Question
In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.
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
- In a speech (Prepositional phrase modifying the main clause)
- before the Senate Banking Committee, (Prepositional phrase modifying ‘speech’)
- the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, (Main Subject: ‘chairman’; Main Verb: ‘painted’)
- suggesting to investors (Comma+verb-ing modifier modifying the preceding clause)
- the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates. (A clause modifying ‘suggesting’ – telling what was suggested)
- suggesting to investors (Comma+verb-ing modifier modifying the preceding clause)
The sentence says that the chairman of the Federal reserve did something in a speech. What did he do? He painted a positive picture of the economy. This painting of the positive picture suggested to the investors that the central bank will not lower interest rates in the near future.
The sentence has the following problems:
- The use of present continuous tense “is not lowering” is incorrect since the action will happen in the future and is not happening currently.
- The absence of ‘that’ after ‘suggesting to investors’ makes the comprehension of the sentence difficult.
- The position of “in the near future” is not appropriate. It should be placed after “lowering interest rates”.
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the reasons mentioned above.
(B) Correct. This option corrects all the errors of the original sentence without introducing any new error.
(C) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- The use of ‘which’ to refer to preceding clause is not recommended.
- The placement of “to investors” is incorrect. “to investors” should be placed right after “suggests”. The current structure means that interest rates will not be lowered to investors. This doesn’t make sense.
- The placement of ‘in the near future’ is incorrect. This phrase should be placed after ‘lowered’.
- The use of passive structure “will not be lowered by the central bank” is not preferred.
(D) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- The prepositional phrase “with the suggestion” doesn’t fit in with the main clause “the chairman painted an optimistic picture”.
- The placement of ‘in the near future’ is incorrect. This phrase should be placed after ‘lowered’.
- The use of passive structure “would not be lowered by the central bank” is not preferred.
(E) Incorrect. For the following reasons:
- 1st error of option D
- “of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank” is a convoluted way of saying the same thing communicated aptly in option B.
If you have any doubts regarding any part of this solution, please feel free to ask in the comments section.
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I don’t understand the uses of “with” in choice D and E.
Would you explain more on this issue, please?
“with” is a regular preposition in English language. A comma+with at the end of a clause is generally used to provide additional information about the clause. For example:
China leads the world in facial-recognition and other new surveillance technologies, with its own government using the tools at home and Huawei Technologies Co. exporting them globally
Visitors to the park have often looked up into the leafy canopy and seen monkeys sleeping on the branches, with arms and legs hanging like socks on a clothesline
Shares that until last week were market highfliers posted double-digit percent losses, with Tesla Inc. sliding 13% and Virgin Galactic Holdings shedding 24%.
Traders described an atmosphere of apprehension, with many fixating on headlines about the coronavirus epidemic, bracing for a drop in business activity and trying to get a grip on expectations for corporate earnings.
The coronavirus epidemic continued to escalate globally into the weekend, with Florida reporting the first two deaths on the U.S. East Coast and a number of countries across Asia experiencing their largest one-day jumps in new infections.
U.S. stocks careened lower Monday, with major indexes swinging perilously close to the first bear market in more than a decade as a price war for oil and fallout from the coronavirus frightened investors.
The selling was heavy across markets and geographies, with investors seeking shelter in government bonds, sending Treasury yields to new lows.
“In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee ” here, what is the meaning of before? Does it mean “in the Senate Banking Committee ” or “in front of Senate Banking Committee “.
one more thing, where will I get notifications of my comments?
Yes, “before” means “in front of”.
I don’t think you’ll get a notification for this one. Going forward, I’ve added the functionality to get notified of replies.
Hi CJ,
In Option-E, you have indicated that “suggestion of interest rates not being lowered in the near future” as a quality issue.
Is it grammatically acceptable to use “being”, which indicates immediacy, to refer to something that will happen in the future?
You have a point. “being”, a modifier here, takes the tense of the clause i.e. present while we are talking about the future. That’s an issue.
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