Hello Everyone!

While this may look like an easy question to answer, short underlined sections can often be tricky! Let’s break down what’s different about each option so we can narrow it down to the right one! Here is the original question with any major differences highlighted in orange:

Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply yesterday, as long-term forecasts for much colder temperatures in key heating regions raised fears of insufficient supplies capable of meeting the demand this winter.

A. of insufficient supplies capable of meeting
B. of supplies that would be insufficient for meeting
C. of insufficient supplies that are unable to meet
D. that there would be supplies insufficient for meeting
E. that supplies would be insufficient to meet

After a quick scan through each option, here are the major differences I noticed:

1. Their endings: of meeting / to meet / for meeting
2. Their beginnings: of / that

Let's start with #2 on our list: beginning the phrase with “of” versus “that.” This is a quick way to eliminate 2-3 options right away, so let’s start there. There is a subtle difference between being “afraid of X” and “afraid that Y”:

Afraid of X = you are afraid of a noun (person, place, thing, or idea) OR event that starts with an gerund (an –ing verb)
I am afraid of spiders.
The students are afraid of failing their history exam.

Afraid that Y = you are afraid of an event might happen; the phrase after "that" MUST be an independent clause
I am afraid that Simon will make fun of me.
The settlers were afraid that their house might burn down.

Since we are talking about people being afraid that an event might happen (not having enough oil/gas to stay warm in the winter), we know it doesn’t work to say that people are afraid OF supplies. They’re not afraid of gas or oil – they’re afraid that they will be cold without enough supplies. This means we can eliminate answers A, B, and C right away!

Now we’re left with D and E, so let’s focus on the differences between the two:

D. that there would be supplies insufficient for meeting

This is INCORRECT for a couple reasons. First, it’s overly wordy. Why would you say “that there would be supplies insufficient” when you can just say “that supplies would be insufficient?” Another red flag is the gerund phrase “for meeting the demand this winter.” The GMAT doesn’t like gerund phrases unless they are absolutely necessary. In this case, it’s not.

E. that supplies would be insufficient to meet

This is CORRECT because it’s clear and concise for readers. There is no mistaking what the people are afraid of here!

There you have it - option E is the correct answer!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
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Fear is not of insufficient supplies but that the supplies would be insufficient to ....

Another example..
Prevailing law and order situation raised fear of safety of...
However prevailing law and order situation raised fear that the upcoming elections would be ...

E
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Very good Question:

Before we start POE :-

Let's understand the use of - fear of/fear that

Let's take simple word - afraid of / afraid that

Afraid of X = you are afraid of a noun (person, place, thing, or idea) OR event that starts with an gerund (an –ing verb).

Afraid that Y = you are afraid of an event might happen; the phrase after "that" MUST be an independent clause

1) I am afraid of taking exam.

2) I am afraid that I may not perform well in the exam.

Now let's go for POE.

Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply yesterday, as long-term forecasts for much colder temperatures in key heating regions raised fears of insufficient supplies capable of meeting the demand this winter.


A. of insufficient supplies capable of meeting

B. of supplies that would be insufficient for meeting

C. of insufficient supplies that are unable to meet

D. that there would be supplies insufficient for meeting

E. that supplies would be insufficient to meet

I hope you could understand that - fear that - should be used over here.

If not read the full sentence - with that clause.

Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply yesterday, as long-term forecasts for much colder temperatures in key heating regions raised fears that supplies would be insufficient to meet the demand this winter.

Also, The above sentence is more convincing than the original sentence. Eliminate A,B & C.

D & E -coveys same meaning. But D is just wordy enough to be eliminated. Also at the end of sentence there is a split in both D & E.
to meet is preferred over for meeting.
So eliminate D.
E is the correct sentence.

Alternate method:-
If you notice carefully, In non-underlined part simple past is used.
Hence use of "would" is correct. Eliminate A & C.

to meet is preferred over for meeting. We use - I have come to meet you not for meeting you.
So eliminate D & B
E is the correct sentence.

Any feedback will be appreciated!!
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Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply yesterday, as long-term forecasts for much colder temperatures in key heating regions raised fears of insufficient supplies capable of meeting the demand this winter.


A. of insufficient supplies capable of meeting

B. of supplies that would be insufficient for meeting

C. of insufficient supplies that are unable to meet

D. that there would be supplies insufficient for meeting

E. that supplies would be insufficient to meet

A simple two-step hop-step and jump here.
In ninety percent of the cases, an infinitive is a preferred choice over a gerund in GMAT; In the given context, the supplies have a purpose to meet the demand. Therefore, 'of meeting' in A, 'for meeting' in B and D are out.

Between C and E, C is wrong for using present tense for a future happening. E it is.
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Hello Mo2men!

Thank you for your question! You are absolutely correct - you could also eliminate option D for using the incorrect "insufficient for" instead of "insufficient to." We attacked the question from different angles, which is totally okay! Sometimes, different problems jump out to different students - and that's what happened here.

I appreciate you adding in your method of answering the question in case other students focused on that as well!
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The sentence above is quite tricky, you must get the meaning of the original sentence
Instead follow these steps, the steps a normal person should take in order to get to the top

1. Find the differences between options
WELL I see an of v that difference (It is quite clear that you need "that") but let's say on GMAT you get a different structure in which you donot know this difference
We do know there is a for meeting v to meet, we know that infinitive is preferred over -ing phrase in general ( exceptions are there)

2. Let's believe infinitive is fine and try to find error in both options C,E (if we find errors in both then we'll see other options, just in case you do not know exceptions)
Intended meaning is that "something raised fears of something that will happen in future" v "something raised fears that something will happen in future"
Option C is not conveying that the events will happen in the future
Also now follow C by meaning you'd get something like this
Long term forecasts raised fears "of insufficient supplies" that are unable to meet the demand

whereas E means

Long term forecasts raised fears that supplies will be insufficient to meet the demand

E is clear and concise

E becomes the winner!!!!!!!!!

The wording of the underlined portion of this
sentence is incoherent because it suggests that
supplies that are "insufficient" are "capable
of meeting the demand."The phrase fears of
insufficient supplies is awkward and unclear: it
suggests that the object of the fears already exists,
i.e., that supplies are already insufficient. How
can the intended meaning-regarding a fear that
something might occur-be best expressed in the
context of the sentence as a whole?
A This produces an incoherent sentence that
forces us to guess at what might have been
intended.
B This is wordy and unnecessarily awkward.
The phrase insufficient to meet would be more
idiomatic than insufficient for meeting.
C The present tense are fails to express
the future-oriented nature of the fears:
that future supplies might turn out to be
insufficient relative to demand.
D The awkward expression here is misleading.
What the fears were about was not that
there would be supplies but that the supplies
would be insufficient.
E Correct. What was feared was the
following: future supplies will be insufficient
to meet the demand. Because we are told
that the fears were raised in the past, the
futurity of the feared occurrence must be
expressed by would be (rather than by will
be) in the context of the that-clause, which
clearly conveys what was feared ( the object
of the "fears").
The correct answer is E.

Hi Tracy95!

Yes, you could absolutely eliminate options A & C that way! They both create an odd meaning that suggests that supplies cannot take actions on their own.

There are several ways you can attack this question, and as long as you're getting to the correct choices in the end, your method works!
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