In the textbook publishing business, the second quarter is historicall

When to use "While" or when not to use "While"

What while trap?? I have Gmat in 2 weeks and haven't heard of the while trap.. :O

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I remember SC manhattan said that when "and" is used to link two clauses, there is always a comma right before "and". Thus, in order for (A) to be correct, it should look like this: "low, and marketing expenses are high as companies prepare".
I know that questioning an OA is stupid, but can someone please enlighten me?

In the textbook publishing business, the second quarter is historically weak, because revenues are low and marketing expenses are high as companies prepare for the coming school year.

Issue: Meaning | Parallelism

Analysis:
1. The underlined portion of the sentence presents two reasons for weak second quarter. These reasons should be conjugated by "and" and should be parallel.

A. low and marketing expenses are high as companies prepare

B. low and their marketing expenses are high as they prepare
- "their" incorrectly refers to "revenues"
- "they" has to no referent

C. low with higher marketing expenses in preparation
- "with" seems to be incorrect conjunction here
- "higher" incorrectly used as it is used when comparing two entities. Here other entity is missing.

D. low, while marketing expenses are higher to prepare
- "while" seems to be incorrect conjunction here
- "higher" incorrectly used as it is used when comparing two entities. Here other entity is missing.

E. low, while their marketing expenses are higher in preparation
- "their" incorrectly refers to "revenues"
- "higher" incorrectly used as it is used when comparing two entities. Here other entity is missing.

Answer: A.

Hi Experts
Why can't THEY and their refer to companies in option (B)?

The companies aren't even mentioned in (B), so "they" and "their" can't possibly refer to "companies". Whenever you see a plural pronoun, you have to look for plural nouns elsewhere (usually earlier) in the sentence. In (B), the only potential referent for "their" and "they" is "revenues" -- and that makes absolutely no sense at all.

'A' is correct - Logical prediction and parallelism are in tact.

guys. this phrase is "in preparation to" is correct but " to prepare for = to infinitive+prep or to+verb+prep" is true or false IN answer D ???? can we use it in GMAT .....I know both answer are wrong for other reason.

Same doubt here.
Thank you in advance!

Cheers,
R.

official explanation

Correct Answer: A

This problem features both Pronoun and Sentence Construction errors. Answer choices B and E use the pronoun 'their' without a logical antecedent, and are therefore incorrect. Answer choices C and D fail to express the advertising expenses in an equivalent form to the low revenues, whereas answer choice A ('revenues are low and advertising expenses are high') does so properly. Furthermore, answer choice A properly notes that 'retailers prepare' for the busier shopping seasons, correctly using a subject for the verb 'prepare'; answer choices C, D, and E fail to do so.

For those (including me) who got stuck between option A and D:

Option D - marketing expenses are higher to prepare - Gives the meaning that marketing expenses are doing the action of 'to prepare' which seems illogical.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Let's move forward with POE: The comparative degree "Higher" must be followed by "than" C, D and E are eliminated

A. Don't see any mistake.

B. Their doesn't have a proper antecedent.

A is the answer.

C. C

--- same as D.

EMPOWERgmatRichC
Hi Rich, Can you help me with this question?
Especially, "and" VS "While"

Hi AndrewN DmitryFarber mcelroytutoring chetan2u

In the textbook publishing business, the second quarter is historically weak, because revenues are low and marketing expenses are high as companies prepare for the coming school year.
(A) low and marketing expenses are high as companies prepare
(D) low, while marketing expenses are higher to prepare

meaning wise I choose A
but structure wise: I choose D

My doubt is on this comma

Modifier , SUBJECT VERB , non essential modifier, WHILE SUBJECT VERB
In the textbook publishing business, the second quarter is historically weak, because revenues are low , while marketing expenses are higher to prepare for the coming school year.

Please clarify. Thanks! AndrewN DmitryFarber mcelroytutoring chetan2u

Hi Teitsuya,

One of the interesting aspects of SCs is that you sometimes don't need to know all of the grammar rules involved to define the correct answer.

In the opening, non-underlined part of this sentence, we see the phrase "the second quarter is historically weak, because " - so what follows will be some type of explanation for why that quarter is weak. While it might be just one reason, IF there's more than one reason, then we need to present those multiple reasons in PARALLEL format.

The first reason (and it's the same in all 5 answers) is "revenues are LOW...", so this establishes how a 2nd reason would need to be presented (re: ".... are high..."). Eliminate Answers C, D and E.

With the remaining 2 answers, Answer A gives us an actual noun that has revenues and expenses and would be preparing for the next year. Answer B gives us a vague plural pronoun (re: "they") which would refer back to "revenues" and/or "expenses" - because those are the only plural nouns in the sentence. Neither revenues nor expenses can 'prepare' for anything, so we can eliminate Answer B.

Final Answer:

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

mSKR
First, I'll suggest not to worry much about comma placement in the non-underlined portion. Although we don't *generally* put a comma between subject and predicate, there aren't many absolute rules about commas, and the GMAT will certainly add a comma if it might help with clarity and sentence flow. In any case, clearly the GMAT thinks it's okay, so even if we wouldn't put one there, we can leave it alone.

As for your analysis, notice that "revenues are low" has a subject and a verb, so the part beginning with "because" is a dependent clause, not a modifier. This means that in D, we have a main clause followed by TWO dependent clauses: "The quarter is weak because revenues are low, while expenses are higher." This structure doesn't make that last part as clearly parallel to "revenues are low." A makes it much clearer that both trends (low revenue, higher expenses) contribute to the weak quarter.

I don't know if this clears up your concern, since I can't see why A struck you as having a poor structure. Let me know if there's any trouble with A I can address.