Sentence Correction

An economic recession can result from a lowering of employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and starts a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates.

(A) lowering of employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and start a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates.

(B) lowering of employment rates triggered by dropping investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and starts a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates.

(C) falling employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which cause cutbacks in consumer spending, starting a cycle of layoffs that lead to even lower employment rates.

(D) falling employment rates that are triggered by a drop in investment, causing people to cut consumer spending and starting a cycle of layoffs that lead back to even lower employment rates.

(E) falling employment rates that are triggered by a drop in investment, causing cutbacks in consumer spending and starting a cycle of layoffs leading to even lower employment rates.

OA [spoiler](c)[/spoiler]

HI Komal,

Ans is ' E '

Plz confirm on this soon.

Thanks!

Girish

IMO B

the OA is C, but i had opted for A

I am confused b/w C and E . Thou i'd prefer E. Whats wrong in E ?

Can we have the OEs please

Hope the highlighted part helps!

komal wrote:
An economic recession can result from a lowering of employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and starts a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates.

(A) lowering of employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and start a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates. - lowering of employment rates is wrong .unidiomatic. ELIMINATE

(B) lowering of employment rates triggered by dropping investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and starts a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates. - - lowering of employment rates is wrong .unidiomatic. ELIMINATE

(C) falling employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which cause cutbacks in consumer spending, starting a cycle of layoffs that lead to even lower employment rates.

(D) falling employment rates that are triggered by a drop in investment, causing people to cut consumer spending and starting a cycle of layoffs that lead back to even lower employment rates. - how can people cut consumer spending ? ELIMINATE

(E) falling employment rates that are triggered by a drop in investment, causing cutbacks in consumer spending and starting a cycle of layoffs leading to even lower employment rates.

I guess this is from the Brutal SC document on GMAT Club. I also don't understand why C is correct.


An economic recession can result from a lowering of employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and starts a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates.

(A) lowering of employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and start a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates. - lowering of employment rates is wrong .unidiomatic. ELIMINATE

(B) lowering of employment rates triggered by dropping investment, which causes people to cut consumer spending and starts a cycle of layoffs leading back to even lower employment rates. - - lowering of employment rates is wrong .unidiomatic. ELIMINATE

(C) falling employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which cause cutbacks in consumer spending, starting a cycle of layoffs that lead to even lower employment rates. - Which is modifying investment, further, which is used to introduce a non essential clause, but this is essential to clearly communicate the meaning of the sentence. - ELIMINATE

(D) falling employment rates that are triggered by a drop in investment, causing people to cut consumer spending and starting a cycle of layoffs that lead back to even lower employment rates. - how can people cut consumer spending ? ELIMINATE

(E) falling employment rates that are triggered by a drop in investment, causing cutbacks in consumer spending and starting a cycle of layoffs leading to even lower employment rates. - causing correctly modifies the preceding clause ... Correct

Can someone throw some light on why C is correct? I'd go with E

komal wrote:(C) falling employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which cause cutbacks in consumer spending, starting a cycle of layoffs that lead to even lower employment rates.

"which" modifies the noun immediately preceding it. in this sentence, "investment, which cause." this is wrong. an investment causes.

in my opinion, which should be modifies "a drop in investment" but there seems to be a subject-verb agreement error in that as well.

if C is indeed the OA, then "which" should be modifying "rates,": rates cause is correct.

i came across the same problem, but there seems to be a disparity between the answer choices. the OA is C but answer choice C is:

c. falling employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, causing cutbacks in consumer spending and starting a cycle of layoffs that lead to even lower employment rates.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/an- ... t1071.html

confusion

i looked it up and komal's problem includes the correct answer choices. the choices on the mgmat forum are incorrect

https://gmatclub.com/forum/an-economic-r ... 81080.html

here, i think "which" correctly modifies "rates" ; the word "which" modifies the noun immediately preceding it, but that noun should agree with the verb following "which".

this is a tricky, but good problem. classic mgmat.

I din't get you.

Are you saying that option with Comma + Which construction is the correct choice?

If that is so, can you please elaborate.

komal wrote:(C) falling employment rates triggered by a drop in investment, which cause cutbacks in consumer spending, starting a cycle of layoffs that lead to even lower employment rates.

yup, i think C's the correct choice.

here, which is modifying neither investment, nor a drop in investment because they don't agree with the verb cause. which is modifying rates, and this correctly suggests that the falling employment rates cause cutbacks in consumer spending.

the verb after which is cause.

rates cause
an investment causes
a drop in investment causes

check out ron's post.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/which-usage- ... tml#183919

Other issues have been discussed threadbare but
In D and E the part of the sentence "'consumer spending and starting a cycle of layoffs'' , here use of conjunction and denotes a simultaneous occurance, while the sentence explains a logical cause and effect, demarcated by commas.

Thanks to Komal for posting the OA , cos SC posts without OA is pretty useless.

But Rahul,
in both the forums , they've said that C is correct. Could the instructors in both the forums be wrong ?

Could you be a l'l more clear for what u said that which doesnt modify the verb cause.

Thanks!

Ok .. read Ron's reasoning, that makes C a contender. What's wrong with E?