Catherine travels a great deal with her mother and

1) What is the rule of thumb regarding "explaining the reasons"?
The options I have encountered look like: the reason being, this is why, which is why, this is the reason why, and so on.

2) in this specific question, why is c better than d?

Can somebody please explain how to make a choice between options C and D.
Why is "that" used here?

In GMAT, a clause such as the one mentioned (Catherine isn’t available to lead) is introduced by "that".

I thought you would do so.... not used in GMAT, though may be used frequently in practice.
I said THAT you would do so.... used in GMAT, correct.

For the same reason, "that" is preferred in this case, and hence C is better than D.

(I have nonetheless modified the choices so as to make it more in GMAT style - Now C is uses an absolute phrase, a concept occassionally tested in GMAT, and D is a run-on sentence.)

(Note: Consider the following three cases -
..reason why Catherine isn’t available ..
..reason Catherine isn’t available ...
..reason that Catherine isn’t available ..

The last option is more GMAT-like than the other two.)

E -- straight away out.
A, B --> ,and makes no sense, making the two sentences independent.
D --> ,this , This is a pronoun can not refer to entire clause. So out.

C is the correct option.

Option A is wrong because the usage of the word 'she' is ambiguous. It may refer Catherine or her mother.

Cheers!

Catherine travels a great deal with her mother, and this is the reason she isn’t available to lead the city Finance Committee.

a) and this is the reason she isn’t available to lead
b) and this is why she isn’t available in leading
c) the reason that Catherine isn’t available to lead
d) this is the reason Catherine isn’t available to lead
e) might this be the reason that she can’t lead

Hello!
Eliminate options A, B and E since they do not specify Catherine in the sentence.

Between options C and D,
Option D is also precise but not as accurate as Option C is.
Option C uses the word that which is preferred more.

Official Answer:- Option C

Thank you!

Regards,
Raunak Damle

arun@crackverbal:

Really confused between C and D?
Can you please explain why D is not the correct answer?

Catherine travels a great deal with her mother, and this is the reason she isn’t available to lead the city Finance Committee.

a) and this is the reason she isn’t available to lead - ''this'' promptly refers to the action of ''traveling''; the demonstrative pronoun ''this'' cannot be used to refer to actions.
b) and this is why she isn’t available in leading - has the same error as described in (A).
c) the reason that Catherine isn’t available to lead - has no error. Hence, (C) is the right answer choice.

d) this is the reason Catherine isn’t available to lead - has the same error as described in (A).
e) might this be the reason that she can’t lead - (E) introduces an other question, not help explain why Catherine is not available to lead the city council

Shouldn't there be a conjunction present in option C ?

Catherine travels a great deal with her mother, 'CONJUNCTION' the reason that Catherine isn???t available to lead the city Finance Committee.

arun@crackverbal - Need some help over here, Sir

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