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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 30 Nov 2019, 16:15
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ctmerrill50
Shouldn't answer choice A read : "DUE TO the erratic pattern......?"

I was taught that "because of" should refer to a verb and "Due To" refers to a noun.
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Close! The phrase "due to ____" should modify a noun, not refer to a noun. Similarly, "because of _____" should modify a verb.

WHY do retailers and analysts hesitate to predict...? BECAUSE OF the erratic pattern...

The "because of..." phrase tells us WHY retailers and analysts hesitate -- in other words, it modifies the verb "hesitate". This is perfectly fine.

I hope that helps!
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 24 Dec 2019, 05:58
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I was down to D vs E when I spotted the subject-verb disagreement and chose A which sounded less direct to me.
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 08 Jan 2020, 07:13
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict
Show more

Q1- Is the usage of 'due to' in option C correct? I understand the due to must modify a noun. So it is modifying hesitation?

Q2- I understand that sentences can start with 'because'/'because of'. Can sentences start with 'due to' as well?

1. The match was canceled because the rain was pouring heavily.--> Because takes a clause and modifies a clause
2. The match was canceled because of heavy rain.--> Because of takes a phrase and modifies a clause
3. The cancellation of the match was due to heavy rain.--> Due to takes a noun/phrase and modifies a noun/phrase


AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyTargetTestPrep , DmitryFarber , VeritasKarishma , generis , other experts - please enlighten
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 08 Jan 2020, 09:30
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Q1- Is the usage of 'due to' in option C correct? I understand the due to must modify a noun. So it is modifying hesitation?
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(C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

According to the GMAT, "due to" can only begin a subject complement that modifies the subject adjectivally. In (C), "due to" begins a phrase that acts adverbially explaining "why." So, that use of "due to" would likely be considered incorrect by the GMAT.

However, be aware that, since "due to" is often used by people to begin phrases that act adverbially, the GMAT may change its stance.

Quote:
Q2- I understand that sentences can start with 'because'/'because of'. Can sentences start with 'due to' as well?
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I don't believe so, unless someone goes out of his way to create a rather unusual sentence.
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 11 Jan 2020, 23:59
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

SC71061.01
Verbal Review 2020 NEW QUESTION
Show more


I have a question wrt option A... is it okay to use simple present tense when it doesn't apply as a fact
as in.. initially i eliminated option A thinking that the verb "hesitate" is wrong because "this year's cause" cannot be the reason that retailers and analysts "hesitate in general"
I thought the verb should have been "are hesitating" or "have hesitated" or something along those lines....
can you guys please clarify the verb tense confusion? thank you

also can we eliminate options "D" and "E" wrt meaning on the lines that "this years erratic pattern of increasing sales" didn't "make" the retailers hesitant (in a literal sense) but were the reason in general?

generis, GMATNinja, EMPOWERgmatVerbal
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 13 Jan 2020, 17:33
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generis
Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

SC71061.01
Verbal Review 2020 NEW QUESTION


I have a question wrt option A... is it okay to use simple present tense when it doesn't apply as a fact
as in.. initially i eliminated option A thinking that the verb "hesitate" is wrong because "this year's cause" cannot be the reason that retailers and analysts "hesitate in general"
I thought the verb should have been "are hesitating" or "have hesitated" or something along those lines....
can you guys please clarify the verb tense confusion? thank you

also can we eliminate options "D" and "E" wrt meaning on the lines that "this years erratic pattern of increasing sales" didn't "make" the retailers hesitant (in a literal sense) but were the reason in general?

generis, GMATNinja, EMPOWERgmatVerbal
Show more

Great questions, sampriya!

I have a question wrt option A... is it okay to use simple present tense when it doesn't apply as a fact
as in.. initially i eliminated option A thinking that the verb "hesitate" is wrong because "this year's cause" cannot be the reason that retailers and analysts "hesitate in general"
I thought the verb should have been "are hesitating" or "have hesitated" or something along those lines....
can you guys please clarify the verb tense confusion? thank you

Yes, it is okay to use present tense here. The sentence is showing a present action (analysts hesitate to predict future trends) happening because of an action that started in the past and still going on in the present (sales increases being erratic). You could change it to "are hesitating" if you wanted to, but it's not necessary - the simple present tense "hesitate" does the same job in 1 word instead of 2.

also can we eliminate options "D" and "E" wrt meaning on the lines that "this years erratic pattern of increasing sales" didn't "make" the retailers hesitant (in a literal sense) but were the reason in general?

