Hello Everyone!
Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow down the options to the correct one! To begin, let's scan over the options and highlight any major differences in orange:
Custodian fees and expenses, as described in the statement of operations, include interest expense incurred by the fund on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account during the period.
A. include interest expense incurred by the fund on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account during the period
B. are to include interest expenses on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account the fund incurred during the period
C. includes interest expense the fund incurred during the period on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account
D. may include interest expense during the period that the fund was to incur on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account
E. including interest expense on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account incurred by the fund during the period
After a quick scan over the options, we can find a couple places to focus our attention:
1. include / are to include / includes / may include / including (Verb Tense & Meaning)
2. incurred by the fund / the fund incurred / the fund was to incur (Meaning & Clarity)
3. placement of the phrase "during the period" (Meaning & Clarity)
Let's start with #1 in our list because Verb Tense problems are typically pretty easy to spot. If we look closely at the original sentence, we can find the subject:
Custodian fees and expenses, as described in the statement of operations, include interest expense incurred by the fund on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account during the period.
We know that the subject is plural, so we need to make sure the verb is also plural! Let's see how each option works out:
A. include interest expense incurred by the fund on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account during the period
B. are to include interest expenses on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account the fund incurred during the period
C. includes interest expense the fund incurred during the period on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account
D. may include interest expense during the period that the fund was to incur on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account
E. including interest expense on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account incurred by the fund during the period
We can eliminate option C because it uses a singular verb "includes," which doesn't match the plural subject. We can also eliminate option E because changing the word to "including" changes that phrase to a modifier, which means this sentence doesn't have a verb at all!
There is another issue with the verbs in this question. We also need to make sure that the verbs are clear and don't change the intended meaning:
A. include interest expense incurred by the fund on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account during the period
This is CORRECT because it conveys the correct meaning. It's clear that these expenses are definitely included in "Custodian fees and expenses."
B. are to include interest expenses on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account the fund incurred during the period
This is INCORRECT because it's overly wordy. Just saying "include" is plenty. Also, saying "are to include" suggests that these things aren't already included as custodian fees and expenses, which is slightly misleading.
D. may include interest expense during the period that the fund was to incur on any cash overdrafts of its custodian account
Again, this is INCORRECT because it changes the intended meaning. By saying that these things "may" be included as custodian fees and expenses, it's not clear if they are or not.
There you have it - option A was the correct choice all along! If you can focus on grammar issues that are easy to identify, such as subject-verb agreement issues, you can eliminate wrong choices rather quickly.
Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.
