gains refect the confidence (in the economy) to avoid..." is flawed.

'in the economy' modifies 'confidence' in options B,C & D. You must try to make sense without reading the modifier in between. Try reading "gains reflect the confidence to avoid...". Does that make any sense?

Ofcourse E is too wordier & flawed that you'll be able to pick between A & E.

Hey guys, surprisingly, this is one exceptio to the use of idiom: 'instead of'. Can someone explain why is this exception?

Rather - shows preference
e.g
1). We ought to invest in machinery rather than buildings.
2) I want a cat rather than a dog

Instead - suggests that one person, thing or action replaces another.
1). I'll have tea instead of coffee, please.
2). I stayed in bed all day instead of going to work.

E is wrong. You can kill C because instead is not followed by infinitive.
(C) in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared , and instead to come

All other options except A are plain 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,” 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 - CORRECT
(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

Please, your help with this:
a) According to the OE in the OG 12th: "The original sentence successfully avoids the problems that may occur in a long sentence with multiple modifiers. Two subordinate clauses begin with "that", and one of them is contained within another".
Could someone please explain: why does, in this case, the sentence successfully avoid this usual problem?, and Why, in other cases, other sentences can't?

b) How can one be sure that "come" is parallel with "avoid", and not with "reflect" of the main clause?,

c) In B, why does "rather to come" is wrong?
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Hi EGMAT,

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 eariler this year by many, with it instead coming

Here correct answer is A. But why we are using past perfect tense. here we are talking about three time periods :past (fear of recession), present (time when the sentence was spoken), and future (will avoid recession). Can't we show past by simple past instead of past perfect? I am unable to get this as there cannot be the case of if.. then.. condition.
Also why choice C is wrong? Is it due to parallelism issue?

Hi karanthakurani,

Yes, the usage of past perfect tense is a bit tricky here. We need to understand the structure and the meaning of this sentence.

"According to some analysts" is equal to saying "Analysts said". This is just implied in the sentence. This is the past tense event for the analysts.

Also "earlier this year" makes it clear that the analysts "feared" before they stated their opinion. So the usage of past perfect tense is correct here.

In the presence of words that establish time sequencing, such "earlier in the year", use of past perfect tense is optional and not incorrect. You may or may not choose to use past perfect tense in the presence of such words.

This is the reason why Choice A is correct here.

In Choice C, placement of “earlier in the year” is not correct. It suggests that recession was earlier in the year and not many had feared it earlier in the year. Also, use of “instead to” is not idiomatic.

Hope this helps

Regards,
Krishna
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Hi eGMAT,
I got the question but need a quick clarification on your explanation above...

Here, "earlier in the year" is a time indicator like "by the time". Right ? You've mentioned that use of past perfect tense is optional. But for a sentence like 'By the time the party ended, the chief guest had left.', use of past perfect tense is must NOT OPTIONAL.

So, please let me know why it'll be optional for this OG question ?

P.S: Optional use of past perfect tense, I guess, only works in a sentence where words such as 'after','before' etc are present,I think. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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Hi @bagdbmba,

Thanks for drawing our attention to this one.

When time markers are present to indicate the sequencing, the past perfect tense is usually optional. Whether it’s actually used or not depends on the context of the sentence.
I would say that it’s better to use the past perfect tense in the context of this sentence, if only because there are several actions in the sentence, both stated and implied.

1. Earlier: many had feared that the economy was heading into a recession.
2. There were gains in the stock market => Logically, this must have happened after the fears, since people wouldn’t have feared that there would be a recession if the stock market already had gains.
3. The analysts made their statement about what these gains reflect. => This is usually considered the ‘simple past’ part of this sentence. I believe, though, that either this part or the previous one (there were gains in the stock market) could be the ‘simple past’ action here.
4. The analysts’ prediction is that the economy will avoid the recession and instead come in for a ‘soft landing’.

I hope this helps.
Regards,
Meghna
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Thanks Meghna for clarifying.
So in case of time marker/indicator such as "by the time", use of past perfect tense is MUST. 'By the time the party ended, the chief guest had left.' Right ? (Or is "by the time" NOT a time marker? )

Then for which time markers the use of past perfect tense is OPTIONAL, as you say ? Can we list 'em anyhow ?
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Hi @bagdmba,

"Earlier" and "by the time" are both 'time markers', since they tell us more about the time at which an action took place. I don't believe we can create any prescriptive list of time markers that must ALWAYS be used in a specific way. In my opinion, the GMAT doesn't work like that. It tests your reasoning abilities, and not your ability to memorize and apply a certain list of terms. The use of a particular tense in the context of a specific sentence depends on the meaning of that sentence. So I would caution you against trying to come up with such lists. If there are any other official questions on tenses for which you'd like to make clarifications, I'm happy to discuss them with you.

Regards,
Meghna
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I can come to choice A because other choices have clear errors.
But I am uneasy with choice A
there is no past action or past point of time before which "had feared" happened. In nearly all og questions, "had done" has a past point of time or past action.

we can infer the meaning only from the forms of verb in the sentence.

Hi vietmoi999,

A very good question indeed.

You are absolutely correct in saying that there is no ‘past action’ or past point of time’ in this sentence. The usage of the past perfect tense is a little tricky in this sentence. Let’s analyze the structure and meaning of the sentence to understand:

• According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence (C-1)
o that the economy will avoid the recession (C-2)
• that many had feared earlier in the year (C-3)
o and instead come in for a 'soft landing', followed by a gradual increase in the business activity. (C-2)....Continued

In the above sentence, “according to some analysts” presents a meaning similar to “some analysts said that”. This is the related past event in the sentence.

So, the two events from the past are:
1. Some analysts said….
2. Many had feared earlier in the year…..

The time marker ‘earlier in the year’ tells us that the 2nd action happened earlier in the past than the 1st action. So, the usage of the past perfect tense is correct here.

Note that, it’s not intuitive to consider “according to some analysts” a separate event, but I would suggest that we try to understand the context of the sentence to see how an event can be expressed without using an action word.

Also, as you have already mentioned, no other answer choice is error-free. So, we can apply POE to get to the answer.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Deepak
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Hi e-gmat,

Thanks for the good explanation. However, below is my query.

How can we be so sure of the phrase "According to some analysts" is a past event?

Unless the below are mentioned we cannot be sure enough?

(1). Currently, according to analysts : Present

(2). In the past, according to analyst: Past

(3). According to analyst in the coming years: Future

And lastly for the indefinite time when we don't know the time period we use "Present Perfect"

(4). According to analysts: Present perfect.

Please clarify !

Hi Saurabh,

It is not advisable to use the present perfect when the time period is not known. The present perfect tense is used when we need to show the duration over which an action has continued or when the effect of an event that happened in the past are still visible in the present.

Also, the time marker "earlier in the year" tells us that the recession was feared earlier in the year. So, what event could possibly have happened after this fear? The context of the sentence tells us that the claims of the analysis is the only thing that could have happened afterwards.


Hope this helps!
Regards,
Deepak
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Here is what i got --

for something that happened in the past but is important at the time of reporting:
I couldn’t get into the house. I had lost my keys.
Teresa wasn’t at home. She had gone shopping.

Please let me know, if this can be considered as a rule.