Sentence Correction

Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city’s economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

OA is E

Can you please why the other choices are incorrect? All the choices sound awkward to me.

Well I was confused with A and C but the answer is E

would wait for the explanation to this

i was stuck between D and E but after i saw the answer i got that d has more errors than E. although i am doubtful about 'city economy becoming' whether it is correct in this context, coz here in E it should be city's economy.
Please let us know what is the source of this question.

@ketkoag .. its from OG ( official Guide 11th Edition)

Can someone explain why B is wrong?

Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
=>it should have verb with lack,cause its comparision.
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy that becomes
=> it should not be large enough degree, its always large degree.
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city’s economy that becomes
=> city's economy that becomes is wrong, it should be which is becoming
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city’s economy becoming
=> either it should be citys economy which is becoming.
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
=> a small confusion it should be which is becoming more and more. but this is the most appropriate.

Here's my approach. Look at the choices - they all attempt to use the idiom "are lacking ...to such a degree that..." so that was my main focus at first, but when I couldn't figure it out immediately I started to look for other errors. This is key. Notice the end of the underlined portion, a place where connector errors can often occur.

"...becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries."

The last portion of the sentence indicates the city is slowly changing into something else. It is something ongoing - it has started, but not completed so we must understand the meaning of the SC (something I noted in my blog about SC) and be careful NOT to change the meaning. Remember this is not underlined so you cannot change it - this portion of the sentence (and the meaning behind it must remain the same). Any answer choice that changes the verb conjugation is wrong.

(B & C) "... into a city’s economy that becomes ever more dependent on information-based industries. "
- this changes the verb and the meaning of the sentence. The change is no longer occurring as we speak and is instead something that may happen

(D) "are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult"
- 'are lacking so much..as to be.." is just plain wrong. It is no where near the correct idiom.

(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult
- 'lack ...to such a large degree as to" is also an incorrect idiom. It should end with 'that' not 'as to' -->"lack math skills to such a large degree that"

(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
- uses the correct idiom "are so lacking...that" and also uses the same verb conjugation "becoming" so it does not change the meaning of the sentence.

The difficulty of this question is that it uses several "idioms" with errors and combines idioms in wrong ways to confuse the test taker.

Remember:

"are so lacking ...that"
"to such a large degree ...that"

These idioms qualify something then continue to indicate something that must occur as a result. I have gained so much weight ...that I must exercise. His social skills are so bad ...that he has no friends. They are so smart....that I am intimidated by them.

CHEERS!

E uses the right idiom....

So X that Y

"E"'s ending is so bizarre that i got rid of it instantaneously. How can this be correct:

" into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries."

Shouldn't that be:

" into a city's economy that is becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries."

so ....as to be..
is correct idiom my dear friends...

"d" should be correct......

Arsene Lupin wrote:"E"'s ending is so bizarre that i got rid of it instantaneously. How can this be correct:

" into a city economy becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries."

Shouldn't that be:

" into a city's economy that is becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries."

bump

Students in the metropolitan school district lack math skills to such a large degree ... y becoming ever more dependent on information-based industries.
(A) lack math skills to such a large degree as to make it difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming
(B) lack math skills to a large enough degree that they will be difficult to absorb into a city's economy that becomes
(C) lack of math skills is so large as to be difficult to absorb them into a city's economy that becomes
(D) are lacking so much in math skills as to be difficult to absorb into a city's economy becoming
(E) are so lacking in math skills that it will be difficult to absorb them into a city economy becoming

I have a basic doubt here, isn't "Math skills" object of the verb and if that is right, then shouldn't "them" be referring to Math skills

Please comment

Regards,
Mani

Is usage of it in E correct?

It is neither pronoun nor expletive.