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AndrewN
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GMAT Club World Cup 2022 (DAY 4): Down to its last three stores, the o 19 Jul 2022, 15:48
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Jainam24
Thanks AndrewN for another insightful explanation. I followed through your approach & understood everything but for split #3
The options use liquidate all assets. I believe all includes intangible assets such as goodwill, brand etc. You are absolutely right in pointing out that a liquidation tends to precede a final takeover by another business. As students preparing for GMAT I think this is very much basic to be known, isn't it? It would be great if you could elaborate on why split #3 selling as verb-ing is incorrect because that was the very reason that I doubled down on E as the answer

I would love to know what are my flaws in my thinking and get your opinions on how to look at this. Please throw some light. Thanks
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Hello again, Jainam24. You are keeping me busy today. I think the second line of your response is too technical for GMAT™ purposes. That is, a test-taker probably does not need to know exactly what all assets may encompass in a selloff or a business acquisition. (I imagine this could vary on a case-by-case basis as well.) I think I have taken my best shot at explaining the list of actions against the modifying phrase. If one is clear and another takes some figuring out, you should probably double down on the simpler one.

Thank you for following up.

- Andrew
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GMAT Club World Cup 2022 (DAY 4): Down to its last three stores, the o 20 Jul 2022, 01:37
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Got it. Thank you AndrewN for all your responses. Sorry to bother you.
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GMAT Club World Cup 2022 (DAY 4): Down to its last three stores, the o 30 Oct 2022, 00:46
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AndrewN
Split #1: if versus yet versus and

Hands down, if is the idiomatic winner of the bunch. The non-underlined portion of the sentence presents a picture of a failing retail chain, so the announcement, while grim in nature, may not be much of a surprise. That is, if a once nationwide retail chain is down to its last three stores, the writing is probably on the wall, and since stores do not tend to close across the nation all at once, again, the announcement might not be unexpected. A grim if somewhat anticipated announcement perfectly describes the situation. The contrast is preserved in yet, though to a native English speaker, it might not roll off the tongue as well. And is the outlier, since it presents no contrast, but rather reports two pieces of information—there was a grim announcement, and (probably in light of the fact that so many stores were closing around the nation) the announcement was anticipated. This last interpretation is my least favorite, but I would not take answer choice (D) to the chopping block over the conjunction.

Split #3: three parallel actions versus two plus a modifying phrase

Answer choices (A), (C), and (D) take the former path, while (B) and (E) take the latter, and this should prove a more decisive split than the two above. Does it make sense to place a modifier at the end of the sentence?

(B)/(E): [The retailer] planned to shut its doors and liquidate all its assets, selling to the highest takeover bid/bidder

Selling is difficult to make sense of in this context. Is the retailer selling its assets to the highest bid or bidder, or, more along the lines of takeover, its entire brand? I suppose there is a third possibility. If the modifier is commenting on the previous clause, then both the brand and the assets will go to the highest takeover bid or bidder. Still, something about the pairing of liquidate its assets and takeover does not quite sit well with me. A liquidation tends to precede a final takeover by another business. But why am I fussing about all these considerations when I have a perfectly reasonable list of actions in answer choices (A), (C), and (D)? Planned to shut, liquidate, and sell presents three parts of a single plan in a clearcut manner. In short, I would eliminate answer choices (B) and (E) for lack of clarity.
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Hi AndrewN

Split 1: To my knowledge, "if" is always used as a condition on GMAT™. If this is true, A grim if somewhat anticipated announcement would mean that the announcement is grim when it is anticipated; on the contrary, the announcement isn't grim when it is not anticipated. This will distort the meaning. Can you please help me understand the difference in usage of "if" wrt this ques? Due to this, I straightaway rejected the OA.

Split 3: To my knowledge, "liquidate" and "sell" are synonyms. If we think too technically, they may differ. Accordingly, how can the synonyms be used with the conjunction "and"? Further, takeover may be of the business or of the liquidated assets. This is still not clear and potentially leads to distorted meaning if we choose A. We may argue that selling of assets to the highest takeover bidder was the result of planning to do something so as to choose the construction involving modifier. Request your inputs/further clarification.

++KarishmaB egmat
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GMAT Club World Cup 2022 (DAY 4): Down to its last three stores, the o 18 Apr 2025, 16:56
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Down to its last three stores, the once nationwide chain of retail outlets made a grim if somewhat anticipated announcement: that it planned to shut its doors, liquidate all assets, and sell to the highest takeover bidder.


(A) if somewhat anticipated announcement: that it planned to shut its doors, liquidate all assets, and sell to the highest takeover bidder - "grim if somewhat anticipated" is a standard idiom. "if" here means "even if" and not conditional. "shut," "liquidate," and "sell," are parallel. ok.

(B) yet somewhat anticipated announcement: that it planned to shut its doors and liquidate all its assets, selling to the highest takeover bid - "selling to the highest takeover bid" - you sell to the highest bidder and not not to bid.

(C) if somewhat anticipated announcement: it planned on shutting its doors, liquidating all its assets, and selling to the highest takeover bid- "selling to the highest takeover bid" - you sell to the highest bidder and not not to bid.

(D) and somewhat anticipated announcement: it planned to shut its doors, liquidate all assets, and sell to the highest takeover bidder - "and somewhat" changes the meaning.

(E) if somewhat anticipated announcement: it planned to shut its doors and liquidate all assets, selling to the highest takeover bidder - "selling" is not parallel.
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