In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninter

Question

In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, at 1.34 million.

(B) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to

(C) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, to

(A) declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, at

(B) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to

(C) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, to

(D) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20 percent, at

(E) to declare themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20 percent, at

hanumayamma · Accepted Answer

Sentence has Idiom and Tense issue:

Jumped … to correct idiom - Eliminate A, D and E
Between B and C: In 1997 – implies past event – no need to have present perfect 
Eliminate C:

(A) declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, at
(B) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to
(C) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, to
(D) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20 percent, at
(E) to declare themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20 percent, at

Answer: B

esledge · Answer

Sometimes, they are equivalent, and you can just go with what you like:
the people who are eating cake = the people eating cake.
the birds that are flying overhead = the birds flying overhead.

The meaning of the relative clause depends on the verb tense within. All of the following are different:
the people who will eat cake (later)
the people who ate cake (before now)
the people who eat cake (This could even mean they eat cake  as a general rule ; i.e., they aren't on a diet that forbids eating cake.)

In contrast, the participle forces you to look elsewhere to answer the question of "when."

By itself, -ing implies the present moment:
"the people eating cake" are doing so now.

"The coach trained all of the gymnasts competing in the 1988 Olympics." The modifier "in the 1988 Olympics" tells you when they were competing.

"The hunter fired at the birds flying overhead." The "flying" is concurrent with the past tense main verb "fired."

raconteur · Answer

Although I don't like, I'm going with B.

A. "has jumped" unnecessary use of present perfect tense. Also, I believe the idiom is "jump to", not "jump at".
B. Correct use of "jump to". Also, simple past tense "jumped" is consistent, although I don't like using the present progressive "declaring". Still go with B.
C. "has jumped" not correct just like A.
D. "almost by 20 percent" is awkward. It should be "by almost 20 percent". Also, "jump at" is wrong.
E. "jump at" is wrong. Also, the sentence is in the simple past, so "to declare" should instead by in the past tense "declared".

djsbee · Answer

Gotta go with B.

Tried to reform the sentence. 
(B) The number of United States citizens  declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to  1.34 million, in 1997. 
(C) The number of United States citizens  who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, to  1.34 million, in 1997.

A,D,E thrown out because  at 1.34 million  doesn't make sense.

x2suresh · Answer

A, C out becuase "has jumped" is not suitable here.

D,E out "jumped almost by " 20 %--changes the meaning.
 it should be jumped by alsmost 20 %
 and also "jumped to" better than "jumped at"

Vote for "B"

amitanand · Answer

Hi Experts,

Could anyone please explain the reasoning behind the following question:

Q: In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens  declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at  1.34 million.
a) declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, at
b) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20%, to
c) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20%, to
d) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at
e) to declare themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20%, at

The main doubt is when to use relative clauses like ' who declared themselves ' and when to use participles like ' declaring themselves '

Thanks in anticipation.
-Amit

malloomo · Answer

Can somebody explain me what is wrong with the following reasoning?

it should be  who declares,  so that the modifiers modifiers citizens.
With  declaring  the modifier modifies, the number of. A number of can not declare bankruptcy, only the citizens themselves can.

Therefore B is out.

v12345 · Answer

here is the rule ---- verb ing modifiers, when used without comma, modify the preceding noun only
and not the complete clause

and when used with comma, they modify complete clause

Kudos if you like explanation

AryamaDuttaSaikia · Answer

Verbing - if acting as modifier and NOT preceded by comma - modifier will modify the closest noun. In this case, "declaring" is providing extra information about "the closest noun" citizens.

Hope this helps.

sukanyar · Answer

But if you say "who declares", how will it modify citizens? Because "citizens" is plural and "declares" is singular verb.

I don't think "declare" would also be correct here; the sentence should be in past. So, it should be "declared".

abrakadabra21 · Answer

In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, at 1.34 million.

(B) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to

(C) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, to

(B) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to

(D) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20 percent, at

Declaring and who declared both are good.

Ron: 
"jump at" some quantity is wrong. 
on the other hand, if the word "at" is part of some other construction, such as a time marker, then it could appear:
consumer spending always jumps at the end of the year, when the holiday season arrives.
here, "jump at" isn't really a construction; it's just "jump", followed by "at the end of the year".

