Question
Much of the hope for continued improvement of the economy lies in the projection of increasing consumer spending this year.
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
- Much of the hope (Main Subject)
- for continued improvement (Prepositional phrase – modifies “hope”)
- of the economy (Prepositional phrase – modifies “improvement”)
- for continued improvement (Prepositional phrase – modifies “hope”)
- lies in the projection (Main Verb – “lies”)
- of increasing consumer spending this year. (Prepositional phrase – modifies “projection”)
The gist of the sentence is that much of the hope lies in a projection. “Hope lies in a projection” doesn’t make a lot of sense. It makes much more sense to say that “hope lies in the increase in consumer spending”.
Option Analysis
(A) Incorrect. For the issue mentioned above.
(B) Incorrect. This option repeats the problem of the original sentence. Besides, the option says “projection of consumers” followed by a verb-ing modifier of “consumers”. “Projection of consumers” is a completely nonsensical construction.
(C) Incorrect. In this construction, ‘this year’ can modify either “increase” or the verb ‘lies’. Neither modification is correct. The increase hasn’t happened yet; it’s projected for this year. That’s why hope lies in it (hope has to lie in a future event). If “this year” modifies “increase”, the increase could have happened in the earlier part of this year, not necessarily in the part of the year to come. Thus, this modification is not correct.
(D) Incorrect. Logically, the hope lies not in “consumer spending” but in “the increase in consumer spending”. Thus, this option has a meaning issue.
(E) Correct. Please note that in this option “that” modifies “increase”.
If you have any doubts regarding any part of this solution, please feel free to ask in the comments section.
This solution was created by Chiranjeev Singh and Anish Passi.
