Pack 14 Q5: In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated...

Question

Pack 14, Question 5 of 5:

In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated that cyber-crime impacted various industries on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase with company-wide intranet and software that become more broadly accessible.

(A) on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase company-wide intranet become more broadly accessible

(B) on their internal networks and anticipate the increase of cyber-attacks with the broader accessibility of company-wide intranet

(C) on their internal networks, and they anticipate more cyber-attacks to increase with the wider accessibility of company-wide intranet
 
(D) on their internal networks, and that they anticipated the increase of cyber-attacks as company-wide intranet would become more widely accessible
 
(E) online, and that they anticipated cyber-attacks to increase as company-wide intranet became more widely accessible

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HoneyLemon · Accepted Answer

E ,  IMO 
Meaning :

In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated 
that cyber-crime impacted various industries on their internal networks 
and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase with company-wide intranet and software that become more broadly accessible.

The way the sentence is written it is not clearly conveying the meaning . . 
 American cybersecurity executives indicated X and anticipated   cyber-attacks to increase with company-wide intranet and software   .. The red part seems illogical meaning .

Yes yet can be correct if we say .. 
  They anticipated cyber-attacks to increase because company-wide intranet and software became more broadly accessible. ..

Error   : 
  1. Meaning error as mentioned above .

(A) on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase company-wide intranet become more broadly accessible

1. Meaning error as mentioned above .

(B) on their internal networks and anticipate the increase of cyber-attacks with the broader accessibility of company-wide intranet

1. Meaning error as mentioned above . 
 2. Parallelism error . The verbs indicated and anticipate are not parallel.

(C) on their internal networks, and they anticipate more cyber-attacks to increase with the wider accessibility of company-wide intranet

1. Meaning error as mentioned above . 
 2. Parallelism error . The verbs indicated and anticipate are not parallel.

(D) on their internal networks, and that they anticipated the increase of cyber-attacks as company-wide intranet would become more widely accessible

1. With the change in sentence structure the parallelism error is now resolved from choice B and C . 
 2. However , with the use of the word would become it introduced a Meaning change error . With the use of the conditional verb form  would become  , there is an element of uncertainty ,which makes this choice incorrect . 
 3. Also this choice not concise .

(E) online, and that they anticipated cyber-attacks to increase as company-wide intranet became more widely accessible

--- Correct . This choice corrected all the error above. In this version the verb anticipated has an subject they , and the clause -- they anticipated cyber-attacks to increase as company-wide intranet became more widely accessible---- clearly indicates that the increase in cyber-attacks is because of the company-wide intranet becoming more widely accessible.

A humble request to hit   Kudos   , if you like above reasoning .

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated that cyber-crime impacted various industries on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase with company-wide intranet and software that become more broadly accessible.

the past tense verb ''indicated'' suggests that the event being described is past event. Hence, we need to use the past tense verb form as the main tone of the passage.

Since (B) and (C) uses the present tense verb ''anticipate'',   eliminate (B) and (C) .  
 
(A) on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase company-wide intranet become more broadly accessible  -  the intended meaning of the sentence is to highlight the increased cyber-attacks as a consequence of growing accessibility to intranet. To indicate such a consequence that occurs simultaneously with the cause, we need to use ''as'' to highlight the consequence that results from the cause. Since (A) does not have ''as'', (A) can be considered incorrect. Moreover, the increase in company-wide intranet is an event that needs to be presented in the present tense; however, this increase is not indicated using the word ''become'', which is not a present tense verb.  
 
(D) on their internal networks, and that they anticipated the increase of cyber-attacks as company-wide intranet would become more widely accessible  -  the word anticipated already indicates an event that is expected to occur in the future. So, the use of the verb form ''would become'' hand in hand with the verb ''anticipated'' can be considered as ''redundant''. Besides, the increase in cyber attacks simultaneously occurs with the increase in accessibility of company-wide intranet. So, the verb form ''would become'' (which indicates a future event) cannot be used to describe something that occurs in simultaneity (present tens e)

(E) online, and that they anticipated cyber-attacks to increase as company-wide intranet became more widely accessible - has no error. Hence,  (E) is the right answer choice.

thenikhilseth · Answer

Choice  E  is Winner.

Area tested-  Parallelism

Executives Indicated  that.....and that 
A,B and C is eliminated because 'that' is Unavailable.

Between D and E,

D is wrong because

1)  They anticipated the increase- Wrong 
They Anticipated Cyber crime to Increase- Correct.
2) Anticipated + Would-  Redundant

(A) on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase company-wide intranet become more broadly accessible

(B) on their internal networks and anticipate the increase of cyber-attacks with the broader accessibility of company-wide intranet

(C) on their internal networks, and they anticipate more cyber-attacks to increase with the wider accessibility of company-wide intranet

(D) on their internal networks, and that they anticipated the increase of cyber-attacks as company-wide intranet would become more widely accessible

(E) online, and that they anticipated cyber-attacks to increase as company-wide intranet became more widely accessible-  Winner

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation

In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated that cyber-crime impacted various industries on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase with company-wide intranet and software that become more broadly accessible.

