Raising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax...

Question

Raising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable.

(A) Raising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable. 
(B) Rising raw material costs and escalating corporate tax rates has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable. 
(C) The rise in raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable. 
(D) Rising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable. 
(E) Rising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, have made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable.

generis · Accepted Answer

Hi  jrk23  ,  rising raw material costs  is a plural noun phrase because 
--  rising  is an adjective
--  costs  is the noun, and
--  THE rising of raw material costs  would be the way to make the phrase singular
(That phrasing, though, is not preferred on the GMAT. A straightforward action noun such as "the increase" is preferred over ___ING nouns almost always.)

I cannot tell whether your quote "rising material cost" is a typo. 
(I think it is. I think you meant "rising raw material costs.")

• Eliminate the words  raw  and  material . Both are adjectives.*

•  rising  is an adjective. 
verbING words (present participles) such as  rising  are often adjectives:
 setting sun, maddening question, dwindling resources

• "Rising costs" is similar to "increased costs."
Both noun phrases are plural.
 Wrong : Increased costs is hurting the company's profits.
 Correct : Increased costs are hurting the company's profits.
 Similarly, correct : Rising costs are hurting the company's profits.

• singular noun phrase?

If we wanted to make the noun phrase singular,
we would make  rising  into a noun (a gerund).
To do so, we would add "the" and "of": the rising of
Then the ___ING word becomes a verb-ING that acts like a noun.

In other words, this noun phrase would be singular:  The rising  of raw material costs . . .

Hope that helps.

**
Your question raises another issue: why is  material  an adjective?
The noun  costs  is modified by  rising    and  raw    and by  material 
•  material   is also an adjective, though  material  is usually a noun
-- English frequently uses nouns as adjectives:  sports car, race horse, sports trainer. 
-- In such cases the noun can be described as a "noun-adjective."

One way to tell whether a noun is acting as an adjective: does it precede the other noun?
A noun acting as an adjective must always precede the noun it modifies. No exceptions.

So if we see  adjective  +   noun   +  adjective  +   noun  ,
then the first noun is a   noun-adjective   that describes the   second noun  .
-- "Material" is an adjective that describes   costs .

dcummins · Answer

Hi  rupeshnverbal ,

In C, what's the subject? Is it "the rise" or is it the actual "raw material costs"?

The answer to that will tell you why C is incorrect.

"along with" is actually an additive phrase. Other examples include:
- in addition to
- as well as
- together with
- including

Rule : When you use an additive phrase the subject must always come before the additive phrase.

For example:
 Incorrect : John, as well as his friend, are coming for dinner 
 Correct : John, as well as his friend, is coming for dinner

Or

Correct : John as well as his friend is coming for dinner

Debashis Roy · Answer

GMATNinja   generis   VeritasKarishma 
 , along with   has/have....... What will it take?

adkikani · Answer

Debashis  Roy

along with  is a prepositional phrase and cannot decide the number agreement for the verb of a sentence.
The only conjunction that makes subject plural is AND

Since costs is plural, we need a plural verb- have made.

NoMatterWhat · Answer

Why C is not the correct answer?

jrk23 · Answer

Raising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable.

(A) Raising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable. 
(B) Rising raw material costs and escalating corporate tax rates has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable. 
(C) The rise in raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable. 
(D) Rising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, has made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable. 
(E) Rising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax rates, have made it very difficult for companies to remain profitable.
 
Can anyone please tell me why " rising raw material cost" is plural... its phrase and as per my knowledge it must be singular...

NoMatterWhat · Answer

First of all, it is "rising raw material costs "..... It is "Adjective-Adjective-Noun " combination and the noun present in this structure is plural.

Hope it helps

Thanks = Kudos

Ayush1692 · Answer

I think D is the correct Answer.

Rising ....( Singular) ..Along with escalating ( Additive phrase) .. (it should take has)

Example:
Person X along with Person Y is coming.

Along with .. is additive phrase and we can ignore it and hence doesn't constitute the verb.
Let me know if my reasoning is flawed.

Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

Ayush1692 · Answer

I think Rising costs is plural.
Rising (adj.) Costs ( plural noun)
This phrase means to say that different costs are rising.
So, there is not one cost but multiple costs that are rising.
So,
Rising costs (plural) ...  (additive phrase) <ignore it> ...(it should take).. have..
Hence E will be the correct Answer.

Had the question specified 'Rising cost'(singular) then it would have taken 'has'

Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

Hahshsh · Answer

I can't figure out what the subject is. I'm confused whether it is singular or plural.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation:

Answer: E

(A) The use of  raising  is incorrect as no one is actually raising the raw material costs; the correct modifier should be  rising . Also the subject is raw material  costs, that is , plural, so the use of the singular verb  has  is incorrect.

(B) In this case we have a compound subject— rising and escalating —so the verb should be the plural  have  and not the singular  has .

(C) This sentence gets the subject-verb agreement correct because the subject is the singular  rise . However, notice that  the rise in raw material costs  has an action noun ( the rise ) whereas  escalating corporate tax rates  is a simple gerund phrase. The two cannot be parallel to each other.

(D) Again the subject is raw material  costs  (plural), so the use of the singular verb  has is  incorrect.

(E) The correct answer.

wali786 · Answer

What is the source of this question? Options A and B are exactly same.

arya251294 · Answer

If the question were - 
The rise in the cost, along with the X (singular/plural), VERB

So here our VERB will be singular or plural? Please help.
Thanks in advance.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Raising raw material costs, along with escalating corporate tax...

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