Despite inflation expectations, allocations to alternative

Question

Despite inflation expectations, allocations to alternative investments like private equity and hedge funds remain roughly constant even though allocations to commodities like gold and precious metals are a market cycle that reflects whether inflation is expected.
 
(A) Despite inflation expectations, allocations to alternative investments like private equity and hedge funds remain roughly constant even though allocations to commodities like gold and precious metals are a market cycle that reflects whether inflation is expected. 
(B) Whether inflation is expected determines the market cycle of allocations to commodities such as gold and precious metals, whereas allocations to alternative investments like private equity and hedge funds remain roughly constant despite inflation. 
(C) Allocations to commodities like gold and precious metals are a market cycle that reflects if inflation is expected, whereas alternative investments like private equity and hedge funds remain roughly constant despite inflation. 
(D) The market cycle of allocations to commodities such as gold and precious metals reflects whether inflation is expected, whereas alternative investments such as private equity and hedge funds remain roughly constant despite inflation. 
(E) The market cycle of allocations to commodities such as gold and precious metals reflects whether inflation is expected, whereas alternative investments like private equity and hedge funds remain roughly constant despite inflation.

Practicegmat · Answer

Hence D is the correct answer

Triforce · Answer

A-C make no sense.
D uses "such as" correct.
E uses "like" wrong.

Therfore the correct answer is D.

crackgmat2013 · Answer

i choose answer choice D on the basis of the correct usage of SUCH AS however when I tried to compare the meaning of all the options with that of the original sentence I could not choose the correct answer choice.
Can anyone help me on this?

akhil911 · Answer

(D) The market cycle of allocations to commodities such as gold and precious metals reflects whether inflation is expected, whereas alternative investments such as private equity and hedge funds remain roughly constant despite inflation. 
 Correct option

I understand the usage of like vs such as in this question but it seems to me that there is another error in this sentence.
"The allocations of commodities ....... reflects" - this does not seem to match the subject-verb aggrement in this case.
Allocations of commodities seems plural and we have reflects which again is plural.

Can someone please throw some light on this.

IlanaEconomistGMAT · Answer

Certainly. The subject phrase begins with "The  market cycle  of...", which is singular, because 'cycle' is singular ('market' functions here as an adjective - 'what kind of cycle?' - the market cycle'). The structure of the subject phrase here is "the x of y to z", which is just a variation of an 'x of y' subject. The number of an 'x of y' subject is always determined by the x. Thus:

Correct: The marketplace of ideas is thriving.
Incorrect: The marketplace of ideas are thriving.

akhil911 · Answer

Thanks Ilana , i understand this now

kaiyuan2893 · Answer

In D, shouldnt "reflects" be singular because it refers to the "market cycle"?

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Hi  kaiyuan2893 ,

Yes, ‘reflects’ should be singular because it agrees with the subject ‘market cycle’.

The singular and plural forms of a verb are opposite to those of a noun. 
Noun – Singular – car
 Plural – cars
It is the plural form that ends in ‘s’ for a noun.

However, it is exactly the opposite for a verb. A singular verb ends in ‘s’. A plural verb does not end in ‘s’.
Verb – Singular – eats
 Plural – eat

So, in this sentence, ‘reflects’ is the correct form because it is the singular form.

Jayanthi Kumar.

Despite inflation expectations, allocations to alternative

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Despite inflation expectations, allocations to alternative

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