The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market

Question

The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as  that  behind last week's rally: a surge in the economy to a 5.6% annual growth rate and improved corporate earnings balanced by the lack of signs of inflationary pressure.
A. that
B. those
C. what was
D. for that
E. they were

pqhai · Accepted Answer

The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as that behind last week's rally: a surge in the economy to a 5.6% annual growth rate and improved corporate earnings balanced by the lack of signs of inflationary pressure.
A. that
B. those
C. what was
D. for that
E. they were

A. that
 Wrong.  Not parallel. The intended meaning is that "the reasons ( plural ) for X were much the same as " those" (the reasons ) behind Y.

B. those
 Correct.  The reasons || those ("those" refers to "the reasons")

C. what was
 Wrong.  "the reasons for X" and "what  was  behind Y" are not parallel.

D. for that
 Wrong.  
- "for" is redundant. The correct structure is: the reasons (plural) for X were much the same as  for those behind Y
- "that" <== singular. Wrong.

E. they were
 Wrong.  
- Pronoun problem: if you use  "they", you repeat the same subject  "the reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market" <== That's wrong, because "the reasons for X" and "the reasons behind Y" are  different . (You only use "they" if you repeat the   same  subject)
- Parallelism problem: " The reasons for X " and " they were " are not parallel. Technically, the noun phrases before and after "were much the same" - comparative phrase - must parallel.

Hope it helps.

sayantanc2k · Answer

You seem to be confused between two different usages of "as".

For comparing, "as" can be used either as a conjunction or as a preposition.

"As" as a conjunction: In this case the comparison is made between two clauses. 
 I am sick  as  you are .

"As" as a preposition: In this case two nouns are compared (generally in the idiomatic form  X same as Y )
 The reasons  that.... are same as  those .... option B - "reasons" compared with "those" ("reasons").

u2lover · Answer

B for me

Reasons are plural, so we need "those"

E IMO has a concision problem... you can put "those" and make it crisp and clear with 1 word

thangvietname · Answer

the same has two meaning, to refer to the same thing or to refer to like thing. each meaning has different usage. look at the dictionary to see

AnotherGmater · Answer

While comparing using "As", don't we need a clause followed by "as"? Here, according to OA, it doesn't seem like a clause preceded with "As".

Can you please help me understand whether there is a gap in my understanding of the concept as a whole or of the problem at hand?

leo125 · Answer

Cannot understand why E is wrong. Plz explain..

dabaobao · Answer

egmat GMATNinja VeritasKarishma Could some expert please explain why B is correct even though it's missing a clause after "as"? I believe that "as" is always followed by a clause when we're doing a comparison, as mentioned in egmat 's article (https://gmatclub.com/forum/as-vs-like-c ... 33950.html). B just has a noun (i.e. those) and doesn't have a verb. I believe that when AS is used for comparison, verb is not allowed to be omitted (i.e. ellipsis), so AS should always be followed by a Noun + Verb. Is that correct? From sayantanc2k 's post, I see that there's an idiom usage here: "X same as Y". I believe we're allowed ellipsis in Y only for that idiom but we can't have ellipsis whenever "as" is being used for comparison in other cases? When we use pronouns, do they refer to just the noun or "noun+noun modifier" if the noun is followed by a modifier? For example, in E, would "they" be referring to "reasons" or "reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market"? I know we use "those" for a new copy. Since the original sentence says "much the same", would the usage of "they" (i.e. used to refer to same copy) be incorrect? Thanks!

saurabhbhargava · Answer

GMATNinja   egmat   broall 
Please explain why is E wrong?

heartbanger97 · Answer

Just providing my ideas,
there are some idiomatic usage of AS which I think we should memorize.
I just copy them from MGMAT SC book.
1- X Acts As Y 
2- X is the Same As Y
3- As X,So Y 
4- Such As Y (example)
5- Think Of X As Y
6- View X As Y
7- Regard X As Y
In all of the above structures, X and Y should be parallel (logically & grammatically). In this specific question, structure number 2 has been used.
In this question, X is "The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market" which is a noun phrase.
and Y should be another noun to be parallel with it.

atrayee345 · Answer

"As" as a preposition: In this case two nouns are compared (generally in the idiomatic form X same as Y)
“The reasons that.... are same as those....” option B - "reasons" compared with "those" ("reasons").
Hence, B is the answer.

meenakshimiyer · Answer

"As" as a preposition: In this case two nouns are compared (generally in the idiomatic form X same as Y)
“The reasons that.... are same as those....” option B - "reasons" compared with "those" ("reasons").
Hence, B is the answer.

himanics · Answer

its a GMAT Prep question. please tag it

jkbk1732 · Answer

I thought just "This, These, Those" are not to be used in place of nouns.
They can be used as adjectives, such as Those reasons, these cars...

Can someone clarify?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  jkbk1732 ,  that/those   can  be used as as in place of nouns. In fact, this is a very common usage in GMAT, especially in comparison sentences.

Peter's car is more expensive than that of his brother. 
-  that  correctly refers to  car .

Michael's houses are dearer than those of his sister. 
-  those  correctly refers to  houses .

Note that in such a usage,  that  can only refer to  singular  nouns, while  those  can only refer to  plural  nouns.

Also note that this usage of  that  is different from the usage of  that  as a  relative  pronoun, wherein  that  can refer to both  singular  and  plural  nouns.

