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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make Updated on: 18 Feb 2022, 09:39
Originally posted by LM on 23 Jun 2007, 02:02.
Last edited by Bunuel on 18 Feb 2022, 09:39, edited 2 times in total.
Cleaned the topic.
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs

B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts

C. The government prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission

D. For consumers and businesses that make a large number of long distance calls, the government's prediction that the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs

E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs
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A
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 04 Aug 2013, 01:41
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Quote:
The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs

B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts

C. The government prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission

D. For consumers and businesses that make a large number of long distance calls, the government's prediction that the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs

E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs
Show more

The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

B and C use an unnecessary passive voice, for now we can eliminate them.
D is not a sentence
For consumers and businesses that make large number of long-distance calls, modifier the government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs (modifier of the prediction),
So "the government prediction" ?? what?

A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs,
E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce cost

They are pretty much the same except for the placement of "for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls": this is technically an adverbial phrase (not 100% sure, but does not matter). The thing that matter is the meaning: if you place this modifier as it is in A you say that the policy will reduce costs FOR those costumers. (correct meaning)
If you place it as it is in option E you are saying that the gov predicts something FOR those costumers (...) (incorrect meaning).

Moreover
the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts is much better than the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 08 Dec 2017, 01:56
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AjiteshArun , daagh ,GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat ,sayantanc2k , other experts -- can you please help with an explanation for the given question?
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The intended meaning of the underlined portion of the sentence is that according to a prediction by the government, costs will be reduced for particular consumers (because of rate cuts by the Federal Communications Commission). Options A and D seem to be missing the word Commission, though I think we can overlook that—it's probably just a typo.

sondenso
A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs,
Show more
This is the correct option, unless the omission of Commission is not a mistake.

sondenso
B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts,
Show more
Calls by the rate cuts is slightly confusing. Also, this option uses the passive voice (will be reduced).

Costs will be reduced for those who do this by rate cuts.
vs.
Rate cuts will reduce costs for those who do this.

sondenso
C. The government's prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission,
Show more
Again, passive voice. Also, the usage of the government's prediction is is quite awkward (in comparison with the government predicts that). Also, we would normally expect a that after prediction is.

sondenso
D. For consumers and businesses that make large number of long-distance calls, the government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs,
Show more
There is no complete clause in this option (needed because of the though some consumer groups disagree in the non-underlined portion). The government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs is just a noun phrase. It doesn't have a verb. Also, there is no a before large number of in this option.

sondenso
E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs,
Show more
The for consumers bit is not placed very well in this option. For example:

To the people taking the test, the GMAC said that the new feature would make no difference.
vs.
The GMAC said that the new feature would make no difference to the people taking the test.

If the intended meaning is the second one, the first is a more roundabout and confusing way of expressing the idea. It could be misinterpreted as "the GMAC said something to this group of people" (instead of being understood as "the GMAC said that something would not affect this group of people").
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 15 May 2008, 20:57
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Quote:
35. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs,
B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts,
C. The government's prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission,
D. For consumers and businesses that make large number of long-distance calls, the government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs,
E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs,
Show more
D and E - the govt is modified incorrectly.
C -Government's prediction wrong
I will go for B. But the word 'Recent' is missing.
Hence answer is A. Also, I am not able to find a fault with A.
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 02 Jun 2008, 14:18
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Predictions denotes time frame in future and thus require “will”.
Eliminate B, C

Between A, D and E

A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs,
B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts,
C. The government's prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission,
D. For consumers and businesses that make large number of long-distance calls, the government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, [The government prediction creates a phrase - eliminate it]
E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs, [making – shown progressive form – eliminate it]

Answer: A
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+1 A.
Nice discussion on this @ https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/the ... t1537.html
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LM
The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

A.

B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts

C. The government prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission

D. For consumers and businesses that make a large number of long distance calls, the government's prediction that the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs

E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs
Show more

A is correct , but I am not sure whom 'they' in non underlined portion (suggesting they are too optimistic) is referring to ? If consumer groups disagree then how can they be too optimistic.

Friends, Please clarify my doubt.
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 28 Jul 2017, 09:52
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LM
The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

A.

