The CEO of Ergon, a multi-million dollar company, asked the consultant

My answer is E.

(A) economical forecast of the entire sector, so that he would be able to -> wrong in economical
(B) economical forecast of the entire sector, and could -> wrong in economical
(C) economic forecast of the entire sector, now he can -> could be better
(D) economic forecast of the entire sector, so as to possess the ability to -> wordy
(E) economic forecast of the entire sector, so that he could

My 2 cents...E

A & B are out because of economical.

D is awkward, C because of " he can" which doesn't go well with first half.

Posted from my mobile device

"economical" is giving an incorrect meaning. So, A and B are not correct.

E is much more concise than D. C is a run on and hence cannot be correct.

Answer E
A,B out due to economical
Between, C,D,E, E is the best choice. D is wordy and C does not make sense.

Dear King407,
I'm happy to help. There are many good responses on this page, but because you ask, I will respond personally.

I assume that, after all the discussion on this page, you understand why (A) & (B) are irredeemably wrong, using the word "economical" instead of "economic."

It's important to understand that the pronoun is not as ambiguous as you think. You see, when the subject is also the principle actor and focus of the sentence, it's obvious that a pronoun that appears in a clause refers back to this overall subject.

In particular, the clause of consequence ("so that . . . ") creates a powerful logical connection between the independent clause and the clause following the word "that."
A did X so that he could . . .
See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom ... nsequence/
It's very clear that the subject of the "that" clause has to be the same as A, the subject of the sentence overall. If the purpose of the action involves the original actor, then a single pronoun suffices to show the connection. If the CEO were doing something to make something possible for someone else, such as the consultant, this would have to be spelled out explicitly.
The CEO of Ergon did XYZ with the consultant, to allow the consultant to do PQR.

For all these reasons, the pronoun is not ambiguous at all. Thus choice (E) is concise, clear, and not ambiguous in the least. That makes it considerably better than (D).

Does all this make sense?
Mike

Thanks Mike.. It's clear now.

I missed the idiom part before comparing.

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.