Dear Friends,
Here is a detailed explanation to this question-
walker wrote:
Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city’s economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
Meaning is crucial to solving this problem:Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended meaning of this sentence is that students in the metropolitan school district are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy that is becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
Concepts tested here: Idioms + Meaning + Verb Forms+ Tenses + Redundancy/Awkwardness • “enough + to” is a correct, idiomatic usage; besides, “enough” is used to show “adequacy” and generally not used to show a cause-effect relationship; rather, “so + cause + that + effect” or “so + cause + as to + effect” are some of the preferred constructions for conveying a cause-effect relationship.
• The simple present continuous tense is used to refer to actions that are currently ongoing and continuous in nature.
• The simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.
A: Trap. This answer choice fails to maintain the idiomatic construction “so cause … as to effect”, as it omits the word “so”; please remember, the correct, idiomatic usage is “so cause…as to effect” or “so cause…that effect”. Besides, Option A uses the needlessly wordy phrase “to such a large degree as to make”, leading to awkwardness.
B: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "becomes" to refer to an action that is currently ongoing and continuous in nature; remember, the simple present continuous tense is used to refer to actions that are currently ongoing and continuous in nature, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature. Further, Option B fails to maintain the idiomatic construction “so cause…that effect”, as it omits the word “so” and incorrectly included the word “enough”; please remember, the correct usage is “so cause…as to effect” or “so cause…that effect”, and “enough” is generally not used to show a cause-effect relationship. Besides, Option B uses the needlessly wordy phrase “to a large enough degree that they will be”, leading to awkwardness.
C: This answer choice uses the noun phrase “lack of math skills”, leading to an incoherent meaning; the intended meaning of this sentence is that students in the metropolitan school district are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy that is becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the simple present tense verb "becomes" to refer to an action that is currently ongoing and continuous in nature; remember, the simple present continuous tense is used to refer to actions that are currently ongoing and continuous in nature, and the simple present tense is used to indicate actions taking place in the current time frame, indicate habitual actions, state universal truths, and convey information that is permanent in nature.
D: Trap. This answer choice fails to maintain the idiomatic construction “so cause…as to effect”, as it introduces the superfluous word “much” and places “so” within the phrase expressing the cause “are lacking in math skills”, leading to awkwardness; please remember, the correct, idiomatic usage is “so cause…as to effect” or “so cause…that effect”.
E: Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the idiomatic construction “so cause ("lacking in math skills")…that effect” ("it will be difficult to absorb…"), conveying the intended meaning of the sentence- students in the metropolitan school district are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy that is becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries. Further, Option E avoids the tense error seen in Options A and C, as it uses the present participle (“verb+ing” - “becoming” in this sentence) to refer to a currently ongoing action; please remember, the present participle (“verb+ing” - “becoming” in this sentence) is used to refer to ongoing actions in any time frame. Additionally, Option E is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.
Hence, E is the best answer choice.To understand the concept of "Simple Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~2 minutes):
To understand the concept of "Simple Continuous Tenses" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):
All the best!
Experts' Global Team