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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 05 Apr 2022, 07:49
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Might come off as a bit silly but I eliminated options based on a totally different logic. Wondering if it's the correct one or not. Anyone?

The logic: usage of the idiom "less... than". This eliminated options B and C. And options A and D have the 'had been' verb error at the end, so I'm glad that I got that right for sure.

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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 05 Apr 2022, 18:17
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mainbhiankit
Might come off as a bit silly but I eliminated options based on a totally different logic. Wondering if it's the correct one or not. Anyone?

The logic: usage of the idiom "less... than". This eliminated options B and C. And options A and D have the 'had been' verb error at the end, so I'm glad that I got that right for sure.

GMATNinja @VeritasKarishma AjiteshArun
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Hi mainbhiankit,

That's not silly at all. Less... compared to is a major red flag in those options. I'd consider it less of a problem than {predict + noun + infinitive}, but that's just my opinion.

Your approach is absolutely fine. Just remember to identify as many errors as possible when you're reviewing practice questions.
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 29 May 2022, 23:48
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MartyTargetTestPrep GMATNinja, can you please help in understanding why we need 'that' to follow 'predict'?

Thank you!
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 31 May 2022, 05:53
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CrushTHYGMAT
MartyTargetTestPrep GMATNinja, can you please help in understanding why we need 'that' to follow 'predict'?

Thank you!
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Hello CrushTHYGMAT,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in this case, "predict" must be followed by "that", simply because "predict that" is the correct, idiomatic construction.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 31 May 2022, 18:25
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Well, there are really two ways to use “predict.” We can predict a noun or a clause:

I predict rain.
I predict that it will rain.

I predict a victory for the mayor.
I predict that the mayor will win.

However, we can’t mix these. For instances, we can’t say “I predict the mayor to win.” That’s why we can’t say “predict the year to be challenging.”

However, in a sign of how varied English can be, we *can* say “The mayor is predicted to win.”

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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 01 Jun 2022, 12:43
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CrushTHYGMAT
MartyTargetTestPrep GMATNinja, can you please help in understanding why we need 'that' to follow 'predict'?

Thank you!
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It comes down to what you're predicting. If you're predicting defeat, well, "defeat" is a noun, so a "that" wouldn't make any sense here. The construction is fine as is.

But if you're predicting that the team will lose, well, "the team will lose" is a full clause, so it's helpful to have "that" to introduce it, so we don't get confused and expect a noun alone, like we have in the first example.

In this question, the analysts and executives aren't predicting "the coming year." They're predicting that something will happen during the coming year, so we use "that" to introduce the full clause.

I hope that helps!
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 08 Jun 2022, 23:10
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Thank you, DmitryFarber and GMATNinja. You guys are awesome!

Hope you have a great day!
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 10 Oct 2022, 07:24
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I eliminated "E" and selected "D" because i thought in option E "Clause" is compared to "Noun phrase" and in "D" two clauses are compared. In option D "past perfect" is not correct. Is in option E due to ellipsis (than the previous year was) its correct? Or verb is not required, and Its fine as it is?
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 24 Oct 2022, 19:19
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himanshu0077
I eliminated "E" and selected "D" because i thought in option E "Clause" is compared to "Noun phrase" and in "D" two clauses are compared. In option D "past perfect" is not correct. Is in option E due to ellipsis (than the previous year was) its correct? Or verb is not required, and Its fine as it is?
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It sounds like you're asking, "Is (D) okay because there's an implied verb? Or is (D) okay because a verb isn't necessary?" Well, in either case, the verb isn't needed, so the answer doesn't really matter!

The intended meaning is clear enough, so we don't need to worry about what may or may not be going on behind the scenes. When you read something like "BB is cooler than Cardi B," you understand the comparison without thinking about ellipses, right?

And since, as you said, (D) has to go, we're stuck with (E) whether we like it or not!
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 29 Oct 2022, 20:25
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KarishmaB GMATNinja

Option E : that the coming year (subject) will be (verb) no less challenging than the previous one (one modifies year - so we have subject) >> There is no verb in RHS of the comparison. So we are comparing clause (LHS) with phrase (RHS). Isn't parallelism wrong?
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 29 Oct 2022, 23:37
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KarishmaB GMATNinja

Option E : that the coming year (subject) will be (verb) no less challenging than the previous one (one modifies year - so we have subject) >> There is no verb in RHS of the comparison. So we are comparing clause (LHS) with phrase (RHS). Isn't parallelism wrong?
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In a comparison, we have to focus on what are the two things being compared. We don't need to have clauses on both sides. 'than' can act as a preposition as well as a conjunction. When it acts as a preposition, we do not need a clause after 'than.'

