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Sentence Correction- Help Required.

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by AkiB » Fri Jun 27, 2014 2:22 pm
Reporting that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in the women’s apparel, the seven store retailer said it would start a three month liquidation sale in all of the stores.

a) its many problems had been the recent

b) its many problems has been the recently

c) its many problems is the recently

d) their many problems is the recent

e) their many problems had been the recent

OA A
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by [email protected] » Fri Jun 27, 2014 2:37 pm
Hi AkiB,

This SC is based on a couple of standard grammar rules that you will see on Test Day:

1) Pronouns - The subject "the seven store retailer" is a singular noun. While some people think that it's plural, the phrase "the…retailer" is singular. There is another reference to the singular subject later on in the sentence ("IT would start a three month liquidation sale"). Eliminate D and E.

2) Verbs - The sentence references that "the…retailer SAID", which is a past tense verb. The sentence also references an event the precedes this event (the "extended sales slump" precedes what the store said about the "liquidation sale"). With two past events, you need to include the word "HAD." Eliminate B and C.

Final Answer: A

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Jun 27, 2014 3:07 pm
AkiB wrote:Reporting that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in the women’s apparel, the seven store retailer said it would start a three month liquidation sale in all of the stores.

a) its many problems had been the recent

b) its many problems has been the recently

c) its many problems is the recently

d) their many problems is the recent

e) their many problems had been the recent

OA A
"the seven store retailer said" indicates and event that happened in the past. BEFORE that event, there was a sales slump.
When an action happens (and is completed) in the past BEFORE another event in the past, we typically need to use the PAST PERFECT ("had" + participle).
Answer choices A and E are written in PAST PERFECT. Eliminate B, C and D

Aside: we have a free video on perfect tenses: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... on?id=1178

Next, the subject of this sentence is "retailer," which is SINGULAR. So, we need to use a SINGULAR pronoun "its" (not "their"). Eliminate E

Answer: A

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by ahahkhyati.j » Fri Oct 09, 2015 7:53 am
Generally the rule is present with future (will) and past with conditional (would).This sentence uses would so i need a past verb. After figuring out that pronoun its is appropriate i have only one option A.
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by abhishek095 » Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:26 pm
But doesn't it sound wrong that "recent" modifies "extended sales slump" it should be "recently" modifying the same brent please let me know.
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:
AkiB wrote:Reporting that one of its many problems had been the recent extended sales slump in the women’s apparel, the seven store retailer said it would start a three month liquidation sale in all of the stores.

a) its many problems had been the recent

b) its many problems has been the recently

c) its many problems is the recently

d) their many problems is the recent

e) their many problems had been the recent

OA A
"the seven store retailer said" indicates and event that happened in the past. BEFORE that event, there was a sales slump.
When an action happens (and is completed) in the past BEFORE another event in the past, we typically need to use the PAST PERFECT ("had" + participle).
Answer choices A and E are written in PAST PERFECT. Eliminate B, C and D

Aside: we have a free video on perfect tenses: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... on?id=1178

Next, the subject of this sentence is "retailer," which is SINGULAR. So, we need to use a SINGULAR pronoun "its" (not "their"). Eliminate E

Answer: A

Cheers,
Brent
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Jan 16, 2017 3:40 am
abhishek095 wrote:But doesn't it sound wrong that "recent" modifies "extended sales slump" it should be "recently" modifying the same
B and C: the recently extended sales slump
Here, recently is an ADVERB serving to modify extended, expressing WHEN the sales slump was extended.
Question: WHEN was the sales slump extended?
Answer: It was RECENTLY extended.
The implication is that someone recently -- and purposefully -- added extra days to the sales slump.
Not the intended meaning.
No one purposefully added extra days to the sales slump.
Eliminate B and C.

OA: the recent extended sales slump
Here, recent is an ADJECTIVE serving to modify extended sales slump, indicating what KIND of extended sales slump is under discussion.
Question: What KIND of extended sales slump?
Answer: the RECENT extended sales slump.
The implication is that -- over the last few months -- there was a lengthy sales slump.
This meaning is logical.
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