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505-555 Level|   Grammatical/Rhetorical Construction|   Verb Tense/Form|                  
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 19 Apr 2022, 19:50
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GMATNinja
This one is fun, huh? :)

thangvietnam
I do not see any error in choice D
is this question from official source.
Yup, it's from the OG! I occasionally hallucinate things in the OGs, but Bunuel verified it, and he does not make mistakes. (Also: mosquitos refuse to bite him, just out of respect. And the last time he went to Spain, he chased the bulls.)

MikeScarn
GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo Hey guys, can you please explain what "that" is doing in my sentence? :)
I see what you did there! Nicely played, MikeScarn.

The second "that" might feel a little bit unnecessary, but it's there to emphasize the parallelism:

    "The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, but that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves..."

So the Commerce Department reported two things: (1) "that the nation's economy grew..." and (2) "that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves..." So the word "that" just subordinates the two clauses, and clarifies that both clauses are things that "the Commerce Department reported." Fair enough. (More on "that" in this article and this video.)

septwibowo


I've read all the explanation but still confused why D is wrong...
Yeah, the "with" thing is tricky. Let's go through all of the answer choices, just to be safe.

Quote:
The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, but that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending is slowed sharply.

(A) unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending is slowed sharply
The verb tenses make no sense here. Businesses "were expanding" (past progressive tense, if you like jargon -- basically, an ongoing action in the past), but then consumer spending "is slowed sharply" (present tense). There's no good reason to mix those tenses here. (A) is out.

Quote:
(B) unsold goods were piling up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply
I have no problem with this. It's all in past tense: "business were expanding their production", "unsold goods were piling up", and "consumer spending slowed." That actually makes sense.

Let's keep (B).

Quote:
(C) unsold goods had piled up on store shelves with a sharp slowing of consumer spending
The verb tense doesn't work in (C), for starters. The past perfect tense "had piled up" must describe an action that logically occurs before something else in the past. And that just doesn't work here: the action "unsold goods had piled up on store shelves" doesn't happen before "business were expanding their production." That's enough to eliminate (C).

The "with" is also goofy, but I'll say more about that in (D), since that one has attracted more questions.

Quote:
(D) consumer spending was slowing sharply, with the piling up of unsold goods on store shelves
Maybe I'm missing something, but I can think of two major uses of the word "with":

    1. To indicate that one thing or person is accompanied by another: "Tim went with Ron to see a nine-hour documentary about weiner dogs."
    2. To modify or describe an action: "Milena ate an entire pizza with great enthusiasm." The phrase "with great enthusiasm" just describes the action, "Mila ate."

The problem with (D) is that neither usage of "with" really applies here. It makes no sense to say that spending was slowing accompanied by "the piling up of unsold goods," the way Tim was accompanied by Ron. And it's not logical for "the piling up of unsold goods" to describe the slowing spending.

Contrast this with (B), in which "as" indicates that the slowing of spending and the piling up of goods are happening at the same time. This is perfectly logical, and much, much clearer.

So given the choice between (D) and (B), (B) wins.

Quote:
(E) consumer spending has slowed sharply, with unsold goods piling up on store shelves
Welp, (E) has the same "with" problem as (D). Also, the verb tense still doesn't make a whole lot of sense: "has slowed" indicates an action that starts in the past but continues in the present, but then the non-underlined portion of the sentence is still in the past. It's not necessarily a crime to mix verb tenses, but in this case, there's no good reason to do it.

So (B) is the best we can do.
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Also I think D has a comparison issue. It compares plural with singular. "Businesses were while consumer spending was"

Correct me if I'm wrong.

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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 22 Apr 2022, 11:24
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Varane
Also I think D has a comparison issue. It compares plural with singular. "Businesses were while consumer spending was"

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Posted from my mobile device
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That isn't necessarily an issue by itself. For example:

    Tim was crying while his children were screaming and laughing.

"Consumer spending" is singular, so "was slowing" is correct.
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 24 Apr 2022, 22:26
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GMATNinja
This one is fun, huh? :)

thangvietnam
I do not see any error in choice D
is this question from official source.
Yup, it's from the OG! I occasionally hallucinate things in the OGs, but Bunuel verified it, and he does not make mistakes. (Also: mosquitos refuse to bite him, just out of respect. And the last time he went to Spain, he chased the bulls.)

