Although the rise in the Producer Price Index was greater than expecte

I don't think there is a particular chunk of content that you need to study. I think the verb "remains" is just tripping you up here. So let's try replacing "remains" with "is":

• (1) "most analysts agree that inflation IS under control" - Analysts in the present agree that inflation is CURRENTLY under control.
• (2) "most analysts agree that inflation WILL BE under control" - Analysts in the present agree that inflation IN THE FUTURE will be under control.
• (3) "most analysts agreed that inflation WAS under control" - Analysts in the PAST agreed that inflation, also in the past, WAS under control.
• (4) "most analysts agreed that inflation WOULD BE under control" - Analysts in the PAST agreed about what WOULD happen with inflation at some later time.

My guess is that you are okay with these four examples. But you have a sense that the verb "to remain" implies that we are talking about what will happen later, as opposed to what is happening right now. But we can certainly use "to remain" in the present tense:

• "The student is calm." - Okay, the student is calm right now.
• "The student remains calm." - Similar meaning, but the use of "remains" implies a degree of continuity: the student CONTINUES TO BE calm.

Now let's look at 4 examples with "to remain" that parallel the 4 examples with "to be" above:

• (1) "most analysts agree that the student REMAINS calm" - Analysts in the present agree that the student CURRENTLY remains calm.
• (2) "most analysts agree that the student WILL REMAIN calm" - Analysts in the present agree that the student IN THE FUTURE will remain calm.
• (3) "most analysts agreed that the student REMAINED calm" - Analysts in the PAST agreed that the student, also in the past, REMAINED calm.
• (4) "most analysts agreed that the student WOULD REMAIN calm" - Analysts in the PAST agreed about what WOULD happen with the student at some later time.

All four examples are okay (though you are understandably more comfortable with #2 and #4), but each conveys a slightly distinct meaning because of the timeline differences.

If you want to suffer through a full hour on how to be intuitive with GMAT SC verb tenses, you could also check out this video.

I hope that helps!

There is nothing wrong in the original.
We are looking at some CLAUSE after agreed, so agreed THAT abcd is correct.
The portion agreed that x and that y is correct and follows parallelism.
A

Hello rnn!

Thank you for your questions. I imagine other people are wondering about these as well! Let's go through them one at a time:

1. The verb should be the past tense "remained" to stay consistent with the non-underlined part of the sentence where it says "was greater than expected" and "most analysts agreed," both of which are also in past tense.

2. No, this is not parallel. When looking at parallelism with phrases or clauses, you need to include the entire clause - not just the parts that sound good:

B. that it was unlikely for the index continuing to go up and for inflation to remain

If the phrase "it was unlikely" wasn't part of this option, then it would be parallel. However, since we're talking about parallel phrases here, we must include both phrases in their entirety. The only other way this could have been parallel would be to say "it was unlikely for the index to continue going up and it was unlikely for inflation to remain."

I hope this clears things up!

I can't understand why a hypothetical situation that is described in the past can simply use "was" and not "would" as a verb? I got confused, though all other answers are definitely wrong.

Hello muditdadwal!

Thank you for your question! In this sentence, "continue" does not need to be parallel to "remained" because it's not acting as the main verb. It's part of a prepositional phrase, so it doesn't behave like a verb here:

Although the rise in the Producer Price Index was greater than expected, most analysts agreed that the index was unlikely to continue going up and that inflation remained essentially under control.

All the other verbs (in bold) are in past tense, and the two items that the analysts agreed on are written using parallel structure. Therefore, we can narrow down our choices to just option A.

I hope this clears things up!

I'm not 100% sure that I'm interpreting your question correctly, but I'll give it a shot. I think this is the heart of it: "... so inflation is sth tha can be decided at the moment whether it should be reduced or increased ?"

• At any moment, analysts can look at inflation trends and decide whether they think inflation is (A) under control (for example, increasing/decreasing moderately--no cause for alarm) or (B) NOT under control (for example, increasing exponentially with no end in sight--a cause for alarm).
• If we were talking about the present, we would say, "Most analysts agree that inflation remains under control." In other words, "Most analysts agree that inflation continues to be under control."
• But since we are talking about the past, we say, "Most analysts agreed that inflation remained under control." In other words, "Most analysts agreed that inflation continued to be under control."

I hope that helps!

Thank you unraveled for weighing in! I'll add my two cents in case it helps anybody.

In general, even if the items in a parallel list are grammatically parallel, you always want to think about the meaning dictated by the parallelism:

• In the correct choice (A), the analysts agreed on two things: (1) that the index was unlikely to continue going up and (2) that inflation remained essentially under control.
• In (B), the analysts agreed that it was unlikely (1) for the index continuing to go up and (2) for inflation to remain essentially under control.

