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chetan2u
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clarification:The United States has the largest trade deficit 12 Jul 2015, 21:51
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iPen
The United States has the largest trade deficit of any country on Earth, other nations, such as China and Japan, holding stores of US dollars that increase each year.

(A) other nations, such as China and Japan, holding
(B) and other nations, like China and Japan, holding
(C) with other nations, like China and Japan, holding
(D) other nations, like China and Japan, hold
(E) other nations, such as China and Japan, hold
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hi,
the source of this Q is given as Magoosh.
i have two points on the question..
1) Don't the two separate clauses require something like "with" to join them ...
The United States has the largest trade deficit of any country on Earth, withother nations, such as China and Japan, holding stores of US dollars that increase each year.
how is the trade deficit largest for US.. 'with' other nations holding US dollars.
2) yes , "such as " is the appropriate idiom and also the original emphasis on the " china and japan" as examples. but if the sentences tells us that other nations are holding on to the US dollars in similar way as china and japan have done, the usage of " like" is justified. Ofcourse "such as' is correct here.
thank you
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clarification:The United States has the largest trade deficit 20 Jul 2015, 08:03
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chetan2u
iPen
The United States has the largest trade deficit of any country on Earth, other nations, such as China and Japan, holding stores of US dollars that increase each year.

(A) other nations, such as China and Japan, holding
(B) and other nations, like China and Japan, holding
(C) with other nations, like China and Japan, holding
(D) other nations, like China and Japan, hold
(E) other nations, such as China and Japan, hold

hi,
the source of this Q is given as Magoosh.
i have two points on the question..
1) Don't the two separate clauses require something like "with" to join them ...
The United States has the largest trade deficit of any country on Earth, withother nations, such as China and Japan, holding stores of US dollars that increase each year.
how is the trade deficit largest for US.. 'with' other nations holding US dollars.
2) yes , "such as " is the appropriate idiom and also the original emphasis on the " china and japan" as examples. but if the sentences tells us that other nations are holding on to the US dollars in similar way as china and japan have done, the usage of " like" is justified. Ofcourse "such as' is correct here.
thank you
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Dear chetan2u,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, for your first question, let's be clear. If we had two clauses, we would need a conjunction. The structure "with" + noun + participle is problematic for communicating action. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2015/with-noun- ... orrection/

If we have two clauses separated merely by a comma, that's a run-on sentence. This is what incorrect option (E) presents. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/run-on-sen ... questions/

The correct structure here is a sophisticated structure known as an absolute phrase. In fact, this very SC question appears as an example sentence in this blog article discussing absolute phrases:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/absolute-p ... -the-gmat/
There you will find a full discussion of this construction. Choice (A) uses this construction and is 100% correct.

As for your second point, "like" would not be correct. While it is true that nations "like China & Japan" also hold stores of US dollars, the very phrase "nations like China & Japan" implies that we are discussing other nations that resemble China and/or Japan in some way, and it implies that we are not talking about those two nations in particular. If I said, "I am thinking of an actress like Audrey Hepburn," then the implication would be that I am not thinking of Ms. Hepburn herself but only someone who resembles her in some way.

My friend, does all this make sense?
Mike :-)