In hoping to restrain economic growth, interest rates were raised by

Question

In hoping to restrain economic growth, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, making it more expensive to borrow for businesses and consumers.

(A) In hoping to restrain economic growth, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, making it more expensive to borrow for businesses and consumers.

(B) Making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, in hopes of their restraining economic growth.

(C) In making borrowing for businesses and consumers more expensive, British policymakers, in hopes they will restrain economic growth, had raised interest rates.

(D) Hopefully restraining economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making more expensive borrowing by businesses and consumers.

(E) Hoping to restrain economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow.

PTK · Answer

Noboru

Do you find the sentences "It is interesting to talk to Steve Jobs" or "it is useful to swim" correct?

I can't otherwise explain you this rule but "it" may refer to "to +verb". 
I am a non-native speaker, I dont know what is the rule , but in this particular case it may refer to "to+verb"

hope it helps.

noboru · Answer

Hi, Pkit.

Yes, I do find those sentences correct.

However, those "It"s are not pronouns (as the one in the original sentence), but they are Placeholders. It's different.

Each pronoun in a sentence must refer to a specific noun, so I cannot understand how "it" can be substituted by "to borrow", which is a verb, not a noun.

Any more thoughts?

brandy96 · Answer

I got E.... The making closely modifies the 'interest rate' and seems best fits.

Onell · Answer

-ing modifier acts as and adverbial modifier.I think it modifies raised not interest rate. Can someone Please clarify?

noboru · Answer

I agree with you, making...modifies raised...

d3thknell · Answer

"the electronic locks are making it increasingly difficult for robbers to steal from lockers"
here "it" doesn't refer to "to steal"(which is a verb)
but to the noun form of stealing ie "theft"
probably same logic applies here

noboru · Answer

But that noun is not explicitily stated in the sentence, and that is what sounds strange for me.
Please clarify.
Thanks.

PTK · Answer

Exactly the same as I said before :

d3thknell · Answer

@Noboru: i agree it has not been stated "Explicitly",u have a good point here,i dont know the exact rules on usage of pronouns when nouns are not explicitly stated, so I wont be able to comment further
@Pkit: my understanding is , " process to borrow" is still a verb, maybe i misunderstood..

PTK · Answer

"process" is a noun. It may confuse you becuase "process" is an action noun. 
if you still dont belive me , try to look into any dictionary.

Divyadisha · Answer

'In hoping to restrain economic growth' must modify a 'person' - British Policymakers. A and B are out.

C. In making borrowing for businesses and consumers more expensive, British policymakers, in hopes they will restrain economic growth, had raised interest rates. ' had raised' is not required. Apart from this the structure is awkward.

D. Hopefully restraining economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making more expensive borrowing by businesses and consumers.  'Hopefully and 'hoping to' have different meanings.

E. Hoping to restrain economic growth  (correctly modifies BP),  British policymakers raised interest rates  (following sentence shows the result of increased interest rates) , making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow.  correct choice

martinjudge91 · Answer

Another question...

Consider the following modifaction of answer choice B:

Making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, hoping to restrain economic growth.

In my opinion this sentence is correct, isnt it?

Now consider you had both, the modification of B and E in the answer choices. In this case, does the GMAT prefer active voice, thus you would pick answer choice E?

Thanks

sayantanc2k · Answer

"Making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, hoping to restrain economic growth." ...... in this sentence the modifier "hoping to restrain economic growth" is a present participle modifier wrongly referring to "interest rates", the subject of the previous clause. In active construction this problem will be eliminated.

adkikani · Answer

GMATNinja   VeritasPrepKarishma   egmat

Can Experts confirm if IT correctly refers to singular noun - Economic growth in (E)?

egmat · Answer

Hello Arpit/ adkikani , Thank you for the query.

In the correct answer choice E, it is a placeholder pronoun that does not really refer to any noun in the sentence as such. Economic growth cannot be the logical antecedent of it because it makes no sense to say that the policymakers by doing something made the economic growth expensive. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  adkikani , this is a typical case where a pronoun ( it ) is used  before  the antecedent.

