The rise in the Commerce Department's index of leading economic

Question

The rise in the Commerce Department's index of leading economic indicators  suggest that the economy should continue its expansion into the coming months, but that  the mixed performance of the index's individual components indicates that economic growth will proceed at a more moderate pace than in the first quarter of this year.

(A) suggest that the economy should continue its expansion into the coming months, but that

(B) suggest that the economy is to continue expansion in the coming months, but

(C) suggests that the economy will continue its expanding in the coming months, but that

(D) suggests that the economy is continuing to expand into the coming months, but that

(E) suggests that the economy will continue to expand in the coming months, but

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/01/business/leading-indicators-rise-0.7.html

The Government index designed to forecast economic activity rose seven-tenths of 1 percent in May, the fourth consecutive monthly increase, the Commerce Department said today.

The rise in the department's index of leading economic indicators  suggested that the economy would continue to expand in coming months. But  the mixed performance of the index's individual components indicated economic growth would be at a more moderate pace than in the first quarter of this year. Five of the nine available indicators making up the index fell.

Is there a good explanation on which of these phrases are correct.

expand into the coming months Vs expand in the coming months

daagh · Accepted Answer

'Suggest' is not always a subjunctive. Subjunctivity arises out of a mandating when the suggestion is from authority, usually a higher one, whose suggestion one cannot skip or evade. For example, a suggestion from the CEO is a present tense command subjunctive for the rest of the staff to follow, while a suggestion from an assistant for an extra holiday is not subjunctive. When the Tax Dept suggests that people pay their taxes in time, it is subjunctive but not when a taxpayer suggests for extending the deadline for the filing returns.

mvictor · Answer

A) suggest that the economy should continue its expansion into the coming months, but that  
SV error; but introduces a new clause, using it with that is incorrect in this way. It is unclear why should is used.

B) suggest that the economy is to continue expansion in the coming months, but 
SV error

C) suggests that the economy will continue its expanding in the coming months, but that  
But + that is incorrect

D) suggests that the economy is continuing to expand into the coming months, but that  
But+that is incorrect; the present continuous is used for future actions.

E) suggests that the economy will continue to expand in the coming months, but 
Corrects both SV and but+that errors. This is the correct answer.

GMAT TIGER · Answer

Looks like you are between C and D. But for me, it is E.
A/B are incorrect for the plural verb for singular subject.
"its expanding" in C is awakward.
"into" is not correct and better than "in" in E.

E is what I am left with and does not have any mistake.

mrsmarthi · Answer

Yep....E it is.

GMATTiger,

I was toggling between D and E. But E took precedence over D because of the BUT THAT at the end. Here THAT should NOT be used because the second sentence is an independent clause.

I still am looking for the difference in the usage of "expand into X" and "expand in X". Is there a real difference? or or both the structures valid?

GMAT TIGER · Answer

Apart from what you mentioned, two more things:

1. llism and 
2. originality of the meaning

E maintains the both but D doesnot.

joshnsit · Answer

The structure is: "A  suggest that  B should happen,  but  C  indicates that  D would happen"
Parallelism is the key here obviously.

gmat2015p · Answer

(A) and (B) are wrong because singular 'rise' does not agree with plural 'suggest'. Also in (A), 'should' should not be used with 'suggest' (subjunctive).
(C) ",but" should be followed by independent clause. also the option is wordy because of "will continue its expanding "
(D) ",but" should be followed by independent clause.
(E) Correct

Skywalker18 · Answer

The rise in the Commerce Department's index of leading economic indicators  suggest that the economy should continue its expansion into the coming months, but that  the mixed performance of the index's individual components indicates that economic growth will proceed at a more moderate pace than in the first quarter of this year.

A) suggest that the economy should continue its expansion into the coming months, but that - Subject verb agreement issue - rise is singular and suggest is plural . But that creates a subordinate clause where an independent clause is needed for the new subject, mixed performance. "Into the coming months " is unidiomatic .
B) suggest that the economy is to continue expansion in the coming months, but - Subject verb agreement issue 
C) suggests that the economy will continue its expanding in the coming months, but that -- But that creates a subordinate clause where an independent clause is needed for the new subject, mixed performance.
D) suggests that the economy is continuing to expand into the coming months, but that - But that creates a subordinate clause where an independent clause is needed for the new subject, mixed performance. "Into the coming months " is unidiomatic
E) suggests that the economy will continue to expand in the coming months, but - Correct

Answer E

gupta335 · Answer

Hi! I wanted to know why Option E is correct. Isn't Suggest followed by an infinitive/root form as it's subjunctive? apart from the obvious error "suggest" what else is wrong in option B?

swatihod123 · Answer

+1 for E

suggests that the economy will continue to expand in the coming months, but- correctly uses the singular form of the verb with the subject RISE and corrects but+that errors.

emcheeks · Answer

1. "The rise" is singular, so it should be "suggests". Cross out A and B.

2. Idioms of continue:

continue to do sth.

continue + adj.

continue with sth.

continue for + a period of time

continue doing sth.

Therefore, "continue + noun" is wrong.

3. The "that" is wrong in the end of the underlined part, therefore should be eliminated.

4. parallelism. The original sentence uses "will proceed". Since two actions happen at the same time or there aren't apparent difference in time, we should also use "will continue".

mcepeci · Answer

Why must there be an independent clause after the word but in this sentence ? There already was an independent clause before the word but.
 A sentence only needs to have one independent clause. Please explain this? Thanks

juri01m · Answer

Hello.

"But" is a coordinating conjunction, and when it's followed by a comma it is is used to connect 2 independent clauses. 
The most common coordinating conjunctions are the FANBOYS:

For
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So

Hope it's clear!

egmat · Answer

Hello mcepeci , Hope you are doing well. I will be glad to help you with this query.

When preceded by a comma, the conjunction acts as a coordinating conjunction and connects two independent clauses. The following conjunctions act as coordinating conjunctions when preceded by a comma. For And Nor But Or Yet So (commonly known as FANBOYS). In addition, a sentence MUST have at least one independent clause. In fact, a sentence may have multiple independent clauses. These independent clauses MUST be connected through correct conjunctions to keep the sentence grammatical. Hope this helps.

Thanks. Shraddha

The rise in the Commerce Department's index of leading economic

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The rise in the Commerce Department's index of leading economic

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