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Bunuel
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Answer IMO D

1. "which" wrongly modifies "ahead"-> eliminate A and B
2. Option E: "reducing" and "increasing" are not separated by a parallel markers "and". Eliminate
3. Option C: "thus creating" is not joined with the main stem of the sentence via a conjunction or with preceding modifier.
Correct Answer D

Bunuel
In the wake of the global housing crisis, and amid dramatically changing demographics, it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.


(A) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(B) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, and thus increase demand for smaller urban apartments.

(C) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, thus creating an increase in demand for smaller urban apartments.

(D) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes and increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(E) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.
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Dear winterschool, dear Pankaj0901,

there is a difference in the meaning between C&D. But I personally find the meaning of C more logical.

D says that a "widespread shift in thinking" is not unlikely which would both reduce demand for large suburban homes and at the same time increase demand for smaller urban appartements.

C says also says that a "widespread shift in thinking" is not unlikely BUT it adds a sequence to the events. It says that first demand for large suburban homes would fall and due to the decrease in demand for suburnab homes the demand for smaller urban appartments increases. This makes more sense.

(Modigliani–Miller assumed a world with not taxes, no agency costs, no asymmetric info, no bankruptcy costs AND EFFICIENT MARKETS BUT we know that this does not reflect the world we live in and MARKETS ARE indeed INEFFICIENT. Therefore in my opinion it makes more sense to say that the decrease in demand for large homes happens BEFORE the increase of the demand for smaller appartments.)
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GMATE1 - You have a point. But I think structural clarity in Option C is missing. Even if the sequence of events makes more sense, Option C fails to fit into the correct logical structure of {sentence being modified + , + verb-ing modifier}. I am not sure what exaclty the modifier "thus creating an.." is trying to modify. It looks like a compounding modifier sort of sentence structure that is difficult to interpret. If there was a conjunction "and" before "thus", it would rightly indicate that "widespread shift in thinking..." is being modified. Also, there is a redundancy in "creating an increase in demand", which could have been written as "increasing demand". Option D solves these issues according to me.

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Dear winterschool, dear Pankaj0901,

there is a difference in the meaning between C&D. But I personally find the meaning of C more logical.

D says that a "widespread shift in thinking" is not unlikely which would both reduce demand for large suburban homes and at the same time increase demand for smaller urban appartements.

C says also says that a "widespread shift in thinking" is not unlikely BUT it adds a sequence to the events. It says that first demand for large suburban homes would fall and due to the decrease in demand for suburnab homes the demand for smaller urban appartments increases. This makes more sense.

(Modigliani–Miller assumed a world with not taxes, no agency costs, no asymmetric info, no bankruptcy costs AND EFFICIENT MARKETS BUT we know that this does not reflect the world we live in and MARKETS ARE indeed INEFFICIENT. Therefore in my opinion it makes more sense to say that the decrease in demand for large homes happens BEFORE the increase of the demand for smaller appartments.)
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Bunuel
In the wake of the global housing crisis, and amid dramatically changing demographics, it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.


(A) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(B) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, and thus increase demand for smaller urban apartments.

(C) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, thus creating an increase in demand for smaller urban apartments.

(D) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes and increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(E) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.


I do not understand one thing. How can the question have an answer that changes the entire meaning of the sentence?

It is likely to happen is not the same as It is not likely to happen. However, many have confidently ruled out A and B because of the which modifier. In GMAT, there is a huge emphasis on keeping the core meaning of the sentence intact. But here the question sentence means something and the answer means something else. How can we be this confident to select an option that alters the sentence's meaning?
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Bunuel
In the wake of the global housing crisis, and amid dramatically changing demographics, it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.


(A) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(B) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, and thus increase demand for smaller urban apartments.

(C) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, thus creating an increase in demand for smaller urban apartments.

(D) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes and increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(E) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.


I do not understand one thing. How can the question have an answer that changes the entire meaning of the sentence?

It is likely to happen is not the same as It is not likely to happen. However, many have confidently ruled out A and B because of the which modifier. In GMAT, there is a huge emphasis on keeping the core meaning of the sentence intact. But here the question sentence means something and the answer means something else. How can we be this confident to select an option that alters the sentence's meaning?

anonymous19, there is nothing wrong with "changing" the meaning as long as the meaning makes sense. There is nothing special about the option A and the only original/core part of a question is the non-underlined portion.

