Noting that its revenues had fallen due to a recent prolonged slump in

Question

Noting that  its revenues had fallen due to a recent  prolonged slump in CD sales, the music-store chain announced that it would be forced to raise prices at all of its outlets.

A. its revenues had fallen due to a recent
B. its revenues have fallen due to a recently
C. its revenues are falling due to a recently
D. their revenues are falling due to a recent
E. their revenues had fallen due to a recent

elegantm · Accepted Answer

Noting that  its revenues had fallen due to a recent  prolonged slump in CD sales, the music-store chain announced that it would be forced to raise prices at all of its outlets.
A. its revenues had fallen due to a recent
 CORRECT

B. its revenues have fallen due to a  recently 
 Use of Present perfect for an action that happened in past is incorrect. Adverb "RECENTLY" can't modify noun "SLUMP". Hence Incorrect.

C. its revenues  are  falling due to a  recently 
 Use of Present continuous for an action that happened in past is incorrect. Adverb "RECENTLY" can't modify noun "SLUMP". Hence Incorrect.

D.  their  revenues  are  falling due to a recent
 Singular pronoun "ITS" should be used for singular noun "Chain". Use of Present continuous for an action that happened in past is incorrect. Hence Incorrect.

E. their revenues had fallen due to a recent
 Singular pronoun "ITS" should be used for singular noun "Chain". Hence Incorrect.

sobby · Answer

All the options seems incorrect 
IMO : "due to" is not correct in A...it is modifying verb "had fallen"...

Posted from my mobile device

tapasgupta · Answer

Hi elegantm,
Please advise why adverb "recently" cannot modify "slump"...

akshayk · Answer

'Recent' states that the event has happened and concluded before now, so we need the past perfect tense.
Music store chain is singular, so we need 'its'
D,E are OUT.
B,C have the incorrect tense.
A is the answer.

ydmuley · Answer

As we see sequence two actions, we need a past participle here, hence the usage of "had + verb" is correct.

Answer is A

sanjanam25 · Answer

Noting that its revenues had fallen due to a recent prolonged slump in CD sales, the music-store chain announced that it would be forced to raise prices at all of its outlets.

A. its revenues had fallen due to a recent - Correct
B. its revenues have fallen due to a recently - Recently is wrong
C. its revenues are falling due to a recently -Recently is wrong
D. their revenues are falling due to a recent - Pronoun Error - Their refers to music store it should be it
E. their revenues had fallen due to a recent -Pronoun Error - Their refers to music store it should be it

thoughtiana · Answer

I have two separate questions regarding this problem.

1. If "recent" is correct, then shouldn't there be a comma in between "recent" and "prolonged"? Grammatically speaking, if both are modifying "slump" then there needs to be a comma. (E.g. "He carried a heavy, red box." Not "He carried a heavy red box".) I eliminated all the answer choices with "recent" because there was no comma. Moreover, "recently" can describe "prolonged" and therefore would not need a comma. Should I just disregard this comma rule for GMAT or is it just the quality of this question?

2. What is the difference between "had fallen" and "have fallen"? They both sound correct to me, so I went with answer B because "revenues" is plural.

Aman1204 · Answer

A- The modifier- Noting that its revenues had fallen due to a recent prolonged slump in CD sales- is modifying "Music store chain" correctly. "its" is referring to singular noun "Music store chain" correctly and the usage of past perferct "had fallen" is correct because the action of "slump in CD sales" took place in the past, triggering the music store to "announce raise in prices".
B- "Have fallen" is incorrect because of reason mentioned in A
C- The action took place in the past. Usage of "present continuous" is incorrect
D- "Their" is referring to singular "Music chain"- Incorrect
E- Same as D

IMO A is correct.

saro · Answer

Please expalin why is B wrong. Is it ok to use two adjectives without a comma in answer choice A.

recent prolonged slump or recent, prolonged slump?

Codebug4it · Answer

saro  and  thoughtiana

Yes it is absolutely fine to use two adjectives with or without a comma. It is called paired adjectives.

For example, A cute little dress or A small red car.

Camach700 · Answer

I do not think this might be a gmat like question. Use of "due to" is incorrect in A. Experts could you provide some feedback please?

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

Noting that  its revenues had fallen due to a recent  prolonged slump in CD sales, the music-store chain announced that it would be forced to raise prices at all of its outlets.

A.  its revenues had fallen due to a recent  - the use of past perfect tense ('had fallen') is correct here since the event (falling revenues) happened before the 'announcement', an event or an action that occurred in the past. Moreover, the possessive form "it's" refers to the singular collective noun 'Music store chain'. hence,   (A) is the correct answer.

B.  its revenues have fallen due to a recently  - the event (falling revenues) is indicated in the present perfect tense. This means that 'falling revenues' event originated some time in the past. the event 'announcement' is indicated in the simple past tense. So, in effect, we have two events that originated in the past; it is not clearly mentioned which event took place first (the "announcement" or the "falling revenues"). Hence,  eliminate (B) .

C.  its revenues are falling due to a recently  - "are falling" indicates an event that is ongoing. If so, then how would it make sense that the announcement happened before this ongoing event (since the announcement is a consequence of the event itself) ? The use of present continuous tense is illogical. Hence,  eliminate (C).

D.  their revenues are falling due to a recent  - here, the singular subject (the music store chain) but a plural pronoun 'their', which has no clear antecedent. (in fact, in this sentence, the only words that are plural in nature are revenues, sales, prices, outlets - none of which can take the pronoun 'their' ). hence,  eliminate (D)

E.  their revenues had fallen due to a recent  - Same error as in (D). Hence,  eliminate (E).

prateekchugh · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Step 1: Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors 
This sentence contains an underlined verb and a pronoun; we should check both. The verb, “had
fallen,” agrees with its plural subject, “revenues.” It is in the past perfect tense, which is appropriate
because the revenues fell before the announcement was made. Whenever there are two past
events, with one occurring before the other, the chronologically earlier event should be in the past
perfect tense. The verb “had fallen,” then, is correct. The singular pronoun “its” refers unambiguously
to “the music-store chain,” which is also singular, so the pronoun is correct as well. Chances
are that the answer will be (A), but we’ll check the other choices as well to make sure we haven’t
overlooked anything.

Step 2: Scan and Group the Answer Choices 
(A), (B), and (C) retain the pronoun “its.” (D) and (E) change the pronoun to “their.” There is a second
3-2 split: (A), (D), and (E) keep the adjective “recent,” while (B) and (C) change “recent” to “recently.”

Step 3: Eliminate Choices Until Only One Remains 
(D) and (E) can be eliminated because they use a plural pronoun, “their,” to refer to a singular
subject, “the music-store chain.” Of the remaining choices, (B) and (C) change the last underlined
word from “recent” to “recently.” The original sentence referred to a “prolonged slump” that happened
in a “recent” time frame. If the adjective “recent” is changed to the adverb “recently,” this
word can no longer describe the noun “slump” (only adjectives can describe nouns). Instead, the
adverb “recently” must describe the adjective “prolonged” (i.e., the slump was “recently prolonged”),
thereby changing the meaning of the sentence. The correct answer to a Sentence Correction question
must match the intended meaning of the original sentence. We can thus throw out (B) and (C). The
correct answer remains choice (A).

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

Noting that its revenues had fallen due to a recent prolonged slump in

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

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

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Noting that its revenues had fallen due to a recent prolonged slump in

Prep Toolkit

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

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards