karthikpandian19 wrote:A large rise in the number of housing starts in the coming year should boost new construction dollars by several billion dollars, making the construction industry's economic health much more robust than five years ago.
(A) making the construction industry's economic health much more robust than five years ago Wrong comparison
(B) and make the construction industry's economic health much more robust than five years ago
(C) making the construction industry's economic health much more robust than it was five years ago
(D) to make the construction industry's economic health much more robust than five years ago
(E) in making the construction industry's economic health much more robust than it as five years ago

ice_rush wrote:Hi Bill,

Would (B) be a contender if it has correct comparison? ...and make the construction industry's economic health much more robust than it was five years ago or does this sentence require comma + verbing?



Thanks!

Bill@VeritasPrep wrote:We need the wording "it was" to make the comparison valid: the economic health today vs. the economic health five years ago. Without "it was", the comparison is the economic health today vs. "five years ago" with no context. We can eliminate A, B, and D.

E uses the preposition "in" which we don't need.

Spidy001 wrote:Bill,

in option D , other than the comparison error , is it correct to use infinitive?

is it ever ok to use infinitive as modifier or to be specific can we ever have comma + infinitive as modifier?

also in option E, why is in wrong? could you give some examples where ",in" as a modifier is acceptable.


Thanks in advance.