gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence

[abcgmat]

According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come in for a "soft landing," followed by a gradual increase in business activity.

(A) that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come
(B) in the economy to avoid the recession, what many feared earlier in the year, rather to come
(C) in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared, and instead to come
(D) in the economy to avoid the recession many were fearing earlier in the year, and rather to come
(E) that the economy will avoid the recession that was feared earlier this year by many, with it instead coming

Can someone explain why B,C, and D is wrong. OG says 'rather to' and 'instead to' doesnot make the second part of the sentence idiomatically complete. Can some on explain this . Is it a wrong idiom or do we require something more to make it correct.

Can some one explain 'Instead' and 'rather' in more detail. Are they same as 'Instead of' and 'Rather than' . I think GMAT prefers 'Rather than ' to 'Instead of'.
I dont think the same preference applies to 'rather'

Thanks in Advance

[tuanquang269]

According to some analysts, the gains in the stock market reflect growing confidence that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come in for a "soft landing," followed by a gradual increase in business activity.

(A) that the economy will avoid the recession that many had feared earlier in the year and instead come
(B) in the economy to avoid the recession, what many feared earlier in the year, rather to come
(C) in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared, and instead to come
(D) in the economy to avoid the recession many were fearing earlier in the year, and rather to come
(E) that the economy will avoid the recession that was feared earlier this year by many, with it instead coming

Can someone explain why B,C, and D is wrong. OG says 'rather to' and 'instead to' doesnot make the second part of the sentence idiomatically complete. Can some on explain this . Is it a wrong idiom or do we require something more to make it correct.

Can some one explain 'Instead' and 'rather' in more detail. Are they same as 'Instead of' and 'Rather than' . I think GMAT prefers 'Rather than ' to 'Instead of'.
I dont think the same preference applies to 'rather'

Thanks in Advance

'rather than' mean you prefer something than other. This expression is generally used in 'parallel' structures. e.g - with two nouns, adjectives, adverbs, infinitives or -ing forms.

For example, I want to go to playground rather than to school

Instead of - suggests that one person, thing or action replaces another. Instead is not used alone as a preposition; we use the two words instead of. Instead of is not usually followed by an infinitive.

For example:
I want to coffee instead of tea
I slept all day instead of going to school.

And, 'instead' without verb is preposition, it can begin the sentence.
For example:
She didn't go to Greece after all. Instead , she went to America.

How to use?
'Instead' + Noun/Noun phrase
'Rather than' + verb (or) rather than + noun. Also, 'rather than' than can act as a preposition and can introduce a prepositional phrase or can act as a conjunction and introduce a clause

In your question above. B and D wrong because the meaning 'the gains' cannot have the 'ability to avoid itself'. C's wrong because it also change the meaning when use "the economy's ability..., and instead to come", meaning that "the ability" not the economy "to come". E is wrong because 'it' have ambiguous antecedent.

My choice is A

Correct me if i was wrong. Thanks

[abcgmat]

Hi,

You mentioned that 'Instead' be followed by Noun+Noun Phrase.
But in A. Instead come is a verb and not a Noun/Noun Phrase

Also in B and D .
'Rather to' is parallel to 'Economy to avoid'
looks like it refers to economy than the gains ('in the Economy to avoid Rather to....' )

[tuanquang269]

Hi,

You mentioned that 'Instead' be followed by Noun+Noun Phrase.
But in A. Instead come is a verb and not a Noun/Noun Phrase

Also in B and D .
'Rather to' is parallel to 'Economy to avoid'
looks like it refers to economy than the gains ('in the Economy to avoid Rather to....' )

Sorry, I was error in typo. "Instead of" be followed by Noun/ Noun phrase.

In B and D, "rather to" is not parallel to "Economy to avoid", 'economy' was placed with preposition 'in'. So, you cannot refer in B and D that 'economy' is the subject of verb 'avoid'.

[abcgmat]

Thank you.. Yes, I get it now . 'Economy' is in preposition.
But its bit confusing still , do we have a rule to identify this
as I am not getting how 'rather to' refers to gain

[lunarpower]

i received a private message regarding this thread.

