Contrary to financial analysts, who predicted last year that the

This question is all about the comparison:

• In the main part of the sentence, we have, "the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth in the first quarter of this year."
• In the opening part, we need something that is contrary to that statement -- in other words, something that goes against the stated action of the personal computer industry (continuing to show growth).
• Simply put, what follows "contrary to" should be something different from what actually happened (the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth...).

If we ignore the noun modifiers ("who..." and "whose...") in (A) and (B), we have, "Contrary to financial analysts, the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth in the first quarter of this year."

• What is it that's different from (contrary to) what actually happened?
• In (A) and (B), it's the financial analysts themselves. But that doesn't make any sense!
• The financial analysts are just the people who made the predictions, and the people themselves are not logically comparable to what actually happened.

Now take a look at the correct choice, (E):

• What is it that's different from (contrary to) what actually happened?
• Here, it's what the financial analysts PREDICTED would happen -- and that makes perfect sense! What actually happened (the PC industry continued to show strong growth) differs from what the analysts predicted would happen (the market for home computers would dwindle).
• In (E), we have two things that are logically comparable, so it makes sense to contrast those two things using the construction, "Contrary to [the predictions], [here's what actually happened]."

Choice (C) can be eliminated for the same reason as (A) and (B): "contrary to their predictions" could be okay, but, again, it doesn't make sense to compare what actually happened to the financial analysts themselves.


Choice (D) is a bit better than (A), (B), and (C), but the comparison is still a little off. Instead of, "Contrary to financial analysts' predictions," we have, "Contrary to financial analysts' predicting." So instead of comparing what actually happened to the predictions, (D) compares what actually happened to the act of predicting.

That isn't quite right, so (E) is the best choice.

I hope that helps!
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Hi ballest127,

I don't think we should look at this as a comparison. Or if we do, we should read the sentence a little differently. For example:

1. Contrary to popular belief, the head of the committee is not responsible for this situation.

This is not a comparison, in the sense that contrary to is not meant to be read as unlike. That is, we cannot read (1) as:

2. Unlike popular belief, the head of the committee is not responsible for this situation.

Contrary to X is just a way of saying that whatever we're about to introduce is the opposite of what X would indicate. So (1) actually means:

3. Most people believe that the head of the committee is responsible for this situation, but he or she is not.
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E is the best option. Call conveys the accurate meaning in the most concise way.

Posted from my mobile device

E
Contrary to financial analysts,who predicted last year that the market for home computers would dwindle, the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth in the first quarter of this year.

(a) analysts, who predicted - contrary to prediction not analysts themselves
(b) analysts, whose predictions - contrary to prediction not analysts themselves
(c) analysts and their predictions- and their unnecessary, not contrary to both
(d) analysts' predicting - incorrect
(e) analysts' predictions - correct

Hi,
What jumps straight out right after the non-essential modifier is the noun, the personal computer industry, which did something against analysts!! But because its in the non-underlined portion, it is correct. So there is a meaning error that needs correction.
B has the same error. OUT
C makes analysts and their predictions parallel. OUT
D predicting makes it just wrong. there is a proper noun in the dictionary, why use a gerund ??
E uses the noun required "prediction". Now, the meaning error is corrected.: Winner
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"the personal computer industry" is a thing and not a person. " financial [u]analysts," is a group of persons. Now a person cant be compared with 'a thing'. So option A is wrong.
Option B repeats the same error. Option C takes 'analysts' too and so repeats the same error. Option D also uses 'analysts'".
Option E introduces "predictions' and is the correct answer.
Please give me kudo s if you liked my answer.

Hi Experts,

I have a question.

Why can we use "contrary to" for comparison between "analysts' predictions" and "the personal computer industry"?

I think these two are not comparable.

Please explain.
Thank you.

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma DmitryFarber Can you please comment on this question? Why A and B is wrong? And E says that the analyst's predictions are contrary to the personal computer industry, does that makes sense? Isn't it supposed to be contrary to the "performance" of the personal computer industry? Also, should it be prediction (singular)? Since we are just talking about one prediction. it doesn't matter that this prediction was made by multiple analysts; it's still one prediction, right? Tks!

Hi Will2020,

Although I'm not one of the experts you'd called out to, I'd still like to help you my friend.

Options A and B are incorrect as in both of these options 'financial analysts' (people) and 'current situation of the personal computer industry' (an event) are being compared.

Option E simply implies that contrary to the predictions (of the financial analysts) something else (the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth) happened.

Exactly! If we started a sentence with "Contrary to analysts," we'd need to follow with another group of people: "Contrary to analysts, auditors feel that XYZ." Even then, it's a bit odd--can two groups of people really be contrary to one another the way that two views can?
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Remove the non essential modifier and see if the sentence structure makes sense:

(A) Contrary to financial analysts, ..., the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth in the first quarter of this year.

On the other hand, look at the structure of (E):

Contrary to predictions that A will happen, B continued to show growth.

The predictions must have been that B will not show growth and this is contrary to reality. Correct.

Multiple analysts would have made their own predictions (of no growth).
If they got together and gave out a single prediction as a group, that would be correct too. It is irrelevant in this question.

Contrary to financial analysts,
who predicted last year
that the market for home computers would dwindle,
the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth in the first quarter of this year.

(a) analysts, who predicted
(b) analysts, whose predictions
(c) analysts and their predictions
(d) analysts' predicting
(e) analysts' predictions

IMO E

The correct option is E. The issue tested in this question is comparison
A: Incorrect, because the comparison is being made here between the analysts and the personal computer industry; while as per the meaning of the sentence the prediction of analysts made last year is compared with the reality in the computer industry in the present time.
B: Incorrect, because of the reason stated in A
C: Incorrect, Because of reason stated in A; also no need for adding a conjunction here
D: Incorrect, because of the wrong verb tense.
E: Correct, because of correct comparision and the verb form

GMATNinja your approach to this question would be greatly appreciated!!

Contrary to financial analysts, who predicted last year that the market for home computers would dwindle, the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth in the first quarter of this year.

(a) analysts, who predicted--> comparing analyst to computer industry
(b) analysts, whose predictions---> same as A
(c) analysts and their predictions---> comparing analyst and their predictions to computer industry
(d) analysts' predicting--> Comparing Action to noun
(e) analysts' predictions---> BEST

contrary to -->needs a noun and E supplies the noun in correct from.

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