In contrast to the ongoing trade imbalances with China and Japan, the

Hello daagh,

Would also like to know if 'selling exports' is a correct phrase. Shouldnt it be 'exporting' only ?

Sid
Hi
As you say, after all, "sold exports' or 'selling exports' are mentioned in B,C, and D which are also wrong chocies, probably becuase they are not correct expressions. But the primary reason are the faulty comparisons.

daagh egmat
GMATNinja

I feel declined is a v-ed modifier not a verb



Per egmat litus test

lfthe Supect of the senlence ls the "doer' of the action presented by
the Verb-ed fom, then the Verb form is the verb of the sentence.


Here, subject of this main clause is deficit wich is not the doer of action declined. Deficit cant decline itself.

How is this not a run-on sentence ?

Kindly guide.


Regards

Hi Shank



Your contention is that since the US is not the doer of the comparison, 'declined' is not a verb but a past participle modifier, and hence the US cannot be the modifyee.

1. One set of verbs involves direct action such as sing, jump, swim etc. The subject is the doer of the action. They are called the action verbs.

2. Then there are another set of nouns, which are called 'the linking verbs'. Their function is simply to link the subject with the rest of the predicate.


1. He appeared nervous when he entered the exam hall.
Did he do anything to appear nervous?

2. Attracting everybody's attention, the Jumbo-sized Watermelon fetched the highest bid.
Did the fruit do anything to attract the attention?

3. Then there are another set called the status verbs just to indicate the state of being of the subject.
In all these cases, the subject is not the doer of the action

Let's look at another kind of 'status' verbs.

1. Born in India, several people immigrated to the US with no intention of returning to the motherland.
Here the subject 'people' are not the doers of the function of 'being born." Still the modification is all right.

2. Situated on top of the Tirumala hills, Tirupathi is a great religious center of India.
Do the Tirupathi hills do anything to be modifies by the word situated?

3. Dried on the sunny open terrace, the cloths are ready for ironing.
Do the clothes do anything for drying?

Please also take another hint. A modifier in the middle of a sentence will mostly be separated by a comma from the previous part, But, a verb will not be separated. If not preceded by a comma, it may still be a modifier modifying the noun before. However, in the given context it doesn't hold any sense to say Mexico declined.

Therefore, please rest assured that 'declined' is the verb of the noun 'trade deficit' and not a modifier.

Your query--How is this not a run-on sentence? I hope you are referring to choice A.
(A) In contrast to the ongoing trade imbalances with China and Japan, the United States trade deficit with Mexico declined by $500 million as a result of record exports to that country.
In contrast to the ongoing trade imbalances with China and Japan-- a prepositional modifier.
the United States trade deficit with Mexico declined by $500 million as a result of record exports to that country. -- This is the main clause.
This is a simple sentence with only one clause in it. Therefore, there is no question of a run-on.

HTH

Sold record exports seems redundant. option b,c and d can be expelled based on this argument

I agree that comparisons are clearly improper in B, C and D. But how is the comparison improper in E?
A) ongoing trade imbalances < compared with> the United States trade deficit with Mexico
E) ongoing trade imbalances < compared with> the United States record exports to Mexico
both seem similar to me.
Can anyone clarify?
Any other reason to rule out E?

While the comparison in (E) isn't as obviously horrible as the comparisons in (B), (C), and (D), it still doesn't make much sense. I'll steal from our earlier post:

We can't compare "the ongoing trade imbalances..." with "the United States record exports to Mexico" because exports aren't actually a type of trade imbalance! Answer choice (A) compares "the ongoing trade imbalances" with "the United States trade deficit." A deficit IS a kind of trade imbalance, making (A) the much clearer comparison.

I hope that helps!

Hi experts, MartyTargetTestPrep GMATNinja AjiteshArun VeritasKarishma

I have a doubt about this question. What is the best way to know when the comparison is illogical (with the various comparison markers)?

E.g., Whereas Tom loves cookies, the likelihood that the class would like them is low.
- To my understanding, "whereas," "while," and "although" do NOT need to be identical between the two comparisons; therefore, the comparison above would be logical.

However, it seems as though the GMAT seems to believe that "in contrast," "when compared," and "compared to/with" need to be identical..

In each case you have to consider the logic of what is expressed.

For instance, if you think about it, "in contrast with" indicates that two things are being contrasted. Those things don't have to be identical or described in the same way in the sentence, but it does have to make sense to contrast them. Notice that the following sentence does not work.

In contrast with the flight of birds, fish swim slowly.

So, fish are being contrasted with the flight of birds.

Notice that "when compared" also has to connect things that would logically be compared.

When compared with the flight of birds, fish swim slowly.

So, now fish are compared with the flight of birds, and they swim slowly when compared with the flight of birds, as if they swim quickly when nobody is comparing them.

Logic is the key here. From what you said, it sounds as if you are looking for a rule, but really, you don't need a rule. You more need to understand what the words mean and consider the logic of what each sentence conveys.

Can we cross out B,C,and D because important information is placed between two commas making the sentence unessential modifier? Experts please give your input.

Posted from my mobile device

Hello AbhishekDhanraJ72,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, no; the rule of information between commas does not apply here because "the United States sold record exports to Mexico" is the main clause of the sentence; we say that important information has been included between commas if the information is presented in the form of a non-essential modifier offset by a pair of commas.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Thanks mbaapp1234, for clearly and correctly calling out the actual error in option E.




E, as it's written, compares trade DIFFERENCES with ABSOLUTE trade value.

Say, trade imbalances is 2B, whereas the Absolute trade value is 200B, then it's wrong to compare the difference with the absolute. We should compare apples with apples.

ExpertsGlobal5

In the original sentence,what is the role of "declined by 500...."
is it a modifier or verb for the subject ?
not able to comprehend the structure.

Hello AnujL,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, in the original sentence "declined by 500..." is an active verb phrase that acts upon the subject "United States trade deficit with Mexico"; here "declined" is the simple past tense form of the verb "decline".

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

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.