manjus_mailme wrote:The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few signs of higher energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far.

A) that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
B) growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
C) that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are little
D) growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are little
E) that growth accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few

Is it necessary to have 'that' after 'said' .I actually narrowed the choices to A,B and E because of 'few '.Eliminated 'E' because past perfect tense is required.Need help to chose Between A and B .
OA is A

Thanks in Advance.

Night reader wrote:I would restate this sentence as such given below:

The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth has accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers were remained concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there have been few few signs of higher energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far.

E)"¢ that growth accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few

answer seems the only one satisfying the tense sequence given and the logic of sentence, however I go with E as the last given not incorrect answer here.

BTW, what's the source - I went digging into this sentence right by modifying its structure first and then looked up the answers

prachich1987 wrote:IMO Parallelism is not maintained in A

that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few

Please advise if I am wrong.

manjus_mailme wrote:The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that
the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few signs of higher
energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far.
"¢ that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned
about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
"¢ growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about
the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
"¢ that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about
the prospects of inflation, even though there are little
"¢ growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about the
prospects of inflation, even though there are little
"¢ that growth accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about
the prospects of inflation, even though there are few

Is it necessary to have 'that' after 'said' .I actually narrowed the choices to A,B and E because of 'few '.Eliminated 'E' because past perfect tense is required.Need help to chose Between A and B .
OA is A

Thanks in Advance.

OK, let's assume that past perfect is used, then growth is past and left behind, has no event connection with the present, this a complete action in the past

this part is like bug following the past perfect tense, it must be past before the complete past according to you and answer A)

to remain + past participle = present condition, 'very good' connection of the tense sequence i.e. present simple to the past perfect both logically and time-wise

GMATGuruNY wrote:

manjus_mailme wrote:The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that
the policy makers remain concerned about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few signs of higher
energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far.
"¢ that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned
about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
"¢ growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about
the prospects of inflation, even though there are few
"¢ that growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about
the prospects of inflation, even though there are little
"¢ growth had accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and the policy makers remain concerned about the
prospects of inflation, even though there are little
"¢ that growth accelerated after slowing in the second quarter and that the policy makers remain concerned about
the prospects of inflation, even though there are few

Is it necessary to have 'that' after 'said' .I actually narrowed the choices to A,B and E because of 'few '.Eliminated 'E' because past perfect tense is required.Need help to chose Between A and B .
OA is A

Thanks in Advance.

Quickest approach:

The announcement said two things: that growth had accelerated...and that the policy makers remained concerned. The repetition of the word that is needed in order to maintain parallelism and to make clear what two things were said. Eliminate B, C and D.

In E, it is incorrect to say that the policy makers remained concerned that growth accelerated in the fourth quarter. To convey the correct the order of events, the past perfect is needed: the policy makers remained concerned that growth had accelerated. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is A.

Night reader wrote:
growth acceleration after + some slowdown (slowdown is first, growth is next --> may be slowdown is past perfect? Or may be nothing is past perfect here, as we speak in the 2nd quarter, and nobody knows from reading this sentence which quarter it's now may be it's still the 2nd quarter - continuing event...)

yes Fed reserve announcement said - this was in the simple past... and it might imply that the growth would or could be accelerated - future in the past

go figure

Night reader wrote:@Mitch, The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth had accelerated ---
OK, let's assume that past perfect is used, then growth is past and left behind, has no event connection with the present, this a complete action in the past

after slowing in the second quarter ---
this part is like bug following the past perfect tense, it must be past before the complete past according to you and answer A)

and that the policy makers remain concerned ---
to remain + past participle = present condition, 'very good' connection of the tense sequence i.e. present simple to the past perfect both logically and time-wise

about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few signs of higher energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far. --- I hope this part of sentence has some meaning and pertains to relationship of growth with the inflation, although the above order does not help our relationship.

how comes A correct?????

GMATGuruNY wrote:Please see my amended post above. The verbs said and accelerated cannot both be in the same tense because the two actions did not happen contemporaneously (at the same time). The past perfect is needed to indicate the correct order of events: the announcement said that growth had accelerated in the fourth quarter.

Night reader wrote:@Mitch, The Federal Reserve announcement said that growth had accelerated ---
OK, let's assume that past perfect is used, then growth is past and left behind, has no event connection with the present, this a complete action in the past

after slowing in the second quarter ---
this part is like bug following the past perfect tense, it must be past before the complete past according to you and answer A)

and that the policy makers remain concerned ---
to remain + past participle = present condition, 'very good' connection of the tense sequence i.e. present simple to the past perfect both logically and time-wise

about the prospects of inflation, even though there are few signs of higher energy prices driving up the cost of other goods so far. --- I hope this part of sentence has some meaning and pertains to relationship of growth with the inflation, although the above order does not help our relationship.

how comes A correct?????