OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONProject SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)
Quote:
Over the last six months, public and private banks have loaned more than $500 billion as part of aggressive new lending efforts by the nation’s Central Bank to distressed businesses and state and local governments.
• The placement of the phrase
to distressed businesses and state and local governments is the key in this question.
The phrase should logically be placed next to
loaned more than $500 billion.
Sentences such as this one are good for strengthening what I will call "psychological muscle memory."
Under pressure, on the test, a long sentence with a lot of phrases can appear daunting. It is easy to panic.
The key is to remember that grammar rules will not always be the dominant issue and that finding the key issue may require that you do more "better or worse" assessments between and among options.
THE OPTIONSQuote:
A) [loaned] more than $500 billion as part of aggressive new lending efforts by the nation’s Central Bank to distressed businesses and state and local governments.
• The indirect object is too far from the direct object
→ direct object =
what was loaned? About $500 billion.
→ indirect object =
to whom or to what was the $500 billion loaned? To distressed businesses and state and local governments
→ This sentence is tedious and confusing because we must wait until the end of the sentence to find out to whom the $500 billion was loaned.
Because of the placement of
to distressed businesses, a reader might believe that there is something called "Central Bank to distressed businesses."
Now, if the latter were really the name of an institution, important words would be in all caps.
• Do not eliminate a sentence on the first pass because it contains stylistic problems.
I do not like this option. The indirect object should be placed right after the direct object so that the sentence is easily and quickly understood.
KEEP, but look for a better option
Quote:
B) more than $500 billion to distressed businesses and state and local governments as part of aggressive new lending efforts by the nation’s Central Bank.
• I do not see any errors
• The indirect object immediately follows the direct object. I understand quickly what was loaned and to whom.
Option A is fresh in our minds. Compare it to option B: is option A better or worse than option B?
Option A is worse than option B. Whichever sentence makes you work less hard to understand is the better sentence.
Eliminate A.
KEEP B
Quote:
C) as much as $500 billion as part of aggressive new lending efforts by the nation’s Central Bank to distressed businesses and state and local governments.
• The indirect object is too far from the direct object
→ This sentence is similar to option A and not as good as option B.
• there is nothing wrong with
as much asNo,
as much as does not mean the same thing as
more than does.
Not a problem. We are not required to replicate the wording in option A.
ELIMINATE C
Quote:
D) so much as $500 billion as part of aggressive new lending efforts to distressed businesses and state and local governments by the nation’s Central Bank.
• the indirect object is still too far from the direct object.
→ We have already seen from option B that placing
to distressed businesses right after $500 billion keeps the indirect object close to the direct object
•
so much as is not idiomatic. It is also nonsensical.
ELIIMINATE D
Quote:
E) as part of aggressive new lending efforts by the nation’s Central Bank more than $500 billion for distressed businesses and state and local governments.
• now the direct object, $500 billion, is too far from its verb
loaned→ as a matter of style and rhetorical effectiveness, the direct object ($500 billion) should be kept close to its verb (loaned)
•
for is not idiomatic
→ if the lending is direct, we lend money TO, not
for . . . $500 billion for distressed businesses.
A bank does not loan money "for" distressed businesses if the bank gives the money to the businesses.
• this sentence is a hot mess
→ the intervening phrase "as part of . . ." explains the purpose of the $500 billion loan to different places but creates a disjointed sentence.
. . .Banks have
loaned as part of aggressive new lending efforts by XYZ . . . more than $500 billion for P, Q, and R.
This option is not better than option B.
The answer is B.COMMENTSmlakshmi84 , welcome to SC Butler.
The answers that provide explanation are quite good.
I used formal terms such as
direct object and
indirect object to talk about style and construction issues.
Many of you did not use those terms but simultaneously did a good job explaining the concept.
Nice work, everyone.
close
20 Apr 2021, 23:51
21%
(01:28)
wrong 
