Please help me #5

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 215
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:59 pm
Location: Mississippi
Thanked: 21 times
Followed by:3 members

by Danielle » Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:17 pm
This one is tricky.

First, there is nothing grammatically wrong with the example sentence as it stands. It's simply a dependent prepositional phrase and then the main sentence. In fact, you can easily reverse the sentence and see this:

Because an oversupply of computer chips has sent prices plunging, the manufacturer has announced that it will cut production by closing its factories for two days a month.

OR

The manufacturer has announced that it will cut production by closing its factories for two days a month because an oversupply of computer chips has sent prices plunging.

Either one works, which shows that it is grammatically correct. Choice D
changes the meaning of the sentence.
In the main sentence the factory production is cut because of an oversupply of chips, but in choice D the factory closed down from plunging prices. Therefore A is correct.

Hope this helps!
Verbal Tutor
Source: — Sentence Correction |

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:42 pm

by nobody29 » Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:47 pm
Thank you so much, Danielle

Actually, I thought it is little bit strange to see two consecutive present perfection tense like below.
"oversupply has sent~~, the manufacturer has sent~~"

And is there anything grammartically wrong in "D" ?

As I'm not native and there's no "perfection" tense in my language,
it is somewhat hard to understand.

But, anyway your comments about the "meanning" was really helpful.

Thank you again.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 215
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:59 pm
Location: Mississippi
Thanked: 21 times
Followed by:3 members

by Danielle » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:44 am
N29,

As for seeing two consecutive present perfect tenses, that is a great example of appropriate parallelism. Choice D is not grammatically incorrect, the problem is what it is actually saying. In that way, the GMAT is testing a bit of your reading comprehension, because every sentence has a main idea , and that must be preserved in any corrections you make. You will find often that GMAT sentences refer to some kind of cause and effect for that reason -- in all the myriad ways you can correct a sentence, you can easily tweak or change the meaning completely, which makes an answer choice wrong.
Verbal Tutor

• Page 1 of 1