The rising of costs of college tuition means that more

Question

The rising of costs  of college tuition means that more and more people are graduating from college with a large amount of student debt outstanding.

A. The rising of costs
B. Rising costs
C. The rising cost
D. Because the rising cost
E. Because of rising costs

Hi, I want to know what is "The" doing for these answer choices, please.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear goodyear2013 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

This is an excellent question, and it's very subtle. The question does not have a split between (C) The rising cost (C') Rising cost which would test the presence of " the " directly, but if they did that, I am sure the vast majority of native English speakers would have no problem choosing (C) over (C') . Now, what is this word " the " doing ? This is hard to put into words. The words " rising cost " without " the " sounds vague and indefinite. By contrast, " the rising cost " sounds as if the author has something very definite in mind, and indeed the author does, as the rest of the sentence makes clear. Using the word " the " fits with the logic of the sentence overall. That is my best attempt at an explanation, but now I have a hard question for you: how much do you READ ? Over and above any GMAT-specific reading, how much do you push yourself to read hard, challenging material in English? It's only the experience you get from reading that will help you with these hundreds of subtle and hard-to-articulate words. You will never master every last little rule of grammar without developing a habit of reading every day. Here's a blog that recommends good reading to prepare you for the GMAT: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-reading-list/ Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

semwal · Answer

The rising of costs  of college tuition means that more and more people are graduating from college with a large amount of student debt outstanding.

SUBJECT-VERB MUST AGREE...

A.  The rising of costs.......
B. Rising costs. .....VERB MUST BE  MEAN... 
C. The rising cost.. ..CORRECT...SUBJECT-VERB AGREE... 
D.  Because  the rising cost
E. Because of rising costs

tessyoncom · Answer

The answer to knowing what to choose here is the S-V agreement. I was able to do this by checking the verb 'means' which means singular subject must agree with it. 'Rising costs' is plural hence can not be correct. So 'C' wins!!!

unuk50 · Answer

SV leaves c,d please can someone confirm as to why because is incorrect?

tessyoncom · Answer

'D' is wrong because it will make the whole sentence to be a dependent clause without a corresponding independent clause. That would mean an incomplete sentence!!!

pacifist85 · Answer

I was actually between A and C.

I chose A (wrong) because I thought that "The rising  of  costs", because of the word "of" means that someone purposedly did it. So, they decided to raise the costs because many students had debts.

On the other hand, I read C as if the "The rising cost" was independent of anyone and anything. So, it is an observation and which happened as a result of student dept.

So, with A someone in purpose decided to do this (let's say as a school policy) so that they would cover some of the loss from the student dept, while with C, I though that it just happened, without anyone identifying it as the way to resolve the situation.

But, the important question I guess is: Is "The rising  of  costs" wrong gramatically or idiomatically or in another such way? And if it not incorrect in general, how would it be used correctly?

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear pacifist85 , My friend, I'm happy to respond. :-)

The first thing I'll say is that you have a few spelling mistakes in your above post. My friend, you never know who might be reading what is posted here --- folks on adcom, future employers or colleagues, etc. Always, always, always put your best foot forward. Always do your best. Aristotle argued, "Excellence is a habit." Make excellence habitual in all these little things, so that it's already a habit by the time you sit for the GMAT. Now, to your question. In general, the structure "the" + gerund ] + "of" + is 100% correct, grammatically and idiomatically. the setting of the sun the passing of time the opening of eyes These are all perfectly correct, but rhetorically, they are poetic and dramatic --- that's fine, if we are writing poetry or giving a rousing speech, but in business writing we are generally more factual and concrete. With that in mind, " the rising of costs ," while 100% grammatically correct, sounds indirect and awkward. If I were giving a dramatic speech, then I might cite "the rising of costs." It is a construction that has a flair of the dramatic to it --- great for poetry, lousy for business writing! Here, the sentence is a very practical, factual sentence about college tuition costs and access to education: a concrete real-world concern. That's the focus of the GMAT: what is practical and tangible in the everyday business world. In this context, using a hyper-dramatic phrase is out of place. It would be like showing up for a business meeting in dressed as a Renaissance courtier : it would be jarringly out-of-place. When folks start to veer into fancy poetic language, business people thing, "Cut out all this nonsense. Get to the point!" That's what's wrong with " the rising of costs " in this context --- too indirect, too fancy and over-dramatic, wholly inconsistent with the tone of the sentence. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

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The rising of costs of college tuition means that more

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