We are comparing the 'previous year' with the 'coming year.' We are not comparing actions.
When the main verb is one of is/are/was/were/will be, we are usually comparing characteristics of objects/people, not their actions.

He is shorter than Harry.

We are comparing 'he' with 'Harry,' not their actions so we don't need a verb (or does) in the second part of the comparison. Here, 'than' acts as a preposition.
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 03 Nov 2022, 19:24
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Does???nt the word predict suggest that yeah the ???will??? form of verb should be ???would???.

I???m not convinced with already posted answers.
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 03 Nov 2022, 20:04
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Does???nt the word predict suggest that yeah the ???will??? form of verb should be ???would???.

I???m not convinced with already posted answers.
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Here's the correct version:

Analysts and media executives predict that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one for the company's C.E.O.

We see that the sentence communicates that, in the present "Analysts and media executives predict" something about the future.

So, the use of the future tense "will be" in the clause that expresses the prediction "that the coming year will be no less challenging," is correct.
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 22 Dec 2022, 13:32
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DmitryFarber
Well, there are really two ways to use “predict.” We can predict a noun or a clause:

I predict rain.
I predict that it will rain.

I predict a victory for the mayor.
I predict that the mayor will win.

However, we can’t mix these. For instances, we can’t say “I predict the mayor to win.” That’s why we can’t say “predict the year to be challenging.”

However, in a sign of how varied English can be, we *can* say “The mayor is predicted to win.”

Posted from my mobile device
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Can this be applied to all/most verbs?
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 24 Dec 2022, 14:23
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be no less challenging than the previous one had been for the company's C.E.O.

A) the coming year to be no less challenging than the previous one had been

B) the coming year to be no less challenging compared to the previous one

C) that the coming year would be no less challenging compared to the previous one

D) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one had been

E) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one


SC03050.02

A & B are wrong since predict + that is required in this case.
C the usage of would in present time frame is incorrect
D though D corrects the issue in C it has new issue. COMPARISION: logically coming year- (should be compared with)- previous one. Not with the difficulty of previous one.
Eliminating all we have E the best choice eliminating all errors above.

HOPE this helps.
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Upon reading the question, I thought we were comparing the difficulty of the two years... would appreciate any insight.
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 24 Dec 2022, 19:40
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sseth8
Upon reading the question, I thought we were comparing the difficulty of the two years... would appreciate any insight.
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That's correct. The sentence is:

the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one (was challenging).
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 10 Jul 2023, 23:41
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EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be no less challenging than the previous one had been for the company's C.E.O.

(A) the coming year to be no less challenging than the previous one had been

(B) the coming year to be no less challenging compared to the previous one

(C) that the coming year would be no less challenging compared to the previous one

(D) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one had been

(E) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one

After a quick glance over the options, there are a few key differences we can focus on:

1. that the coming year / the coming year (Idioms)
2. to be / would be / will be (Verb Tense)
3. than / compared to (Comparisons/Meaning)
4. the previous one / the previous one had been (Verb Tense)

Since #1 on our list is an “either/or” split, let’s start there. No matter which direction we go in, we’ll eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly. This is an idiom issue. The idiom we’re focusing on is “predict that X.” We need to eliminate any options that don’t follow this idiom structure:

(A) the coming year to be no less challenging than the previous one had been

(B) the coming year to be no less challenging compared to the previous one

(C) that the coming year would be no less challenging compared to the previous one

(D) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one had been

(E) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one

We can eliminate options A & B because “predict the coming year” is not idiomatic. Now that we have it narrowed down to 3 options, let’s look at the next “either/or” split on our list: would be vs. will be. “Would be” is a hypothetical verb tense, whereas “will be” is a future tense. Since the sentence is focusing on a real future, not a hypothetical one, let’s eliminate any options that use the hypothetical tense:

(C) that the coming year would be no less challenging compared to the previous one

(D) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one had been

(E) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one

We can eliminate option C because we’re not discussing a hypothetical event here - we’re discussing a real future event. Now that we have it narrowed down to only 2 options, let’s take a closer look at the other major differences and see if we can find any problems:

(D) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one had been
This is INCORRECT because the past perfect “had been” isn’t necessary here. We only use the past perfect tense when discussing 2 past events, and need to determine which one came first.

(E) that the coming year will be no less challenging than the previous one
This is CORRECT! There aren’t any issues with idioms or verb tenses here!

There you have it - option E is our winner! By focusing on quick “either/or” splits, we were able to narrow down our options quickly, giving us more time to tackle more complicated questions!


Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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Prediction is not certainty, right? It is still a hypothesis. Why do we rule out C on 'would'?
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Analysts and media executives predict the coming year to be 27 Nov 2024, 04:48
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