MikeScarn
GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo Hey guys, can you please explain what "that" is doing in my sentence? :)
I see what you did there! Nicely played, MikeScarn.

The second "that" might feel a little bit unnecessary, but it's there to emphasize the parallelism:

    "The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, but that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves..."

So the Commerce Department reported two things: (1) "that the nation's economy grew..." and (2) "that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves..." So the word "that" just subordinates the two clauses, and clarifies that both clauses are things that "the Commerce Department reported." Fair enough. (More on "that" in this article and this video.)

septwibowo


I've read all the explanation but still confused why D is wrong...
Yeah, the "with" thing is tricky. Let's go through all of the answer choices, just to be safe.

Quote:
The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, but that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending is slowed sharply.

(A) unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending is slowed sharply
The verb tenses make no sense here. Businesses "were expanding" (past progressive tense, if you like jargon -- basically, an ongoing action in the past), but then consumer spending "is slowed sharply" (present tense). There's no good reason to mix those tenses here. (A) is out.

Quote:
(B) unsold goods were piling up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply
I have no problem with this. It's all in past tense: "business were expanding their production", "unsold goods were piling up", and "consumer spending slowed." That actually makes sense.

Let's keep (B).

Quote:
(C) unsold goods had piled up on store shelves with a sharp slowing of consumer spending
The verb tense doesn't work in (C), for starters. The past perfect tense "had piled up" must describe an action that logically occurs before something else in the past. And that just doesn't work here: the action "unsold goods had piled up on store shelves" doesn't happen before "business were expanding their production." That's enough to eliminate (C).

The "with" is also goofy, but I'll say more about that in (D), since that one has attracted more questions.

Quote:
(D) consumer spending was slowing sharply, with the piling up of unsold goods on store shelves
Maybe I'm missing something, but I can think of two major uses of the word "with":

    1. To indicate that one thing or person is accompanied by another: "Tim went with Ron to see a nine-hour documentary about weiner dogs."
    2. To modify or describe an action: "Milena ate an entire pizza with great enthusiasm." The phrase "with great enthusiasm" just describes the action, "Mila ate."

The problem with (D) is that neither usage of "with" really applies here. It makes no sense to say that spending was slowing accompanied by "the piling up of unsold goods," the way Tim was accompanied by Ron. And it's not logical for "the piling up of unsold goods" to describe the slowing spending.

Contrast this with (B), in which "as" indicates that the slowing of spending and the piling up of goods are happening at the same time. This is perfectly logical, and much, much clearer.

So given the choice between (D) and (B), (B) wins.

Quote:
(E) consumer spending has slowed sharply, with unsold goods piling up on store shelves
Welp, (E) has the same "with" problem as (D). Also, the verb tense still doesn't make a whole lot of sense: "has slowed" indicates an action that starts in the past but continues in the present, but then the non-underlined portion of the sentence is still in the past. It's not necessarily a crime to mix verb tenses, but in this case, there's no good reason to do it.

So (B) is the best we can do.
Show more

GMATNinja, My reasoning is that the phrase "slowed sharply" makes sense, while "was slowing sharply" doesn't, as "sharply" here implies a rather quick movement in the consumer spending, something that is more effectively conveyed by a non-continuous tense. Request you to please let me know if my line of reasoning is correct or not.
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 02 May 2022, 09:59
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NareshGargMBA

GMATNinja, My reasoning is that the phrase "slowed sharply" makes sense, while "was slowing sharply" doesn't, as "sharply" here implies a rather quick movement in the consumer spending, something that is more effectively conveyed by a non-continuous tense. Request you to please let me know if my line of reasoning is correct or not.
Show more
Yeah, I've had the same thought. I'd file this reasoning under "perfectly reasonable but not necessarily ironclad."

Put another way, if I saw "was slowing sharply" in (A), I wouldn't be totally comfortable eliminating it right away. If spending slowed over the period of a few weeks, could you argue that the slowdown is "sharp" and also unfolding continuously in the past? I really don't like it, but I'm also not 100% sure it's an error.

