both by x and by y OR both x and y

Question

Both weakened by concern about the government’s agreement with the international Monetary Fund and by growing fears of a rise in inflation, the country’s currency continued its slide to a record low against the dollar, which forced  the central bank to intervene for the fourth time in a week.

a. Both weakened by concern about the government’s agreement with the international Monetary Fund and by growing fears of a rise in inflation, the country’s currency continued its slide to a record low against the dollar, which forced
b. Both concern about the government’s agreement with the international monetary fund and the growing fears of a rise in inflation weakened the country’s currency, continuing its slide to a record low against the dollar, which forced
c. Both because it was weakened by concern about the government’s agreement with the international monetary fund and by growing fears of a rise in inflation, the countr’y currency continued its slide to a record low against the dollar, forcing
d. The country’s currency, weakened both by concern about the government’s agreement with the international monetary fund and by growing fears of a rise in inflation, continued its slide to a record low against the dollar, forcing
e. The country’s currency, weakened by both concern about the government’s agreement with the international monetary fund and growing fears of a raise in inflation, continued its slide to a record low against the dollar, which forced

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I chose the correct answer, but my question is this: 
Between D and E, what is the difference between: 'weakened both by x and by y' and 'weakened by both x and y'

D) "weakened  both by  concern about the government’s agreement with the international monetary fund  and by  growing fears of a rise in inflation"
E) " weakened by both  concern about the government’s agreement with the international monetary fund  and  growing fears of a raise in inflation"

Is this a red herring? I personally prefer the structure in E but chose D for other obvious reasons.

Thanks.

sumanamba · Answer

Would go for D....i have no strong reason. Would love to c someone explain

greenoak · Answer

I’d pick D. Explanation:

First, using ‘which forced’ in not right here; it should be ‘forcing’. This let us to eliminate a, b, e.

For d and c, watch for || in 'both… and…' construction.

C: ‘both because it was weakened by concern… and by growing fears’ is wrong; it should be ‘‘both because … and  because …’ – eliminate

D: ‘weakened both by concern… and by growing fears’ – clearly ||, so this is the answer.

anirudhoswal · Answer

IMO - Structures illustrated in both D and E are correct. OR :twisted:

Structures illustrated both in D and in E are correct. as you pointed out, D is right for other resasons (usage of forcing)

maratikus · Answer

D definitely sounds best

Legend · Answer

D) "weakened  both by  concern about the government’s agreement with the international monetary fund  and by  growing fears of a rise in inflation"
E) " weakened by both  concern about the government’s agreement with the international monetary fund  and  growing fears of a raise in inflation"

both by x and by y - means that x and y are treated as separate entities.

both by x and y - means that x and y are treated as part of a group of like items. Note that (x and y) combined would be treated as singular from a subject-verb agreement point of view.

For example the (Accounting and Finance) department  is  just one department, whereas the Finance and IT departments  are  clearly separate entities.

In the above sentence, the x and y equivalent terms are clearly distinct, the Answer is  D .

anairamitch1804 · Answer

Firstly, GMAT prefers the subject to be at the beginning of the Sentence. Therefore you should look for sentence that does exactly that. That leaves us D and E. E is wrong because which at the end of the sentence modifies Dollar.

C uses  It , which does not have a clear referent. Also, it completely destroys the parallelism. Ideally moment you spot a list check the answer choices that maintain parallelism, it will help you eliminate the wrong answer choices.

Another mistake people make is that when the idiom used is  Both X and Y   , sentence should only have 2 items i.e.  Both X,Y, and Z  is wrong. It’s a trick used my Question framers.

First, using ‘ which forced   ’ in not right here; it should be ‘forcing’. This let us to eliminate A, B, E.
For D and C, watch for || in 'both… and…' construction.

C: ‘both because it was weakened by concern… and by growing fears’ is wrong; it should be ‘‘both because … and because…’ 
Both because it was X and Y (wrong)
Because it was both X and Y (correct)
So, option C can be eliminated.

D: ‘weakened both by concern… and by growing fears’ – clearly ||, so this is the answer.
the parallel elements are "by concern" and "by fears". 
"fears" is modified by the adjective "growing", but that is irrelevant; the inclusion of additional modifiers/adjectives/adverbs does not affect parallelism.

VerbalBot · Answer

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both by x and by y OR both x and y

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