Many economists believe that policy officials at the Federal

Question

Many economists believe that policy officials at the Federal Reserve, now seeingthe economy as struggling with negative growth and high inflation, are almost certain to implement further rounds of quantitative easing in the near future.

(A) now seeing the economy as struggling with negative growth and high inflation, are

(B) now seeing the economy to be struggling with negative growth and high inflation and are

(C) now seeing the economy as a struggling with negative growth and high inflation, are

(D) who now see the economy to be a struggling with negative growth and high inflation, will be

(E) which now sees the economy to be a struggling with negative growth and high inflation, is

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blueseas · Accepted Answer

hi amit,

in the original sentence HIGHLITED part is a modifier....set between the commas.
and after the modifier VERB  are ==>is acting as a verb for the subject economists....which is correct.
 
Many economists believe that policy officials at the Federal Reserve, now seeing the economy as struggling with negative growth and high inflation , are almost certain to implement further rounds of quantitative easing in the near future.

now if you just fit option B the original sentence becomes:
 
Many economists believe that policy officials at the Federal Reserve, now seeing the economy to be struggling with negative growth and high inflation and are almost certain to implement further rounds of quantitative easing in the near future.
 
 in this option...the part starting with now seeing the economy....is acting as modifier..moreover because of the removal of comma before  are ..that part is also coming under MODIFIER part....hence the verb for the subject IS MISSING...
thats the major ERROR in this part.
 
hope it helps

amitbharadwaj7 · Answer

Clause 1:- Many economists believe 
Clause 2:- that  policy officials  at the Federal Reserve, now seeing the economy as struggling with negative growth and high inflation,  are  almost certain to implement further rounds of quantitative easing in the near future.

In clause 2 the subject is "policy officials" and the correct plural verb for this subject is "are". ", now seeing the economy...." modifies Fedral Reserve. In this question subject and verb are far away and possiblity of error is there.

Choice B : Subject - Verb link is missing so it is incorrect.
Choice C : Distorts the meaning of original sentence by introducing "a" after "as"
Choice D : Modifier error by introducing who and also the verb error "will be almost certain..."
Choice E : Subject - Verb error

so The correct answer is A

vishnuns39620 · Answer

It could only be option A!

3 of the 5 had errors like   "a struggling "   which immediately rule out C,D,& E.

Option B is wrong because it ends with   "and are"   instead of the correct form " , are "

AMITAGARWAL2 · Answer

I think rule rule here is other choices are worst so go with A.

I do not get the explianation of subject - verb error of B...

amitbharadwaj7 · Answer

Great Explaination. I agree with you.

Amit0507 · Answer

This question might sound stupid but I thought a modifier is linked to the Noun before a comma. And in this case, Federal reserve is the NOUN, hence adding 'who' will create the correct linkage. 
Please clarify.

Thanks,
Amit

blueseas · Answer

Hi,

WHO and WHOM===>they  can only modify human beings ...and ....reverse is also true.. .human beings can only be modified by WHO and WHOM.

if you modify human beings using THAT /WHICH==>this will always be wrong.

now in this question.

federal reserve===>this is NOT a human being...hence we cant use WHO after that.
 
hope it helps

Amit0507 · Answer

Hi,
Here I guess we are referring to Policy officials (not Federal Reserve)...... who see the economy ....... This prompted me to raise this doubt.

blueseas · Answer

Many economists believe that policy officials at the Federal Reserve,  now seeing the economy as struggling with negative growth and high inflation, are almost certain to implement further rounds of quantitative easing in the near future.
 
  meaning of the sentence is : 
 MANY ECONOMIST ==>THEY ARE SEEING THE ECONOMY...and not the policy officials..
now as economist see this economy is struggling...based on this econmist believe that policy officials ==>are almost certain to implement......
this is the intended meaning

how to understand.==>whenever you see...comma +verb-ing==>then this modifier modifies the whole clause...and not the previous noun
in this case it is COMMA NOW  SEEING ==>hence this modifies whole clause hence the subject of the previous clause tooo.
 
 moreover WHO always refer to nearest noun....it will not jump over one noun..as you said meaning wise it is refering to policy officials.
so if it is placed after federal reserve it is going to modify FEDERAL RESERVE ...and will not jump to policy officials

hope it helps

Amit0507 · Answer

Hi,
Thanks for the response, but I do not agree with your explanation for 2 reasons:
1. Who and whom are used to describe humans only, so no way it will refer to 'Federal reserve'
2. As per your explanation, Economists BELIEVE and SEE in this sentence which I guess is a wrong inference.

Thanks,
Amit

blueseas · Answer

PLEASE REFER THESE. https://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoVwhVt.asp usage-of-verb-ing-modifiers-135220.html HOPE IT HELPS

april427 · Answer

hey guys, it's my first time to use the GMATPILL, I was wondering how I can know if my answer is corrent or not? It seems that I can only see the QUESTIOM STATS above the question stem.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Many economists believe that policy officials at the Federal

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