Notice that the meaning is ENTIRELY different in these two choices:

• In (A), the analysts agreed that inflation remained essentially under control.
• In (B), the analysts agreed that it was UNLIKELY for inflation to remain essentially under control.

So, which makes more sense? If the analysts agree that the index probably will NOT continue going up, why would they think that inflation will NOT remain under control? It's more logical to associate a stable index with stable inflation.

(B) has some other issues too:

• In order to be parallel to "for inflation to remain", it would be better to have "for the index to continue..."
• The pronoun "it" doesn't have a referent. That's not necessarily WRONG, exactly, but it's rare to see non-referential pronouns in correct answer choices.
• (A) conveys the desired meaning, avoids any questionable parallelism, and avoids using a non-referential "it," so (A) is our winner.

You can also check out this thread for a discussion of "non-referential" pronouns like the "it" in this question.

I hope that helps a bit!

This question heavily relies on meaning.
While I am unable to tell you all the grammatical quirks, I would encourage everyone to challenge the answer choices on whether they preserve the
original meaning.

Doing so, AC A stands strong.

Regards,
Chris

Although the rise in the Producer Price Index was greater than expected, most analysts agreed that the index was unlikely to continue going up and that inflation remained essentially under control.

A. that the index was unlikely to continue going up and that inflation remained
This is correct and resolves all issues discussed below. First, the idiom "unlikely to" is correct. Additionally the second "that" in the second parallel makes the meaning clear and unambiguous. The analysts agreed THAT the index was unlikely to rise AND THAT inflation will remain the same. "xxx agreed THAT X is unlikely and THAT Y." If you don't include the second THAT, the inflation remaining the same would be unlikely, which is illogical to the rest of the sentence.

B. that it was unlikely for the index continuing to go up and for inflation to remain
This is incorrect because it poses a meaning issue. It was unlikely "for X and for Y." The logical meaning is that it was unlikely for the index to rise, but it was not unlikely that inflation was going to remain flat (it's the opposite). Also, the idiom is "unlikely to" not "unlikely for."

C. that the index was unlikely to continue to go up, with inflation to remain
This answer uses a "with" modifier, which modifies the clause before it. This has an ambiguous meaning. Does this mean that stable inflation makes it unlikely to see a rise in the index? Or is it the opposite? The true meaning of the sentence is that most analysts agreed on X and Y, not X, modified by Y. They are two separate things unless otherwise stated clearly.

D. on the unlikelihood that the index would continue going up and that inflation remained
Incorrect. This is a meaning issue. This answer is saying that there is an unlikelihood among analysts' thoughts that "x and y" will happen. The meaning of the sentence should be that it is unlikely the index will rise and that is inflation will remain the same. Both are not unlikely.

E. on the unlikelihood that the index would continue to go up and for inflation to remain
Incorrect. First, there is a parallelism issue as stated in answer choice D. Also, there is an idiom issue. The correct idiom is "unlikelyhood that" not "unlikelyhod for." The first component of the parallel structure uses this idiom correctly, but the second component, relating to inflation, uses the incorrect idiom.

Hi Ria, the structure of A is:

Although the rise in the Producer Price Index was greater than expected, most analysts agreed
(i) that the index was unlikely to continue going up and
(ii) that inflation remained essentially under control

So, (i) and (ii) are the parallel elements of this sentence. Perhaps what's throwing you off is that (i) is talking about future while (ii) is talking about past. But that's completely fine. Do remember that tenses and parallelism are two different concepts; for a sentence to be parallel, the entire sentence does not need to be in the same tense.

For example, following is a correct sentence:

Peter's teachers agree that he is a great student and that he will have a bright future.

Notice he is a great student is simple present, while he will have a bright future is simple future tense; but this does not impact parallelism in any manner.

C is incorrect because of incorrect usage of with. It is incorrect to say that "index was unlikely to continue to go up with inflation". There are two different statements that analysts agreed upon, and hence, in the correct answer, these two statements are connected by and.

(C) isn't terrible, but the meaning is clearer in choice (A).

In choice (A), the parallel structure makes it perfectly clear that the analysts agreed on two things: (1) "that the index was unlikely to continue going up" and (2) "that inflation remained essentially under control."

In (C), do the analysts agree that inflation is to remain under control? Or is the logic of most analysts something like this: "Well, we KNOW (somehow) that inflation is to remain under control. Because we know that, the index is unlikely to continue to go up."

That's an entirely (albeit subtly) different meaning. So the meaning of (C) is open to interpretation, but the meaning is unambiguous in (A). That makes (A) our winner.

