The market for so-called functional beverages drinks that promise

Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down our options quickly so we know how to answer questions like this when they pop up on the GMAT! To begin, let's take a quick look at the question and highlight any major differences between the options in orange:

The market for so-called functional beverages, drinks that promise health benefits beyond their inherent nutritional value, nearly doubled over the course of four years, in rising from $2.68 billion in 1997 to be $4.7 billion in 2000.

(A) in rising from $2.68 billion in 1997 to be

(B) in having risen from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

(C) as it rose from $2.68 billion in 1997 to be

(D) with its rise from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

(E) rising from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

After a quick glance over the options, there are 2 main differences we can focus on:

1. in rising / in having risen / as it rose / with its rise / rising (diction; meaning)
2. to be / to (idioms)

Since #2 on our list is an either-or split, let’s start there. No matter which direction we go in, we’ll eliminate 2-3 options rather quickly. We are dealing with the idiom “from X to Y,” so let’s eliminate any options that don’t follow this idiom format:

(A) in rising from $2.68 billion in 1997 to be

(B) in having risen from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

(C) as it rose from $2.68 billion in 1997 to be

(D) with its rise from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

(E) rising from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

We can eliminate options A & C because “from X to be Y” is not idiomatically correct. Now that we have it narrowed down to 3 options, let’s tackle #1 on our list. We need to make sure the meaning is clear, and we also need to eliminate any options that are overly wordy or confusing:

(B) in having risen from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

This is INCORRECT because “in having risen” is overly wordy and awkward. You could just as easily say “rising” and mean the same thing. Also, we want the -ing word to focus on the action happening, which in this case should be “rising” and not “having.”

(D) with its rise from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

This is INCORRECT because there is a vague pronoun. The pronoun “its” isn’t 100% clear - are we referring back to the market, drinks, or something else? Remember - if a pronoun doesn’t have a clear antecedent, that’s a problem!

(E) rising from $2.68 billion in 1997 to

This is CORRECT! The meaning is clear and concise, and there are no issues with idioms or vague pronouns!

There you have it - option E is the winner! By eliminating 2 options quickly, that left us more time to focus on the more nuanced grammatical issues, so we could find the correct choice!


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