The city of Rouen, France saw tourism decline by 10 percent last year,

OE

The correct response is (C). This corrects the original sentence by using the plural pronoun “they” to refer back to “sales,” rather than the ambiguous “it.” Additionally, it is more idiomatic to say that sales were expected to decline than to say “it could have been assumed they would decline”. If we assume something, we take for granted other possibilities that could materialize. If a city sees a decline in tourism, we might EXPECT sales of biographies to decline as well.

If you chose (A), this has an awkward double-conditional with “could” and “would.” Only one conditional is needed for the meaning to be clear. Additionally, “it” is ambiguous and has no antecedent. Look for a more concise choice.

If you chose (B), we have an awkward double-conditional with “might” and “should.” We do not need to introduce a relative clause with the word “that.”

If you chose (D), this choice is written in passive voice. The “decline” is the object of the verb, so in an active construction, it should come at the end of the sentence. The subject, the noun or pronoun doing the action, should come first in a GMAT clause.

If you chose (E), this choice retains the errors from the original sentence and increases the wordiness, additionally muddling the meaning. We don’t need the double-conditional of “might” and “would.”

https://www.gmatpracticequestions.com/gm ... tice-test/