Sentence Correction

Analysts blamed May's sluggish retail sales on
unexciting merchandise as well as the weather, colder
and wetter than was usual in some regions, which
slowed sales of barbecue grills and lawn furniture.
(A) colder and wetter than was usual in some
regions, which slowed
(B) which was colder and wetter than usual in some
regions, slowing
(C) since it was colder and wetter than usually in
some regions, which slowed
(D) being colder and wetter than usually in some
regions, slowing
(E) having been colder and wetter than was usual in
some regions and slowed

OA is B that's ok but I still have some many questions:
C: the use of "Since" is wrong, since is used here as "because" and this meaning isn't supported by the idiom list, please correct me if I'm wrong.

the main problem I encoutred in this question is the comparaison issue:

A colder and wetter than was usual in some regions; I felt it or wether are necessary after than, Why ? I made a kind of interpolation, I remembered that when using "and" between two clauses we need to insert a subject after a comma example
He eat and cleaned.
He eat, and he cleaned.
I have the same (more or less) question for the other options: When the subject after than is necessary and how to check that the comparaison is OK???
Many thanks in advance!!!

The way I solve this question:

A) Wrong, because of Wrong Usage of Which : slowed sales... is incorrectly modifying Some Regions.
B) Correct. was colder and wetter is correctly modifies Weather
C) Same reason as in A
D) Wrong Modifier - slowing sales... is correctly modifying regions . Also 'being' is almost always wrong on GMAT
E) Wrong : Having been( Present Perfect Continuous) is almost always wrong on GMAT ; also wrong usage of conjunction between "....some regions" and "slowed..."

Hope this helps.

Kalyan

Thanks a million Guru, you made my day!!!!

Hi, Mitch
Could you please explain what does the "slowing" modify?

Analysts blamed May's sluggish retail sales on unexciting merchandise as well as the weather, which was colder and wetter than usual in some regions, slowing sales of barbecue grills and lawn furniture.

comma, ing means that it happens with the main Verb at the same time, and the Subject can have that action.
In this case, the subject is Analysts. That's why I am confused. The whole sentence says that analysts slow sth.

Thanks

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Amadalia wrote:
OA is B that's ok but I still have some many questions:
C: the use of "Since" is wrong, since is used here as "because" and this meaning isn't supported by the idiom list, please correct me if I'm wrongj.

The GMAT used to employ since solely as a time reference, but the test writers seem to be softening on this issue.
I can think of at least one OA in which since serves not as a time reference but as a synonym for because.
Thus, I suggest that you look for other reasons to keep or eliminate answer choices.

the main problem I encoutred in this question is the comparaison issue

Think of this not as a comparison issue but as an IDIOM issue.
COMPARISON WORD + than usual is an idiom.
Examples:
better than usual
longer than usual
more than usual.
Consider this idiom correct; don't worry about the grammar behind it.