Although the restaurant company has recently added many new restaurant

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that the restaurant company has recently added many new restaurants across the country and its sales have increased dramatically, but the company's sales at restaurants open for more than a year have declined.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Modifiers + Tenses

A: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the phrase "Although the restaurant company has recently added...dramatically", conveying the intended meaning - that the restaurant company has recently added many restaurants across the country. Further, Option A correctly uses the simple present tense verbs "has...added" and "have increased" to refer to actions that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.

B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb "increased" to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present, and the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.

C: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "Although many new restaurants have recently been opened...dramatically"; the use of passive voice incorrectly implies that many new restaurants have recently been opened by some unknown entity; the intended meaning is that many new restaurants have recently been opened by the restaurant company.

D: This answer choice incorrectly uses "Although having recently added...dramatically" to modify "the restaurant company’s sales"; illogically implying that the sales have recently added many restaurants across the country; the intended meaning is that the company has recently added many restaurants across the country; please remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option D incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb + ing" - "increasing" in this sentence) to refer to an action that concluded in the past and continues to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.

E: This answer choice incorrectly uses "Although recently adding...dramatically" to modify "the restaurant company’s sales"; illogically implying that the sales have recently added many restaurants across the country; the intended meaning is that the company has recently added many restaurants across the country; please remember, in a “phrase + comma + noun” construction, the phrase must correctly modify the noun. Further, Option E incorrectly uses the present participle ("verb + ing" - "adding" and "having" in this sentence) to refer to actions that concluded in the past and continue to affect the present; please remember, the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.

Hence, A is the best answer choice.

To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Present Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



To understand the concept of "Phrase Comma Subject" and "Subject Comma Phrase" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

I have just one query.

I rejected the first three choices because of wrong modifier "its".

I thought that the modifier "its" can refer to either the company or the country, as this wrong placement was doubtful so I rejected "A".

Now can anyone pls explain that why my thinking was wrong? Can "its" refer to "country"??

Please explain why have is necessary in this case.

“Have” is necessary in A & B in order to maintain parallelism; the sentence begins “the restaurant company has…”

We don’t need past tense in the second half of the underlined portion as sales have increased up until this point.

Sales is plural, so "have" usage is right.

well, actually I have chosen a wrong answer too ) but found a good explanation why "its" can not refer to "country". it is because country is an object of the preposition "across" in this sentence.
my bad that I have not paid attention to that preposition (

hope I could help u

i choose A. there is a verd-tense error in B. all verbs are in present tense except the verb increase, which is incorrect. in C, the intended meaning is distorted. it means that many restaurants of different company have been opened. D is out for parallelism. E is out for modifier error. correct me if i am wrong or my process of elimination is wrong.

regards. please give me some kudos......

A. CORRECT

B. INCORRECT: inconsistent verb tense on "its sales increased dramatically". It would have been correct if it's "its sales have increased dramatically"

C. INCORRECT: ambiguous pronoun "its sales"

D. INCORRECT: "the restaurant company’s sales" cannot be the subject of "having recently added many new restaurants across the country" at preceding clause

E. INCORRECT: "the restaurant company’s sales" cannot be the subject of "recently adding many new restaurants across the country" at preceding clause

I must say, this question is quite an eye opener to me. Previously I used to think that "sales" is usually used as singular only.

B - "have -ed" required to maintain parallelism
C - subject - "restaurent company" is missing, "its" without antecedent; lacks parallelism
D - whos' adding (subj - restaurent company missing)? Passive voice, and same issues as B; wrong usage of -ing
E - whos' adding (subj - restaurent company missing)? Passive voice, and same issues as above choices

So, A is the best!

My elimination process -

A : Correct
B : "have" , the sentence talks about the recent trend so it should have increased instead of increased
C: Here "its" has no antecedent.
D: Subject is missing in the first clause
E: same as D

Let me know if I am wrong.

Dear Mods explanation given in thread is not clear . Could you pls explain the right choice.

Although the restaurant company has recently added many new restaurants across the country and its sales have increased dramatically, its sales at restaurants open for more than a year have declined.


A. the restaurant company has recently added many new restaurants across the country and its sales have increased dramatically, its
its correctly refers to company . Although clause .... , clause . Here its can only refer to the subject of previous clause not the object ( country) becuase 'its' is the subject of current clause after comma .

B. the restaurant company has recently added many new restaurants across the country and its sales increased dramatically, its
PP and past ( wrong ) parallelism error . sales increased over a time period not in past .

C. many new restaurants have recently been opened across the country and its sales increased dramatically, the restaurant company’s
Meaning error . The sentence fails to convey that the restaurant company has opened the new restaurants.

D. having recently added many new restaurants across the country and with its sales increasing dramatically, the restaurant company’s
awkward construction . modifier error ' having recently added ....' cant not modify restaurant company's sales

E. recently adding many new restaurants across the country and having its sales increase dramatically, the restaurant company’s
modifier error . The subject should be 'restaurant company' not 'company's sales'

Let me know if you have still any doubt

B. Wrong use of tense for the verb "increased". The correct tense should be present perfect, because the effect of increase is still there. Note the use of present perfect "have declined" in the non-underlined part, indicating that the effect of decline ( and hence that of increase as well) is still there.

C. Same tense issue as described for B above.

D. The conjunction although should ideally be followed by a dependent clause, not a a couple of modifiers ("having recently added many new restaurants across the country" and "with its sales increasing dramatically") joined by a conjunction.

Moreover, the modifiers "having recently added many new restaurants across the country" and "with its sales increasing dramatically" wrongly refers to "the restaurant company’s sales" rather than "the restaurant company" itself.

E. Same issues as described for D.

A rectifies all the errors described above and hence is the correct answer.

Hi, can someone break this down a little clearly? Not convinced with the explanation given here. I still think A has awkward number of 'its' appearing one after the other...doesn't feel clear to me

Hi,

Wish to know why



is wrong.

Answered in detail here. Let us know if that doesn't clear up your doubts.