B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts

C. The government prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission

D. For consumers and businesses that make a large number of long distance calls, the government's prediction that the Federal Communications Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs

E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs

A is correct , but I am not sure whom 'they' in non underlined portion (suggesting they are too optimistic) is referring to ? If consumer groups disagree then how can they be too optimistic.

Friends, Please clarify my doubt.
Show more


Hello anje29,

I will be glad to help you with this one. :-)

In the original sentence, the plural pronoun they in the non-underlined portion refers to the plural pronoun estimates.

The sentence intends to convey that some consumer groups do not agree with the government's estimates and hence suggest that these estimates are too optimistic.

Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
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I narrowed down to A and E. Unable to understand why E is wrong ?
Please help .

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kumarparitosh123
I narrowed down to A and E. Unable to understand why E is wrong ?
Please help .

Sent from my Lenovo TAB S8-50LC using GMAT Club Forum mobile app
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Hi kumarparitosh123 ,

E is illogically adding present perfect tense "Commission has made". As per the meaning of the sentence, we just need to state a fact and based on that we need to tell what government predicted. But E is not doing the same.

Also, E says government predicted something for the consumers. But the original meaning is government predicted that Federal will reduce something for the consumers. Look at the modifier "For consumers..., Government predicted".

Hence, E is incorrect.

Does that make sense?
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, - Correct
B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts, -- the passive voice is indeed a problem, because it's unnecessary. (remember that the passive voice should only be employed when there's a fairly compelling reason to use it.) in choice b especially, there's also an unacceptably long distance between the passive-voice action (will be greatly reduced) and the agent of that action (by the ...).
C. The government's prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission, -- one thing you should definitely notice in choice c is the wordiness of 'the government's prediction is'. constructions like that, which can easily be replaced by more compact forms ('the government predicts') with no change in meaning, are ALWAYS wrong. (also, you need the word 'that' after 'is'.)
D. For consumers and businesses that make large number of long-distance calls, the government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, -- no verb for the main clause
E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs, --The problem with choice E is in the placement of the modifier ("For consumers and businesses making a large number of..."). Since this comes before the main clause, "the government predicts...", the implication is that the government is making a prediction for the sake of those consumers and businesses: the prediction is "for" them - and may not even mean that their rates will fall!

Answer A

AjiteshArun , daagh ,GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat ,sayantanc2k , other experts -- can you please help with an explanation for the given question?
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 08 Dec 2017, 15:11
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Skywalker18
The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

A. The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, - Correct
B. The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts, -- the passive voice is indeed a problem, because it's unnecessary. (remember that the passive voice should only be employed when there's a fairly compelling reason to use it.) in choice b especially, there's also an unacceptably long distance between the passive-voice action (will be greatly reduced) and the agent of that action (by the ...).
C. The government's prediction is, for consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, costs will be greatly reduced by the recent telephone rate cuts made by the Federal Communications Commission, -- one thing you should definitely notice in choice c is the wordiness of 'the government's prediction is'. constructions like that, which can easily be replaced by more compact forms ('the government predicts') with no change in meaning, are ALWAYS wrong. (also, you need the word 'that' after 'is'.)
D. For consumers and businesses that make large number of long-distance calls, the government prediction that the Federal Communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, -- no verb for the main clause
E. For consumers and businesses making a large number of long-distance calls, the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission has made will greatly reduce costs, --The problem with choice E is in the placement of the modifier ("For consumers and businesses making a large number of..."). Since this comes before the main clause, "the government predicts...", the implication is that the government is making a prediction for the sake of those consumers and businesses: the prediction is "for" them - and may not even mean that their rates will fall!

Answer A

can you please help with an explanation for the given question?
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Dear Skywalker18,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

I agree with your basic logic. For (E), I will add that, in addition to the modifier problem at the beginning, the double-"that" construction is awkward:
. . . the government predicts that the recent telephone rate cuts that the Federal Communications Commission . . .
This is grammatically correct, but repeating the same word in such a short space is jarring. It sounds unimaginative, as if a not-very-creative writer couldn't think of a smoother way to arrange the information. There are multiple reasons to reject (E).

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 23 Aug 2018, 17:03
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Why the use of passive voice, In B, is unnecessary here?
And is it acceptable that the important information is set off by commas in option A?

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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 24 Aug 2018, 22:32
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Blackishmamba
Why the use of passive voice, In B, is unnecessary here?
And is it acceptable that the important information is set off by commas in option A?

