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In E, is the only error the fact that it uses "with" instead of as? what about "consumer spending has slowed sharply" part of E, is that okay?
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Hello!

Thank you for your question, oasis90!

Here's the original question, in case others want to follow along:

In E, is the only error the fact that it uses "with" instead of as? what about "consumer spending has slowed sharply" part of E, is that okay?


You are absolutely right - that's not the only problem with option E. In fact, incorrect options on the GMAT often have more than one problem with them. Sometimes, we can rule out incorrect options from different angles, and that's okay! We don't have to catch ALL of the problems with each option - if we catch an option that has a glaring problem, we toss that option aside and move on to finding the correct one.

I chose to start with "as" vs."with" because it's easy to spot during a simple glance over the options, and it is even easier to narrow it down to fewer options. If you wanted to, you could start by ruling out options that use the wrong form of the verb "to slow." We know these are past tense events, so you could start by ruling out options that don't use past tense correctly:

(A) unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending is slowed sharply --> WRONG (uses present tense)
(B) unsold goods were piling up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply --> OK (uses past tense)
(C) unsold goods had piled up on store shelves with a sharp slowing of consumer spending --> WRONG (uses a gerund instead of a past tense verb; when you have a past perfect "had piled up," you need a past tense event that uses plain past tense to go with it to show these are two events that happen in a particular order)
(D) consumer spending was slowing sharply, with the piling up of unsold goods on store shelves --> OK (uses past tense)
(E) consumer spending has slowed sharply, with unsold goods piling up on store shelves --> WRONG (uses present tense)

Either way you attack this GMAT question, you will still end up knocking out answer E because it has more than one problem with it.

If I were to continue with this, I would go back to the "with" vs. "as" issue, and that would still leave me tossing out option D. Even if we attack this question from different angles, we can still get to option B is the correct option.

I hope this helps! There is not a singular "right way" to answer a GMAT question, as long as it eventually leads to the right answer! :cool:
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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


GMATNinja
daagh
chetan2u

Can you please throw more light on why Option D and E are wrong.

I am really stuck at these options. Please help!
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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


GMATNinja
daagh
chetan2u

Can you please throw more light on why Option D and E are wrong.

I am really stuck at these options. Please help!

While businesses were expanding,.....
So we are talking of two SIMULTANEOUS actions. Thus the second action should parallel the first and should start the clause.
We can PARALLEL businesses with unsold goods, but businesses with consumer spending - may not be correct in the context here.
Although the verb tense is correct in D - was slowing, the sequence is not correct..
Unsold goods were piling up as consumer spending was slowing and not the other way as the choice D conveys. Consumer spending lowered with piling up of ...

Choice E is wrong in tense usage ..
Present perfect HAS is wrong and not PARALLEL with earlier verb.
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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

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/30/us/economy-is-up-3.7-but-signs-hint-of-slowing.html

In a report that cheered the Administration and financial markets for different reasons, the Commerce Department said today that the nation's economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter. But the report also showed that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods were piling up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply.

SC01059

GMATNinja, need your help here. I've read all the explanation but still confused why D is wrong.

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

in D : "with the pilling up of...." explains (or shows a result of) "a slower consumer spending". For me this relation still makes sense.
If we connect also with the previous statement: "while business expanding...", we can see the correlation also.

Wdyt?
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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

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/30/us/economy-is-up-3.7-but-signs-hint-of-slowing.html

In a report that cheered the Administration and financial markets for different reasons, the Commerce Department said today that the nation's economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter. But the report also showed that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods were piling up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply.

SC01059

GMATNinja, need your help here. I've read all the explanation but still confused why D is wrong.

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

in D : "with the pilling up of...." explains (or shows a result of) "a slower consumer spending". For me this relation still makes sense.
If we connect also with the previous statement: "while business expanding...", we can see the correlation also.

Wdyt?


Hi, let me try to explain this.

As per the original sentence, two things happened simultaneously.

1. Businesses were expanding their production
2. Unsold Goods piled up on the store shelves.

Notice the very important use of "as" here. This is trying to explain the reason why #2 happened. unsold goods piled up on store shelves as[because] consumer spending is slowed sharply.

Hence the sequence is -
1. Businesses were expanding their production
2. Unsold Goods piled up on the store shelves. [because] 3. consumer spending is slowed sharply

Option D uses "with" that again states #2 and #3 came up together or they happened together, and that is not the intended meaning as per original sentence.
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GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo Hey guys, can you please explain what "that" is doing in my sentence? :)
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I do not see any error in choice D
is this question from official source.
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Dear GMATNinja ,EMPOWERgmatVerbal

As for option A, if I change "is slowed" into "slowed", the sentence reads: "... while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply." Is this new version correct? If it is, the structure with "while" is not paralleled: while businesses + verb in past progressive, unsold goods + verb in simple past.

Thank you
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Dear GMATNinja ,EMPOWERgmatVerbal

As for option A, if I change "is slowed" into "slowed", the sentence reads: "... while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending slowed sharply." Is this new version correct? If it is, the structure with "while" is not paralleled: while businesses + verb in past progressive, unsold goods + verb in simple past.

