Rising inventories, when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in

Rising inventories is plural because inventories is plural. In this sentence, rising acts as adjective. It just describes the noun - inventories.

This usage is different from the following usage

eating healthy foods is good.
Here eating represents an action. This action is performed on the thing - healthy foods.
This complete expression constitutes a phrase which now is singular.
Also note that the complete subject is "eating healthy foods", where "eating" is an action performed on "healthy foods"

On the other hand, when you say rising inventories lead to..., the subject of the sentence is inventories. Now "rising" only describes these inventories.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Aman

The answer is E for this question:

A. Upon reading this answer choice in the sentence, I found it very confusing and awkward. First, I noticed that the word "when" is used. Usually "when" modifies a time or date, but it in this case, it is modifying the noun "inventories." Since I wasn't sure if this was correct or not, I kept looking for other mistakes. I noticed that "correspondingly" is used as an adverb, but what word is it modifying? This seemed ambiguous to me. Finally, the use of unaccompanied did not sound right. Therefore, I ruled out this answer choice.

B. The subject "rising inventories" does not agree with the singular verb "leads."

C. The use of "were" suggests that this event or statement took place in the past and is no longer valid in the current time frame. This cannot be true since the main verb of the sentence is "can lead" suggesting that it is a general statement that continues into the present.

D. There is a problem with subject verb agreement here.

E. This answer seemed to be the correct choice. The sentence has changed the adverb "correspondingly" into an adjective "corresponding." The use of the adjective here makes more sense. There is no subject verb agreement error and no tense issues.

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Subject-Verb Agreement + Tenses + Idioms + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• “if” is used to refer to phrases that lead to a “then” clause and “whether" is used for showing alternatives; "whether" generally wins over "if" on GMAT.
• “when” is only used to refer to a point in time.
• Information that is permanent in nature is best conveyed through the simple present tense.
• The simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.

A: This answer choice incorrectly uses "when" to refer to a phrase that leads to a "then" clause; please remember, “if” is used to refer to phrases that lead to a “then” clause, and "when" is only used to refer to a point in time. Further, Option A uses the needlessly indirect phrase "unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

B: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "inventories" with the singular verb "leads". Further, Option B incorrectly uses "when" to refer to a phrase that leads to a "then" clause; please remember, “if” is used to refer to phrases that lead to a “then” clause, and "when" is only used to refer to a point in time.

C: This answer choice incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb phrase "were unaccompanied" to refer to information that is permanent in nature; please remember, information that is permanent in nature is best conveyed through the simple present tense, and the simple past tense is used to refer to events that concluded in the past.

D: This answer choice incorrectly refers to the plural noun "inventories" with the singular verb "leads". Further, Option D uses the needlessly indirect phrase "correspondingly increased sales", leading to awkwardness.

E: Correct. This answer choice correctly refers to the plural noun "inventories" with the plural verb "lead". Further, Option E correctly uses "if" to refer to a phrase that leads to a "then" clause. Additionally, Option E avoids the tense error seen in Option C, as it uses the past participle phrase "not accompanied" rather than an active verb, such as "were unaccompanied" in Option C. Besides, Option C 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 (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team

The solution lies in understanding what meaning the sentence is trying to communicate.
The sentence means that
IF INVENTORIES RISE,then sales should INCREASE by the SAME quantity.
If Inventories increase by a huge proportion, then sales should increase by a huge proportion too (not small proportion) else there will be cutbacks in production.
so we are trying to modify the "increase in sales" not sales not unaccompanied but the "increase in sales"
so E

first of S.V.AG.
inventories ..... can lead( plural needs plural verb)
b,D out Left with A,C,E
unaccompanied is awkward.( not accompanied is correct usage)
left with E.
in when and if case.
use when in modifying events,time .if is used subjunctive hypothetical .and we have 5 common pattern ,in which we use if
1-if present ,then (can be omitted)present
2-if present ,then may present(not certain)
3-if present,then future
4-if past simple,then past conditional(in this question)
5-if past perfect,then conditional +present perfect

Rising inventories, blah blah, can lead to blah blah.

We can re-write this sentence as 'Inventories that are rising blah blah can lead to ...
Hence, inventories is the subject and rising is an adjective.

Having good friends is a wonderful thing.

We cannot re-write this as, 'Friends that we have are wonderful things'. This sentence has a different meaning.
Here, the subject is not friends. The subject is 'having good friends'.
Hence, it is a noun phrase. And 'Rising inventories' is not.

