RSYD
hi
GMATNinja and other instructors
I would like to ask a question.
what does this interpretation in OG 2022 mean?
D. Compare agreed on the unlikelihood that the index would continue going up in this version with agreed that the index was unlikely to continue going up in the original, best version of the sentence. Note that with the former wording, unlike the latter wording, it is unclear whether it is meant to say that analysts agreed that the index was unlikely to continue to go up or that they agreed on whether the index was likely or whether it was unlikely to go up.i don't see any ambiguity here.
why does OG said that it is unclear whether it is meant to say they agreed on whether the index was likely or whether it was unlikely to go up?
unlikelihood means " be unlikely that xxxx" ,so
agreed on the unlikelihood that the index would continue going up should mean that they agreed on it was unlikely to go up
looking forward to you reply.
You want to take those OG explanations with a grain -- or many grains -- of salt. Sometimes they're decent. Other times? Not so much. The explanations aren't written by the same people who wrote the questions -- usually, the explanations are produced by random contractors hired by Wiley Publishing, and GMAC has nothing to do with those explanations at all.
Anyway, I agree with you here. The problem in (D) isn't that it's ambiguous. The problem is that's incoherent.
Take another look at the relevant clause:
Quote:
(D) Most analysts agreed on the unlikelihood
that the index would continue going up and
that inflation remained essentially under control.
First, it doesn't really make sense to agree on an "unlikelihood." You can agree
that something will happen. You can agree
on a compromise. But agreeing on an unlikelihood? That's illogical.
And even if you could agree on an "unlikelihood," the sentence as written seems to say that the two portions in red are unlikely. It's unlikely that the index will continue going up. That's fine. But it's also unlikely that inflation remained under control. The whole point of the sentence is that
although the PPI was up, inflation remained under control! Answer (D) conveys the opposite.
So there's no ambiguity here. This sentence is clearly nonsense.
I hope that helps!