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

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

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

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?

Cannot understand why E is wrong. Plz explain..

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!

GMATNinja egmat broall
Please explain why is E wrong?

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.

"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.

"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.

its a GMAT Prep question. please tag it

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?

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.

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 marketbehind 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 those 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. How can i correct this sentence, if i want to emphasize that reasons were same. Please suggest

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

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 asTHOSE 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.

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

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.