HOT Competition 1 Sep/8AM: Stating that one of its major challenges

Question

Stating that one of  its major challenges had been the recent economic  downturn due to the lockdown, the state government said it would start a long term local employment generation scheme based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them.

A. its major challenges had been the recent economic

B. its major challenges has been the recent economical

C. its major challenge is the recently happening economic

D. their major challenges is the recent economic

E. their major challenges had been the recent economical

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

GMATWhiz Explanation

Step 1: Understanding Intended Meaning

Stating that one of its major challenges had been the recent economic downturn due to the lockdown, 
 • This is an ing modifier- “stating” should be modifying some entity that can “state”
• the “its” should refer to a singular entity
• The past perfect “had been” means we should look out for another event in the simple past tense.
 o So some singular entity has stated that the downturn had been its biggest challenge  
the state government said 
 • Okay…so that singular entity is the state government and that other past event is “said”. 
it would start a long term local employment generation scheme 
 • The state government said that it would start a scheme 
based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them
 • .The “ed” verbal modifies the scheme.

Intended meaning: 
 • According to the state government, the recent economic downturn had been one of its biggest challenges
 o This challenge was due to the lockdown 
• Thus, the state government said that it would start a long term local employment generation scheme
• This scheme would be based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them.

Step 2: Eliminate choices with identified errors

Checking for five aspects 
 1. Golden rules
2. Meaning
3. Lists
 a. No error 
4. Tenses
 a. No error 
5. Idioms

Eliminate  
There are no errors present in Choice A.

Step 3: Evaluate meaning of remaining choices

To be done for Option B, C, D and E . Detailed out below each choice.

Choice A Analysis 
Correct and explained in Step 1

Choice B Analysis 
Fitting in the original sentence:
Stating that one of its major challenges has been the recent economical downturn due to the lockdown, the state government said it would start a long term local employment generation scheme based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them. 
 • If one event is in the past tense “said” , then the other event has to be in the past perfect to show that it happened even before that.
• “economical” means careful with money and is illogical here. We need economic which means related to money. 
Incorrect Choice.

Choice C Analysis 
Fitting in the original sentence:
Stating that one of its major challenge is the recently happening economic downturn due to the lockdown, the state government said it would start a long term local employment generation scheme based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them. 
 • The singular “challenge” does not go with “one of the” which requires a plural noun.
• The present tense “is happening” does not logically fit with the simple past “said”. 
Incorrect Choice.

Choice D Analysis 
Incorrect and Eliminated in Step 2. Fitting in the original sentence:
Stating that one of their major challenges is the recent economic downturn due to the lockdown, the state government said it would start a long term local employment generation scheme based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them. 
 • “Their” has no plural antecedent. It incorrectly refers to the singular “government” -NP pair does not agree in number.
• The present tense “is” does not logically fit with the simple past “said”. 
Incorrect Choice.

Choice E Analysis 
Fitting in the original sentence:
Stating that one of their major challenges had been the recent economical
downturn due to the lockdown, the state government said it would start a long term local employment generation scheme based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them. 
 • Their” has no plural antecedent. It incorrectly refers to the singular “government” -NP pair does not agree in number
• “economical” means careful with money and is illogical here. We need economic which means related to money. 
Incorrect Choice.

Kali123 · Answer

Hi,

Singular 'it' in the non underlined portion, so 'D' and 'E' are eliminated.

In option 'B', economical downturn is incorrect

In 'C', recently is modifying happening, whereas it should modify economic downturn

MayankSingh · Answer

IMO A

Stating that one of  its major challenges had been the recent economic  downturn due to the lockdown, the state government said it would start a long term local employment generation scheme based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them.

A.  its major challenges  had been  the recent economic -    Correct   - 
 Tense :  Past perfect tense is used for sequencing of events in past, here "Had been" is past perfect tense, "said" is in simple past tense and the sentence makes perfect sense through this sequence-"the economic slowdown was a challenge before the government said that ..."
 
B.  its major challenges  has been  the recent  economical    -  Incorrect  -  
 Tense:   The use of present perfect is incorrect. Sequencing of event doesn’t really make sense in its current form: "The government said in past that it would start a scheme , but the economic slowdown was a challenge in past & continued till present time.- not correct meaning 
 Adjectives:    Economical  means "thrifty, efficient".  Economic  refers to "monetary aspects." So, here intended meaning is economic (monetary) downturn and not economical

C.  its major challenge  is  the  recently happening  economic   -  Incorrect  -  
 Tense:   Present tense is wrong here. Economic downturn happened before the government said..... 
 Adverb :  Original sentence says "recent- economic slow down - i.e adjective modify slowdown, but here recently is an adverb modify happening....so slowdown is no longer recent.

D.   their  major challenges is the recent economic   -  Incorrect  -  
 SVA  :  Use of "their" for Singular "State Government" is wrong. 
 Tense:   Present tense is wrong here. Economic downturn happened before the government said.....

E.   their  major challenges had been the recent  economical    -  Incorrect  -  
 SVA  :  Use of "their" for Singular "State Government" is wrong. 
 Adjectives:    Economical  means "thrifty, efficient".  Economic  refers to "monetary aspects." So, here intended meaning is economic (monetary) downturn

Posted from my mobile device

JonShukhrat · Answer

Stating that one of its major challenges had been the recent economic downturn due to the lockdown, the state government said it would start a long term local employment generation scheme based on classifying workers according to their skills and creating jobs to suit them.

