In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the F

In the original sentence there is a "before" and the verb "painted" which is in Simple Past.
In A: Usage of present simple and the construction is not correct.
In B: Correct tense and a sound construction. CORRECT
In C: The "which" refers to the economy instead of the picture.
In D & E: Passive voice is used so we can reject these two.

Correct answer is B.

In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

A. suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates

B. suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future - Painted(Past) + would(conditional). Correct

C. which suggests that to investors in the near future interest rates will not be lowered by the central bank

D. with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank - Wordy & muddled. Meaning issue as well.

E. with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank - Meaning issue.

Answer B.

Thanks,
GyM

Solved this question with just meaning wise.

A- when we suggest something, we expect that clause .
B- Correct
C- Here which refers to the picture. Illogical meaning
D- Are we talking about investor in the near future - Wrong modifier .
E- investor of interest rates - again wrong modifier

GMATNinja VeritasKarishma

In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

Here the sentence implies that the chairman painted a optim.. picture by suggesting that interests will not be lowered....
So "an optimistic picture of the economy" is the result of the Chairman "suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates."..... doesnt "suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates" act as the result of "an optimistic picture of the economy"?

Shouldnt we use the "ing modifier" for the effect of an action instead of the action itself?

Please help on this...
Thanks in advance
"


But in (b)...

"suggesting to the investors ..." is the effect of an action.

... the chairman painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting that the bank would not lower interest rates...

The chairman would have talked about positive industry data, possible reduction in deficit etc - painted an optimistic picture.
This suggested (indicated) that the bank would not lower interest rates in future.

The chairman did not say that the bank would not lower interest rates. That is just an indication from painting a positive picture - that reduction in rate is not required since the economy is expected to do well.

In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates

(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future

(C) which suggests that to investors in the near future interest rates will not be lowered by the central bank

(D) with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank

(E) with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank

Meaning:

In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

1st: The Chairman is giving a speech in Senate Banking Committee.
2nd:The chairman is paining an optimistic picture of the economy.
3rd: The chairman is suggesting to investor that central bank s not lowering its interest rates near future.

POE:

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates

Suggesting: Good one. Who is suggesting " The Chairman"( So this is clear).

Mistake: 1. "In the near future" is not in the proper place.
2. The Chairman is suggesting, it means something in future is gonna happen. So for future, using is not lowering( present participle) is wrong. So this is the wrong option.

(WRONG)
(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future

Correct: Suggesting: Good one. Who is suggesting " The Chairman"( So this is clear).
1. "In the near future" is in proper place.
2."would" not lower interest rates( We use Would in hypothetical situation . So correctly used. (This is the correct answer)
(Correct)

(C) which suggests that to investors in the near future interest rates will not be lowered by the central bank

Mistake: 1.Which is referring to economy. This is wrong. Economy is not suggesting, the Chairman is suggesting.
2.will not be lower: They have used the future tense but for future certainty. So wrong.
(WRONG)

(D) with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank

1. "with the suggestion": this one is referring to the optimistic picture not the chairman.
2.in the near future: again in wrong place.
3.interest rates would not be lowered: or the bank would not be lowered the interest rate.
(WRONG)

(E) with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank

1. same issue as D
2.Interest rates : Same as D
3.being lowered: Passive form ( GMAT not every-time encourage to use Passive)

(WRONG)

If it helps you please press Kudos!

Thanks,
Bijay

Hi Guys,

Is the sentence structure "suggesting to" correct? Don't you think it should be only "suggesting"?..If we are providing a suggestion to the investors, shouldn't it be "suggesting investors" ?

No. We need a to there. Otherwise, we'll be "recommending" the investors.

He suggested the GRE as an alternative to the GMAT. ← He "recommended" X as Y.

In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates

(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future

Hi experts,
Can we drop "THAT" in option B without making it wrong.
(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future
I understand Option A is wrong due to wrong placement of "in the near future"/ Present tense, but dropping of THAT is allowed here?
How to decide when we can drop THAT & when not??

Hi GAURAV1113, I highly doubt whether we can codify absolute rules around the usage of that that will work 100% of the times.

Broadly speaking, words of reporting (suggesting in this case) should preferably be followed by that.

If we look at it from a meaning clarity perspective, A does, seem to indicate that the chairman of the Federal Reserve suggested to investors the central bank!

This is clearly not the intended meaning. The chairman of the Federal Reserve clearly did not suggest to investors the central bank; the chairman of the Federal Reserve suggested to investors something about the central bank: that the central bank would not lower interest rates.

Hence, the usage of that adds meaning clarity.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses these meaning related nuances, their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

Can someone help me the verb for "The Senate Banking Committee" ? As I didn't find the verb for SBC I eliminated A&B

Hi akhil1895 you dont need verb for SBC as it is part of the modifying phrase "In a speech before.."
Hope this helps

Hi EducationAisle

Given we already had verb tense issue with A, I elimintaed it without heeding to whether it contained that or not, but I have one questions related to the meaning that you explained for option A. Based on my understading "that" is optional if the relative clause contains the main subject itself. See below two examples


1. The baboon that Irving was feeding had an angry look about it (Irving is the subject of relative clause , so we can drop that from the sentence)
2. The baboon Irving was feeding had an angry look about it

In our example as well "Central Bank" is the subject, so isnt that optional here too?

What if the only difference between option A and B was of "that"? What would have been the correct answer then?

Appreciate your time.

I agree with you Rohit; in fact there are numerous official sentences as well that omit the that. For example:

On first encountering leaf-cutting ants in South America, some Europeans thought the insects were carrying bits of greenery to shade themselves from the tropical sun—hence the sobriquet “parasol ants.”.

None of such official questions (that I have come across) have the "presence/absence" of that as the only difference between two options. If this were to happen in an official question in future, I would be more inclined towards choosing the option using a "that"

Hello experts,

I would like to know the role of ,with in this question!
I know B is far better than any of the choices!
but with always scares me!

In D,
Is it modifying the action of previous clause?
Chairman painted - with the suggestion - it doesn't seem wrong to me apart from being wordy!
I know the placement of "near future is wrong" but still
Can ,with modify previous action and the doer or just action?

Typically, when "with" follows a full clause, it'll either describe the main action of that clause, or a noun in the vicinity. Take another look at the relevant portion of (D):


There's no nearby noun that would make sense. There could be an economy with high inflation, but not one "with the suggestion." And the main verb of the previous clause doesn't work either. Can you paint with "the suggestion" the way you could, say, paint with a brush? Nah. Because neither works, the "with" is a problem.

I hope that helps!

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.