Because the budget package in Congress promises a combination of highe

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:
Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of the crucial part of this sentence is that the Federal Reserve will help the economy by keeping interest rates low or perhaps even help the economy by pushing the rates lower.

Concepts tested here: Meaning + Pronouns + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• For referring to the method by which an action is done, “by” is preferable to “through”.

A: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "even if they push"; the construction of this phrase and the use of the conditional "if" incorrectly imply that the Federal Reserve will help the economy by keeping interest rates low or perhaps even help the economy in the event that it pushes the rates lower; the intended meaning is that the Federal Reserve will help the economy by keeping interest rates low or perhaps even help the economy by pushing the rates lower.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the singular noun "The Federal Reserve" with the plural pronoun "their". Further, Option B uses the needlessly wordy and indirect phrases "its keeping" and "their pushing", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

C: Correct. This answer choice uses the phrase "perhaps even by pushing", conveying the intended meaning - that the Federal Reserve will help the economy by keeping interest rates low or perhaps even help the economy by pushing the rates lower. Further, Option C avoids the pronoun error seen in Options B, D, and E, as it uses no pronouns. Additionally, Option C uses the preferred term - "by" - to refer to the method by which the Federal Reserve will help the economy. Besides, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "or perhaps even push"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the Federal Reserve will help the economy by keeping interest rates low or perhaps, as a separate action, push the rates lower; the intended meaning is that the Federal Reserve will help the economy by keeping interest rates low or perhaps even help the economy by pushing the rates lower. Further, Option D incorrectly refers to the singular noun "The Federal Reserve" with the plural pronoun "their". Additionally, Option D uses "through" to refer to the method by which the Federal Reserve will help the economy; remember, for referring to the method by which an action is done, “by” is preferable to “through”. Besides, Option D uses the needlessly wordy and indirect phrase "their keeping", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E: This answer choice alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase "or perhaps it will even push"; the construction of this phrase incorrectly implies that the Federal Reserve will help the economy by keeping interest rates low or perhaps, as a separate action, push the rates lower; the intended meaning is that the Federal Reserve will help the economy by keeping interest rates low or perhaps even help the economy by pushing the rates lower. Further, Option E incorrectly refers to the singular noun "The Federal Reserve" with the plural pronoun "their". Additionally, Option E uses "through" to refer to the method by which the Federal Reserve will help the economy; remember, for referring to the method by which an action is done, “by” is preferable to “through”. Besides, Option E uses the needlessly wordy and indirect constructions "their keeping" and "it will even push", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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This question tests your ability to recognize a Parallel construction and maintain the parallelism of a sentence.

When we see a sentence with the construction "A or B" - we are dealing with parallelism. The items - A and B - must be the same part of speech, logically and grammatically parallel. In other words, if A is a noun, B must be a noun. If A is a verb, B must be a verb, etc.

In the current sentence, we see that the word "or" is used, but the A and B items are not parallel in the original sentence. "By keeping" is wrongly placed in parallelism with a conditional clause "even if they push". For the parallelism to be correct, we need a B item that parallels "by keeping".

This criterion is sufficient for eliminating A, D, and E.

The only answer choices in which "by keeping" is correctly paralleled are B and C ("by keeping "// "by pushing"). However, answer choice B is wordy, unclear and has superfluous words. We don't need "its' or "their" to achieve clarity. Therefore C is the correct answer choice.

I read somewhere (most probably in MGMAT SC Guide) that whenever we have comma - FANBOYS, both the sentences must be ICs.

Over here we have ",or perhaps even by pushing them lower", which is not IC. I am unable to understand where I am getting wrong.

Please guide.
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Because the budget package in Congress promises a combination of higher taxes and reduced spending that may slow economic growth, many in the credit markets wonder whether the Federal Reserve will compensate and help the economy by keeping interest rates low, or perhaps even if they push them lower.

A. by keeping interest rates low, or perhaps even if they push -- parallelism issue , they can't refer to singular Federal reserves
B. by its keeping interest rates low, or perhaps even by their pushing -- parallelism issue , their can't refer to singular Federal reserves
C. by keeping interest rates low, or perhaps even by pushing - Correct
D. through their keeping interest rates low, or perhaps even push -- parallelism issue , their can't refer to singular Federal reserves
E. through their keeping interest rates low, or perhaps it will even push -- parallelism issue , their can't refer to singular Federal reserves

Answer C
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This is a question for beginners, a gift of a topic that can be decided by just a pupil's knowledge of subject-pronoun number agreement. In four out of the five choices except for C, one can't miss the mismatch of the plural pronoun 'they' or 'their' with the singular 'the Fed Reserve'.

More important is that one shouldn't judge GMAT based on this topic.
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I eliminated every option except C because of the usage of plural pronoun.

Answer must be C

Posted from my mobile device

possesive+doing+noun never exist in english
if doing is pure noun, it can be preceded by possessive
this country's learning of english is bad.

First I chose C by parallelism " by keeping... or by pushing... "

Because the budget package in Congress promises a combination of higher taxes and reduced spending that may slow economic growth, many in the credit markets wonder whether the Federal Reserve will compensate and help the economy by keeping interest rates low, or perhaps even by pushing them lower.

But I ended up choosing E. I thought "whether" should require parallelism instead.
"Because the budget package promises bla bla, many .... wonder whether the Fed will compensate ....., OR perhaps it will even push them over."

This was very wrong and bad parallelism. I looked up Whether VS. Whether or not and mcelroytutoring explained it well.

"The "or not" portion of "whether or not" is often unnecessary and can be removed, but sometimes it is essential. Here's the trick: "Whether or not" should be used when one's response is the same, regardless of the outcome. Conversely, "whether" should be used by itself to indicate only that the outcome itself is undetermined.

Think of the expression that children use when playing hide-and-seek: "Ready or not, here I come!" Without the "or not," it would have an entirely different meaning.

For example:

"I am not sure whether or not I can attend" / "I am not sure whether I can attend or not" could be shortened to read "I am not sure whether I can attend". In these cases, the "or not" can be safely removed.

However,

"I will be there whether or not I am prepared" / "I will be there whether I am prepared or not" cannot be shortened to read "I will be there whether I am prepared".


mcelroytutoring post:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/whether-vs-whether-or-not-67367.html

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