According to some economists, Japan is in danger of plunging

Still don't understand why B is wrong. Can someone please explain? Thanks!

I'll go with the meaning conveyed by the sentence.

Sentence conveys ;

Japan is in danger of plunging into a depression that could severely strain a society that regards lifetime employment as a virtual right of citizenship.

This is the basic essence of the sentence.

To add to the "danger of plunging into depression" is the the " double digit unemployment"

So what could severely strain a society is the "danger of plunging into depression" along with the " double digit unemployment".

C,D,E are eliminated because meaning of sentence changes which seems to imply that " Japan is plunging with double digit".

Now we are left with A and B.

But B seems to say that Japan is plunging into depression "because of" double digit unemployment, but that's not what the original sentence wants to convey.

So, you are left with "A".

I am not good in in depth grammatical terminology, but this is how I approached this.

is it because when we omit "with two digit..." the sentence is right?

Classic case of "eliminate the middleman" !! Remove the intervening phrase - with double digit unemplyment - and then answer A becomes clear.

A

B for me.

It really comes down between A and B.

"That" is a restrictive modifier like BMW said. However, in A, it makes it sound that the depression itself has double-digit unemployment. In B, the "that, because of double-digit unemployment, could..." does a good job of modifying the depression PLUS the fact of double-digit unemployment, will put a strain on society.

I think the key is to separate the depression and unemployment clearly. BECAUSE of the double-digit unemployment, the depression's impact on society will be especially big. The main point of the passage is about the depression's impact on society. B shows/adds strength to WHY the depression's impact will be significant.

Yes, I also felt that A says that the depression has double digit unemployment . What is the source of this question?

Also, are these questions, with very ambiguous answer choices, going to appear on the real test? <- no joke intended;)

I also choose A and used following logic to delete B-
B uses severe, which is adjective to modify the strain which is another adjective. Hence wrong.

How is this approach?

In this context, "strain" is a noun like "challenge",etc. In A, "strain" acts as a verb so there is a difference on how these two options use "strain". But "could be a severe strain for...." is grammatically fine.

A is the best for me.

B is wordy and also severe strain for a society does not sound right to me, it is definitely wordy

that, because of double-digit unemployment, could be a severe strain for