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The Federal Reserve bond buyback program

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The Federal Reserve bond buyback program

by aditya8062 » Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:39 am
The Federal Reserve bond buyback program has buoyed Wall Street, and helped the stock market reach record highs, but yet to translate into consistent job growth across the county.

A) and helped the stock market reach record highs, but yet to translate into consistent job growth across the county.

B) helped the stock market reach record highs, but it has yet to translate into consistent job growth across the county.

C) helped the stock market reach record highs, and has not translated into consistent job growth across the county.

D) and helped the stock market reach record highs, but it has yet to translate into consistent job growth across the county.

E) and helped the stock market reach record highs, but has not translated into consistent job growth across the county.

my doubt: i can eliminate B and C.i understand that D is correct but what is so wrong in A and E?

is parallelism not taking care in A as : "....and helped the stock market reach record highs, but [The Federal Reserve bond buyback program has] yet to translate into consistent job growth across the county

Also is parallelism not taking care in E as: ".....and helped the stock market reach record highs, but [The Federal Reserve bond buyback program] has not translated into consistent job growth across the county

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by [email protected] » Mon Sep 01, 2014 12:37 pm
Hi aditya8062,

This SC comes down to Parallelism rules, but can also be explained by a "usage" rule.

When using a contrast word ("but", "although", "however", etc.), you need to present the noun (or pronoun equivalent) to complete the thought.

In this SC, the first part of the sentence tells us 2 things that the bond buyback program has done, THEN it uses a contrast word to introduce something that it hasn't yet done. We need a reference to the "buyback program" (or the pronoun "it") to properly complete the sentence. Neither A nor E gives us what we need.

Final Answer: D

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by Uva@90 » Mon Sep 01, 2014 7:33 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi aditya8062,

This SC comes down to Parallelism rules, but can also be explained by a "usage" rule.

When using a contrast word ("but", "although", "however", etc.), you need to present the noun (or pronoun equivalent) to complete the thought.

In this SC, the first part of the sentence tells us 2 things that the bond buyback program has done, THEN it uses a contrast word to introduce something that it hasn't yet done. We need a reference to the "buyback program" (or the pronoun "it") to properly complete the sentence. Neither A nor E gives us what we need.

Final Answer: D

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Hi Rich,

In Option D, 'IT' can refer both 'BUYBACK PROGRAM' and 'WALL STREET' so this creates confusion right ?? So how option D is correct ?

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by [email protected] » Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:20 pm
Hi Uva,

I agree that, at first glance, the pronoun "it" MIGHT be considered ambiguous. Once you look at all 5 answers though, you realize that you have no choice in the matter (you either use the pronoun or you use 'nothing' - and using 'nothing' causes a new problem). The GMAT sometimes presents certain rules in a "loose" way; thankfully the five answer choices can give you a sense of what you should be focusing on (and what you can't fix/change).

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by Uva@90 » Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:46 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi Uva,

I agree that, at first glance, the pronoun "it" MIGHT be considered ambiguous. Once you look at all 5 answers though, you realize that you have no choice in the matter (you either use the pronoun or you use 'nothing' - and using 'nothing' causes a new problem). The GMAT sometimes presents certain rules in a "loose" way; thankfully the five answer choices can give you a sense of what you should be focusing on (and what you can't fix/change).

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Hi Rich,

Thanks for explaining clearly.

Take away from this problem - Contrast words should always have noun or pronoun.
Pronoun references can be consider loosely when they are must.

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Uva.
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by aditya8062 » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:35 am
When using a contrast word ("but", "although", "however", etc.), you need to present the noun (or pronoun equivalent) to complete the thought.
Thanks for your reply Rich
But please tell me if this is really the case then does that mean that "ellipses" does not take care for construction that are after words such as "but" .
Also if what u have stated is correct then why the following sentence is correct: she did not eat mangoes BUT ate other kind of fruits -----> the implication of the above sentence is : she did not eat mangoes BUT [she]ate other kind of fruits .
the point to be noted is that though "she" is not repeated after "but" still the sentence is correct.

there is also one OG SC that flouts the rule that u have said (the one i have quoted above). i can quote it if u want
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by [email protected] » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:47 pm
HI aditya8062,

If you'd like to discuss an Official GMAT SC, then it would be best if you post the entire question, including the answer choices.

As has been mentioned in many posts, the GMAT sometimes is a bit "loose" with its use of pronoun rules, so if there's some concern as to whether a pronoun is used correctly, then you should look for other "more concrete" grammar rules to help you eliminate answer choices. Once you've narrowed it down to a couple of answers, if there are no other rules to help you, then you have to rely on the common patterns that the GMAT uses to help you determine the correct answer (these are often referred to as "style" rules).

It can be frustrating, but it's only a small part of Test Day. Even I come across a couple of prompts in which I don't "like" any of the answer choices, but I still have to answer the question. Thankfully, getting a couple of these questions wrong won't kill your score (and because of the experimental questions that everyone sees on the Official GMAT, these questions might not even count!).

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by iongmat » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:50 pm
aditya8062 wrote: is parallelism not taking care in A as : "....and helped the stock market reach record highs, but [The Federal Reserve bond buyback program has] yet to translate into consistent job growth across the county
I believe there are couple of issues with A:

First is that "but yet" is redundant.

