Despite offering significant discounts, Detroit automakers were losing

Question

Despite offering significant discounts, Detroit automakers were losing U.S. market share to lower-cost rivals from Japan and South Korea, which are gaining ground even while offering smaller discounts.

Why should we use gerund here? Any thoughts?
Thanks!

A. Despite offering significant discounts, Detroit automakers were losing

B. Despite offering significant discounts, Detroit automakers are losing

C. Despite significant discounts, the Detroit automakers lost

D. Despite significant discounts, the Detroit automakers continuing to lose

E. The Detroit automakers, despite significant discounts, were losing

Why should we use gerund here? Any thoughts?
Thanks!

GyanOne · Answer

First, notice that the rest of the sentence is in the present tense, so 'were' in the underlined portion is wrong. Similarly 'lost' (past tense) is wrong.

Between B and D, B is the clear winner as D just leads to an awkward sentence which is grammatically wrong in several places.

B it is.

malkov · Answer

That could be a logic to solve it, so we do not need to chose between noun and gerund. But in principle, can we use gerund here or not?

GyanOne · Answer

Yes, you can. In fact, the gerund form is what you will have to use to retain the meaning.

dvinoth86 · Answer

The clue lies in the non-underlined part of the sentence ", which are gaining ....."

A. Despite offering significant discounts, Detroit automakers  were losing 
B. Despite offering significant discounts, Detroit automakers  are losing 
C. Despite significant discounts, the Detroit automakers  lost   Despite significant discounts cannot modify Detroit automakers. 
D. Despite significant discounts, the Detroit automakers continuing to lose :  Despite significant discounts cannot modify Detroit automakers. 
E. The Detroit automakers, despite significant discounts, were losing  Despite significant discounts cannot modify Detroit automakers.

keiraria · Answer

The question is about using the right tense 
the use of continous tense is to show the lost of market share is an ongoing action
the transfer of market share from detroit car makers to Japan and South companies

A wrong sequence of event 
should be are losing to match with are gaining 
B ok 
C parallel structures 
D sentence fragment it misses a verb 
E as A BUT the adverb clause comes in between

Hope this help

best regards

dexerash · Answer

option D could be tempting but overall it makes sentence improper to study.
B uses correct tense and makes the meaning clear.

joe563 · Answer

Why can't "despite significant discounts" modify the detroit automakers?

Trying to grasp the modifier/structure rules,

thanks!

daagh · Answer

You are probably referring to the gerund  offering  in B. Despite is a preposition meaning in spite of. A preposition has to be unexemptedly followed by a noun or noun phrase or gerund.

You can also directly follow the preposition with a noun as in C and D, (which are wrong for different reasons), but with the gerund, the sentence is more wholesome, while without the gerund it looks rather bare.

alchemist009 · Answer

there are 2 simultaneous ongoing actions so past tense is not required. A, C and E are out on this ground. and D is fragment. B is the winner

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

B.

The sentence contains two different actions, indicating a possible verb tense problem. Because the two actions are happening at the same time, they both require the same tense. Since the second verb  are gaining  is not underlined and cannot be changed,  were losing  must be the one to match  are gaining , a present-tense verb. (A), (C), and (E) are out, while (D) has no verb, only a participle followed by an infinitive ( continuing to lose ). (B), which uses are  losing , is the answer.

Varane · Answer

Isn't 'are losing' also present tense.

I got the answer right for other reasons but couldn't follow this explanation.

Could you please explain.

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Despite offering significant discounts, Detroit automakers were losing

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Despite offering significant discounts, Detroit automakers were losing

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