(B) in the economy to avoid the recession, what many feared earlier in the year, rather to come

* it appears that this choice is trying to substitute "what" for "which". that is not acceptable.

* "confidence in X to VERB" is not idiomatic.

(C) in the economy's ability to avoid the recession, something earlier in the year many had feared, and instead to come

* the modifier "something..." is placed between commas. this kind of modifier (an "appositive modifier" with an abstract noun as the appositive part) normally refers to the whole preceding idea -- see here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/sc-with-surf ... tml#209928
therefore, this sentence suggests that people had feared the economy's ability to avoid the recession. that's not the idea; the idea is that they had feared the recession itself.

* "earlier in the year" is in the wrong place. the idea is that people feared that this would happen earlier in the year.
if "earlier in the year" is placed after "something", then it appears that something actually happened earlier in the year.

(D) in the economy to avoid the recession many were fearing earlier in the year, and rather to come

"confidence in X to VERB" isn't idiomatic. (this is the type of thing that gmac, according to its own announcement, isn't really testing anymore -- so, fortunately, you don't have to worry much about it.)

--

[lunarpower]

Are they same as 'Instead of' and 'Rather than'

nope.
"instead of" contains "of" -- a preposition -- and so it must be followed by a noun.
i bought a car instead of a truck --> this sentence is fine.
the sleeves were long instead of short --> this is not fine, because "long" and "short" are not nouns.

i bought a car rather than a truck --> this sentence is fine.
the sleeves were long rather than short --> this sentence is also fine.

there's also a slight difference in meaning between the two.

* "instead of" carries the implication that the following noun is some sort of standard, and/or was expected in the situation at hand. ("instead" comes from "in the stead of", which means "substituting for".)
so, i bought a car instead of a truck means that i was supposed to buy a truck, but nonetheless bought a car instead.

* "rather than" carries no such implication that one of the two items is standard/expected.
i bought a car rather than a truck just means that i had both options but chose the car.

[teal]

In A, how can we justify the usage of past perfect tense - had feared?

What is wrong with (E) other than it sounds weird?

[divineacclivity]

Are they same as 'Instead of' and 'Rather than'

nope.
"instead of" contains "of" -- a preposition -- and so it must be followed by a noun.
i bought a car instead of a truck --> this sentence is fine.
the sleeves were long instead of short --> this is not fine, because "long" and "short" are not nouns.

i bought a car rather than a truck --> this sentence is fine.
the sleeves were long rather than short --> this sentence is also fine.

there's also a slight difference in meaning between the two.

* "instead of" carries the implication that the following noun is some sort of standard, and/or was expected in the situation at hand. ("instead" comes from "in the stead of", which means "substituting for".)
so, i bought a car instead of a truck means that i was supposed to buy a truck, but nonetheless bought a car instead.

* "rather than" carries no such implication that one of the two items is standard/expected.
i bought a car rather than a truck just means that i had both options but chose the car.

Thanks for a v good explanation but I have another doubt.

All the options including option A look bad though I'd agree that A seems to be the best amongst the bad answers. Please help me understand the following:

What is common amongst all the options is that economy is in action i.e. economy is avoiding recession
For example in (A): ".. economy will avoid recession.." - how can economy avoid something; it is not a living being
WHY IS IT A GOOD OPTION to have economy avoiding something in a sentence??? Please help here.

Also, I've seen a number of examples in which gmat seems to reject an option on the basis of the reason above (economy avoiding something). I dont have an example on top of my head to quote here but wouldn't you agree that gmat does reject certain options based on these grounds? Please please please help me understand what I'm missing here.

(B): "..recession, what many feared .." - awkward; it could have been "..recession that many feared .."
(C): "economy's ability" - awkward; ".. instead to come ..." - not parallel
(D): many were fearing - wrong; rather to come - not parallel
(E): with it instead coming - non-sensical

[lunarpower]

What is common amongst all the options is that economy is in action i.e. economy is avoiding recession
For example in (A): ".. economy will avoid recession.." - how can economy avoid something; it is not a living being
WHY IS IT A GOOD OPTION to have economy avoiding something in a sentence??? Please help here.

