Either interest rates or the supply of money can, along with the level of government spending, be factors contributing to the amount of monetary inflation.

a. can, along with the level of government spending, be factors contributing to

b. along with the level of government spending, can one or the other be contributing factors in

c. can, along with the level of government spending, contribute as factors to

d. can be a contributing factor to, along with the level of government spending

e. can contribute, along with the level of government spending, to



ANS: E.

The original sentence (A) is faulty in two respects. First, the sentence treats the compound subject (interest rates and the supply of money) as singular by using either . . . or; the predicate should agree by also referring to the subject in the singular form, using a factor rather than factors. Second, the verb phrase can . . . be is improperly split. Third, the phrase can . . . be factors contributing to is redundant and wordy. (E) remedies all the original sentence problems by uniting the verb parts, rewording the predicate to agree in form with the subject, and removing the redundant language.

I am scoring in the 96th percentile in Verbal, and I understand this explanation. However, I disagree with E because of the awkwardness of inserting "along with...spending" after "can contribute."

Any thoughts? Please help me see where I am wrong.