Thank you

Thanks for the question Tracy95!

If you changed "is slowed" to "slowed," it is better, but it fixes only one problem. In option B, we see that this option also fixes the parallelism issue between "were expanding" and "were piling up."

So while it's better, it's still not a fully corrected option.

I hope that helps! Feel free to tag me at EMPOWERgmatVerbal with any more questions you have!
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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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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.

GMATNinja According to Manhattan Prep, the use of "with..." in E is acceptable. Do you agree? Take a look bellow:

The lack of a comma before with in answer choice (C) indicates that the modifier will modify a noun. However, with a sharp slowing of consumer spending does not logically modify any of the nearby nouns, such as shelves or unsold goods. Eliminate answer (C).

In answer (D), the modifier is with the piling up of unsold goods. When a with modifier is structured as with the [-ing word] of [noun], the modifier generally describes the cause of the clause it’s attached to. For instance, the following is correct:

With the slowing of consumer spending, unsold goods piled up on store shelves.

However, because the piling up of goods did not cause the slowing of spending, the with modifier is used incorrectly in answer (D).

Note: In answer (E), the modifier is with unsold goods piling up on store shelves. When a with modifier is structured as with [noun] [-ing word], there does not need to be a causal relationship between the modifier and its clause. Therefore, the with modifier in answer (E) is acceptable
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GMATNinja

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.

GMATNinja According to Manhattan Prep, the use of "with..." in E is acceptable. Do you agree? Take a look bellow:

The lack of a comma before with in answer choice (C) indicates that the modifier will modify a noun. However, with a sharp slowing of consumer spending does not logically modify any of the nearby nouns, such as shelves or unsold goods. Eliminate answer (C).

In answer (D), the modifier is with the piling up of unsold goods. When a with modifier is structured as with the [-ing word] of [noun], the modifier generally describes the cause of the clause it’s attached to. For instance, the following is correct:

With the slowing of consumer spending, unsold goods piled up on store shelves.

However, because the piling up of goods did not cause the slowing of spending, the with modifier is used incorrectly in answer (D).

Note: In answer (E), the modifier is with unsold goods piling up on store shelves. When a with modifier is structured as with [noun] [-ing word], there does not need to be a causal relationship between the modifier and its clause. Therefore, the with modifier in answer (E) is acceptable
Interesting question! There's a difference between arguing that an answer choice has an unclear meaning and arguing that a certain usage is inherently, mechanically wrong.

Manhattan is claiming that the usage in (E) isn't a definitive error. I don't disagree with this -- you can't eliminate (E) because it definitively violates a rule, but I don't think there's any contradiction in arguing that a construction is both technically acceptable and somewhat illogical. My explanation above doesn't claim that "with" is grammatically incorrect -- just that it doesn't seem to make much sense, and is unclear at best.

Put another way: if an answer choice isn't fundamentally wrong, but has a meaning that's less clear or coherent than an alternative, then you can eliminate that option from contention.

I hope that helps!
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EMPOWERgmatVerbal GMATNinja
"While" here plays the role of "Although" or does it represent simultaneous actions?
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Deeksha93
EMPOWERgmatVerbal GMATNinja
"While" here plays the role of "Although" or does it represent simultaneous actions?
Good question. Here's the really important thing: it doesn't matter at all! "While" isn't underlined, so there's nothing you can do about it -- and if you were facing this question on an actual exam, there would be no value in thinking about it at all.

For whatever it's worth, I don't think it's clear whether "while" means "at the same time" or "although" in this particular sentence. It's true that these actions are happening simultaneously, so "at the same time" is a reasonable interpretation: "business were expanding their production" at the same time as "unsold goods piled up on store shelves."

It's also true that there's a counterpoint going on, so "although" is also a reasonable interpretation: "The Commerce Department reported... that [although] businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods were piling up on store shelves..." That also makes perfect sense.

Bottom line: it's very rare for this distinction to be a key issue on a GMAT SC question, and it's definitely a non-issue in this one. :)

I hope this helps a bit!
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generis MentorTutoring VeritasKarishma

I know option B makes much more sense than option D but can you help me in eliminating D on some grounds
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warrior1991
generis MentorTutoring VeritasKarishma

I know option B makes much more sense than option D but can you help me in eliminating D on some grounds
Hello, warrior1991. It is really that with prepositional phrase that kills (D), for the very reason that GMATNinja has outlined in the Most Helpful Expert Reply. Look at the sentence again, with (D) inserted:

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

If we want to draw attention to a causal relationship, pointing out that the lack of consumer spending led to unsold goods piling up on store shelves, then we would use direct language, not the with phrase; if we wanted to outline a concurrent event, namely that consumer spending was slowing even as unsold goods were piling up on store shelves, then again, we would use direct language, without this with phrase. Choice (B) fits the bill nicely. There is simply no compelling reason to justify the use of the with phrase in (D).

I hope that helps. Thank you for drawing my attention to the question.

- Andrew
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