Let's look at options D & E and see how we can eliminate them:

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict
E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

The main issue with options D & E is subject-verb agreement. They both use the plural "have" for the singular "pattern." The meaning is a bit muddled in both, but it's not incorrect - they both show the cause/effect relationship clearly. The erratic sales increases is the cause, and the effect is that analysts and retailers don't want to predict future trends.

I hope this helps! Keep tagging us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal if you have any more questions!
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 11 May 2020, 23:59
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict
Best of All.

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting
in predicting is unidiomatic. To predict is the right idiom.
GMAC doesn’t prefer to use with to express causality. So usage of with in incorrect too.

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting
in predicting is unidiomatic. To predict is the right idiom.
“There is” is redundant here.

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict
SV error – Use of have is incorrect with the erratic pattern.

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict
SV error – Use of have is incorrect with the erratic pattern.
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 17 May 2020, 08:47
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generis
Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict


SC71061.01
Verbal Review 2020 NEW QUESTION
Show more

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

IMO A
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 18 May 2020, 08:49
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

* It's correct.

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

* In the question, you can easily understand that a "cause and effect" case is working behind the whole sentence.
Here, "e erratic pattern of sales increases this year" is a cause. And " retailers and analysts hesitate to predict" is an effect.
So, Because/Because of should be placed infront of the 'cause sentence'.

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

* Too much wordy and convoluted.

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

* "The erratic pattern" is a uncountable noun that requires singular verb "has".
So, it's incorrect.

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

* Same to option D.

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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 25 May 2020, 18:55
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generis
Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict
Show more

A) correct, didn't spot any error

B) "with..." is preposition modifier, in which you cannot use "do" but "doing" (increasing). And it also changing the meaning from causality to accompaniment; also "be hesitant in doing sth" is a less preferred expression than "hesitate to do sth"

C) "this year" changed to modify the subject and their actions. Also "there is some hesitation... in doing sth..." is unidiomatic

D) The erratic pattern...have made..., number agreement issue

E) same issue as for D
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 26 May 2020, 06:32
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generis
Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting (erratic pattern of sales increases )

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting (Comma between year and due is unnecessary and tries to wrongly attempt modifier construction)

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict (pattern: have)

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict (pattern: have)


SC71061.01
Verbal Review 2020 NEW QUESTION
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 05 Jul 2020, 05:49
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Quote:
With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases,
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can we reject B because of year's sales( year doesn't possess sales)?
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 24 Jul 2020, 19:32
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Quote:
With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases,

can we reject B because of year's sales( year doesn't possess sales)?
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Here, have an example:

    "Last quarter's earnings were abysmal." - The "quarter" does not own the earnings. But this sentence clearly refers to earnings accrued during the last quarter. That seems logical enough, right?

Sure, a "year" cannot literally own "sales". However, in a sense, "sales" can logically belong to a given "year". So this usage can be acceptable.

I hope that helps a bit!
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 25 Jul 2020, 23:02
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generis
Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

SC71061.01
Verbal Review 2020 NEW QUESTION


I have a question wrt option A... is it okay to use simple present tense when it doesn't apply as a fact
as in.. initially i eliminated option A thinking that the verb "hesitate" is wrong because "this year's cause" cannot be the reason that retailers and analysts "hesitate in general"
I thought the verb should have been "are hesitating" or "have hesitated" or something along those lines....
can you guys please clarify the verb tense confusion? thank you

also can we eliminate options "D" and "E" wrt meaning on the lines that "this years erratic pattern of increasing sales" didn't "make" the retailers hesitant (in a literal sense) but were the reason in general?

generis, GMATNinja, EMPOWERgmatVerbal

Great questions, sampriya!

