Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of more than $100 billion a year. (A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of (B) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost business (C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of (D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business (E) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business Similar Question : LINK 1 & LINK 2 & LINK 3 Choice B, the best answer, uses clear and concise phrasing to state that it is the effects of drug and alcohol abuse that already cost business the sum mentioned. In A, to business is awkwardly and confusingly inserted between cost and the propositional phrase that modifies it, and are already a cost to business is wordy and awkward compared to cost business . In C, already with business costs of... is awkward and unclear, failing to specify that those prior effects generate the cost . Choices D and E produce faulty constructions with the phrase significant in compounding , which cannot grammatically modify the verb form i s growing . https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/12/business/workers-substance-abuse-is-increasing-survey-says.html Executives and Federal officials say the use of cocaine and crack is growing rapidly among workers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which cost business more than $100 billion a year. I got this wrong.... can you please post answers with explanations?

GMATNinja KarishmaB egmat Could you please help validate my reasoning: A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of Main error: 'more than $100 billion a year' seems to refer to 'business' rather than 'cost' Separately is this understanding correct: - 'significantly compounding..' refers to the preceding clause 'use of crack..is growing..' - 'which' refers to 'effects'(of drug and alcohol abuse) C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of 'business cost' changes the meaning. It is different from 'cost to business'. 'Business cost' means that something is a cost that the business normally incurs(similar to payroll, rent etc), whereas 'cost to business' means that something is hurting the business. D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business 'and' denotes a parallelism marker. So there are 2 options: Structure #1 : use of crack..is growing... significant in compounding... and already costing This has the following issues: 1) The part after 'and' should also be a clause, but that is not the case 2) 'costing' should refer to growing use of crack and cocaine, but it is referring to 'use of crack'. Also as per original sentence it refers to 'effects of drug..' and not 'use of crack..'. Neither case is correct 3) 'significant in compounding' is an adjective phrase, and doesnt modify the previous clause Structure #2 : use of crack..is growing... significant in compounding... and already costing... Here 'already costing' seems to refer to 'use of crack..is growing', whereas as per original sentence it refer to 'effects of drug..abuse'. Also significant in compounding is not correct. E)significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business Structure is as: use of crack..is growing... significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business Here again it changes original meaning as 'cost' refer to 'use of crack..' and not 'effects of ..abuse'.

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Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine

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Sneha2021

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01 Jun 2023, 02:56

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KarishmaB AjiteshArun

1)In D & E, Can "significant" refer to main subject "use" ?
Is there a rule for "noun modifier" to make sense with the main subject like we have a rule for verb-ing?

2)Meaning difference between "are a cost to business" vs "cost business" in A & B,
why meaning "Are a cost to business" illogical?

Thanks!

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01 Jun 2023, 22:43

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Sneha2021

Hi Sneha2021,

1. Significant should not refer to use. The sentence is about something that affects business. In other words, it is not the use of crack and cocaine that hurts business. Instead, it is the fact that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers that hurts business.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a simple rule for adjectives. Similarly, the rule for -ing structures that I see many forum members use is incomplete.

2. As far as I can tell, there's no meaning call to be taken here. Although I've heard the phrase a cost to X before, it's just not a very good fit here. For example:

2a. This subscription costs my business more than 12,000 Rupees every year. ← This is similar to option B, the OA.

2b. This subscription is a cost to my business of more than 12,000 Rupees every year. ← This is similar to option A. The phrase business of... is a little unclear.

2c. This subscription is a cost of more than 12,000 Rupees every year to my business. ← Moving the of phrase closer to cost makes (2b) a little bit better.

The point is that (2b) is clearly not as good as (2a). That said, it'd be good to get more opinions on this.

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AjiteshArun

Thanks for quick revert.

Can I say that 2b can be interpreted in 2 ways? 2b. This subscription is a cost to my business of more than 12,000 Rupees every year.
a)Subscription cost is a part of a business (more info about biz 12k per year)
b)Subscription cost is itself more than 12k per year

AjiteshArun

Sneha2021

Hi Sneha2021,

1. [i]Significant should not refer to use. The sentence is about something that affects business. In other words, it is not the use of crack and cocaine that hurts business. Instead, it is the fact that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among workers that hurts business.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's a simple rule for adjectives. Similarly, the rule for -ing structures that I see many forum members use is incomplete.

2. As far as I can tell, there's no meaning call to be taken here. Although I've heard the phrase a cost to X before, it's just not a very good fit here. For example:

2a. This subscription costs my business more than 12,000 Rupees every year. ← This is similar to option B, the OA.

2b. This subscription is a cost to my business of more than 12,000 Rupees every year. ← This is similar to option A. The phrase business of... is a little unclear.

2c. This subscription is a cost of more than 12,000 Rupees every year to my business. ← Moving the of phrase closer to cost makes (2b) a little bit better.

The point is that (2b) is clearly not as good as (2a). That said, it'd be good to get more opinions on this.

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02 Jun 2023, 20:33

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Sneha2021

Can I say that 2b can be interpreted in 2 ways?

Hi Sneha2021,

Yes. We can use the phrase business of to refer to what a business does, or to some kind of activity or situation (for example, "her business of exporting carpets"). But in this sentence, we actually want of to refer to cost, and that's why moving it away from cost and closer to business creates ambiguity. Is it "a cost of X Rupees" (the cost) or is it "my business of X Rupees" (maybe the revenue of my company)?

Just keep in mind that ambiguity isn't an absolute error.

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GMATNinja KarishmaB egmat
Could you please help validate my reasoning:

A) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of
Main error: 'more than $100 billion a year' seems to refer to 'business' rather than 'cost'
Separately is this understanding correct:
- 'significantly compounding..' refers to the preceding clause 'use of crack..is growing..'
- 'which' refers to 'effects'(of drug and alcohol abuse)

C) significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of
'business cost' changes the meaning. It is different from 'cost to business'. 'Business cost' means that something is a cost that the business normally incurs(similar to payroll, rent etc), whereas 'cost to business' means that something is hurting the business.

D) significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing business
'and' denotes a parallelism marker. So there are 2 options:
Structure #1:

use of crack..is growing...
- significant in compounding...
and already costing

This has the following issues:
1) The part after 'and' should also be a clause, but that is not the case
2) 'costing' should refer to growing use of crack and cocaine, but it is referring to 'use of crack'. Also as per original sentence it refers to 'effects of drug..' and not 'use of crack..'. Neither case is correct
3) 'significant in compounding' is an adjective phrase, and doesnt modify the previous clause

Structure #2:

use of crack..is growing...
- significant in compounding...
and already costing...

Here 'already costing' seems to refer to 'use of crack..is growing', whereas as per original sentence it refer to 'effects of drug..abuse'. Also significant in compounding is not correct.

E)significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business
Structure is as:

use of crack..is growing...
- significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse,
and already costs business

Here again it changes original meaning as 'cost' refer to 'use of crack..' and not 'effects of ..abuse'.

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