Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of

Question

Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of reading daily newspapers  due to the comic strips being appealing.

(A) due to the comic strips being appealing
(B) because of the appeal of the comic strips
(C) for the fact of the comic strip's appeal
(D) as a result of the comic strips having appeal
(E) since the comic strips were appealing

priyankurml · Accepted Answer

IMO B.

In this sentence second part is providing reason. So "because of" is perfect usage here.
Further, "because" and "because of" are used in two different cases.

"Because" must be followed by clause
Ex: Natalie is not coming today because  she has fever .

"because of" must be followed by noun or noun phrase.
Ex: Paul stood first in class because of  hard work .  
Take this example
Ex: Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of reading daily newspapers because of  the appeal of the comic strips

"Since" is only correct to represent time frame in GMAT.

jainu · Answer

It should be B because:

Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of reading daily newspapers due to the comic strips being appealing.

a) due to the comic strips being appealing---replace 'due to' by 'caused by'...awkward
b) because of the appeal of the comic strips---hold
c) for the fact of the comic strip's appeal---awkward
d) as a result of the comic strips having appeal---question intends to say since comic strips were appealing, americans developed interest, here it says Americans developed interest only becuase of the comic strips that had appeal.
e) since the comic strips were appealing---this means CS used to have appeal and they lost it at some point of time before.

B wins...

Zatarra · Answer

Can some one explain why is 
 as a result of the comic strips having appeal  
is wrong

andysimple · Answer

Trick: always use "Because" to express cause-effect relation.

mourinhogmat1 · Answer

Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of reading daily newspapers  due to the comic strips being appealing. 
(A) due to the comic strips being appealing
(B) because of the appeal of the comic strips
(C) for the fact of the comic strip's appeal
(D) as a result of the comic strips having appeal
(E) since the comic strips were appealing

In A: due to --> as a result of which is OK. But problem lies in "being appealing" Why do you need being here?
In B: Correct
In C: Changes the meaning completely. For the fact of something is not the same as because of something or due to something. So, Wrong. 
In D: as a result of the comic strips having appeal. This is wrong because the meaning here is a incomplete. Comic strips having appeal? So you mean to say that Comic Strips don't have an appeal anymore. Next question, When exactly were the comic strips having appeal? Because Having means past progressive. So, it could be for a short while between the second and third generation, which means it didn't exactly influence the fourth generation's reading habits. So, a lot of confusion here.
In E: Since introduces ambiguity of time. Since should be used to indicate a point of time after which some other event happened. So, wrong.

MKS · Answer

Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of reading daily newspapers due to the comic strips being appealing.

(A) due to the comic strips being appealing
(B) because of the appeal of the comic strips
(C) for the fact of the comic strip's appeal
(D) as a result of the comic strips having appeal
(E) since the comic strips were appealing

In this question Option "A" and "D" can never be correct because -
A) due TO X - X must be a noun phrase only , while option has noun (..strips) + participle (being..) 
D) as a result OF X - X must be a noun phrase only, while option has noun (..strpis) + participle (having..)

These are unacceptable to GMAT.
Hope it helps.

Blueee · Answer

Option B and E are creating confusion

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Blueee . From a meaning standpoint, there really should be no confusion between the two options. The sentence, with (E) inserted:

Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of reading daily newspapers  since the comic strips were appealing .

Where many people are getting caught up on  since , the real issue is the verb tense in the underlined portion, specifically  were , when the verb should be in the present tense,  are . Why? Because in the non-underlined portion, the part we cannot negotiate with, we see the present perfect  have developed , and we understand this to indicate an ongoing action. That is, Americans  are  reading daily newspapers, and they find the comic strips within to be appealing. It would not make sense to slip into the past tense here, unless the sentence means to convey that because comic strips  used to be  funny or appealing, Americans have developed this habit of thumbing through the daily newspaper (I guess to see if the comics are as good as they were at one point in time). There is no way to argue against such a nonsensical reading, based on nothing more than  were , and that is a fatal flaw in the sentence. Notice how answer choice (B) sticks with the present tense and provides a sensible reason for why these people, in the present, keep reading the dailies.

I hope that helps. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

udaypratapsingh99 · Answer

(A) due to the comic strips being appealing  ].
(B) because of the appeal of the comic strips.    ]  
(C) for the fact of the comic strip's appeal. ].
(D) as a result of the comic strips having appeal.  ].
(E) since the comic strips were appealing.  ].

chiragthukral · Answer

Using the POE, 
 
A - due to modifies nouns, here "Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of reading daily newspapers" is a clause ( subject + verb) and not only a noun. - Wrong
B - "because of" modifies clause. As mentioned above the former part of a sentence is a clause. Hold onto this Option
C - for the fact of - wordy 
D - I always try to avoid options with "having". Also as a result is wordy too
E - Here since is not used for time indicator but for cause and effect. The verb "have developed" means developed in the past and still developing thus "were appealing", meaning they were appealing in the past, is wrong.

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Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of

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Four generations of Americans have developed the habit of

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