Many economic analysts believe that a substantial increase in the numb

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

PRINCETON REVIEW OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

B

This sentence contains a list—raising, lowering, and a surge—so you should expect an error in parallel construction. All the parts of the list must be the same part of speech for the list to be parallel. Since a surge is not underlined, you will need to find an answer choice that changes raising and lowering to nouns to match a surge.

(A) No. Look for parallel construction. The other list item is a surge so we need a raising and a lowering.

(B) Yes. This choice fixes the stem’s parallel construction problem. The other list items are now a raising, a lowering, and a surge.

(C) No. Although this choice fixes the stem’s incorrect raising by making it a raising, it introduces a nonparallel phrase: along with lowering fears about investing.

(D) No. This is not parallel—the nonunderlined portion of the sentence contains a surge, which is a noun, so we need nouns in the underlined portion of the list. Also, don’t forget that ETS hates being.

(E) No. We know ETS hates being, so we should eliminate this answer choice. It isn’t parallel either. The other list item is a surge so we need a raising and a lowering. Also, for you grammar buffs, raising and lowering are transitive verbs, so they need a direct object (something that’s raised or lowered).