During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty pe

B

Idiom/ Parallel construction

Idiom: From X to Y
X and Y should be parallel

(B) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933.

Here by nearly fifty percent is modifier for fell, so they should be together.

B is right.

Its between B & E.
In E the modifier for fell is removed from it. So wrong.

B IMO.

trbetala wrote -



wrong word order: The placement of the phrase 'by nearly fifty percent' should be close to what it modifies namely ‘fell’. In E, the phrase has been relegated to the end, thus modifying the nearest factor 1933 rather than the fall
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During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 down to its nadir in 1933.
(A) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 down to its nadir in 1933.
(B) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933.
(C) At the time of the Great Depression, industrial output fell by almost fifty percent from its 1929 peak down to its 1933 nadir.
(D) At the time of the Great Depression, industrial output fell from its peak in 1929, by nearly fifty percent, to it nadir in 1933.
(E) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell from its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933 by nearly fifty percent.

(A) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 down to its nadir in 1933.
(B) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933.
(C) At the time of the Great Depression, industrial output fell by almost fifty percent from its 1929 peak down to its 1933 nadir.
(D) At the time of the Great Depression, industrial output fell from its peak in 1929, by nearly fifty percent, to it nadir in 1933.
(E) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell from its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933 by nearly fifty percent.

First split btw During and At. 1929 to 1933 demands "During". Hence C and D are ruled out.

Redundancy: Fell and Down are redundant. A is ruled out.

what fell by fell fifty percent? the answer is industrial output. Hence "by nearly fifty percent" should be close to the term it modifies. Hence B.

E nonsensically states that the drop from 1929 to 1933 was fifty percent.

by nearly fifty percent- is a verb modifier

Unlike noun modifiers, verb modifier are flexible in their placement in a sentence even though it is always an advantage to select an AC where the verb modifier is touching the verb it's modifying.

[A verb modifier is one which answer questions like "how", "when",why etc...]

(B) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933.

+1 for (B)

During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 down to its nadir in 1933.
* Fell from X to Y implies X and Y to be parallel
* moreover, fell and down are same hence redundant
* nearly by fifty percent should modify fell --> more the modifier nearer to the noun better
(A) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 down to its nadir in 1933.
-- fell and down have a redundant usage INCORRECT
(B) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell by nearly fifty percent from its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933.

(C) At the time of the Great Depression, industrial output fell by almost fifty percent from its 1929 peak down to its 1933 nadir.
-- fell and down have a redundant usage INCORRECT
(D) At the time of the Great Depression, industrial output fell from its peak in 1929, by nearly fifty percent, to it nadir in 1933.
-- X and Y not parallel because of the usage of "it" instead of its.
(E) During the Great Depression, industrial output fell from its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933 by nearly fifty percent.
in B and E , B is better because the modifier is closer to the noun.

The Best source to practice Verbal is only OG questions and no one else. So practice only Official questions from GMAC like verbal og , OG and verbal OG supplements rather even attempting SC1000 and or any other from any other source.
SC1000 question bank is not authentic for OG questions and it also has many wrong answers.
If you have already completed all of them do them again try to find more than one reason to solve the SC questions.

The aversion towards 1000 series is due to its banishment by the authorities, rendering them the least preferred. Of course, the magnitude of the work has also induced unforced errors in its presentation.

But for many especially starters, its SC, CR and RC were no less then the Bible of GMAT Verbal until its fall from grace.

But, IMO, even the OG questions are not tough enough for the 700 plus candidate. The OG versions, though benchmarks, cannot push people beyond 650. I would rather say, that the GMAT Prep is far more appropriate for reaching high scores, than anything else as far as all the three practice modules are concerned, along side the highly rated MGMAT SC guide and The Powerscore CR Bible etc.
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I was also stuck between B & E ... but I chose E since I thought fell from A to B by fifty% was right ...

Can you explain what is wrong with E??

Hi Roopika,

Option E is not exactly incorrect; however the placement of "fell by fifty percent" makes it awkward.

In the absence of Option B you may mark E as the correct answer. B is better in construction.

See the example below:

(A) My score increased from 50 to 75 by fifty percent.
(B) My score increased by fifty percent from 50 to 75.

Which one would you say is better? It may sound awkward to you but in (A) the sentence looks incomplete in thought (by fifty percent of what)

(B) expresses the thought precisely without any ambiguity or awkwardness.

Hope it helps.

Vercules
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Doesn't option B carry a redudancy frm its peak in 1929 to its nadir in 1933.

Hi bhatgmat,

I think you mean to say that the second "its" in choice B is redundant, it's not.

Dropping its would make the meaning somewhat ambiguous (nadir of what?); moreover "its" is used in every answer choice so you need not worry about it while choosing the correct answer.

You will get the same effect if you drop the first "its" -- from peak in 1929. Again the sentence would shout for "peak of what?"

Hope that clears your doubt.

Vercules
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I eliminated choice C and D since this sentence describes a period, not specific time. "During" is a better choice. " By nearly fifty percent" should be place right after the verb "fell". E is eliminated. B/w A and B, from ....to is idiomatic, from...down to is unidiomatic. B is the answer.

Fell and down are redundant in choices A and C , so eliminate
During the time suggests time interval whereas At the time suggests a specific date or time so eliminate D.
Between B and E , E is used passive construction while B is active .
Hence B is the correct answer.

1. in the idiom of "from...to", it is wrong to say "from...down to" or "from...up to". A and C are out.

2. "at the time of depression" is wordy compared to "during the depression". But it is still grammatically correct so we can't eliminate it just based on this.

D and E are both wrong because of where "by nearly fifty percent" is placed. It makes logical sense when it is placed after "fell".
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This question is based on Modifiers and Structure.

A vertical scan of the options gives us a choice between the preposition ‘during’ and the prepositional phrase ‘at the time of’. Since the latter is wordy, the options containing the phrase can be eliminated. Furthermore, in Option C, the adverb ‘down’ is also redundant. So, Options C and D can be eliminated.

Option A also contains the redundant adverb ‘down’. Since the sentence already has the verb ‘fell’, the adverb is unnecessary. So, Option A can be eliminated.

In Option E, the phrase “by nearly fifty percent” is misplaced. The phrase modifies the verb ‘fell’ and so it must be placed next to it. So, Option E can be eliminated.

Option B contains the preposition ‘during’. The modifier is also placed next to its subject. Therefore, B is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.
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