guhancr7 wrote:
EMPOWERgmatVerbalCould you please provide an explanation for this question?
Hi
guhancr7! I'd be glad to give an explanation for this question! To begin, here is the original with any major differences between the options highlighted in
orange:
According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence
that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come in for a 'soft landing', followed by a gradual increase in the business activity.
(A)
that the economy will avoid the recession
that many had feared earlier in the year
and instead come(B)
in the economy to avoid the recession,
what many feared earlier in the year,
rather to come(C)
in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year
many had feared ,
and instead to come(D)
in the economy to avoid the recession
many were fearing earlier in the year,
and rather to come(E)
that the economy will avoid the recession
that was feared earlier this year by many,
with it instead comingAfter a quick glance over the options, we see a few areas we can focus our attention on:
1. will avoid vs. to avoid (Verb Tense & Meaning)
2. feared / had feared / fearing (Verb Tense)
3. and instead come / rather to come / and instead to come / and rather to come / with it instead to come (Parallelism)The quickest way to answer this question is to actually focus on #3 on our list: parallelism. There are two actions the economy will take in this sentence, and they must be parallel. Let's take a look at the original sentence for clues:
According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come in for a 'soft landing', followed by a gradual increase in the business activity.We need to make sure that the options all use parallel wording with "avoid." Let's see how they stack up:
(A) that the economy will
avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead
come =
PARALLEL(B) in the economy to
avoid the recession, what many feared earlier in the year, rather
to come =
NOT PARALLEL(C) in the economy's ability to
avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared , and instead
to come =
NOT PARALLEL(D) in the economy to
avoid the recession many were fearing earlier in the year, and rather
to come =
NOT PARALLEL(E) that the economy will
avoid the recession that was feared earlier this year by many, with it instead
coming =
NOT PARALLELThere you have it - option A is the correct choice! It's the only option that uses parallel structure throughout the sentence.
So why didn't I start with #1 or #2 on my list?#1 on my list (to avoid vs. will avoid) is incredibly confusing to try to explain. It has more to do with how to handle modifiers and intended meaning, which will take you more time to work out while taking the GMAT. Parallelism typically is a quicker thing to check for, so it makes more sense to start there.
#2 on my list (how each option ends) relies on your understanding of idioms that use words like "rather" and "instead." As I understand it, the word "rather" deals with degrees of something (it's rather cold outside) and "instead" is used to offer up an alternative (let's go to the mall instead). However, trying to focus on this option will also take a lot more time than necessary.
I hope this helps! By focusing on the grammar concepts that are easier to handle, you might find that they help you answer the question much faster than just picking the first thing you notice!
:thumbup:
Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
(B) in the economy to avoid the recession, what many feared earlier in the year, rather to come = NOT PARALLEL
(C) in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared , and instead to come = NOT PARALLEL
(D) in the economy to avoid the recession many were fearing earlier in the year, and rather to come = NOT PARALLEL
Isn't "to avoid" supposed to be parallel with "to come"? Both are in present tense.
The infinitives "to avoid" and "to come" certainly CAN be parallel. However, in choice (B), we are missing a parallelism marker (such as "and") altogether! We would need something like this to make it work:
"The economy is expected to avoid the recession and, rather, to come in for a soft landing." - The "and" properly links the two infinitives.
i would go instead of <expect verb - e.g. sit> go and sit are parallel ,even no and is present..
close
13 Jul 2020, 09:16