A quick note - options C,D and E are double negatives (Not unlikely). Just thought I'd mentioned it as you said "It is not likely to happen" (see highlighted). None of the options convey this meaning.
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why can't 'which' refers to the nearest logical antecedent ?
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Could you please help me understand what is the subject of the "reducing ..."

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Bunuel
In the wake of the global housing crisis, and amid dramatically changing demographics, it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.


(A) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(B) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, and thus increase demand for smaller urban apartments.

(C) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, thus creating an increase in demand for smaller urban apartments.

(D) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes and increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(E) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.


I do not understand one thing. How can the question have an answer that changes the entire meaning of the sentence?

It is likely to happen is not the same as It is not likely to happen. However, many have confidently ruled out A and B because of the which modifier. In GMAT, there is a huge emphasis on keeping the core meaning of the sentence intact. But here the question sentence means something and the answer means something else. How can we be this confident to select an option that alters the sentence's meaning?

anonymous19, there is nothing wrong with "changing" the meaning as long as the meaning makes sense. There is nothing special about the option A and the only original/core part of a question is the non-underlined portion.

A quick note - options C,D and E are double negatives (Not unlikely). Just thought I'd mentioned it as you said "It is not likely to happen" (see highlighted). None of the options convey this meaning.
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A) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(B) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, and thus increase demand for smaller urban apartments.

(C) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, thus creating an increase in demand for smaller urban apartments. ing modifier should be parallel and not be separated .

(D) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes and increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.: this looks good

(E) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, increasing demand for smaller urban apartments. same as c.

D looks good.

The second -ing modifier is modifying the first -ing clause because increase in demand is direct effect of reduction in demand. If we will make them parallel the idea would distort. Please clarify

KarishmaB please guide
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A) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(B) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, and thus increase demand for smaller urban apartments.

(C) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, thus creating an increase in demand for smaller urban apartments. ing modifier should be parallel and not be separated .

(D) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes and increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.: this looks good

(E) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, increasing demand for smaller urban apartments. same as c.

D looks good.

The second -ing modifier is modifying the first -ing clause because increase in demand is direct effect of reduction in demand. If we will make them parallel the idea would distort. Please clarify

KarishmaB please guide

How can we say what the author wanted to convey? Both meanings are logical.

Shift in thinking could reduce demand for A and increase demand for B. (Shift in thinking leads to reduction in demand for A and shift in thinking leads to increase in demand for B)

Shift in thinking could reduce demand for A, thus increasing demand for B. (The reduction in demand for A leads to an increase in demand for B)

We don't know what the author wants to say so we pick the best grammatical sentence. Either meaning could be correct here.

Using 'which' for a far away noun is less preferable so option (D) is better.
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Bunuel
In the wake of the global housing crisis, and amid dramatically changing demographics, it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.


(A) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(B) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, and thus increase demand for smaller urban apartments.

(C) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, thus creating an increase in demand for smaller urban apartments.

(D) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes and increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(E) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

Can someone please explain option C? why cant it mean that reducing demand for large suburban is thus creating increase in demand for smaller apartments? Bunuel GMATNinja daagh MartyTargetTestPrep would help if you could explain since I am using TTP
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A) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, thus increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.

(B) it is likely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, which will reduce demand for large suburban homes, and thus increase demand for smaller urban apartments.

(C) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, thus creating an increase in demand for smaller urban apartments. ing modifier should be parallel and not be separated .

(D) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes and increasing demand for smaller urban apartments.: this looks good

(E) it is not unlikely that a widespread shift in thinking is ahead, reducing demand for large suburban homes, increasing demand for smaller urban apartments. same as c.

D looks good.

The second -ing modifier is modifying the first -ing clause because increase in demand is direct effect of reduction in demand. If we will make them parallel the idea would distort. Please clarify

KarishmaB please guide

How can we say what the author wanted to convey? Both meanings are logical.

Shift in thinking could reduce demand for A and increase demand for B. (Shift in thinking leads to reduction in demand for A and shift in thinking leads to increase in demand for B)

Shift in thinking could reduce demand for A, thus increasing demand for B. (The reduction in demand for A leads to an increase in demand for B)

We don't know what the author wants to say so we pick the best grammatical sentence. Either meaning could be correct here.

Using 'which' for a far away noun is less preferable so option (D) is better.


How can we use ing modifier to describe an action that will probably happen in the future

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