Rather than continue to produce most of the items necessary for subsis

Question

Rather than continue to produce most of the items necessary for subsistence, a growing number of farm families during the first decades of the nineteenth century began to specialize in the production of grain or cotton and to use the cash proceeds from  selling their crops for buying  necessities.

(A) selling their crops for buying
(B) the sales of their crops for buying
(C) their selling of crops so as to buy
(D) their selling crops for buying of
(E) the sale of their crops to buy

daagh · Accepted Answer

A simple issue of infinitive parallelism is yet one of the important tenets of GMAT philosophy. -- A growing number of families began to specialize …and to use the proceeds to buy the necessities. --- Therefore, E, is the only one that displays the infinitives parallelly.

Why would 'to buy' be better than 'for buying'? The intention of the sales cannot be missed because they have a need to buy the staples now.
Why is C not correct? Because the correct form of the idiom is not "so as to" but 'so x as to' at least as far as GMAT is concerned

thinkvision · Answer

I am not sure about this one, but I'll go with E!

eakabuah · Answer

daagh  Sir, how is “sale of their crops” different from “the sales of their crop”?

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ArtVandaley · Answer

I am clocking most SC questions under 1 min, but this one took 2. Not an easy one indeed.

First of all, "from their selling of" is BS. Preposition+ noun+ verbing is only correct when focus is on noun and not on the action (Verbing).

B has a subtle issue. "From the sales of their crops" Indicate that the farmers are selling their crops multiple times. It's just one time sale. Besides use X to Y is superior to use X for Y(IMO).

Between A&E, I will choose E for using noun form instead of verbing.

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daagh · Answer

eaka

Not critical to our issue here I suppose. Both, in general, may mean the same thing because the singular 'sale' is also generic for the entire quantum of the value that the farmers receive. Both sale and sales eventually refer to the act of selling, but we do not use 'selling' because it is no good style to use a gerund when there is a normal noun. 
It is analogous to income and incomes as although all of us have our own incomes, we tend to say just income.
Nevertheless, B is rejectable because of the use of 'for buying', which lacks the vim and vigor of the intention that the question would like to inculcate

eakabuah · Answer

Well understood. Thank you very much for clearing a doubt I had.

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gvij2017 · Answer

Can anyone here elaborate more about use of "to buy" instead of "for buying"?
In past I also done similar mistake. Even I raised query, but it was not addressed. 
So need help now!

eakabuah · Answer

gvij2017 This article by e-gmat might be very helpful in addressing your doubt. Here is a link to it: https://gmatclub.com/forum/search-resul ... 0&ie=UTF-8 Posted from my mobile device

emcheeks · Answer

Rather than continue to produce most of the items necessary for subsistence, a growing number of farm families during the first decades of the nineteenth century began to specialize in the production of grain or cotton and to use the cash proceeds from  selling their crops for buying  necessities.

(A) selling their crops for buying
(B) the sales of their crops for buying
(C) their selling of crops so as to buy
(D) their selling crops for buying of
(E) the sale of their crops to buy

Notice that the answer choices include "selling" and "sales" which are the verb+ing and noun forms of the word "sell". Remember verb+ing usually refers to the  action/process  whereas the noun form refers to the  result . Here, the farm families use the cash which is the result of their sales. Therefore, cross out ACD.
 
 A similar problem (verb+ing vs. noun) would be (I am a new user and not allowed to include u#rl, so try searching this problem on this forum):
 Contrary to earlier conjectures, it may be that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide as a result of burning fossil fuels would cool the globe by reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed by snow.

This problem also tests on the idiom:  use sth to do sth.  Eliminate ABD: "use...for..." wrong! In C, the "so as to" is awkward. Therefore, E is the answer.

Some people might be able to cross out B based on the usage of     prep. phrase + noun + verbing   .  However,it is hard to generalize when it is right to use prep +noun+ verbing. But the only way it is definitely wrong is when that noun is different from (or not related to) the noun in the main clause. 
For example:  With American cryptanalysists breaking the Japanese code, the Japanese Imperial Fleet losing the strategic element of surprise at Midway, which allowed the America Fleet to ambush the Japanese and win a decisive victory.  Here, that with clause is definitely wrong.
But if we come back to the problem, I can't tell if that "from" clause if correct because they are the same nouns. But I was able to cross out other answers by looking at the idiom of  use sth to do sth.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Rather than continue to produce most of the items necessary for subsis

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