Here,  it  is referring to  to borrow . So, the sentence is basically:

making (to borrow) more expensive for businesses and consumers.

Another simpler example:

It is immoral to lie .

Again,  it  is referring to  to lie . So, this is equivalent to:

(to lie) is immoral .

There are two main instances when a pronoun is used  before  the antecedent. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  these instances , their application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

dabaobao · Answer

(A) In hoping to restrain economic growth,  interest rates  were raised by British policymakers, making it more expensive to borrow for businesses and consumers.  - Wrong: Modifier issue

(B) Making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow,  interest rates  were raised by British policymakers, in hopes of  their  restraining economic growth.  - Wrong: Modifier issue 2) Pronoun ambiguity

(C) In making borrowing for businesses and consumers more expensive, British policymakers, in hopes  they  will restrain economic growth,  had  raised interest rates.  - Wrong: Pronoun ambiguity 2) Wrong verb

(D)  Hopefully restraining  economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making more expensive borrowing  by  businesses and consumers.  - Wrong: Meaning issue

(E) Hoping to restrain economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow.  - Correct

Ilhomjon98 · Answer

(A)  In hoping to restrain economic growth, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, making it more expensive to borrow for businesses and consumers.

1) Modifier error: "Prepostion + V_ing", an opening modifier, modifies the immediate subject of the clause. Likewise, " In hoping to " modifies " interest rates ", suddesting that "interest rates were hoping to...": illogical meaning

(B)  Making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, in hopes of their restraining economic growth.

1) the same modifier issue as in A

2) even if we rectify the above-mentioned modifier error, we will not have a good sentence: although it is a myth that Gmat prefer "active voice" to "passive voice", I cannot see any good reason to use passive voice. I think that emphasis should be on WHO hoped, raised interest rates and thus made borrowing more expensive. So, I think that active voice works better

(C)  In making borrowing for businesses and consumers more expensive, British policymakers, in hopes they will restrain economic growth, had raised interest rates.

1) Wrong tense: Past perfect is wrong because there is no timeframe or past action to show sequence.

2) "in hopes they will restrain...": to give the intended meaning, the sentence can be better constructed as the correct answer E

(D)  Hopefully restraining economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making more expensive borrowing by businesses and consumers.

1) Change in the meaning: The original meaning is that before or when British policymakers raised interest rates, they did not managed to restrain economic growth. Instead, They raised interest rates in order to retrain economic growth. D conveys the meaning that British policymakers were restraining economic growth immediately before or when they raised interest rates.

(E)  Hoping to restrain economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow.

---"V_ing" modifies the suject of the clause and have some relationship with that clause: "Hoping to.." correctly modifies "British policymakers".

--- "comma + V_ing" usually modifies the nearest action and its agent, describing the main action, showing immediate consequence , or expressing simultaneousness. here, it shows immediate consuquence.

svasan05 · Answer

In hoping to restrain economic growth, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, making it more expensive to borrow for businesses and consumers .

(A) In hoping to restrain economic growth, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, making it more expensive to borrow for businesses and consumers.  Verb + ing modifier at the beginning of the sentence modifies the immediately following noun/subject of the next clause. Here, "In hoping" incorrectly modifies "interest rates". Eliminate.

(B) Making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow, interest rates were raised by British policymakers, in hopes of their restraining economic growth.  "Making" incorrectly modifies "interest rates". Eliminate.

(C) In making borrowing for businesses and consumers more expensive, British policymakers, in hopes they will restrain economic growth, had raised interest rates.  Incorrect use of past perfect "had raised" - it is not the earlier of two actions in the past. Eliminate.

(D) Hopefully restraining economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making more expensive borrowing by businesses and consumers.  "Hopefully" is an adjective - here we need to use "hoping to" since we need to express the intention and not describe a verb. Also, "making subject adjective" is the correct form, not "making adjective subject". Eliminate.

(E) Hoping to restrain economic growth, British policymakers raised interest rates, making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow.  Correct answer - all above errors are rectified and no new errors are introduced.

Hope this helps.

VerbalBot · Answer

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In hoping to restrain economic growth, interest rates were raised by

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In hoping to restrain economic growth, interest rates were raised by

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