Under the 1986 tax law, interest payments on a refinanced

Question

Under the 1986 tax law, interest payments on a
refinanced home loan are deductible only if the
amount of the loan does not exceed the purchase
price of the home, the cost of improvements, and any
additional amount borrowed against the home to pay
for medical or educational expenses.

(A) any additional amount borrowed against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses
(B) borrowing any additional amount against the home for payment of medical or educational expenses
(C) also borrowing any additional amount against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses
(D) any additional payment of medical or educational expenses that were borrowed against the home
(E) any additional payment borrowed against the home for medical or educational expenses

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/12/realestate/postings-tax-tip-refinanced-mortgages.html

Prior to the new law, interest payments on a refinanced home loan were fully deductible. Under the new law, the interest is deductible only if the amount of the loan does not exceed the purchase price of the home, the cost of improvements and  any additional amount borrowed against a home to pay for medical or educational expenses . The point to the rule is to exclude benefits from those using their homes to finance other kinds of consumer spending. The Aug. 16 cut-off arose from the fact that the House-Senate conference committee reached agreement on the legislation on that date.

priyankurml · Accepted Answer

IMO A.

- payment can't be borrowed

jainu · Answer

I found this question good one...
Sentence says that "interest payments on loan are deductible only if the  amount of the loan does not exceed  the  purchase price of the home ,  the cost of improvements .
If we see the coloured clauses they indicate that we are talking in terms of some amount, i.e the structure would be parallel if we talk in terms of amount in every clause. Thus B and C are out. E says "payment borrowed"...I am sorry as far as I know payments are always made they can never be borrowed.For me it is out for this reason. D wrongly says that expenses were borrowed...hence out..So A is my answer.

JohnLewis1980 · Answer

Hi mates,

IMO  A

B out: changes de meaning of the sentence
C out: same as in B
D out: the tense is not correct, it should be present perfect. Also, "payments" cannot be borrowed
E out: "payments" cannot be borrowed

OA and Source?

Cheers

patedhav · Answer

IMO A).
amount of the loan does not exceed  any additional amount borrowed against   - amount does not exceed amount (it cannot be payment). logical parallism.

gmatbull · Answer

Under the 1986 tax law, interest payments on a
refinanced home loan are deductible only if the
amount of the loan does not exceed the purchase
price of the home, the cost of improvements, and any
additional amount borrowed against the home to pay
for medical or educational expenses.

(A) any additional amount borrowed against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses
(B) borrowing any additional amount against the home for payment of medical or educational expenses
(C) also borrowing any additional amount against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses
(D) any additional payment of medical or educational expenses that were borrowed against the home
(E) any additional payment borrowed against the home for medical or educational expenses

A [/quote
listing in B and C are not parallel - X, Y and Z
left with A, D, and E:
E: "payments" were borrowed against home.....WRONG
D: uses a passive tone; also it says "payments" were borrowed...WRONG
A: properly structured; parallel listing: X, Y, and Z (borrowed against the home...) CORRECT

pqhai · Answer

Thanks so much for your question. The point I learn is that  payment can't be borrowed . Good point for non-native speaker.

bgpower · Answer

This is a type of question, in which my already well-developed GMAT sense told me to pick A, because in (D) and (E) you can't borrow a payment. And I saw it. But in the same time in (A), which has a first part which is very good and concise, the second part with the infinitive (to pay) appeared wrong to me - "any additional amount borrowed against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses". Who borrowed something to pay?! I was literally looking for the antecedent of the verb. Can someone explain this to me so that I don't doubt this kind of phrasing in the future.

Thanks!

Thanks!

sanpreetsingh · Answer

B,C -> Unparallel Structure.
D,E -> Modifier issue, "additional payment" should be "additional AMOUNT"
Hence, A is the Answer.

09173140521 · Answer

the purchase  price of the home,  the cost  of improvements, and  any additional amount borrowed

noun ,noun , and adv+adj ..... wow  how could be parallel !!!!??????????????

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi! all three are  Noun phrases  and that is sufficient from a parallelism perspective.

It does not have to be a  word on word  match.

GMATCoachBen · Answer

"to pay for" is just a modifier that describes "amount borrowed" -- it means "for the purpose of paying for". "to pay" does not act as a main verb, and does not have a subject.

sambitspm · Answer

Under the 1986 tax law, interest payments on a
refinanced home loan are deductible only if the
amount of the loan does not exceed the purchase
price of the home, the cost of improvements, and any
additional amount borrowed against the home to pay
for medical or educational expenses.

(A) any additional amount borrowed against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses
(B) borrowing any additional amount against the home for payment of medical or educational expenses
(C) also borrowing any additional amount against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses
(D) any additional payment of medical or educational expenses that were borrowed against the home
(E) any additional payment borrowed against the home for medical or educational expenses

The parallelism here dictates 3 reasons:
1. Purchase price of the home
2. Cost of Improvements
3. Amount borrowed.

So clearly B, C are out.

Now coming to option D. Deductibles includes the amount borrowed against the medical or educational expenses and not the reverse.  So Option D is out.

Remaining are Option A, E.  Amount is borrowed, payment is paid. So E is out. .
 
Answer is A

Raman109 · Answer

Under the 1986 tax law, interest payments on a
refinanced home loan are deductible only if the
amount of the loan does not exceed the purchase
price of the home, the cost of improvements, and any
additional amount borrowed against the home to pay
for medical or educational expenses.

Option elimination -

(A) any additional amount borrowed against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses - parallelism maintained perfectly. "the purchase price" - Noun, "the cost" - Noun, "amount" - noun. 
(B) borrowing any additional amount against the home for payment of medical or educational expenses - Breaks parallelism - "borrowing" is a verbal/present participle - not a noun or gerund. 
(C) also borrowing any additional amount against the home to pay for medical or educational expenses - the same problem as B. 
(D) any additional payment of medical or educational expenses that were borrowed against the home - expenses that were borrowed - ridiculous meaning. 
(E) any additional payment borrowed against the home for medical or educational expenses - payment borrowed - ridiculous meaning.

Under the 1986 tax law, interest payments on a refinanced

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Under the 1986 tax law, interest payments on a refinanced

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