Secondly, there should be a "verb" after but/yet.
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by aditya8062 » Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:10 pm
Rich said: If you'd like to discuss an Official GMAT SC, then it would be best if you post the entire question, including the answer choices.
The Scandinavian assault on western Europe culminated in the early eleventh century with the Danish conquest of the English Kingdom,which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat,unsuccessfully,later in the same century.

(A)which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat,unsuccessfully,later in the same century.
(B)which other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later that same century,but not successfully
(C)an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted later in the century to repeat,but were not successful at it
(D)an achievement attempted later in the century by other Scandinavian kings that was not successful
(E)an achievement that other Scandinavian kings attempted to repeat later in the century,but without success.
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by aditya8062 » Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:18 pm
iongmat wrote: I believe there are couple of issues with A:

First is that "but yet" is redundant.

.
well if "but" and "yet" is really redundant then please have a look at the correct answer D .i think this non redundancy of "but"/"yet" can be explained on the part that here "yet" is not a contrast but is in a way expressing the fact that "The Federal Reserve bond buyback program" has "still" to translate into consistent job growth

Secondly, there should be a "verb" after but/yet
this interpretation is not right ."but" ,like "and" , is one part parallel marker .for instance the following sentence is perfectly oki: they wanted to increase awareness and to motivate purchase----->there is no "verb" after "AND" !!
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by iongmat » Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:44 pm
aditya8062 wrote: well if "but" and "yet" is really redundant then please have a look at the correct answer D .i think this non redundancy of "but"/"yet" can be explained on the part that here "yet" is not a contrast but is in a way expressing the fact that "The Federal Reserve bond buyback program" has "still" to translate into consistent job growth
Perhaps I was not clear. I didn't mean to say that "but" and "yet" cannot be used in a sentence. I meant "but yet" when used "together" is redundant. For example, either of these can be correct:

Edward is rich, but he is humble.
Edward is rich, yet he is humble.

However, following would be redundant:

Edward is rich, but yet he is humble.

In fact, "yet" has two different meanings: One is in the sense of "but", and the other is in the sense of "not until now" (Edward has yet to appear in the exam).
aditya8062 wrote: this interpretation is not right ."but" ,like "and" , is one part parallel marker .for instance the following sentence is perfectly oki: they wanted to increase awareness and to motivate purchase----->there is no "verb" after "AND" !!
Well, "and" and "but" do not seem to be similar to me in this regard. For example following seems incorrect:

Edward loved hot drinks but also cold drinks.

This should be: Edward loved hot drinks but also loved cold drinks.

However, we can of course say:

Edward loved hot drinks and cold drinks.
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by Aman Ahuja » Wed Sep 03, 2014 1:11 pm
I choose D
Here's my reasoning
"but yet" is awkward because both these words apply contrast.Eliminate A
Hence we need a construction in which but applies contrast and yet should be used to imply "for the present"
eg.We have yet to win a game this season
"yet" is best placed near "has"
"but" can't be used to parallel three items Eliminate B
In C the three items are joined by "and" which creates a meaning issue (the sentence requires for contrast)
E This choice creates a slight meaning error
the last part says that "the program has not translated into JG"(there is no hope for JG)
while in the original sentence " the program is yet to translate into JG"(there is still hope)
The correct answer is D
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:21 pm
aditya8062 wrote:
my doubt: i can eliminate B and C.i understand that D is correct but what is so wrong in A and E?

is parallelism not taking care in A as : "....and helped the stock market reach record highs, but [The Federal Reserve bond buyback program has] yet to translate into consistent job growth across the county
An adverb serving to modify a HELPING VERB is generally placed BETWEEN the helping verb and the verb being helped.
The following examples are all taken from OAs in the OG12:
are IN EFFECT told
it would IN THE PAST have conceded
have NEVER been sighted
can HARDLY be said
can CONSTANTLY change
have RECENTLY discovered
were EVENTUALLY exhibited
were FIRST aired
can QUICKLY analyze
would LATER make
are CLOSELY related
has ALREADY stimulated
is WIDELY accepted

A: The buyback program has buoyed Wall Street but yet to translate into consistent job growth.
Here, yet serves not as a conjunction but as an ADVERB modifying has to translate.
Since yet must be placed BETWEEN the helping verb (has) and the infinitive being helped (to translate), the helping verb cannot be omitted.
Answer choice A, corrected:
The buyback program has buoyed Wall Street but HAS yet to translate into consistent job growth.
Also is parallelism not taking care in E as: ".....and helped the stock market reach record highs, but [The Federal Reserve bond buyback program] has not translated into consistent job growth across the county
E: The buyback program has buoyed Wall Street and helped Wall Street but has not translated into consistent job growth.
This structure is correct.
Both D and E are viable answer choices.
I would ignore this SC.
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by iongmat » Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:55 pm
Hello Mitch, I believe aditya8062 (the original poster) "is" using the correct structure ("has yet to translate) in the "elided" sentence below:

....and helped the stock market reach record highs, but [The Federal Reserve bond buyback program has] yet to translate into consistent job growth across the county

I believe his question is that why can't we use "ellipsis" to interpret A in the above way (aditya8062, please correct me if I mis-understood your question).

As I mentioned in my pst above, when "but" is used as a conjunction, there must explicitly be a "verb" (helping/main) after "but".

Could you let us know what are your thoughts on this.
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by Aman Ahuja » Fri Sep 05, 2014 4:38 am
Hi GGNY
I would like to request for an analysis.
Is my reasoning above incorrect for E.
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