Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone but, psychologists say,

Question

Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone but, psychologists say, it  is particularly challenging for recent college graduates, who often suffer anxiety and depression if they cannot find a job within one year after graduating.

(A) Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone but, psychologists say, it

(B) Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone, but psychologists say that it

(C) Unemployment can be difficult for anyone but, psychologists say, that it is

(D) Unemployment can be difficult for anyone but psychologists say it is

(E) Unemployment, which can be difficult for anyone, psychologists say is

BillyZ · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION 
The primary difficulty in this problem is simply figuring out the core components that are being put together.

While many students learn to avoid the word " being " in GMAT SC answer choices, it is absolutely fine in (A) and (B).

The choice between "Being unemployed" and "Unemployment" is a classic false decision point, as both would be correct.

The other major difference is the location (or lack of) commas in the middle of each choice.

With a closer analysis, you can see the core parts of the sentence: two independent clauses linked with " but ".

" Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone, BUT it is particularly hard for certain people " Only (B) gets this right.

In (A) and (C), the comma is after the "but" so the two independent clauses are not properly linked.

In (D) there is no comma at all and (E) creates an incoherent structure: Unemployment...psychologists say...

Correct answer is (B) .

AdityaHongunti · Answer

Answer : B

" Psychologists say " should be followed by " that " with respect to the reported speech. As there is no dialogue in the sentence it should be followed by " that "

" Being unemployed " stresses the main issue more than "unemployment" as "being unemployed" signifies the state rather than an issue.

Sent from my XT1562 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

mrdlee23 · Answer

Can pronouns ('it' in this case) refer to a state of being/feeling (i.e. being unemployed)? Also, is 'being unemployed' a verb in this example?

Can you please provide another example of a pronoun referring back to a feeling/emotion if below is incorrect?
Being sad, it makes my heart hurt.

sayantanc2k · Answer

A pronoun, by befinition, refers to a noun, and a gerund, by definition, is a noun. Hence a pronoun can have a gerund as an antecedent. "Being unemployed" is a gerund (a noun) and hence it is alright to use a pronoun to refer to it. ("Being unemployed" is not a feeling though, as you mentioned.)

Another example:
 Swimming  is a good exercise, because  it  induces rhythmic breathing.

Your example is not correct, because in your case "being sad" is a present participle, not a gerund. However the following would be correct:

Being sad is not what I would prefer, because it makes my heart hurt. .............Here "being sad" is a gerund and "it" correctly refers to "being sad".)
It is important to identify the difference between a gerund and a present participle (both -ing forms).

MBAB123 · Answer

Hello experts,  AjiteshArun   AndrewN   VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja

Can we discard C-E with a meaning ambiguity? There is nothing grammatically wrong with "Unemployment is difficult". But what does that mean? Is unemployment difficult to study as a subject or is facing unemployment difficult? The sentence does not clear that up. I understand that there are other issues with C through E, but was just wondering about the meaning.

KarishmaB · Answer

No, it is not incorrect.

Take another example:
Alcohol is bad for health.
What does this mean? Studying alcohol or drinking alcohol? We know that it means consuming alcohol is bad for health. Similarly here, we know that being unemployed is tough.

We don't have to get literal for GMAT. Language is all about usage and has enough constructs such as metaphors which are not taken literally.

MBAB123 · Answer

Thank you for yours response VeritasKarishma It Makes sense. If I were to say "Global warming is difficult", is it implied that the I am talking about global warming being difficult to stop/control? or am I talking about facing global warming? Eg- I could be facing it in a brave, intelligent and emotional manner vs controlling it using scientific methods. Another example could be poverty (Controlling it vs facing it) Apologies if the global warming sentence is too vague to appear on the GMAT.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Brian123 . I agree with what  VeritasKarishma  has written in response above. As for the line "Global warming is difficult," I would really have to lean on more contextual clues to make sense of it. For instance, if the sentence went on to say, "... according to several leading climatologists," I would assume that global warming was considered by that group to be a complex problem; if the sentence took a different turn, as in, "... and environmentalists," I would assume the sentence would be driving at the impact (or supposed effects) of global warming. In short, make sure you read the whole sentence before you decide you know what it means.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me about this question. (Incidentally, I was put off by the missing comma before  but  in choices (A), (C), and (D), and (E) took little thought to eliminate.)

- Andrew

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

Anyone can tell where D is wrong? I learned from Manhattan Guide, the comma is not necessarily needed.

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Hello  Mavisdu1017 ,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, the comma is very much needed in Option D; "Unemployment can be difficult for anyone" and "psychologists say it is particularly challenging for recent college graduates" are both independent clauses, meaning they cannot be joined by a conjunction alone; the "comma + conjunction" construction is needed.

We hope this helps.
All the best!
Experts' Global Team

arbazfatmi1994 · Answer

"Being" as a Gerund is correct!

The word "being" can be a gerund, which is a type of noun. In this use, it has a meaning similar to "existing."

For example:

- Do you like being so ignorant? correct tick
- The accident was caused by his being so clumsy. correct tick
- I live in terror of not being misunderstood.
- Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.

Don't just eliminate an option upon seeing being

Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone but, psychologists say,

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Being unemployed can be difficult for anyone but, psychologists say,

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