But if I had it down to two options, and I didn't see another decision point, would I be comfortable using that tense issue as a tie-breaker? Definitely.

In other words, I agree with your thinking. Just make sure you focus on the concrete, ironclad errors first.

Nice work!
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 05 May 2022, 10:54
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About the usage of "As"

It is prefferable to use as to establish the comaparision, but here we are using it for reasoning in option A and B.
So is it correct ?

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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 19 May 2022, 09:29
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HDhiman07
About the usage of "As"

It is prefferable to use as to establish the comaparision, but here we are using it for reasoning in option A and B.
So is it correct ?

Posted from my mobile device
Show more
There's nothing wrong with using "as" to indicate simultaneity:

    "Tim cried as he watched his daughter pour sand in his coffee."

Sure, "as" is often used for comparisons, but that's certainly not the only way "as" can be used.
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 14 Jun 2022, 12:35
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Bunuel
The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, but that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending is slowed sharply.

(A) unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending is slowed sharply

(B) unsold goods were piling up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply

(C) unsold goods had piled up on store shelves with a sharp slowing of consumer spending

(D) consumer spending was slowing sharply, with the piling up of unsold goods on store shelves

(E) consumer spending has slowed sharply, with unsold goods piling up on store shelves
Show more

This is a question on the sequence of tenses. Since the speaker/reporter is in the past, we should use a form of past tense to represent actions that happened in the past of the speaker or happening in the present of the speaker. In the sentence, the goods were piling up as the speaker spoke. Hence, we should use past continuous.

(A) is slowed sharply -> Present continuous.
(B) CORRECT. were piling/slowed ✅
(C) had piled -> Past perfect is incorrect here because goods were still piling when the speaker reported.
(D) This option has a meaning issue. It erroneously suggests that the "piling up of unsold goods" was slowing sharply with consumer spending.
(E) has slowed -> Present Perfect
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 02 Oct 2022, 12:42
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I have a question on parallelism...

I realize that you are not supposed to rewrite GMAT answers to try to make them sound better, but would "unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply" be correct? The parallelism I have there is piled/slowed.

vs. in Choice B the parallelism seems to be between piling/spending.

Does parallelism impact the meaning in that Choice B's parallelism puts the focus on piling and spending?
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 03 Oct 2022, 05:36
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woohoo921
I have a question on parallelism...

I realize that you are not supposed to rewrite GMAT answers to try to make them sound better, but would "unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply" be correct? The parallelism I have there is piled/slowed.

vs. in Choice B the parallelism seems to be between piling/spending.

Does parallelism impact the meaning in that Choice B's parallelism puts the focus on piling and spending?
Show more

Hello woohoo921,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, in Option B, the parallelism is between the verb phrases "were piling" and "slowed sharply"; using "piled" in place of "were piling" would not make the sentence any more parallel; two verbs of different tenses can absolutely be parallel, as long as they are both active verbs.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a Updated on: 13 Oct 2022, 17:29
Originally posted by woohoo921 on 03 Oct 2022, 17:01.
Last edited by woohoo921 on 13 Oct 2022, 17:29, edited 1 time in total.
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woohoo921
I have a question on parallelism...

I realize that you are not supposed to rewrite GMAT answers to try to make them sound better, but would "unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply" be correct? The parallelism I have there is piled/slowed.

vs. in Choice B the parallelism seems to be between piling/spending.

Does parallelism impact the meaning in that Choice B's parallelism puts the focus on piling and spending?

Hello woohoo921,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, in Option B, the parallelism is between the verb phrases "were piling" and "slowed sharply"; using "piled" in place of "were piling" would not make the sentence any more parallel; two verbs of different tenses can absolutely be parallel, as long as they are both active verbs.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
Show more

Thank you! A few follow-up questions based on your response:
1. So "consumer spending" is a gerund in this case, correct?
2. What do you mean by "if they are both active verbs"?

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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 10 Oct 2022, 08:48
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HDhiman07
About the usage of "As"

It is prefferable to use as to establish the comaparision, but here we are using it for reasoning in option A and B.
So is it correct ?