Also, I've seen a number of examples in which gmat seems to reject an option on the basis of the reason above (economy avoiding something). I dont have an example on top of my head to quote here but wouldn't you agree that gmat does reject certain options based on these grounds? Please please please help me understand what I'm missing here.

(B): "..recession, what many feared .." - awkward; it could have been "..recession that many feared .."
(C): "economy's ability" - awkward; ".. instead to come ..." - not parallel
(D): many were fearing - wrong; rather to come - not parallel
(E): with it instead coming - non-sensical

look, i hear you here, but you're missing the most important criterion: if something isn't actually a DIFFERENCE in the answer choices -- if it isn't a "split", in the MGMAT terminology -- then you don't need to worry about it.

ironically, you yourself pointed out that all five choices deal with the idea that the economy might "avoid" a recession. so, it's a non-issue.

--

if you're looking for a justification here, the idea is that a more literal expression would be clunky, wordy, and almost unreadable, and so "the economy will avoid..." is an acceptable compromise.
along similar lines, when next month's election takes place, you will read in many news outlets that "california voted for candidate x", etc. obviously, this statement is not perfectly literal -- the state of california does not go out one day and fill out a ballot -- but any more literal alternative is just going to be horrible. i.e., no news outlet will choose instead to write "the majority of california residents who voted in the election voted for candidate x" (a more literally correct wording), because, well, yuck.

this is why you need to FOCUS on what actually differs among the answer choices. they are not going to test you on "writerly" distinctions, such as the one above -- but, if you start questioning things that are not issues in the problems at hand, you are going to embroil yourself in a whole lot of unnecessary confusion.

[divineacclivity]

What is common amongst all the options is that economy is in action i.e. economy is avoiding recession
For example in (A): ".. economy will avoid recession.." - how can economy avoid something; it is not a living being
WHY IS IT A GOOD OPTION to have economy avoiding something in a sentence??? Please help here.

Also, I've seen a number of examples in which gmat seems to reject an option on the basis of the reason above (economy avoiding something). I dont have an example on top of my head to quote here but wouldn't you agree that gmat does reject certain options based on these grounds? Please please please help me understand what I'm missing here.

(B): "..recession, what many feared .." - awkward; it could have been "..recession that many feared .."
(C): "economy's ability" - awkward; ".. instead to come ..." - not parallel
(D): many were fearing - wrong; rather to come - not parallel
(E): with it instead coming - non-sensical

look, i hear you here, but you're missing the most important criterion: if something isn't actually a DIFFERENCE in the answer choices -- if it isn't a "split", in the MGMAT terminology -- then you don't need to worry about it.

ironically, you yourself pointed out that all five choices deal with the idea that the economy might "avoid" a recession. so, it's a non-issue.

--

if you're looking for a justification here, the idea is that a more literal expression would be clunky, wordy, and almost unreadable, and so "the economy will avoid..." is an acceptable compromise.
along similar lines, when next month's election takes place, you will read in many news outlets that "california voted for candidate x", etc. obviously, this statement is not perfectly literal -- the state of california does not go out one day and fill out a ballot -- but any more literal alternative is just going to be horrible. i.e., no news outlet will choose instead to write "the majority of california residents who voted in the election voted for candidate x" (a more literally correct wording), because, well, yuck.

this is why you need to FOCUS on what actually differs among the answer choices. they are not going to test you on "writerly" distinctions, such as the one above -- but, if you start questioning things that are not issues in the problems at hand, you are going to embroil yourself in a whole lot of unnecessary confusion.

Ron, you are simply are amazing at explaining things (SC) and not just this reply, most of your explanations (especially your Thursdays' sessions) are just awesome & you make everything soooooo easy to understand. Thank you for allllllll of that.

[[email protected]]

Hi,

Can anyone shed some light on the usage of Past perfect in the answer A. There is no other past event mentioned in the sentence.