Posted from my mobile device
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I think the point Mike was making was that if you have a choice between active and passive voice, all else being equal, active is generally preferred.

That's generally true, but I'd be careful about using the passive voice as a reason to eliminate an answer choice -- at the very least, it's not the FIRST thing you should be worried about on SC. We do occasionally see the passive voice show up in OAs, and in those problems, the wrong answer choices in active voice often have more severe problems. So let's see if there's a better reason to eliminate (B).

Quote:
The government predicts that costs will be greatly reduced for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts
Show more
The sentence intends to say that costs will be reduced by the FCC's rate cuts. But the modifier in red kind of sounds as though it's referring to "long distance calls." That doesn't make any sense -- literally, the sentence seems to be saying that the FCC's rate cuts are actually making long-distance phone calls.

Put another way: the passive voice here isn't wrong because the GMAT doesn't "like" passive voice; the real problem is that the modifier is too far from the thing it modifies, and the meaning becomes nonsensical.

Compare this with (A):
Quote:
The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal Communication Commission's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs
Show more
This meaning is crystal clear - the rate cuts will reduce costs.

The takeaway: don't eliminate answer choices because they employ less-than-ideal style that the GMAT "doesn't like". Eliminate them because they either make definitive grammatical mistakes or have unclear/nonsensical meanings.

I hope that helps!
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 29 Mar 2019, 00:47
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what is wrong in option B? Is it reasonable to strike it out solely on the basis of being passive voice?
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 29 Mar 2019, 03:36
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Hi Deb, let's look at these two sentences similar to option B:

Deb and his family make a large number of long-distance calls by landline phone.
- How do Deb and his family make a large number of long-distance calls? Answer: by landline phone

Meaning: Deb and his family use landline phone to make a large number of long-distance calls.
- This meaning seems reasonable

Similarly, B says:

Consumers and businesses make a large number of long-distance calls by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts.
- How do Consumers and businesses make a large number of long-distance calls? Answer: by the Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts

Meaning: Consumers and businesses use Federal Communication Commission's telephone rate cuts to make a large number of long-distance calls.
- This meaning is clearly absurd.

Hence, B is incorrect.
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Debkumar94
what is wrong in option B? Is it reasonable to strike it out solely on the basis of being passive voice?
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While, in very rare cases, the use of the passive voice may be the only decision point one has available to use in choosing between choices in Sentence Correction questions, generally, eliminating a choice merely because it uses the passive voice is not a good strategy.

For one thing, the passive voice can be the optimal voice to use in expressing some meanings.

Further, sometimes SC question writers use the active voice in the incorrect versions and the passive voice in the OA in order to ensure that test-takers are actually analyzing the logic of sentence versions. That way, test-takers who use solid logic in choosing among choices choose the correct choice, and test-takers who use basic approaches like eliminating choices just because the choices sound wrong or or because the choices use the passive voice don't get the questions correct.

So, to get Sentence Correction questions correct consistently, be sure to go beyond using simple approaches like eliminating choices merely because they use the passive voice.
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 28 Apr 2019, 13:45
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make a large number of long-distance calls, the Federal communication's recent telephone rate cuts will greatly reduce costs, though some consumer groups disagree with the government's estimates, suggesting they are too optimistic.

Somebody please help and explain me what does this 'they' refer to....It seems to me it refers to government. So isn't there a SV agreement error in A.?
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 28 Apr 2019, 14:28
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Doesn't the option A disobey the fundamental rule of grammar i.e. no comma(,) after "that" ?
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The government predicts that, for consumers and businesses that make 28 Apr 2019, 18:15
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kunalbean
Doesn't the option A disobey the fundamental rule of grammar i.e. no comma(,) after "that" ?
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We should think twice before marking an option that introduces a comma between a that and the noun that the that refers to. This means that the following structure is incorrect:

1. An event, that greatly reduced their numbers... ← Putting a comma between event and that is non-standard. We would really not want to mark an option like this one.
2. An event that, greatly reduced their numbers... ← This one is also incorrect.

However, there is an "exception" to this. If we need a modifier near the that, we may use commas to "bracket" the modifier.

3. An event that, in our opinion, greatly reduced their numbers... ← Yes, we can see commas here, but those commas are for "in our opinion".
4. An event that, in our opinion, greatly reduced their numbers... ← (3), without the "in our opinion"
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