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  the avatars of “that” . Have attached the corresponding section of the book, for your reference.

mSKR · Answer

Hi  AndrewN  sir

I was confused between A and E. Why can't the reasons be same for 2 different actions ( yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market and behind last week's rally)

Why i replace they with the subject, I should replace whole subject with the pronoun to decide whether it makes a sense or not, right? as:

The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as   reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market behind last week's rally: a surge in the economy to a 5.6% annual growth rate and improved corporate earnings balanced by the lack of signs of inflationary pressure.- reject because it doesn't make sense with whole subject.
OR
The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as   reasons  behind last week's rally: a surge in the economy to a 5.6% annual growth rate and improved corporate earnings balanced by the lack of signs of inflationary pressure.-  need to replace with whole subject

2. In what scenarios the reasons could be same for 2 actions? What if the reasons were same ( please assume) then how the sentence could be grammatically correct?

The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as that behind last week's rally: a surge in the economy to a 5.6% annual growth rate and improved corporate earnings balanced by the lack of signs of inflationary pressure.
A. that
B. those
C. what was
D. for that
E. they were

Show Answer

Official Answer

B

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  imSKR . If you follow the logic of the comparison, that between  reasons  for/behind one outcome and  reasons  for/behind another, it will lead straight to (B). In choice (A),  that  does not stand in for anything that logically fits in the comparison:  rise ?  stock market ? Test them:

(A.1) The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as   the sharp rise   behind last week's rally

(A.2) The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as   the stock market   behind last week's rally

Neither sentence is satisfactory. As for (E), it can look alluring if you do not insert it into the sentence, but once you do, you can see that  they were behind  is nonsensical. The verb  were  adds one word too many if you replace  they  with  the reasons :

(E.1)  The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as  they  were   behind last week's rally

(E.2)  The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as  the reasons  were   behind last week's rally

You need a plural pronoun by itself to convey a logical meaning, and  those  fits the bill nicely. I hope that helps. Thank you for bringing the question to my attention.

- Andrew

mSKR · Answer

Apologies for the blunder. I meant B ( those) ; not A .

1. 
My question was : To check pronoun ambiguity, when I need to replace pronoun ( those) with preceding noun . DO I need to understand replacing with entire subject (The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market ), or part of Subject (The reasons  for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market  ) is also OK?

As per my initial understanding, we should replace GENDER pronouns ( THEY/HE /etc. ) with entire subject, but not part of it ?
The girls wearing pink dresses were doing shopping. They bought expensive watches and clothes.
( Scope of "they" refer to girls wearing pink dresses ) . If i use replace they with subject, i should understand as : The girls wearing pink dresses were doing shopping.  The girls wearing pink dresses  bought expensive watches and clothes.
( please forgive me for asking a low level)

but for Demonstrative Pronouns ( THOSE/THAT) , only partial is OK 
So keeping same concept,
The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as THOSE  behind last week's rally
So , i can understand B as : 
The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as  REASONS    for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market  behind last week's rally

2. Clarification:

Why do we need "WERE" ? Why the sentence is right without using were with " those" but wrong for not using were with " they " or " the reasons"?
(E.1) The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as  they were  behind last week's rally- CORRECT
(E.3) The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as  they  behind last week's rally- WRONG
(B) The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as  THOSE  behind last week's rally- CORRECT
please confirm.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  imSKR . I think that once again, you may be seeking to create absolute rules when a simple check against the given answer choices will do. Option (E.1) above is  incorrect . You cannot say,  the same as  the reasons  were behind last week's rally —the  were  is an ungrammatical, extraneous element—so likewise, you cannot say,  the same as  they were  behind last week's rally . In your earlier example about the girls in pink dresses shopping, the pronoun  they  could be understood to refer to simply  the girls , since no other group of girls has been mentioned, and thus no confusion enters the picture about  which  girls were shopping. Creating absolute grammar rules will lead to more trouble than it is worth. I have seen certain grammar mavens on this site back themselves into a corner by following must-be-true conditions and eliminating answer choices left and right, and ultimately, you have to select something. Just look for the answer that is hardest to argue against. Here,  those  can stand in for  reasons , so it fits the context of the sentence. Each other choice fails for one reason or another, as discussed above, both by myself and others.

- Andrew

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This question is based on Comparison and Pronoun Usage.

The sentence compares “the reasons for yesterday’s sharp rise in the stock market” with “the reasons behind last week’s rally”. The underlined word replaces the noun ‘reasons’.

The singular demonstrative pronoun ‘that’ cannot refer to the plural antecedent ‘reasons’. So, Option A can be eliminated.

In Option B, the plural demonstrative pronoun ‘those’ can appropriately replace the noun ‘reasons’. So, B is the best of all the options.

In such a construction, a demonstrative pronoun is more appropriate than a relative pronoun. Besides, the singular verb ‘was’ does not agree with the plural noun ‘reasons’. So, Option C can also be eliminated.

Option D is grammatically and structurally incorrect. The comparison as implied by this option would be -  The reasons for  yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market were much the same as  for that (the reasons) ….. Furthermore, the singular pronoun ‘that’ cannot refer to ‘reasons’. So, Option D can be eliminated.

The verb ‘were’ is redundant in this sentence. The sentence implied by this option would be -  The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market   were  much the same as  they (the reasons)   were   behind last week’s rally . When the verb ‘were’ is placed between the pronoun and the modifying phrase (behind last week’s rally), the comparison is no longer parallel. So, Option E can also be eliminated.

Therefore, B is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market

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The reasons for yesterday's sharp rise in the stock market

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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