Around the World in 80 Questions (Day 2): The expected drop in the

The expected drop in the price of cotton could be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain an economic growth rate above 10 percent.

(A) be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain
(B) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain
(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attaining
(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining
(E) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain


A couple things we must understand first:
1. to + verb is never a verb, it denotes intention
For example, I wish to score a Q51 on the GMAT. Here "to score" shows intent.

2. 'and' is a parallelism marker. We must make sure elements on either side of 'and' are parallel logically and grammatically.
For example, She is beautifully and smart. This is not logical as beautifully (is an adverb) whereas smart (is an adjective).
The correct sentence would be, She is beautiful and smart.

Now let's look at the options:

(A) be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain

Think about the start of the sentence, drop in price....could be a serious impact. Does this make sense logically?
How can the 'drop' itself be an impact? The 'drop' can cause an impact but can't be the impact itself.

Now let's check parallelism. the drop.....could be a serious impact (noun) and severely diminish (verb), not parallel

For these reasons, A is out.


(B) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain

Lets remove the clutter and focus on what the sentence is trying to convey.

The expecteddrop in the price of cotton could seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain an economic growth rate above 10 percent.

It boils down to: drop could seriously impact....and severely impede.
Now this sounds fine, at least the latter part does.
The first part says: The drop could seriously impact ON agrarian nations.

How can you impact ON something? You can cause an impact on something or someone, but can't straight up impact On someone. Illogical

B is out.


(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attaining

Firstly, same reason as B in the use of 'On impact".
Secondly, the use of "of attaining" at the end instead of "to attain" renders in an illogical meaning.
to + attain denotes an intention to attain whereas attaining denotes cause and effect, not the intended meaning.

C is out.


(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining
(E) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain.

Let's look at both these options together.
Firstly, the usage of "on" is correct here as the sentence read "have and impact on nations", this makes a whole lot more sense.
There are two key differences between these options, one is pretty straightforward and the other is extremely subtle.

1. of attaining vs to attain
As we discussed before, to + attain usage is preferred in this context
(option E is looking better so far)

2. Subtle meaning clarity issue (impede vs diminish)
to diminish is to decrease something. To make something less. So the sentence says: the drop could severely decrease the possibility of attaining....
decrease the possibility huh? This is not outright wrong, but let's see what the other option says

to impede is to hinder something, to be an obstruction
This time the sentence says: the drop could severely hinder the possibility to attain...
Aha! now this makes so much more sense that decreasing the possibility.

Kick D out, and go to party with E!

"The expected price drop ....." is a phenomena, so it will have a impact on something else but it wont itself impact. And, possibility is basically a number which diminish or increase. Possibility cannot be impeded or hindered.

(A) This statement is saying the phenomena of "The price drop ...." is itself impacting the agrarian nations, which is wrong.

(B) This statement is saying the phenomena of "The price drop ...." is itself impacting the agrarian nations, which is wrong. And also possibility cannot be impeded, it can get diminished or increased. Hence this option is wrong.

(C) This statement is saying the phenomena of "The price drop ...." is itself impacting the agrarian nations, which is wrong. And also possibility cannot be impeded, it can get diminished or increased. Hence this option is wrong.

(D) This is correct option. The phenomena of "The expected price drop ....." will have a certian impact on agrarian nations and this will "diminish the possibility .....".

(E) Possibility cannot be impeded, it can get diminished or increased. Hence this option is wrong.

What's wrong with the sentence?

'possibility to' is not an efficient usage. A better way to express is 'possibility of attaining ...'

So eliminating (A), (B) and (E)

'impact on' is not an efficient usage where 'impact' works as a verb. A better way to express is 'have an impact on something' where impact is not a verb or 'impact something' where impact is a verb

So eliminating (C)

We're left with (D) which doesn't have any grammatical or logical mistake

Answer D

Idioms + Modal auxillary verbs + Prepositions

Could followed by "have"
possibility "of", we should not use "to"
impact "on" agrarian nations

Thank you

The expected drop in the price of cotton could be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain an economic growth rate above 10 percent.

(A) be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain
the wording of "be" is faulty, we can't use "be" here.

(B) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain
the use of "on" here is faulty. we can't use "on" here.

(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attaining
again, we can't use "on" here, it's faulty.

(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining
Yea, this is perfect. Good grammar, sentence makes sense. No faults.

(E) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain
It won't "impede", the use of "impede" isn't correct here.

Answer is D.

E

it gives clear meaning without ambiguity. Compared to diminish in D, impede is more accurate to indicate slow growth rate.