A.  its major challenges had been the recent economic

Correct answer: the usage is the Past Perfect tense is warranted. The main tense of the sentence is the Simple Past, illustrated by “said”. Because the things the state said must have taken place before he said, we need the past perfect to correct showcase the sequence of events.

B.  its major challenges  has been  the recent  economical

1. “has been” – the usage of the present perfect tense is illogical. The state “said” in the past, and “has been” must have happened before “said”, so we cannot use the present perfect. 
2. “economical” implies thrifty or frugal. Within the context it doesn’t make sense. 
3. “challenges has been” subject-verb disagreement.

C.  its major challenge  is  the  recently happening  economic

1. “is” – the usage of the present tense is illogical. The state “said” in the past, and “is” must have happened before “said”, so we cannot use the present tense. 
2. “recently happening” tries to act as a modifier of “economic downturn”, but fails to do so. “recently” talks about the past while “happening” talks about the present, and these are incompatible.

D.   their  major  challenges is  the recent economic

1. “their” is a plural pronoun that doesn’t make sense with singular “state”. 
2. “is” – the usage of the present tense is illogical. The state “said” in the past, and “is” must have happened before “said”, so we cannot use the present tense. 
3. “challenges is” subject-verb disagreement.

E.   their  major challenges had been the recent  economical

1. “their” is a plural pronoun that doesn’t make sense with singular “state”. 
2. “economical” implies thrifty or frugal. Within the context it doesn’t make sense.

Hence   A

Posted from my mobile device

BenjaminS · Answer

The 3 things that we should consider.
 1. The pronoun 
The pronoun should refer to the state government. So the pronoun "its" makes sense.
 2. Meaning: Economical and Economic 
"Economical" means inexpensive or low-price.
"Economic" means relating to economics or economy.
 3. Redundant  
"Happening" is redundant.

Process of elimination. 
 
- This sentence makes sense. No mistakes. 
 Keep it.

- The intended meaning error (#2). "economical" is wrong. 
 Out.

- "happening" is redundant to "recently" (#3).
 Out.

- the pronoun "their" cannot refer to the state government (#1).
 Out.

- Same as D. The pronoun "their" cannot refer to the state government (#1).
- The intended meaning error (#2). "economical" is wrong. 
 Out.

So I choose A.

Posted from my mobile device

EatMyDosa · Answer

Structure

· Stating that one of its major challenges had been the recent economic downturn due to the lockdown, –   verb-ing modifier; modifies the subject (“the state government”) in the main clause

· the  state government said  –   main clause; SV pair – “state government”, “said” 
 
·  it would  start a long-term local employment generation scheme based on –   dependent clause modifying the main clause; SV pair – “it” (pronoun, refers to state government), “would start”

- classifying workers according to their. skills

- creating jobs to suit them

two parallel elements (“gerunds”) of the AND list

Meaning/Crux

The government stated one of its challenges so far and said that it would start an employment scheme to classify works and create suitable jobs for them

Error Analysis

A. its major challenges had been the recent economic –   CORRECT

Use of  past perfect tense  (“had been”) is  correct  – to show that the challenge government faced before it talked about the challenge. So, the sequencing of two events is fine.

B. its major challenges   has been   the recent   economical   –  INCORRECT

Meaning error  – use of  economical  is  incorrect  - “ economical ” means  spending something (money, fuel, etc.) judiciously . Correct word is “ economic ” which means  related to economy . It  does not make any sense  to say “ economical downturn due to the lockdown ”

Tense error  – use of  present perfect tense  (“has been”) is  incorrect  since the intention is to talk about the challenge that government faced before it spoke about the challenge. So, earlier event needs to be sequenced using past perfect tense, not present perfect

C. its major   challenge    is  the recently happening economic -  INCORRECT

Use of  singular  “ challenge ” is  incorrect . It  should be plural “ challenges ”  since we want to talk about one of the many challenges that government faced.

Tense error  – use of  simple present tense  (“is”) is  incorrect  since the intention is to talk about the challenge that government faced before it spoke about the challenge. So, earlier event needs to be sequenced using past perfect tense, not present perfect

D.   their   major challenges is the recent economic -  INCORRECT

Pronoun error  –  Plural  “ their ”  can’t refer  to  singular subject  “the state government”. Singular subject should be referred by singular pronoun.

Tense error  – use of  simple present tense  (“is”) is  incorrect  since the intention is to talk about the challenge that government faced before it spoke about the challenge. So, earlier event needs to be sequenced using past perfect tense, not present perfect

E. their major challenges had been the recent economical -  INCORRECT

Pronoun error  –  Plural  “ their ”  can’t refer  to  singular subject  “the state government”. Singular subject should be referred by singular pronoun.

Meaning error  – use of  economical  is  incorrect  - “ economical ”  means   spending something (money, fuel, etc.) judiciously . Correct word is “ economic ” which  means   related to economy . It  does not make any sense  to say “ economical downturn due to the lockdown ”.

Posted from my mobile device

HOT Competition 1 Sep/8AM: Stating that one of its major challenges

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

HOT Competition 1 Sep/8AM: Stating that one of its major challenges

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