Posted from my mobile device
There's nothing wrong with using "as" to indicate simultaneity:

    "Tim cried as he watched his daughter pour sand in his coffee."

Sure, "as" is often used for comparisons, but that's certainly not the only way "as" can be used.
Show more


Hi GMATNinja Sir,

I have a doubt regarding the use of "as" in option B.

I believe "as" is used here to provide reasoning (just like because) hence it should be followed by a clause but I don't think so "consumer spending slowed sharply" is a clause.

Please help
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 19 Oct 2022, 15:01
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HDhiman07
About the usage of "As"

It is prefferable to use as to establish the comaparision, but here we are using it for reasoning in option A and B.
So is it correct ?

Posted from my mobile device
There's nothing wrong with using "as" to indicate simultaneity:

    "Tim cried as he watched his daughter pour sand in his coffee."

Sure, "as" is often used for comparisons, but that's certainly not the only way "as" can be used.


Hi GMATNinja Sir,

I have a doubt regarding the use of "as" in option B.

I believe "as" is used here to provide reasoning (just like because) hence it should be followed by a clause but I don't think so "consumer spending slowed sharply" is a clause.

Please help
Show more
All we need for something to qualify as a clause is a subject and a verb. The subject is "consumer spending." The verb is "slowed." So "Consumer spending slowed" is a clause.

I hope that clears things up!
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 19 Oct 2022, 23:57
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Hi GMATNinja Sir,

I have a doubt regarding the use of "as" in option B.

I believe "as" is used here to provide reasoning (just like because) hence it should be followed by a clause but I don't think so "consumer spending slowed sharply" is a clause.

Please help[/quote]
All we need for something to qualify as a clause is a subject and a verb. The subject is "consumer spending." The verb is "slowed." So "Consumer spending slowed" is a clause.

I hope that clears things up![/quote]

Thank you for your kind response sir.

I was confused about whether slowed is acting as a verb or as a -ed modifier.

How you have identified that "slowed" is acting as a verb?

Since consumer spending is not the doer of the action "slowed" hence I thought "slowed" is acting as a verb-ed modifier.

Please help me as I sometimes got very confused in identifying whether the particular word acts as an ed modifier or as a verb.
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 20 Oct 2022, 04:37
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a123bansal
Hi GMATNinja Sir,

I have a doubt regarding the use of "as" in option B.

I believe "as" is used here to provide reasoning (just like because) hence it should be followed by a clause but I don't think so "consumer spending slowed sharply" is a clause.

Please help
Show more
All we need for something to qualify as a clause is a subject and a verb. The subject is "consumer spending." The verb is "slowed." So "Consumer spending slowed" is a clause.

I hope that clears things up![/quote]

Thank you for your kind response sir.

I was confused about whether slowed is acting as a verb or as a -ed modifier.

How you have identified that "slowed" is acting as a verb?

Since consumer spending is not the doer of the action "slowed" hence I thought "slowed" is acting as a verb-ed modifier.

Please help me as I sometimes got very confused in identifying whether the particular word acts as an ed modifier or as a verb.[/quote]

Hello a123bansal,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity, "consumer spending" is, indeed, the doer of the action slowed.

Here is a similar example for comparison, "The train slowed down as it reached the platform."

We hope this helps.
All the best!
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woohoo921
I have a question on parallelism...

I realize that you are not supposed to rewrite GMAT answers to try to make them sound better, but would "unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply" be correct? The parallelism I have there is piled/slowed.

vs. in Choice B the parallelism seems to be between piling/spending.

Does parallelism impact the meaning in that Choice B's parallelism puts the focus on piling and spending?

Hello woohoo921,

We hope this finds you well.

To clarify, in Option B, the parallelism is between the verb phrases "were piling" and "slowed sharply"; using "piled" in place of "were piling" would not make the sentence any more parallel; two verbs of different tenses can absolutely be parallel, as long as they are both active verbs.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Thank you! A few follow-up questions based on your response:
1. So "consumer spending" is a gerund in this case, correct?
2. What do you mean by "if they are both active verbs"?