KarishmaB · Answer

Here is a post that tells you when and how to use participles: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2014/1 ... -the-gmat/ Here is a post on relative clauses: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2013/1 ... at-debate/ Hope this sorts out the confusion.

subrataroy0210 · Answer

In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, at 1.34 million.

(B) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to

(C) who declared themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, to

...economy that marked -> the event took place in the past. Therefore,  has jumped  is unnecessary and can be replaced by  jumped

(A)  declaring themselves bankrupt  has jumped  by almost 20 percent, at
(B) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to
 (C) who declared themselves bankrupt  has jumped  by almost 20 percent, to
(D) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20 percent, at
 (E)   to  declare themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20 percent, at

Left with :

(B) declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to
(D) who declared themselves bankrupt jumped almost by 20 percent, at

jumped by almost 20%  vs  jumped almost by 20%

The number increased by almost 10%  makes more sense than  The number increased almost by 10%.  'almost' should modify the '20 percent' in this case.

Thus, I chose option B.

asdfghjklasdfghj · Answer

So what we should read is this:  In 1997 ,  despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century ,  the number of United States citizens  declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, at  1.34 million.

Then the question becomes easy. We have a specific time mentioned at the Beginning of the sentence, that means we need the "normal" past form. "Has" does not make sense, since this action occurred in 1997 and stayed there. A and C are therefore out.

After this initial step we look closely at this sentence: the number of United States citizens  declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, at  1.34 million.

We should cross out the prep. phrase --> the number  of United States citizens   declaring themselves bankrupt has jumped by almost 20 percent, at  1.34 million.

Then we see that "who" makes no sense. "The number who" ... Who must refer to a person, hence D is wrong. Furthermore we see that "declaring themselves bankrupt" is a modifier of "The Number of". That is nicely done is B but badly done in E, since E does not have this modifier and simply state "to declare bankrupt" which does not make sense.

Hence, B

warrior1991 · Answer

generis   VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja

If option C were changed to the one below, which among the two would be correct.

Please help.

generis · Answer

warrior1991  , yes, if (C) were written the way you describe (see below), the sentence would correctly describe what happened in 1997.

• Your version of (C)

C) In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens   who declared themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to  1.34 million.
Correct. Strip the sentence.

The number of citizens who  declared  themselves bankrupt  jumped  by almost 20 percent, to 1.34 million.

The relative clause ("who declared themselves bankrupt") has a verb in past tense that is consistent with "jumped."
By contrast, in B, the participle phrase does not have a working verb. We find the time frame for "declaring" from "jumped."*

This construction is fine; the sentence describes what happened in 1997 (as does correct option B).

*B) In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninterrupted expansion with the lowest jobless rate in a quarter century, the number of United States citizens       declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to  1.34 million.
• (B) may sound unusual to non-native speakers.
-- Participles do not have tense, even though we name them  present  and  past  participles.
-- We find the time frame for the participle from the main verb.
-- The main verb is  jumped . Simple past tense: in 1997. "Declaring" is what the citizens did  in that time frame in the past.

Informally (do not write this way in essays): Back then (at that time, in 1997), the number of people declaring themselves bankrupt jumped by almost 20 percent, to 1.34 million.

**As it stands, Option (C) is nonsensical. 
 In 1997 , ABC  has jumped  by X percent, to 1.34 million.
  Present perfect is inappropriate in option (C)  .  This site,  here  summarizes present perfect nicely.

Doer01 · Answer

Hi,
 A case of tense, has jumped, & idiom error,at 1.34Million.

Since the time stamp is defined as "In 1997", it is clear that whatever is mentioned in the sentence, has already happened. So a simple past tense must be used.
Second, when something jumps by a %, the result is TO not AT.
So, above mentioned reasons give us a clear 3 to 2 split. Ignore A,D & E. C uses correct idiom "to" but does not correct the tense error.

B corrects both the errors.

amanrsingh · Answer

Hi  egmat ,

I just have a small doubt can you please explain how in option B 'Jumped' is a verb and not a participle modifier

anud33p · Answer

While we wait for e-gmat, here are my two cents. Every independent clause requires a bonafide verb. In this sentence  despite ...   marks the beginning of a subordinate or dependent clause. Now, try to find the action word/ verb in the independent clause. You will see that  jumped  has to be the verb and not a participle modifier.

In 1997, despite an economy that marked its sixth full year of uninter

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