(A) on their internal networks and  anticipated  cyber-attacks to increase company-wide intranet  become more broadly accessible

(B) on their internal networks and  anticipate  the increase of cyber-attacks with  the broader accessibility of  company-wide intranet

(C) on their internal networks, and they  anticipate  more cyber-attacks to increase  with the wider accessibility of  company-wide intranet
 
(D) on their internal networks, and that they  anticipated  the increase of cyber-attacks as company-wide intranet would  become more widely accessible  
 
 (E) online, and that they  anticipated  cyber-attacks to increase as company-wide intranet  became more widely accessible

This question deals with verb tense consistency.  By looking at the non-underlined portion of the sentence, we can determine that it is in the past because it happened in 2018 and the verb “indicated” is also in past tense form. Let’s see which options use past tense correctly, and eliminate any that don’t:
 
 (A) on their internal networks and  anticipated  cyber-attacks to increase company-wide intranet  become  more broadly accessible 
This is  incorrect . Although “anticipated” is in the past tense, “become” is not.

(B) on their internal networks and  anticipate  the increase of cyber-attacks with the broader accessibility of company-wide intranet 
This is  incorrect . “Anticipate” is in the present tense and not consistent with the rest of the sentence.

(C) on their internal networks, and they anticipate more cyber-attacks to increase with the wider accessibility of company-wide intranet 
This is  incorrect . “Anticipate” is in the present tense and not consistent with the rest of the sentence.
 
 (D) on their internal networks, and that they  anticipated  the increase of cyber-attacks as company-wide intranet would  become  more widely accessible 
This is  incorrect . Although “anticipated” is in the past tense, “become” is not.
 
 (E) online, and that they  anticipated  cyber-attacks to increase as company-wide intranet  became  more widely accessible 
This is correct. Both anticipated and became are in the past tense.

There you have it - option E is the only one that uses consistent past tense verbs throughout!

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done, DasAshishAshutosh ! You cracked the code on this one! We also like the clear presentation, so other students can clearly follow your thought process. Kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done, jaisonsunny77 ! Another great explanation - kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done, thenikhilseth ! We like seeing all the different approaches you've all taken with these questions - they will be very helpful to others who are also studying! Kudos to you!

jrk23 · Answer

Can anyone please explain the use of "that" in option "e". Its not clear to me. Also please explain is it a complete clause.

abhik1502 · Answer

EMPOWERgmatVerbal

Option E start with "Online" whereas others and original option start with "on their internal networks". These two signify different technical aspect of impact.

THese two are different things altogether and any either of them create a significant difference in meaning. So don't you think option E loses the intended message though grammatically correct ?

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Thanks for the question abhik1502 ! This is why the GMAT can be tricky - there are occasionally options that are not 100% grammatically correct, but are the best option out of the 5. In this case, the other 4 options have so many problems with verb tense consistency that we need to rule them out. Option E doesn't have the same verb tense issues, so even the "error" of changing "internal networks" to "online" isn't as big of a problem. Thankfully, this doesn't occur often on the GMAT - mainly in the more advanced questions.

We hope this helps!

robinbjoern · Answer

In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated that cyber-crime impacted various industries on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase with company-wide intranet and software that become more broadly accessible.

Sorry but the "right" sentence makes absolutely no sense for me.

The executives indicated  that cyber crime impacted X  and  that they anticipated y ...

If we omit the first part and check where the second that clause refers to we get:

The executives indicated that they anticipated y. I don't think the GMAT would let you pick this answer as a right choice.

Gauravvinod92 · Answer

I also thought of the same.
Regards,
Gaurav

NischalSR · Answer

Can you please clarify whether the usage of THAT THEY ANTICIPATED is correct? @EMPOWERgmat

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Thanks for the follow-up question  NischalSR  and  robinbjoern !

The usage of "that they anticipated" is totally fine. In fact, it creates a nice parallel structure to the previous phrase "that cybercrime impacted."

We hope that helps! Check out the official explanation in the comments for more details on how to tackle this question!

100mitra · Answer

Correct option : E

Common mistake which can normally people lead to, is attraction towards parallelism, comparasion and commonly used idioms, and ignorance of "intended meaning", "verb tense" , and "Pronoun"

which is very catchy for some in option A, such as

1. Indicated || anticipated - because the usage of (,and)
2. some idioms : usage of "that (1) and that (2)

In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated that cyber-crime impacted various industries on their internal networks and anticipated cyber-attacks to increase with company-wide intranet and software that become more broadly accessible.

looking at 1st glance option (E) looks too simple to ignore, but its solves the "intended meaning", "tense sequence" and "Pronoun - they" accurately, plus parallelism and comparasion by "AS" usage

In 2018, American cybersecurity executives 
 indicated  that 
cyber-crime  impacted  various industries online, and that 
they  anticipated  cyber-attacks  to increase   as  company-wide intranet became  more widely accessible

PrajayM · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatVerbal

The issue I have with option E is that it says the executives indicated that .... and that they anticipated ....

Does this mean that they indicated that they anticipated something? To me that sounded a little illogical. Is it not clearer to just say they anticipated something?

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Great question, @PrayjayM! In option E, the executives are doing 2 separate actions. Here is what option E looks like if we add in all the non-underlined parts. I've also highlighted the 2 separate actions: In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated that cyber-crime impacted various industries online , and that they anticipated cyber-attacks to increase as company-wide intranet became more widely accessible . So no, they didn't "indicate that they anticipated" something - they indicated one thing, and then anticipated something else. We hope that helps! Keep tagging us at EMPOWERgmatVerbal with any more questions you have!

Kushchokhani · Answer

EMPOWERgmatVerbal

I think "that" should not come before "they anticipated" in choice E otherwise it will become "indicated that they anticipated" which is illogical. For this reason, I rejected choices D and E. Also, just 30% people have correctly attempted this ques seems to support my contention.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Pack 14 Q5: In 2018, American cybersecurity executives indicated...

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