Sentence Correction

Reporting that one of its many problems had been the
recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the
seven-store retailer said it would start a three-month
liquidation sale in all of its stores.
(A) its many problems had been the recent
(8) its many problems has been the recently
(C) its many problems is the recently
(0) their many problems is the recent
(E) their manyproblems had been the recent


Source: Verbal Review

Since the retailer is looking for a solution, the problem still exists and hence shouldn't the answer have "has been" instead of "had been" which means the problem had existed?

OA A[/spoiler]

The choice is between a,b & c

It correctly refers to retailer.

In between b & c "recently is incorrectly used. We need the adjective recent to describe the sales slump and not recently (adverb)

Also -had been is correct, since it says that a recent extended sales slump took place prior to when the retailer said (simple past) it would begin a liquidation sale.

I hope it helps

Thanks

Will keep that in mind.. Thank you

tejaswini0712 wrote: Since the retailer is looking for a solution, the problem still exists and hence shouldn't the answer have "has been" instead of "had been" which means the problem had existed?

REPORTING that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer SAID it would start a three-month liquidation sale in all of its stores.

An introductory VERBing modifier (such as reporting) serves to express an action happening AT THE SAME TIME as the main verb.
Here, when the retailer SAID, it was at the same time REPORTING.
What WAS the retailer reporting?
That one of its many problems HAD BEEN the sales slump.

I get your point but what if the sales slump is still happening at the time of reporting? Isn't that why steps are being taken to overcome it?

tejaswini0712 wrote:I get your point but what if the sales slump is still happening at the time of reporting? Isn't that why steps are being taken to overcome it?

You're asking the wrong question.
The question you should ask is this: do the tenses imply a sequence that makes sense?
In the OA, the sequence of events is perfectly logical:
As part of its announcement, the retailer was REPORTING that one of its many problems HAD BEEN the recent extended sales slump.
To combat the problem, the retailer SAID that it WOULD START a three-month liquidation sale.
Since this sequence makes sense, do not eliminate the answer choice.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

tejaswini0712 wrote:I get your point but what if the sales slump is still happening at the time of reporting? Isn't that why steps are being taken to overcome it?

You're asking the wrong question.
The question you should ask is this: do the tenses imply a sequence that makes sense?
In the OA, the sequence of events is perfectly logical:
As part of its announcement, the retailer was REPORTING that one of its many problems HAD BEEN the recent extended sales slump.
To combat the problem, the retailer SAID that it WOULD START a three-month liquidation sale.
Since this sequence makes sense, do not eliminate the answer choice.

Mitch, Thanks for the great answer.

Even I have the same doubt.

In 1995, the lake officials reported that the river is polluted.
-> This implies that the lake is still polluted.

In 1995, the lake officials reported that the river was polluted,
-> This implies that the lake was polluted then but not now.

So if I twist the original sentence above ,

Reporting that one of its many problems is the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer said XXXXX
-> Implies that sales slump is still a problem.

Reporting that one of its many problems was the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer said XXXXX
-> Implies that there is a logical link between what the store retailer said and what happend at the same time

Reporting that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer said XXXXX
-> Implies that the sales slump was over before the store retailer said something.

Is the sentence trying to tell the sales slump happend before the store retailers said something?

Is my pattern of thinking correct?

Also in 'recently extended sales slump', how did you figure out that it was the retailer who intentionally extended the slump? For a non native speaker it felt seems as if the slump was on its own such as 'the inflation beat' 'the civilization declined' ?


Thanks in advance.

Alchemist14 wrote: Reporting that one of its many problems is the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer said XXXXX
-> Implies that sales slump is still a problem.

The sentence above is not viable.

Reporting that one of its many problems IS the recent extended sales slump...
Here, the usage of is (present tense) implies that the act of reporting is taking place in the PRESENT.

Reporting...the retailer SAID.
Here, the usage of said (past tense) implies that the act of reporting took place in the PAST.

Since the two sequences contradict each other, the sentence is not viable.

Reporting that one of its many problems was the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer said XXXXX
-> Implies that there is a logical link between what the store retailer said and what happend at the same time

Here, all of the events -- the reporting, the sales slump, what the retailer said -- took place concurrently in the past.

Reporting that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in women's apparel, the seven-store retailer said XXXXX
-> Implies that the sales slump was over before the store retailer said something.

Is the sentence trying to tell the sales slump happend before the store retailers said something?

Correct.

Also in 'recently extended sales slump', how did you figure out that it was the retailer who intentionally extended the slump?

A VERBed modifier serves to express an action performed UPON a modified noun.
B and D: the recently extended sales slump
Here, extended serves to modify sales slump, implying that the act of extending was performed UPON the sales slump.
Not the intended meaning.
No one purposefully extended the sales slump.