Question
Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply yesterday, as long-term forecasts for much colder temperatures in key heating regions raised fears of insufficient supplies capable of meeting the demand this winter.
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
- Heating oil and natural gas futures rose sharply yesterday, (Main Subject: futures; Main Verb: rose)
- as long-term forecasts (Dependent clause – Subject: forecasts)
- for much colder temperatures in key heating regions (prepositional phrase modifying ‘forecasts’)
- raised fears of insufficient supplies (Verb: raised)
- capable of meeting the demand this winter. (Modifies ‘supplies’)
The sentence seems to say that X rose sharply yesterday as Y happened.
Y: some forecasts raised fears that supplies would be insufficient to meet the demand this winter.
There is one problem in the sentence:
“insufficient supplies capable of meeting the demand” doesn’t make sense. How are supplies insufficient if they are capable of meeting the demand?
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the reason mentioned above.
(B) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- “fear of supplies” doesn’t make sense.
- “sufficient/insufficient to do X” is preferred over “sufficient/insufficient for doing X”.
(C) Incorrect. This option has redundancy. It is redundant to say that insufficient supplies are unable to meet the demand.
(D) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- “there would be supplies insufficient” is an indirect way of saying the same thing mentioned in option E.
- Second error of option B
(E) Correct.
If you have any doubts regarding any part of this solution, please feel free to ask in the comments section.
Hi CJ,
Is the used of simple present tense “are” correct in option C? If yes, then why?
Yes, it should be a problem; it should be a future tense.
*use of
Great, thanks!
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