I have a question wrt option A... is it okay to use simple present tense when it doesn't apply as a fact
as in.. initially i eliminated option A thinking that the verb "hesitate" is wrong because "this year's cause" cannot be the reason that retailers and analysts "hesitate in general"
I thought the verb should have been "are hesitating" or "have hesitated" or something along those lines....
can you guys please clarify the verb tense confusion? thank you

Yes, it is okay to use present tense here. The sentence is showing a present action (analysts hesitate to predict future trends) happening because of an action that started in the past and still going on in the present (sales increases being erratic). You could change it to "are hesitating" if you wanted to, but it's not necessary - the simple present tense "hesitate" does the same job in 1 word instead of 2.

also can we eliminate options "D" and "E" wrt meaning on the lines that "this years erratic pattern of increasing sales" didn't "make" the retailers hesitant (in a literal sense) but were the reason in general?

Let's look at options D & E and see how we can eliminate them:

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict
E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

The main issue with options D & E is subject-verb agreement. They both use the plural "have" for the singular "pattern." The meaning is a bit muddled in both, but it's not incorrect - they both show the cause/effect relationship clearly. The erratic sales increases is the cause, and the effect is that analysts and retailers don't want to predict future trends.

I hope this helps! Keep tagging us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal if you have any more questions!
Show more

I rejected option D and E because placement of hesitate isn't making sense. We already have a verb "have made" in the sentence and hesitate can't be another word. Also it seems retailers and analysts are modifying hesitate illogically. Is my thought process correct.

Regards,
Gaurav
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 08 Aug 2020, 01:14
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[quote="generis"]Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict


regarding choice B,

"with+noun+doing/do-ed/adjective ' can work as an adverb of the main clause. but remember the noun modifiers should be doing/do-ed/adjective. we can not use other kind of noun modifier such as preposition phrase.

choice B try to use this pattern to present an adverb of the main clause. but it is wrong. we do not see doing/do-ed/adjective
without these kinds of modifier, "with"phrase in choice B become the normal adverb, which show an instrument of the main verb.
showing an instrument of the main verb is not logical in choice B
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 20 Sep 2020, 01:21
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I rejected Option (A) just because "because of + clause" did not make sense to me.
"because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year". Is it not true that because of should be followed by Noun or Noun phrase and not Clause?
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 01 Oct 2020, 22:14
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Going through the answers, I've spotted many people eliminating (B) just because "the usage of 'with' is wrong on GMAT".

This shouldn't be the basis of elimination. The real for the elimination is the illogical meaning:

Quote:
"B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting..."
Show more
What this sentence is trying to say is: "With the pattern increases, retailers.... are hesitant...

That's not the intended meaning.

What we meant is, "with the erratic pattern of increase in the sales,....".
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 03 Oct 2020, 08:17
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This year" should modify the "erratic pattern" or sales sales increase"?
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 03 Oct 2020, 14:01
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lakshya14
This year" should modify the "erratic pattern" or sales sales increase"?
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Hello, lakshya14. In a sense, this year refers to the entirety of the erratic pattern of sales increases. You cannot really tease apart one half from the other. Yes, the pattern occurred this year, and it is this singular subject that would need to agree grammatically with the verb has in answer choices (D) and (E), but we need to know what type of pattern occurred to convey any meaningful information. It is the sales increases that formed the erratic pattern, so those sales increases can be understood to have occurred within the year as well. Since the pattern is described as one involving sales increases, then, we can safely assume that this year must refer to the whole entity. Note the difference between a semantic and a grammatical interpretation. (Again, the meaning comprises the whole; the subject-verb agreement focuses on the first noun, rather than the object of the preposition.)

I hope that helps. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew
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Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year retailers 07 Oct 2020, 19:12
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Quick question, if you have time......

Does the placement of “this year” in Answer Choice D create problems?

“This year” appears to modify the “sales patterns.”

Does moving “this year” so far away from the noun it was “intending” to modify create problems?

I believe that I have my answer, but I would love to hear your thoughts (as you so eloquently write them). :-)


generis
Analysis of all options is at the bottom of this post.

cool16
hi,
when i was solving this question , i eliminate option A as there is a clause in preposition,
Because of < Clause> ,
Since it is a official question , the answer is absolutely correct,
but i have seen the following structure all the time
Because of Noun/ Noun entity or Because <Clause >

So my question is,
Is the above statement an exception?
or the usage in OA is absolutely correct

Thanks
Option A: Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year,
retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.


