With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimba

I feel it is A... Could somebody explain in detail why is A wrong?

In the sentence, the author uses "....over the last one and half decades..". What it implies is the period. The duration has been taking from the time when the author wrote this sentence to fifteen years ago. Since we are also talking about the current duration, so it is bit obvious to use "have" in order to show that the effect is still present.

Hope that helps.
Best Regards,

Hi gmatter0913,

Let me add my 2 cents.

With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well


Lets first follow the intended meaning of the long sentence,

1. With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens,===> this talks about zimbabwe
2. Zimbabwe was once a success story in S.A, but situation has changed since the past 1.5 decades as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well.

A. With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well

"ceased" is not a modifier. It is a verb, so usage of have is required. Same with "felt"


B. Zimbabwe, with a robust economy and well educate and well to do citizens, once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas have ceased to create jobs and rural areas have felt the pressure as well

Zimbabwe........ South Africa, verb missing.
Also, it states that "citizens" were once the success story of S.A

C. With a robust economy having well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, however over the last one and a half decades things got harder for it as urban areas ceasing to create jobs, with even rural areas feeling the pressure

"ceasing" is again modifying areas. Which is incorrect. Also, "got harder" states past-tense, we can use present tense "ceasing".

D. Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, with a robust economy and well educate and well to do citizens, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well

Incorrect modifier placement. This states that S.A was with a robust economy and well educate and.......


E. With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas have ceased to create jobs and rural areas have felt the pressure as well

Modifier placement is correct, verb "have got harder" and "have felt" are parallel.. CORRECT..

Nice question..!!! Thanks fameatop

THanks,
Jai

Don't Miss to give KUDOS..!!!

a) things have got harder as areas ceased to create and other areas felt the pressure: incorrect parallelism.
b) Z, once the story of SA, "but": fragment.
c) With a robust economy "having" well educated citizens: the economy had and doesnt have anymore well educated citizens? nope.
d) ... SA, with a robust economy: i think its a misplaced modifier.
e) things "have" got harder as areas "have" ceased to create and rural areas "have" felt the pressure: correct parallelism.

(E) is the answer.

(A) With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well.
PARALLELISM PROBLEM in Last sentence. The tense is past perfect and the following justification in simple past

(B) Zimbabwe, with a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas have ceased to create jobs and rural areas have felt the pressure as well.
Name of the country doesn't relate with the following sentence should have been Zimbabwe, once, is/was/has etc

(C) With a robust economy having well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, however over the last one and a half decades things got harder for it as a result of urban areas ceasing to create jobs, with even rural areas feeling the pressure.
Economy doesn't have citizens, country has citizens

(D) Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, with a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well.
It seems that south africa has robust economy whereas the primary sentence wants to use the robust economy for zimbabwe. So modifier problem


(E) With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas have ceasedto create jobs and rural areas have felt the pressure as well.

Option E follows parallelism and correct modifier hence correct answer

With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well[/u]

A. With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well
B. Zimbabwe, with a robust economy and well educate and well to do citizens, once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas have ceased to create jobs and rural areas have felt the pressure as well
C. With a robust economy having well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, however over the last one and a half decades things got harder for it as urban areas ceasing to create jobs, with even rural areas feeling the pressure
D. Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, with a robust economy and well educate and well to do citizens, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well
E. With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas have ceased to create jobs and rural areas have felt the pressure as well

So this question tests the concept of Tenses.. you have a present perfect tense which signifies that the continuity of an action and so you cannot use - past tense--- Almost all except E have this error.
B- missing verb.

Hope this helps

A. With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well

1. it is ambiguous. Can refer to either South Africa or Zimbabwe.
2. Over the past decade and a half, things have implies that the effects are still being felt/ present. So, we need present perfect.

B. Zimbabwe, with a robust economy and well educate and well to do citizens, once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas have ceased to create jobs and rural areas have felt the pressure as well

1. First independent clause (before but) lacks a verb. It is a sentence fragment.

C. With a robust economy having well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, however over the last one and a half decades things got harder for it as urban areas ceasing to create jobs, with even rural areas feeling the pressure

1. however usually warrants a ; to precede itself.
2. as (FANBOYS conjunction) connects two independent clauses. However, if you notice here, the clause after as doesn't have a verb. Another fragment.

D. Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, with a robust economy and well educate and well to do citizens, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas ceased to create jobs and rural areas felt the pressure as well

1. with a robust economy is an ambiguous modifier, in the sense that, it seems to be modifying South Africa rather than Zimbabwe. Construction in A was better in this sense.
2. Also, it seems to be a typo but nonetheless - it has a typo - well educate.

E. With a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens, Zimbabwe was once the success story of Southern Africa, but over the last one and a half decades things have got harder for it as urban areas have ceased to create jobs and rural areas have felt the pressure as well

Fixes the tense (present perfect )issues stated above. No ambiguity of pronouns. With a robust economy correctly modifies Zimbabwe. Looks good.

Official Explanation

Answer: E

(A) Looks fine until you notice the phrase over the last one and a half decades. This suggests that the action comes up to the present (the use of things have got harder is a big clue for you), necessitating the use of the present perfect tense and not the simple past tense (ceased, felt).

(B) Uses two back-to-back modifying phrases at the beginning. There is no verb in the clause before but.

(C) The opening phrase makes it appear as if the robust economy had the well educated citizens. However needs to be preceded by a semicolon.

(D) The modifying phrase (with a robust economy and well educated and well to do citizens) is ambiguously placed because we don’t know whether it is referring to Zimbabwe or to South Africa. The use of it is also ambiguous.

(E) The correct answer.

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.