hassan233
GMATNinja your approach to this question would be greatly appreciated!!
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...).
Quote:
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
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):
Quote:
(E) Contrary to financial analysts' predictions 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.
- 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]."
Quote:
(C) Contrary to financial analysts and their predictions 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.
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.
Quote:
(D) Contrary to financial analysts' predicting 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.
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!