The Commerce Department announced that the economy grew during the

Hey All,

Funny how everyone can get the right answer, yet as the thread goes on, more and more doubts seem to surface (not over the answer, of course, but the reason). Well, let's take a look.

The Commerce Department announced that the economy grew during the second quarter at a 7.5 percent annual rate, while inflation eased when it might have been expected for it to rise.

A. it might have been expected for it to rise
PROBLEM: This is an IDIOMS issue. We know this because we see changes in prepositions ("to" versus "for"). The idiom is "A is expected to B", not "it is expected for B to A".

B. it might have been expected to rise
ANSWER: This is the correct idiom.

C. it might have been expected that it should rise
PROBLEM: I'm not 100% sure that this is actually a WRONG idiom (expected that), but it's certainly horrific from a concision standpoint (though I hate concision issues, because they're so rare on the actual GMAT). However, it seems to me that the the "should" should be a "would". As in, "it might have been expected that it "would" rise. Should implies that it "ought to", where as would is the conditional verb to go with "might".


D. its rise might have been expected
PROBLEM: Not parallel. We're paralleling eased with something (inflation EASED when it might have Y). We need another verb, but this gives us a noun "rise".

E. there might have been an expectation it would rise
PROBLEM: Same as above. "Expectation" is a noun, and we want a verb.

Hope that helps!

-tommy