In a report that turns conventional wisdom on its head it has been co

Question

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In a report that turns conventional wisdom on its head, it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed rich people pay less overall amount in taxes than the relatively poorer ones do.

A) it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed

A) it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed

B) some of the world’s leading economists have concluded that the supposedly

C) some of the world’s leading economists have concluded that the supposed

D) it is being concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposedly

E) some of the world’s leading economists having concluded that the supposedly

The OFFICIAL EXPLANATION is    here .

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1)

THE PROMPT  
 
 • Issue: supposed vs. supposedly

→  supposed  is an adjective that means  alleged  or  questionably true . Adjectives modify only nouns.
See the definition and pronunciation of 1b,  here .

→  supposedly  is an adverb that means  according to what is generally assumed or believed (often used to indicate that the speaker doubts the truth of the statement).  See that definition  here .
An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a clause. Adverbs do not modify nouns.

→ The central issue in this question is the use of the adjective  supposed  and the adverb  supposedly .

The sentence is not saying that the people are  supposed people —that construction is nonsensical.
( Supposed  must apply to  people  rather than to  rich , because adjectives cannot modify adverbs.)

Rather, the sentence is saying that the people in question are supposedly rich. 
We need the adverb  supposedly  to modify the adjective  rich .
 Supposedly  must modify the adjective  rich  because adverbs cannot modify nouns.
Adverbs can and often do modify adjectives:  a cautiously optimistic person; a reasonably early bedtime; a deeply generous gesture . 
As I mentioned above, the reverse is not true. That is, adjectives cannot modify adverbs.

DinoPen  , I hope that I have answered your question.

THE OPTIONS  
 
•  supposed  should be  supposedly.  The people are not "supposed." As I mentioned, the people in question are  supposedly  rich.

• I'm not a huge fan of the passive construction in this sentence ( it has been concluded by some of the world's leading economists )
→ in this case, the "it is" clause is unnecessary and uses too many.
We use "it is" constructions when we want to deemphasize agency or to stress the end of a sentence.
Neither factor is at play here.

→ passive construction is not always wrong. Many correct answers use the passive voice.
Do not waste time making decisions about style until you have read all the options.
Diction, style, and rhetorical construction are much easier to decided when you compare options.

The first error is fatal.
ELIMINATE A

• I do not see any errors
→ supposedly is used correctly
→ the active voice  (some economists have concluded)  works better than the passive voice in option A
KEEP
 
• The adjective  supposed  should be the adverb  supposedly . See option A.
ELIMINATE C
 
• The phrase  it is  being concluded by   is cumbersome and unnecessarily long
→ Compare (D) to (B). Option D is muddled and not concise.
In addition, the verb phrase  is being concluded by  is in the wrong tense: the economists are not concluding XYZ right this moment. 
We use present progressive to describe a trend or a fleeting moment—but not whatever people already  have said .
 
ELIMINATE D

•  having concluded  is not a working verb. In fact, in this option, no verb exists.
ELIMINATE E

The correct answer is B.

COMMENTS

It's good to see everyone. 
These answers range from good to excellent. 
Posts with explanations get kudos. Stay safe.
 penco  and  ravigupta2912  , I am bumping you both to Best Community Reply.

penco · Answer

Answer : B
 
Here, the question deals with placing correct adverb to make sense of whole sentence.
Let's run over to options.
 
Here, it is used as a placeholder for the inverted sentence, nothing wrong but the word that should be used to describe rich people should be supposedly (adverb) instead of supposed.
Eliminate A

Sentence structure is straighten out. Correct adverb is used.
This is answer.

Supposedly should be used instead of Supposed here.
Eliminate C

Though the usage of adverb is correct here, 'it is being concluded' change the tone of the sentence from simple present to present continuous as turns was used in the non-underlined part. 
Eliminate D

Having is working as a modifier modifying economists and as a result, the sentence is a fragment with no main verb to follow.
Eliminate E

ravigupta2912 · Answer

Took me 90 odd secs but this is fairly straight forward.

A is an inverted sentence and “it” here is acting as a placeholder pronoun, standing in for the noun clause “that the supposed..do”. So nothing wrong with that construct.

What is wrong though is the use of “supposed”, which modifies “people” and “not rich”, leading to an illogical meaning. We need the adverb form “supposedly”

C is eliminated on the same basis.

D “being concluded” indicates an ongoing action, which is illogical considering the non underlined part “turns..” (present tense). Eliminate.

E - the verb “have” is now a participle phrase modifying “economists”. The independent clause now doesn’t have any verb. Hence, we have a fragment. Eliminate.

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zhanbo · Answer

My answer is  (B) . It took me 41 seconds.

(A) The subject of the main clause should perform an action "in a report". In (A), the subject is "it", which stands for "that the ...poorer ones do". "it" cannot perform an action ”in a report".

(C) To modify "rich", use an adverb (supposedly) instead of an adjective (supposed).

(D) See (A)

(E) Fragment. No main verb. "having" alone is a present participle.

DinoPen · Answer

On the GMAT (or in life), can adverbs modify adjectives?

TarunKumar1234 · Answer

In a report that turns conventional wisdom on its head, it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed rich people pay less overall amount in taxes than the relatively poorer ones do.

A) it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed Incorrect

passive form and modifier problem, In a report modifies it

B) some of the world’s leading economists have concluded that the supposedly Correct

C) some of the world’s leading economists have concluded that the supposed Incorrect

parallelism error - ...............the supposed rich people ............the relatively poorer

D) it is being concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposedly Incorrect

same as A

E) some of the world’s leading economists having concluded that the supposedly Incorrect

having uses wrong

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ramlala · Answer

In a report that turns conventional wisdom on its head, it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed rich people pay less overall amount in taxes than the relatively poorer ones do.

A) it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed

A) it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the  supposed 
  supposedly rich  than  relatively poorer

B) some of the world’s leading economists have concluded that the  supposedly

C) some of the world’s leading economists have concluded that the  supposed 
  supposedly rich  than  relatively poorer

D) it  is being  concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposedly
  is being  is not appropriate

E) some of the world’s leading economists  having  concluded that the supposedly
  having  is not appropriate

IMO B

winterschool · Answer

In a report that turns conventional wisdom on its head, it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed rich people pay less overall amount in taxes than the relatively poorer ones do.

A) it has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed

A)  it  has been concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposed  Incorrect

passive form and modifier problem, In a report modifies it

B)  some of the world’s leading economists have concluded that the supposedly   Correct

C) some of the world’s leading economists have concluded that  the supposed   Incorrect

parallelism error - ...............the supposed rich people ............the relatively poorer

D) it is  being  concluded by some of the world’s leading economists that the supposedly  Incorrect

same as A

E) some of the world’s leading economists  having  concluded that the supposedly  Incorrect

having uses wrong

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

DinoPen

Hi,
To answer your question, yes, adverbs can modify adjectives.

Adverbs perform three functions:
1. They modify verbs.
E.g.: Sam drove fast. (Here, the adverb ‘fast’ modifies the verb ‘drove’, giving information about the manner in which Sam drove.)

2. They modify adjectives.
E.g.: Michelle is very intelligent. (Here, the adverb ‘very’ modifies the adjective ‘intelligent’, giving information about the degree of intelligence.)

3. They modify other adverbs.
E.g.: We can drive extremely fast on these roads. 9Here, the adverb ‘fast’ modifies the verb ‘drive’, but the adverb ‘extremely’ modifies the adverb ‘fast’, giving information about how fast we can drive.)

I hope this helps.

Jayanthi Kumar.

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

VerbalBot · Answer

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In a report that turns conventional wisdom on its head it has been co

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