In the remote western province of China, the prevailing

Question

In the remote western province of China, the prevailing price for a large bowl of noodles, which are a staple in the region,  rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had  colluded to fix their prices. 
 
(A) rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had
(B) rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, and prompts allegations that noodle shop owners had
(C) had risen from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners
(D) had risen from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had
(E) raised from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had

topher · Answer

I'll go with A on this one.

B is wrong b/c "prompts allegations" is in the incorrect tense.
E is wrong b/c "raised" is not correct.

I think the verb "rose" is the simple past tense and the "had colluded" is supposed to be the past perfect. The "had colluded" indicates that this action of fixing prices occurred before the prices actually rose. So A fits the bill.

GMATaddict · Answer

I'm always horrible with verb tenses, but I'm really not sure about this, but I hope I get a clearer view as I type this out.

So we have two events: a rise in prices (which occurred first), and allegations (which logically followed the rise in prices). So I guess according to the rules the earlier event would have to take the past perfect? So (C)... I guess?

On the other hand, we may interpret this as 3 different events: the collusion (which came first), followed by a rise in prices, which in turn prompted allegations. If that order must be expressed in the correct sequence through grammar, then perhaps (A) does the best job of this?

I'm really not sure. Is there an official explanation?

topher · Answer

I believe C reverses the logical order of the actions.

In answer C you are saying the prices "had risen" because the owners "colluded." I may be wrong, but I think the past perfect "had +  verb " is supposed to be linked to the action that occurred BEFORE.

So what I am saying is in answer A, you are saying the prices "rose" because the owners "had colluded." So in this case, the collusion happened before, so you use the past perfect, and the prices rose later, so you use the simple past.

I believe my reasoning is correct, but I may be wrong. What is the OA?

pleonasm · Answer

A simpler way to look at this.

....the prevailing price for a large bowl of noodles rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had colluded to fix their prices.

The primary verb 'rise' has to be in the past tense and the resulting/continuing clause should either be in continuous (prompting) or past (it prompted). Another part to look out for is the usage of 'that' .. 'that should always be qualified with past perfect verb ... in this case 'had colluded'.

Hope this helps

skg · Answer

A is the best option.
Rose is simple past
Had colluded in past perfect

skim · Answer

Hi GMATaddict,

Precisely the case - I thought that the former scenario as demonstrated by you was the case in point. It could be the case that there are only two events - i.e. the rise in prices, and then the allegations. It turns out that there are indeed 3 different events, as exemplified in your latter scenario. Hence the OA is (A).

Regards,

skim

skim · Answer

Hi topher,

Indeed, choice (C) reverses the order of the actions.

Regards,

skim

skim · Answer

Dear All,

Thanks for the engaging discussion. The official explanation is as follows:

There are three actions in the underlined portion of the sentence. The logical time line is that (1) the noodle shop owners (allegedly) colluded to fix their prices, so (2) the price of a bowl of noodles suddenly increased, causing (3) the allegations against the noodle shop owners. All three actions took place in the past. The original sentence uses the simple past “rose” to indicate that the second action took place in the past. The construction “rose…prompting allegations” correctly indicates the cause and effect relationship between the second and third actions. Finally, the use of the past perfect “had colluded” correctly indicates that the alleged collusion took place prior to the other two past actions.

(A) CORRECT. The original sentence avoids all of the errors in the other choices.

(B) The construction “rose…and prompts” fails to convey the cause and effect relationship between the price increase and the leveling of allegations against the noodle shop owners. Furthermore, the use of the present tense “prompts” is incorrect: according to the original sentence, the allegations have already been made.

(C) The use of the past perfect “had risen” and the simple past “colluded” reverses the time line of events, illogically suggesting that the prices increased before the noodle shop owners colluded to raise their prices.

(D) The use of the past perfect “had risen” with the past perfect “had colluded” illogically suggests that the price increase and the alleged collusion occurred simultaneously. Furthermore, when correctly using the past perfect tense, the sentence must also have some other action in the simple past tense; here there is no such simple past action.

(E) The verb “to rise” is an irregular verb. The simple past tense is not “raised,” but rather “rose.”

Regards,

skim

mun23 · Answer

In the remote western province of China, the prevailing price for a large bowl of noodles, which are a staple in the region,  rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had  colluded to fix their prices.
 (A)rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had
 (B)rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, and prompts allegations that noodle shop owners had
 (C)had risen from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners
 (D)had risen from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had
 (E)raised from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had

Need explanation

stoy4o · Answer

Nutshell: PRICE = SUBJECT; ROSE = MAIN VERB; TIME = OVERNIGHT.

