OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC2)
Quote:
The number of farmers filing for bankruptcy and seeking government aid is increasing rapidly, as federal payments, which are projected to reach record levels this year, falls short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure and for a long-term slump in the agricultural economy.
• Strategy tip: practice stripping the sentence in your head.Doing so may be the single most important thing you improve, especially when the options are all structured identically or nearly identically, as is the case here.
GMAC writers like to put "filler" in to throw you off: it's harder to find the true subject; it's harder to keep track of parallelism; and it's harder to stay calm because the sentence seems really long.
Don't let them win.
Strip the sentenceThe number of farmers
filing for bankruptcy and seeking government aid is increasing rapidly, as federal payments, which are projected to reach record levels this year, falls short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure and for a long-term slump
in the agricultural economy.
→ Adjectives are not at issue in this sentence.
[F]iling for bankruptcy and seeking government aid is an adjective phrase that describes
the number of farmers. Strike it.
→
which are projected to reach record levels is a nonessential modifier of
payments. Nonessential? Strike it.
→
in the agricultural economy is an adjectival prepositional phrase that describes
slump, but the words make no difference to the sentence. STrike them.
This sentence, stripped:The number of farmers . . .
is increasing rapidly, as federal payments . . . falls short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure and for a long-term slump.
Now errors are easier to see.
• SUBJECT/VERB agreement
The singular subject the number requires the singular verb is.
The plural federal payments requires the plural verb fall.
• PARALLELISM
→ The federal payments fall short of doing two things, so the
for should be repeated before
a long-term slump to make this fact clear.
→ When ellipsis is involved, prepositions are often repeated.
Ellipsis {is in brackets}:
[F]ederal payments . . . fall short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure and {fall short of compensating} for a long-term slump.We repeat the preposition to make it easy to spot the Y element in
For X and [for] Y.THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) is increasing rapidly, as federal payments, which are projected to reach record levels this year, falls short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure and for
• The plural subject
federal payments does not agree with the singular verb
falls.ELIMINATE A
Quote:
B) is increasing rapidly, as federal payments, which are projected to reach record levels this year, fall short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure and for
• I do not see any errors
• the subject
the number is correctly paired with the singular verb
is• The plural subject
federal payments agree with the plural verb
fall.• usage that creates clarity:
. . . compensating for X and for Y makes it easy to see the Y element
KEEP
Quote:
C) is increasing rapidly, as federal payments, projected to reach record levels this year, and fall short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure as well as [FOR]
• The use of
and before
fall short makes no sense because there is no verb earlier in the sentence that
and fall can be parallel to.
• The omission of
for before a long-term slump is confusing.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) are increasing rapidly, as federal payments, projecting record levels this year, fall short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure and [FOR]
• The singular subject the
number does not agree with the plural verb
are.
• The omission of
for before
a long-term slump is confusing.
ELIMINATE D
Quote:
E) are increasing rapidly, as federal payments, which are projected to reach record levels this year, falls short of compensating for the large-scale crop failure and for
• The singular subject the
number does not agree with the plural verb
are.
• The plural subject
federal payments does not agree with the singular verb
falls.ELIMINATE E
The answer is B.COMMENTSrvgmat12 , welcome to SC Butler.
HoneyLemon , you mention an issue that deserves more attention: timing.
Typically, on the GMAT, you want to try to complete SC questions in 60-90 seconds.
Make that time frame your goal.
As I mentioned above, practice stripping the sentence mentally.
Read. Read U.S. English every day, at least for 15 minutes, more, if possible.
Reading is the single best way to improve in verbal.
(And btw, sometimes, read out loud. Try doing so for 5 minutes.)
Review
OG questions after you've used them in mock tests.
You will begin to absorb the patterns that GMAC tests.
And most importantly, practice breathing.
Your parasympathetic nervous system will thank you.
It may sound silly, but unless you are a competitive athlete or dancer who has already learned how to breathe better to enhance performance, you have to practice.
Take a look
here and
here.
You all can do this.
Standardized tests are . . . well,
standardized, a fact that makes them fairly predictable—not easy, mind you, but learnable.
These answers range from good to excellent.
Nice work.
close
28 Feb 2021, 00:59
19%
(01:07)
wrong 
.. Took me 2 min 05 sec to mark ..