Hi cool16 ,

No, option A is not an exception.
(And +1 kudos for not "fighting" with the official answer.)

Option A does not have a clause with a subject and a verb after Because of.
The underlined words are a noun phrase (a noun + modifiers).
. . . the erratic pattern of sales increases [NOUN phrase] this year. . .

You got tripped up by "sales increases."
That phrase is a noun phrase.

The noun is increases.
-- The legislators proposed two tax rate increases: one on the sale of alcohol and one on the sale of legal marijuana.

The adjective is sales. (What kind of increases? Sales increases.)
-- Similar example: The sales figures for this year are surprisingly high.
-- True, "sales" is a often just a noun.
But sales can and does act as an adjective that describes increases. See below.

Sales and increases cannot be a subject and verb together.
Sales is plural and increases is singular.

• "SALES increases" - nouns that modify nouns

In English, we use nouns to modify nouns:
Spanish teacher
Sports car
Race horse
Corn bread

In the noun phrase sales increases, the noun increases is modified by the noun, sales, which acts as an adjective.
(What kind of increases? Sales increases.)

When a noun modifies another noun
(1) we can call the first noun a "noun-adjective" and
(2) the "noun-adjective" always comes before the noun that it modifies. No exceptions.

"Sales" is a noun-adjective.
GMAC is exploiting the fact that no good synonym exists for the noun increases in this context.
Sales rises? Not idiomatic. Sales spikes? Sales surges? Better, but a spike and surge indicate a radical increase, not just a "regular" increase.

In short, we realize that sales increases is a noun phrase because
(1) the two words cannot be subject/verb. Sales is plural. Increases is singular.
(2) sales increases follows the compound preposition because of.
-- prepositions must be followed by nouns or noun phrases
-- in English, one noun can act as an adjective that describes a subsequent noun.

• Introductory phrase structure?

Although the "because of" phrasing is not common in spoken English, that phrasing is fairly common in formal written English.

You correctly note that the compound preposition because of should be followed by a noun or noun phrase.
Because of is indeed followed by a noun phrase; that fact is just hard to see if we don't examine "sales increases" carefully.

That is, the introductory phrase is a compound preposition (Because of)
+
a noun phrase (the erratic pattern OF sales increases this year...)

As I note in my post below, here, we have two prepositions back to back:
because of [an erratic pattern]
and
of [sales increases this year]

More specifically, we have:

[compound preposition] + THE + [adjective] + [noun/direct object] + OF + [noun-adjective + noun] + [time adjective]

[Because of] + THE + [erratic] + [pattern] + OF + [sales + increases] + [this year]

Finally, to what time period does this pattern [of sales increases] belong?
This pattern belongs to this year
This year = adjective
Most of the time, a "when" phrase or word is an adverb.
When a time phrase modifies a noun, it is an adjective.
-- This November's daily temperatures are surprisingly high, especially compared to last November's daily temperatures .
-- In both instances, the phrase "this November's" is an adjective that modifies the noun temperatures, not the verbs are or compared.

This part of the question is hard. Just below I have indicated the errors in the other options.

Hope that helps.

************
PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

When in doubt, compare. Option A has no errors. The other four have clear errors.

Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict five-year trends in retail sales during the months that have historically been the most profitable.

A) Because of the erratic pattern of sales increases this year, retailers and analysts hesitate to predict

B) With the erratic pattern of this year’s sales increases, retailers and analysts are hesitant in predicting:
GMAC does not like "with" to express causality. The meaning is strange and not clear: along with or together with the erratic pattern of sales increases, analysts are hesitant?
Finally, hesitant in predicting is not idiomatic. They are hesitant TO do something. They are hesitant TO predict trends.

C) This year, due to the erratic pattern of increasing sales, there is some hesitation among retailers and analysts in predicting
Especially compared to option A, option C is awkwardly phrased, unnecessarily passive, and wordy. No need exists for there is.The phrase some hesitation among . . . in predicting is cumbersome.
Finally, hesitation IN predicting is not idiomatic. There is hesitation TO predict.

D) The erratic pattern of sales increases have made retailers and analysts hesitate this year to predict
The singular subject pattern is not in agreement with the plural verb have.

E) This year’s erratic pattern of increasing sales have made retailers and analysts hesitate to predict - same S/V problem as that in D
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