We cannot IMPEDE the possibility, but we certainly can DIMINISH the possibility. Eliminate options B, C and E.
Option A, "could be a serious impact" is incorrect.

Correct answer Option D.

1. Seriously impact (adverb+ verb) is parallel with severely impede (adverb +verb)
2. possibility of attaining makes more sense to me. We use "to" to convey the motive.

Hence, it's option C.

The expected drop in the price of cotton could be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain an economic growth rate above 10 percent.

(A) be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain wrong usage
(B) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attainWong usage of adverb to
(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attainingSame as B
(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining - wrong usage
(E) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attaincorrect

Meaning analysis: the drop in price => affect the nations and decrease their possibility of attaining economic growth rate above 10 percent.
here sentence is trying to convey the effect of drop in the recent past still continue to have effect in present so we need to use present perfect tense

(A) be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain - so a is wrong according to our meaning analysis
(B) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain - here severely impede mean severely make difficult the possibility which is wrong intended meaning so not B
(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attaining - same as above
(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining - This is our Answer
(E) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain - again same as B and C use of impede

So ans D

The expected drop in the price of cotton could be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain an economic growth rate above 10 percent.

correct usage of possibility is - possibility of attaining, so choices A, B, and E are ruled out.

(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attaining - could seriously impact on nations -> doesn't form the right sentence structure so eliminated
(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining - although lil lengthy , but no grammatical sentence structure challenges and use of possibility is also correct.

Option D, it is grammatically most appropriate

Meaning: The drop could have an impact on X and diminish the possibilities of Y.
A) "be a serious impact" is incorrect. "The drop in price" can't not be an impact since it physically hits nothing. The correct meaning is that the drop has an impact on something.
B),C),E) Incorrect use of the verb "impede". "Impede" means to stop or slow something down, and "possibility" can't be stopped or slowed. It must be increased or decrease (diminished)
D) This is the correct answer since it avoids all the abovementioned mistakes.
The correct answer is D

The expected drop in the price of cotton could be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain an economic growth rate above 10 percent.

In the given sentence, the original underlined section has two notable errors. First is where 'be' is used after could, here the drop in price is a phenomenon which can 'have' an impact and not 'be' an impact. That's the first error.

Second error is the use of idiom 'possibility of' which is the correct idiom. Usually the idiom 'possibility of' is followed by -ing form of a verb.
'Possibility to' is the incorrect form of the idiom.

Let's look at the answer choices:
Option A, B and E can be rejected right away based on the incorrect usage of the idiom.

(A) be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain
As discussed above, this is INCORRECT

(B) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain
Again the wrong use of idiom 'possibility of' and can be straight away rejected. INCORRECT

(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attaining
This option has the correct usage of the idiom but incorrect usage of the preposition 'on' here. The drop in price could 'seriously impact' agrarian nations and not 'serious impact on' agrarian nations. INCORRECT

(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining
This answer choice fixes both the errors as discussed in the original underlined sentence. The correct use of 'have' and the idiom 'possibility of'. CORRECT

(E) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain
Again the wrong use of idiom 'possibility of' and can be straight away rejected. INCORRECT

This question tests us on subject-verb agreement

A. "The expected drop" cannot "diminish the possibility to attain an economic growth rate..." (subject-verb error)
B and C correctly use "impede" to modify "The expected drop". In C, "possibility of" is correct because countries attain economic growth rate, not "the expected drop", thus C is correct.
D and E use "have" which is wrong to go with a singular subject "The expected drop"

The expected drop in the price of cotton could be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain an economic growth rate above 10 percent.

(A) be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain
serious impact 'on' is the correct idiomatic usage

(B) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain
impact used as a verb here ---> doesn't need the use of 'on'; also, 'impede' changes the meaning vis-a-vis the original sentence

(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attaining
impact used as a verb here ---> doesn't need the use of 'on' in this version

(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining
serious impact 'on' is the correct idiomatic usage; also, possibility of attaining (something) conveys the desired meaning appropriately

(E) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain
serious impact 'on' is the correct idiomatic usage; however, the usage of 'impede' changes the meaning vis-a-vis the original sentence


(D) is the CORRECT answer

Ans. - D

(A) be a serious impact to agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility to attain - using "be a" with impact is not correct. Any situation could "have" an impact and not "be a" impact. - Incorrect
(B) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain - "could seriously impact on" is wrong grammar - Incorrect
(C) seriously impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility of attaining - "could seriously impact on" is wrong grammar - Incorrect
(D) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely diminish the possibility of attaining - Correct, it is logical to follow "could" with "have a"
(E) have a serious impact on agrarian nations and severely impede the possibility to attain - Incorrect