Anticipating an outbreak of another pandemic, TDI Biotechnology GmbH p

Question

Anticipating an outbreak of another pandemic, TDI Biotechnology GmbH  planned an approximately 50 percent increase in the amount invested the previous year to bolster research and development in the field of mRNA technology and to scale up production facilities to  churn out minimum 1 billion vaccine doses a year.

A. planned an approximately 50 percent increase in the amount invested the previous year to bolster research and development in the field of mRNA technology and to scale up production facilities to

B. has planned to increase the amount invested the previous year for bolstering the research and development in the field of mRNA technology approximately by 50 percent and to scale up production facilities to

C. planned to increase, approximately by 50 percent, the amount invested the previous year for bolstering the research and development in the field of mRNA technology, to scale up production facilities and to

D. has planned to increase, approximately by 50 percent, the amount invested the previous year to bolster the research and development in the field of mRNA technology to scale up production facilities and to

E. planned an increase in the amount invested the previous year approximately by 50 percent, bolstering the research and development in the field of mRNA technology and scaling up production facilities that

Fresh Verbal Question From GMAT Club Tests'. Written by  sayantanc2k

Archit3110 · Answer

Anticipating an outbreak ; an action which would be implemented later 
so we have 2/3 split planned vs has planned 
has planned is correct eliminate option A, C,E

B. has planned to increase the amount invested the previous year for bolstering the research and development in the field of mRNA technology approximately by 50 percent and to scale up production facilities to  the amount the previous year is verbose and lacs concision

D. has planned to increase, approximately by 50 percent, the amount invested the previous year to bolster the research and development in the field of mRNA technology to scale up production facilities and to  has planned .... , approximately by 50 percent, is an non essential modifier which for the amount .. also to increase is parallel to churn..

option D is correct

gloomybison · Answer

I believe meaning is crucial to solve this question rather than straight up grammar rules 
I am not fully sure about "has planned" it can makes sense to use present perfect to indicate that the effects of the plan are still going on but "planned" is not a deal breaker either, in my humble opinion

A. planned an approximately 50 percent increase in the amount invested the previous year to bolster research and development in the field of mRNA technology and to scale up production facilities to
 Correct

Here we are making clear that we are making a "%50 increase in the amount". Also it makes sense to plan an increase in order to bolster R&D and to scale up facilities to attaint the goal of churning out 1 billion doses

B. has planned to increase the amount invested the previous year for bolstering the research and development in the field of mRNA technology approximately by 50 percent and to scale up production facilities to

"to increase the amount... by 50 percent" is subtly odd, I believe. you increase something %50 percent what exactly? yes, the intended meaning is increase in the amount but reading it literally leaves you hanging a little bit

C. planned to increase, approximately by 50 percent, the amount invested the previous year for bolstering the research and development in the field of mRNA technology, to scale up production facilities and to

Ok so this version conveys the meaning that anticipating a new pandemic, TDI planned to increase..., to scale up... and to churn out...TBH, meaning is not very bad but it doesn't give you the concrete reasoning for TDI's acts. Read it literally and you get; Anticipating an outbreak, TDI did x, y and z for what?

D. has planned to increase, approximately by 50 percent, the amount invested the previous year to bolster the research and development in the field of mRNA technology to scale up production facilities and to

So meaning here is ok, ı think, but meaning conveyed by A was better. First of all "scale up" literally means "to increase something in size, amount, or production". With that mind reading literally gives us the following inference; TDI planned to increase the amount to bolster R&D TO scale up facilities and TO churn out vaccines. 
So we have two main goals scaling up facilities and churning out vaccines. Can increasing investments that are meant to bolster R&D scale up facilities? Could be, but with dictionary meaning of "scale up" in mind it would be more meaningful to bolster R&D +scale up facilities to produce 1 billion vaccines
 
E. planned an increase in the amount invested the previous year approximately by 50 percent, bolstering the research and development in the field of mRNA technology and scaling up production facilities that

here "bolstering... and scaling up..." are participial modifiers that take "TDI" as its agent. is TDI bolstering the R&D and scale up production facilities? yes and no, yes because its TDI doing it in the end and no because its in reality the investment that bolsters and scales up
that bolsters the R&D

Bunuel · Answer

GMAT Club Tests' Official Explanation

The original sentence has no errors. The sentence clearly depicts that TDI is anticipating an outbreak of pandemic. Therefore the company planned an increase in investment. There are two purposes for this increase: to bolster R&D and to scale up production facilities. The purpose of scaling up the production facilities is to churn out minimum 1 billion vaccine doses per year.

A. CORRECT.  The sentence keeps “to bolster” and “to scale up” in parallel - these two aspects are the purpose of the increase in investment.

B. “For bolstering” is wrong - to depict a purpose the infinitive “to bolster” must be used.

Moreover, “to increase” and “to scale up” have been wrongly used in parallel, indicating that these two are independent actions. However scaling up would be one of the effects of increasing the investment - this meaning is lost by the faulty parallel construction.

The modifier phrase “by approximately 50 percent” is too far away from “increase”.

C. “For bolstering” is wrong - to depict a purpose the infinitive “to bolster” must be used.

Moreover, “to increase”, “to scale up” and “to churn out” have been wrongly used in parallel, indicating that these three are independent actions. However scaling up would be one of the effects of increasing the investment - this meaning is lost by this faulty parallel construction. Also churning up would be an effect of scaling up - this meaning too is lost by this faulty construction.

D. The actions “to scale up” and “to churn out” have been wrongly used in parallel, indicating that these two are independent actions. However churning up would be an effect of scaling up - this meaning is lost by this faulty construction.

E. The use of present participles “bolstering” and “scaling up” is wrong because this construction implies that the bolstering and the scaling up has already taken place because of the planning. (Another alternative meaning is that the planning has taken place by bolstering and scaling up - this alternative makes even less sense.) Here an intention or purpose is required to be conveyed and hence the infinitive forms must be used.

The modifier phrase “by approximately 50 percent” is too far away from “increase”.

VIGHNESHKAMATH · Answer

Is it correct to use ''approximately'' -an adverb after the article ''an''? Shouldn't this be an adjective ''approximate''. Planning was not approximate, the increase of amount was approximate, thus adjective should be used. Can someone shed some light on this?

Also, I think that Options B, C, and D is illogically trying to convey that ''amount will be increased in the investment made in previous year'''. Isn't this also an error and illogical, since we cannot increase the amount already invested previous year. I don't know whether usage of preposition ''in'' solves that problem in Option A and E, but they look much better compared to above evident issue of meaning in B,C, and D.

Thank You
Vighnesh

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Anticipating an outbreak of another pandemic, TDI Biotechnology GmbH p

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