C) and D)  are out because of "had risen". Since time of action was mentioned "overnight", no need for past pefect.

B)  - out because of tense sequence error. First it mentions past tense "rose" overnight; then it changes to simple tense "prompts"; additionally there should not be a comma before "and prompts" since this would be a list of two. Thirdly, there is no valid list for parallelism/comparison in the meaning of the sentence.
 E)  "raise" is not the correct verb used.

A) CORRECT : #1) correct verb tense "rose"; #2) the phrase "prompting. ..." gives a description to why prices rose.

vigneshceg · Answer

I`m confused with the clause "that noodle shop owners had" had is right here ?
allegation is accusing someone and the allegation event occurred after the price rice . Can someone explain ?

mun23 · Answer

In option A " prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had " here i am confused with the use of  had.

Rock750 · Answer

Hi mun23,

There are two actions performing in the past (the prevailing price rose ; noodle shop owners had colluded) but the second was done and finished before the first one and in this case, we use the past perfect (had colluded) to show that while we use simple past for the first.

Hope that helps !

Archit143 · Answer

Hi 
Lets look it like a normal event. 
The shop owners colluded to raise the price of the noodle, finally they reached a common conclusion to raise the price from 27 to 31 cents.
So as you can see there are two events and both are related to each other.
Oldest event or former:   They colluded    
Latest event :   Price raised  
So since the events are related to each othr, hence the verbs must be presented in correct sequential manner. ie the former one must be preceded by past perfect ie had and later must use simple past.

Be very careful in identifying whetehr the verbs used are related to each other or not. If they aren't then use of past perfect for former will be considered wrong.

Consider Kudos If my post helps!!!

Archit

doe007 · Answer

All duplicate threads on this topic have been merged.

Please check and follow the  Guidelines for Posting in Verbal GMAT forum  before posting anything.

sasyaharry · Answer

Remove the fluff.

In the remote western province of China,  the prevailing price   for a large bowl of noodles, which are a staple in the region,  rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had colluded to fix their prices.

Notice that the original sentence uses the correct verb tense  'rose'    Eliminate C,D and E

Between A and B, the answer choice B uses incorrect tense with 'prompts'.

Nunuboy1994 · Answer

A uses the correct tense of the verb "rise." The prices rose over night. Also we need a past perfect verb because what the sentence is implying that that the raising prices attracted skepticism that noodle shop owners had done something in the past prior to the raising of the prices.

A

HimanshuW11 · Answer

In the remote western province of China, the prevailing price for a large bowl of noodles, which are a staple in
the region, rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had colluded to fix their prices.

The issue here under consideration is a double past event. One that the "prices rose” and other are the allegations that “shop owners colluded”. Double past is required of two reasons:
The events aren’t taking place at the same time.
The allegations provide us the evidence that the shop owners colluded earlier then the raise of price.
Hence D goes out.

A.  rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had  (shows cause and effect.) Correct

B.  rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, and prompts allegations that noodle shop owners had

(“and” Changing the meaning of the sentence.) Which makes the sentence sounds as if there were two things with the prices of large bowl of noodles: 1. They rose from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight. 2. They prompt allegation that noodle shop owners had colluded.
Hence B goes out.

C.  had risen from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners

This confuses the sequence of events. Logical sequence of events is 
Shop owners colluded.
Prices rose.
Allegations prompted.
Option C suggests that Prices rose first and then the shop owners colluded.

D.  had risen from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had

The issue here under consideration is a double past event. One that the "prices rose” and other are the allegations that “shop owners colluded”. Double past is required of two reasons:
The events aren’t taking place at the same time.
The allegations provide us the evidence that the shop owners colluded earlier then the raise of price.
Hence D goes out.

E.  raised from 27 cents to 31 cents overnight, prompting allegations that noodle shop owners had

Raised in GMAT is used for 2 purposes 1. Raise a bet. 2. Salary
So E goes out.

GmatPrime · Answer

A. Rose: Simple past verb form- since this is the main event we are talking about (vs. shop owners colluding)
 prompting: comma + '-ing' form refers the subject of the previous clause; hence refers to 'rose' here
 had colluded: this is in past perfect or otherwise known as 'double past' since two events are being talked about here-
 1. rise in prices and 
 2. shop owners colluding 
 and the shop owners colluded first, then the prices rose (or so is the assumption)

In the remote western province of China, the prevailing

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In the remote western province of China, the prevailing

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