ExpertsGlobal5
Show more

Hello woohoo921,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your queries,

1. Yes; "consumer spending" is a gerund here.

2. What we mean is that active verbs can parallel other active verbs, and participles can parallel other participles, but active verbs cannot parallel participles.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a Updated on: 28 Oct 2022, 15:52
Originally posted by woohoo921 on 24 Oct 2022, 18:43.
Last edited by woohoo921 on 28 Oct 2022, 15:52, edited 1 time in total.
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ExpertsGlobal5
I am so sorry for all of the questions on this topic, and I cannot thank you enough for all of your time and patience.

When you say "two verbs of different tenses can absolutely be parallel, as long as they are both active verbs"
are you referring to something like this? --> "Time cried and plays tennis"? "cried" and "plays" are both active verbs because it is what Tim does (if my understanding of active verbs is correct).

What would be an example of an active verb trying to incorrectly build parallelism with a passive verb?

MartyTargetTestPrep

Since I see that you are active on the form, what are your thoughts?

Many thanks :)
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 28 Oct 2022, 06:47
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a123bansal
Hi GMATNinja Sir,

I have a doubt regarding the use of "as" in option B.

I believe "as" is used here to provide reasoning (just like because) hence it should be followed by a clause but I don't think so "consumer spending slowed sharply" is a clause.

Please help
All we need for something to qualify as a clause is a subject and a verb. The subject is "consumer spending." The verb is "slowed." So "Consumer spending slowed" is a clause.

I hope that clears things up!
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Thank you for your kind response sir.

I was confused about whether slowed is acting as a verb or as a -ed modifier.

How you have identified that "slowed" is acting as a verb?

Since consumer spending is not the doer of the action "slowed" hence I thought "slowed" is acting as a verb-ed modifier.

Please help me as I sometimes got very confused in identifying whether the particular word acts as an ed modifier or as a verb.[/quote]

Hello a123bansal,

We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity, "consumer spending" is, indeed, the doer of the action slowed.

Here is a similar example for comparison, "The train slowed down as it reached the platform."

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team[/quote]

Thanks for your reply ExpertsGlobal5
How slowed is acting as a verb in your sentence?
Train in not doing the action of slowing hence it can't be a verb as per me
Someone else(driver) is doing the action of slowing and train is receiving the action hence slowed should be v-ed modifier.

Please help me.

GMATNinja
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Would be glad if anyone of you can clear my doubt. I am really struggling with this thing.
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MartyTargetTestPrep
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 28 Oct 2022, 08:57
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a123bansal
ExpertsGlobal5
We hope this finds you well.

To provide a bit of clarity, "consumer spending" is, indeed, the doer of the action slowed.

Here is a similar example for comparison, "The train slowed down as it reached the platform."

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Thanks for your reply ExpertsGlobal5
How slowed is acting as a verb in your sentence?
Train in not doing the action of slowing hence it can't be a verb as per me
Someone else(driver) is doing the action of slowing and train is receiving the action hence slowed should be v-ed modifier.

Please help me.

Would be glad if anyone of you can clear my doubt. I am really struggling with this thing.
Show more
Hi a123bansal.

Even though "consumer spending" is not capable of choosing to take an action and someone slows a train that slowed, "consumer spending" and "the train" are considered the doers of the action "slowed."

This idea does make sense if we think about it. After all, even if consumers slowed the spending and someone slowed the train, it is still the case that consumer spending and the train did slow.
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 29 Oct 2022, 07:02
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I opted 'D', because i interpreted it as: "consumer spending was slowing sharply as a result unsold goods were piling up on store"
Can anyone help, hoe to interpret these non essential "with" modifers
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The Commerce Department reported that the nation's economy grew at a 29 Oct 2022, 20:50
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Stanindaw

I can see how you'd read D that way, but it doesn't communicate that meaning very clearly. As others have discussed, "with" is a fairly versatile modifier, and that can create a lot of confusion when we don't use it clearly. When we add a phrase like "the piling up," it could sound like we are describing a particular event or phenomenon that actually LED to the drop in spending! (Think of something like this: "The war escalated at the end of the year, with the invasion of the capital.") "With" is also often used to describe HOW things occur, and that doesn't make sense here either. Add that all up and we're better off choosing an answer that words things more clearly.
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