Question
The Commerce Department reported that the nation’s economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, but that while businesses were expanding their production, unsold goods piled up on store shelves as consumer spending is slowed sharply.
Option A
Option B
Option C
Option D
Option E
(This question is from Official Guide. Therefore, because of copyrights, the complete question cannot be copied here. The question can be accessed at GMAT Club)
Solution
Sentence Analysis
- The Commerce Department reported (Main Subject: Department; Main Verb: reported)
- that the nation’s economy grew at a brisk annual pace of 3.7 percent in the second quarter, (Dependent clause ā Subject: economy; Verb: grew. The prepositional phrase āat a briskā¦percentā and āin the second quarterā both modify the verb āgrewā.)
- but that while businesses were expanding their production, (Dependent clause ā Subject: businesses; Verb: āwere expandingā)
- unsold goods piled up on store shelves (Dependent ‘that’ clause ā Subject: āgoodsā; Verb: āpiled upā)
- as consumer spending is slowed sharply. (Dependent clause ā Subject: spending; Verb: āis slowedā)
The commerce department reported two things, which are at a contrast.
- The nationās economy grew quite well. (Positive news)
- While businesses were growing their production, unsold goods increased as consumer spending slowed. (Worrisome news)
The only problem with the sentence is the use of simple present tense āis slowedā. The use of āasā indicates simultaneous events. Thus, since āpiled upā is in past tense, the verb āis slowedā needs to be converted into past tense.
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect.Ā For the reason mentioned above.
(B)Ā Correct.Ā This option corrects the error in the original sentence. I believe that both āunsold goods were piling upā and āunsold goods piled upā are correct.
(C) Incorrect.Ā For the following reasons:
- The use of past perfect āhad piled upā is incorrect since there is no sequence of events here. Weāre talking about three simultaneous events.
- The use of āas structureā to communicate cause-effect relationship and simultaneity of the events is very apt. The use of prepositional phrase āwith a sharp slowingā¦ā is much inferior to the āas structureā.
(D) Incorrect.Ā The use of prepositional phrase āwith the piling upā¦ā is much inferior to the āas structureā. Besides, if we use āas structureā, the part āconsumer spending was slowing sharplyā needs to come in the āas clauseā since this part indicates the reason for the piling up of the unsold goods.
(E) Incorrect.Ā For the following reasons:
- The use of present perfect āhas slowedā is incorrect since it doesnāt make sense with past continuous tense āwere expandingā in the while part. It must be simple past tense or past continuous tense.
- The problem of option D.
If you have any doubts regarding any part of this solution, please feel free to ask in the comments section.
Hi CJ,
As per my understanding we use present perfect when an action began in past and continues into the present.
Considering this fact, what is the issue with the use of “has slowed sharply” in option(E)?
It is possible that businesses were expanding their production along with a constant fall in consumer spending.
Please help
Do you think the below sentence is correct?
While he was progressing in career, he has not enjoyed.
Makes sense now.
Sorry for asking a silly doubt.
Thanks!
Any doubt sincerely asked in a genuine doubt, not a silly one š
Hi CJ,
Is my though process and approach as detailed below correct?
I rephrased the original sentence in simple terms as ādepartment reported that economy grew, but that goods piled upā. I couldnāt find the contrast between economy and goods meaningful and then eliminated option-A and option-B.
Further, in Option-B, department reported that goods were piling up. I thought progressive tense indicating simultaneity of actions āreportingā and āpiling upā is illogical.
I realise that I messed up, but couldnāt understand where I was going wrong?
Can you shed some light.. š
Then, which option presented the correct contrast to you? š
You can take learning from this question that we have to careful while playing on meaning. You are correct in terms of the simplification of the sentence. but there is indeed a valid contrast.
Normally, when economy grows, we expects products to sell fast. Thus, we don’t expect inventory to pile up. However, in the given sentence, the economy is growing fast, but the goods are still piling up on store shelves.
The two simulatenous actions in option B are “expanding” and “piling up”.
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