My Answer is E and here is why

(A) when unaccompanied {Awkward }correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead
(B) when not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, possibly leads { plural need singular}
(C) when they were {plural }unaccompanied {Awkward }by corresponding sales increases, can lead
(D) if not accompanied by correspondingly {unnecesssary }increased sales, possibly leads
(E) if not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, can lead




Kudos if you like my answer

Choice A: Rising inventories, when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead to production cutbacks.
To determine whether the modifier "correspondingly" is placed appropriately or not, read the sentence and ask yourself, what should correspondingly modify.

Thought process: Inventories are rising...the sentence indicates that if these rising inventories are not accompanied by increases in sales, then something happens...So rising inventories-corresponding increases in sales. Thus, corresponding should modify the increases in sales.

Now, lets check what "correspondingly" modifies - it seems to modify the verb - unaccompanied and hence the placement is not correct.

Choice D: Rising inventories, is not accompanied by correspondingly increased sales, possibly leads to production cutbacks.
In this sentence, correspondingly modifies increased sales. However, notice that in the original sentence, the author is talking about trends - rising inventories and increases in sales. Choice D, on the other hand, talks about trend in inventories but a specific value of sales - INCREASED sales. Thus, it does not communicate the intended meaning of the original sentence. And hence is incorrect.

Hi mikeworld,

I don't know if you are still looking for the naswer, but here it is nonetheless.

Yes, "that" in the non-underlined portion refers to the receding noun entity "production outbacks". This is needed to suggest that "production cutbacks" hamper economic growth.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

In this problem, you can just pass through D and E(saves at least 20-30 seconds if not more), because I was under the impression that "when" for GMAT is best used to modify a location or time period. In this case, when is modifying "rising inventories".

Consider a Kudos if you like this post

hi,

first of all choices A/B/C are not wrong because of the use of WHEN....,,rather there are some other errors.
second WHEN is not used to refer to a location...

this is an Official Question....so will suggest you to go through the explanation of OG s THOUROUGHLY....it will defenetely help you.
value official questions....dont try to use your impression in eliminating answer choices.

see, here they are referring to a situation in which , it is more like a situation if X can lead to Y. whereas, when refers to a timeframe not a aparticular situation.
So A,B, C goes off...
now D & E left
In D , "increased Sales" more or less means a sale increase which has taken a place lead to a situation, which is not true. here it is an ongoing process.
So only E is left.
Hope that helps.
Give me a kudos if this helps

Hi,
more to add.

how to determine whether the phrase like RISING INVENTORIES is singular or plural...

It depends on which of the two words is actually forming the subject.

For example,

Growing children need extra energy.
Planting trees is a good idea.
Slashing the deficit is essential.
Stunning shots were played.

And yes, not accompanied is a better way of expressing the negation.

take a look at this:

Removing inefficiencies is important (you CAN remove inefficiencies).
Having good friends is a wonderful thing. (your example, you CAN have friends)
Reading books gives us knowledge and pleasure. (your example, you CAN read books)

and now,

Rising inventories leads to... (you CANNOT rise inventories... the correct word is raise)
Rising inventories lead to...

And yes, not accompanied is a better way of expressing the negation.

Rising inventories, when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead to production cutbacks that would hamper economic growth.

(A) when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead
(B) when not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, possibly leads
(C) when they were unaccompanied by corresponding sales increases, can lead
(D) if not accompanied by correspondingly increased sales, possibly leads
(E)if not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, can lead

The answer to this question is choice E

The sentence can be broken down into following clauses:

C:Rising inventories can lead to production cutbacks that would hamper economic growth:IC
C:when unaccompanied correspondingly bv increases in sales: Noun Modifier modifying Rising inventries.

we can reject choice A as in the noun modifier 'when unaccompanied correspondingly bv increases in sales' correspondingly shoul modify increase but in choice A it is modifying unaccompained.
Choice B and D can rejected on the basis of subject verb disagreement.
Now there is a confusion between choice C and E.
I got the answer E but couldnot eliminate C for any right reasons.

Answer C is incorrect because it uses the past simple form "were" in the first clause whereas the second part of the sentence is in the present simple ("can"). The two parts of the sentence speak about the same period of time - the present and thus both clauses need to be in the present tense.

The topic was discussed rising-inventories-when-unaccompanied-correspondingly-by-97784.html

Please DO NOT create duplicate posts on the same topic.
This is my third reminder to you.

@egmat
While considering option B, I was able to identify that rising inventories needs a plural verb but as said by WaterFlowsUp is the use of "when" nonsensical?

(B) Rising inventories, when not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, possibly leads to production cutbacks that would hamper economic growth.

According to me, in the above sentence, when refers to a situation (noun event) which is correct.
"possibly leads" is incorrect as "rising inventories" needs a plural verb.

Please explain,with the context of above question, the difference between "if" and "when", if any.