Noting that the Federal Reserve had raised a key short-term interest rate against last month, analysts said that they expected orders for durable goods to decline soon because rising interest rates makes it more expensive to buy them on credit.

(A) rising interest rates makes it more expensive to buy them on credit -- subject-verb agreement issue -- rates makes
(B) rising interest rates make buying on credit more expensive -- Correct
(C) a rise in interest rates make it more expensive to buy on credit -- subject-verb agreement issue -- rise make
(D) a rise in interest rates make buying on credit more expensive -- subject-verb agreement issue -- rise make
(E) a rise in interest rates makes it more expensive for them to be bought on credit -- passive and wordy

Answer B
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Hi nevergiveup,

Thank you for your question.

Let's start by tackling the most obvious difference between the answers: rising interest rates vs. a rise in interest rates.

When saying the phrase "a rise in interest rates," the writer means that the interest rates only have to rise ONCE for people to order fewer durable goods. This isn't the intended meaning - the original sentence says that people will slowly buy fewer durable goods over time as the interest rates continually go up. The phrase "rising interest rates" makes more sense here. Therefore, let's rule out the answers that use "a rise in interest rates": C, D, & E.

Now we're left with answers A & B. Let's look at what's different about them:

(A) rising interest rates makes it more expensive to buy them on credit
This sentence means that if interest rates go up, buying "them," meaning only durable goods, will be more expensive on credit. This isn't true - buying anything on credit is more expensive when interest rates go up. Therefore, this isn't the best answer to show intended meaning.

(B) rising interest rates make buying on credit more expensive
This one is the correct answer because it uses the proper phrase "rising interest rates," and correctly shows that if interest rates go up, buying anything and everything on credit is more expensive.
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