Widely expected budget cuts forced by the ongoing state financial

It is budget cuts that have raised the number of granted or mandated work furloughs to almost double not public services.

So this parallelism error is corrected in D.

Can you please help me with this? I looked at D but rejected it because it changed the phrase from

ALMOST DOUBLE to DOUBLED?

Isn't that odd? Almost 100 isn't 100 right?

There is a common misconception that the correct answer should not change the meaning of the question prompt - that is incorrect.

When we say an option "changes the meaning of the sentence", we mean that the sentence is grammatically valid, but illogical (eg. misplaced modifiers).

For example:
- The snake with the gun killed the man

>> This sebtence is valid, just illogical
>> Clearly "with the gun" is intended to modify "the man" instead of "the snake". How can the snake have a gun?
>> Here we conclude that this construction changes the intended meaning of the author
>> IF this sentence were to be Option A (i.e. im the question prompt), it really wouldn't make sense to select it as the answer on the ground that "only in this option does the snake has a gun; all other options the man has it - changed meaning".

Few other examples:
- John is fat but he eats a lot
- Ocean tides causes the moon


DO NOT IMMEDIATELY eliminate an answer because it has a different meaning from the prompt. Always check grammar > meaning > economy of words first.

---

For this question, the phrase "raised ... by almost double" should jump out at you. Both raise and double implies an increase - it's redundent to use both in the sentence.

Either:
- X is (almost) doubled, or
- X is raised by (almost) two times

The almost doesnt matter.

Posted from my mobile device

Quick question: What is the source of this sentence? I'm surprised that GMAT should use "impact" as a verb. Just curious. Does anybody know? I can't find it in any official guide from the 10th edition on.

VeritasKarishma
GMATNinja
Is the usage of second 'and' in option D correct ? I'm confused - I feel the last two items in the list are not precisely parallel because of the usage of second 'and'.

Hi experts,

In this question, I see that the test makers want students to predict answer choices, by using their own knowledge to decide whether public services or budget cuts double the mandated work. Would GMAC has any question that requires similar understanding like this one? I mean this differentiation is not quite straightforward to realize, especially for nonnative speakers. Thanks

Nadeesh21

pl bifurcate the list ..1st "and " lists noun entity, whereas 2nd "and " is for parallel verbs for noun"budget"

hope it helps

The last two items are not parallel. They are a part of different lists.

This is the correct sentence.
Budget cuts ... have begun to impact highway maintenance, the state pension fund, and a variety of popular public services and have already doubled the number of granted or mandated work furloughs.

It has two lists in it:

Budget cuts ...
- have begun to impact highway maintenance, the state pension fund, and a variety of popular public services
and
- have already doubled the number of granted or mandated work furloughs.

What has doubled the number of granted or mandated work furloughs? Budget cuts. Not public services.

Budget cuts have done two things - begun to impact 3 services and doubled the number of furloughs.
The 3 services impacted are - highway maintenance, the state pension fund, and a variety of popular public services

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