Pack 11 Q2: Not believing themselves to choose accurately...

Question

Pack 11, Question 2 of 5:

Not believing themselves to choose accurately among the various choices of real-estate acquisitions in the housing market,  realtors are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily  purchased directly.

A. realtors are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily
B. realtors are assisting numerous clients who are going to them for assistance in purchasing homes that they could easily have
C. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance from them to purchase homes that could be easily
D. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance to purchase homes that easily could have been
E. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance in purchasing homes that could easily be

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thenikhilseth · Answer

Correct Answer is  E option , Another good question similar to that in OG.

1) Modifiers - Realtors v/s Clients. Now both the modifiers can make sense, but here meaning is the key. 
 Intended Meaning -  Clients are taking help from realtors because clients don't believe in themselves 
Therefore eliminate A and B

2) Assistance is buying is more idiomatic than Assistance to buy. 
 Therefore Eliminate C and D.

A.  realtors  are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily
B.  realtors  are assisting numerous clients who are going to them for assistance in purchasing homes that they could easily have
C. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance  from them to  purchase homes that could be easily
D. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance  to purchase  homes that easily could  have been 
E.  numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance in purchasing homes that could easily be-  CORRECT

Raxit85 · Answer

Not believing themselves to choose accurately among the various choices of real-estate acquisitions in the housing market, realtors are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily purchased directly.

Not believing themselves to choose among x in the housing market, (Who/what not believing??), realtors are assisting numerous clients who go to them (can refer to realtors/numerous clients) to purchase homes that could be easily purchased directly.

Are realtors not believing themselves???? No, must be numerous clients. So, incorrect modifier and changes the meaning of sentence.

A.  realtors are  assisting numerous clients who go to  them  to purchase homes that could be easily - Incorrect because of above reason.
B.  realtors a re assisting numerous clients who are going to  them  for assistance in purchasing homes that they could easily have - Incorrect because of above reason.
C. numerous clients are going to realtors for  assistance from them  to purchase homes that could be easily - them can refer to realtors/numerous clients and incorrect idiom - assist someone in doing something is correct one.
D. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance  to purchase  homes that  easily   could have been  - Misplaced modifier 
E. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance in purchasing homes that could easily be - No error.

Imo. E

NischalP · Answer

Correct Answer is E option, Another good question similar to that in OG.

Appropriate modifier is numerous clients not the realtor.

2) Assistance is buying is more idiomatic than Assistance to buy.
Therefore Eliminate C and D.

A. realtors are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily - Incorrect modifier
B. realtors are assisting numerous clients who are going to them for assistance in purchasing homes that they could easily have - Incorrect modifier
C. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance from them to purchase homes that could be easily. Use of them incorrect
D. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance to purchase homes that easily could have been - Have refers to an event begun in the past but as the author mentions "Numerous clients are still going".
E. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance in purchasing homes that could easily be- IMO

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation

Not believing themselves to choose accurately among the various choices of real-estate acquisitions in the housing market,  realtors are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily  purchased directly.

A.  realtors  are  assisting  numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes  that could be easily  
 B.  realtors  are  assisting  numerous clients who are going to them  for assistance in purchasing  homes  that they could easily have  
 C.  numerous clients  are going to realtors  for assistance from them to purchase  homes  that could be easily  
 D.  numerous clients  are going to realtors  for assistance to purchase  homes  that easily could have been  
 E.  numerous clients  are going to realtors  for assistance in purchasing  homes  that could easily be

After a quick glance over our options, a few key differences jump out:
 1. realtors vs. numerous clients 
 2. assisting / for assistance in purchasing / for assistance from them to purchase / for assistance to purchase 
 3. that could be easily / that they could easily have / that easily could have been / that could easily be

Let’s start with #1 in our list: realtors vs. numerous clients.  If we look at the original sentence, we can see that it begins with a modifier:

Not believing themselves to choose accurately among the various choices of real-estate acquisitions in the housing market,   realtors are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily  purchased directly.

We need to make sure that the noun directly after the modifier (aka the antecedent) is what that phrase is directly referring to. So, ask yourself this question: WHO doesn’t believe they can choose the right home? The clients or the realtors? It makes more sense to be the clients. Let’s see which options handle this correctly, and eliminate the ones that don’t:

A.  realtors  are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily
B.  realtors  are assisting numerous clients who are going to them for assistance in purchasing homes that they could easily have
C.  numerous clients  are going to realtors for assistance from them to purchase homes that could be easily
D.  numerous clients  are going to realtors for assistance to purchase homes that easily could have been
E.  numerous clients  are going to realtors for assistance in purchasing homes that could easily be

We can eliminate options A & B because the modifier and antecedent don’t match up properly.

Now that we have it narrowed down to 3 options, let’s move on to #2 & #3 on our list. #2 on our list has to do with the verb tense/idiom agreement of the verb “assist.” The last issue is how the underlined phrase ends. Let’s focus our attention on these 2 places and see what we come up with:

C. numerous clients are going to realtors  for assistance from them  to purchase homes that could be easily 
This is  INCORRECT . In this case, the phrase “realtors for assistance from them” is redundant. There is no need for the word “them” because we know who the clients are going to - the realtors.

D. numerous clients are going to realtors  for assistance to  purchase homes  that easily could have been  
This is  INCORRECT . In this case, “assistance to” is incorrect; it should be “assistance in.” The other issue is that “could have been” is in the past tense, whereas the rest of the sentence is in present tense.

E. numerous clients are going to realtors  for assistance in  purchasing homes that  could easily be  
This is  CORRECT . In this case, the entire sentence is written in present tense, it uses the correct idiom “assistance in,” and it is logical because “numerous clients” clearly refers to “themselves.”

There you have it - option E is the correct choice!

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  thenikhilseth ! You cracked the code on this one! Kudos to you for catching the modifier/antecedent issue and idiom problems!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  Raxit85 ! You cracked the code on both the idiom and the modifier problems! Kudos to you!

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Well done,  NischalP ! You cracked the code on this one! Kudos to you!

800GMAT2019 · Answer

Pack 11, Question 2 of 5: SUBJECT AND VERB QUESTION

Not believing themselves to choose accurately among the various choices of real-estate acquisitions in the housing market,

A.  realtors  are assisting numerous clients who go to them to purchase homes that could be easily purchased directly.
bad subject: "Realtors are believing..."
correct subject: "Numerous clients are believing..."

B.  realtors  are assisting numerous clients who are going to them for assistance in purchasing homes that they could easily have purchased directly.
bad subject: "Realtors are believing..."
correct subject: "Numerous clients are believing..."

C. numerous clients are going to realtors   for assistance from them to purchase   homes that could be easily purchased directly.
Wordy and awkward. Who does "Them" refer to?

D. numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance to purchase homes that easily  could have been  purchased directly.
Changes meaning. Bad verb. "Could have been" has a very different meaning. 
"Could have been" refers to something that DIDN'T HAPPEN: Correct example: "I could have been an NBA player but I was too short."

E. CORRECT
numerous clients are going to realtors for assistance in purchasing homes that could easily be purchased directly.
Verbs match: believing, choose, going, purchasing

viren72 · Answer

Hello, 
I have one doubt. What is the role of "purchasing" in option E. as per my understanding the -ing word shall be followed by the helping verb then only it will act as a verb? in option E purchasing is not followed by any helping verb.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Pack 11 Q2: Not believing themselves to choose accurately...

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Pack 11 Q2: Not believing themselves to choose accurately...

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