One other superficial vote for (A) over (C) is that (A) avoids the repetitive "to continue to go up" structure. That structure certainly isn't wrong, but "to continue going up" is arguably a bit better, since it avoids the double infinitives.

I hope that helps!

[quote="EMPOWERgmatVerbal"]Hello Everyone!

This is a great example of a GMAT question that focuses on PARALLELISM! Let's start off by doing a quick scan over the options and highlighting any major differences we see in orange:

Although the rise in the Producer Price Index was greater than expected, most analysts agreed that the index was unlikely to continue going up and that inflation remained essentially under control.

A. that the index was unlikely to continue going up and that inflation remained
B. that it was unlikely for the index continuing to go up and for inflation to remain
C. that the index was unlikely to continue to go up, with inflation to remain
D. on the unlikelihood that the index would continue going up and that inflation remained
E. on the unlikelihood that the index would continue to go up and for inflation to remain

After a quick scan over the options, a few key differences jump out:

1. that / on the unlikelihood that
2. continue / continuing / would continue
3. that / for / with
4. remained / to remain

If we look more carefully at the sentence, we can spot what type of question this is:

Although the rise in the Producer Price Index was greater than expected, most analysts agreed that the index was unlikely to continue going up and that inflation remained essentially under control.

When looking at the sentence as a whole, we see that the underlined portion contains the 2 things that analysts agree on - and those 2 things MUST be parallel! Any time you see a grouping of items, parallelism is a good place to start! Let's check each option to ensure the 2 items are parallel:

A. that the index was unlikely to continue going up and that inflation remained --> PARALLEL

B. that it was unlikely for the index continuing to go up and for inflation to remain --> NOT PARALLEL

C. that the index was unlikely to continue to go up, with inflation to remain --> NOT PARALLEL

D. on the unlikelihood that the index would continue going up and that inflation remained --> NOT PARALLEL

E. on the unlikelihood that the index would continue to go up and for inflation to remain --> NOT PARALLEL

There you have it - option A is the only one that uses parallel structure for both items! If you can identify what type of SC question you're dealing with, it is a lot easier to check for common mistakes (parallelism, modifiers, subject-verb agreement, etc.).


How is "Continue" parallel to "Remained" ? They are in different tenses ? Infinitive vs past tense. Kindly help me here.
Thanks in Advance

Your first interpretation looks good! To help understand why, imagine that we had "IS unlikely" (instead of "WAS unlikely"):

• "the index IS unlikely to continue going up" - This means that the index is currently going up. But odds are that the index will not continue going up in the future.
• "the index WAS unlikely to continue going up" - So at some moment in the past (in this case, at the time when the analysts agreed), the index was going up. But, at that time in the past, the analysts believed that the index would not continue going up (after that time in the past when the analysts agreed).

I'm not sure I quite follow your second interpretation, but, no, the analysts were not agreeing about something that happened BEFORE they agreed. They were agreeing about something that had not happened yet (from their perspective).

For more on the verb tenses in this example, check out this post.

Check out this post if you haven't already: https://gmatclub.com/forum/although-the ... l#p2619992.

The bottom line is that there are two subjects here: the (1) index and (2) inflation, so it's hard to "link" them in a way that still makes the meaning clear. Also, if they are linked, then doesn't that mean that the analysts agree on both of them? If so, (A) is the clearest way to express that idea.

And if the inflation part is totally separate and not something that the analysts agree about, then we'd want to separate that part entirely -- maybe something like, "Inflation remained under control, and most experts agreed that...".

I hope that helps!

Hi EMPOWERgmatVerbal


can you kindly share why it should be "remained" and not "remain"

secondly, in option B we have "for the index continuing to go up and for inflation to remain"... is this not parallel as well?

Hi thecoronafever, at the very least, the above interpretation is changing (in fact reversing) the meaning of the original sentence.

The original sentence says:

most analysts agreed that inflation remained essentially under control.

Your interpretation above conveys:

most analysts agreed on the unlikelihood that inflation remained essentially under control.

Sentence B looks like this.
Although the rise in the Producer Price Index was greater than expected, most analysts agreed that it was unlikely for the index continuing to go up and for inflation to remain essentially under control.
Note that parallelism marker 'and', as you rightly pointed, should have element X and element Y parallel to each other. But where should X and Y start/end.
The element X starts after 'that' i.e. 'it ... up' and Y starts after and i.e. 'for .. control.'.
Thus, the parallelism you have considered is not true parallelism. Also, note that 'continuing to go up' and 'to remain' have their own verb issues.

You should try to understand what most analysts agreed about - the gist of the sentence.
If you understand both concepts of verb and parallelism in depth, this question would be a cakewalk for you - shortcut for this question is to apply parallelism properly.