Bunuel wrote:
Custodian fees and expenses, as described in the statement of operations, include interest expense incurred by the fund on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account during the period.
A. include interest expense incurred by the fund on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account during the period
B. are to include interest expenses on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account the fund incurred during the period
C. includes interest expense the fund incurred during the period on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account
D. may include interest expense during the period that the fund was to incur on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account
E. including interest expense on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account incurred by the fund during the period
SC20121.01
OG2020 NEW QUESTION
With this many prepositional phrases, find any clear grammar errors first.
Custodian fees and expenses include
interest expense
. . .
incurred by the fund
. . . . . . on any cash overdrafts
. . . . . . . . . of its custodian account
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .during the period
• Split #1: Subject verb agreementCustodian fees and expenses,
as described in the statement of operations,. . . include interest expense . . .
The subject
custodian fees and expenses is plural and requires the plural verb
include.
Option (C) incorrectly uses the singular
includesOption (E) does not have
any verb for the subject.
--
including is not a working verb
--
including 1) is an exception to the comma + participial (comma + verbING) modifier rules;
2) is often listed as a preposition; and
3) can mean
containing [this item or these items] or
together with or
for exampleEliminate C and E
• Split #2 - Verb tense and meaningRough meaning: Custodian fees and expenses . . . include AN interest expense [that is] incurred by the fund and
that is connected to cash overdrafts.
Don't worry about the
custodian's account or the "period," which probably
refers to a fiscal period but is not an important phrase.
If the fund creates cash overdrafts, then someone pays interest on those overdrafts,
and that payment is an interest expense.
Compare options B and D to option A.
(B)
are to include . . . expenses(D)
may include . . . expense that the fund was to incur . . .(A)
include . . . expense incurred by the fundWithout using a lot of labels --
The strange verb phrase in B, "are to include" adds two extra words and
is not better than option A's "include."
Another problem with (B):
The word interest
expenses, plural, is wrong.
-- There is only
one interest expense: the one that is caused by cash overdrafts on the custodial fund.
Option (D) uses
may include, which might be okay, except that the verb makes it sound as though
interest fees on cash overdrafts are optional. The latter is unlikely.
Much worse, "was to incur"
-- sounds like an infinitive of purpose, as though the fund itself intended to incur something,
or as though someone intended that the fund incur something.
But an overdraft by definition suggests accident or lack of intention;
no person would intend to incur penalties in the form of interest payments on cash overdrafts.
-- "was to incur" is almost nonsensical. Compare the verb phrase "was to incur" with
the past participle "incurred" in option A. The latter wins.
Eliminate options B and D. Both are inferior to A.
The answer is A.