BABY-BOOMERS

[poonam197]

Having provided for life's basic necessities and having seen their children off into the world, the Baby Boomers are more affluent, with more cash left over for discretionary spending.

A) Having provided for life's basic necessities and having seen their children off into the world
B) Having provided for life's basic necessities and seeing their children off into the world
C) Having life's basic necessities provided for and seeing their children being seen off into the world
D) Although they have provided for life's basic necessities and seen their children off into the world
E) Despite having provided for life's basic necessities and having seen their children off into the world

Correct Answer: A

Please advice why not option E.

[Bidisha800]

(E) changes meaning of the sentence and introduce an unnecessary contradiction.

Original sentence says: after providing for other necessities, baby boomers are left with cash that can be used for discretionary spending.

[dimonya]

ya putting "having" second time is redundant and obvious to the reader... not supposed to be there

[umaa]

Why not B?

[WannaBThere]

Basically, two different meanings can be inferred out of the sentence.

First: Baby Boomers are more affluent after spending on their children.
Second: Baby Boomers are more affluent even after they have spent on their children.

Fantastic question!!
In runtime I would have wrongly selected option E by ignoring "Altered Intent" element from the sentence.

What this question taught me?
No matter how screwed up option A is, but it always has the correct meaning.

@umaa,
Why not B?
That's because of parallelism. If "having" and "seeing" are parallel, then the meaning gets distorted (I guess my reply is wrong according to GMAT standards )

[raunekk]

one more for A...


for the reasons already stated//

[hitmewithgmat]

This is a modifier question. (Mgmat SC book Chapter 5, p.73)

Modifier, or a modifying phrase, describes someone or something in the sentence.
ex) Tired out from playing basketball, Charles decided to take a nap.

The modifying phrase "tired out from playing basketball" is a descriptive group of words that describes "Charles".


Keep in mind for this.. and then take a look at the question.
You know you have to eliminate C,D and E right away. right?
Especially choice E, you don't need "despite" in a modifer phrase. It changes the meaning by using it and it defeats the purpose of the modifier.

then between A and B.

why B is not correct...
It is not a parallel form in a modifier.

A is a parallel form.

Having provided.........having seen.....

hope this helps.

[dreamzz2010]

According to my understanding the sentence means:
The baby boomers(refers to any one born during high birth rate period)
1. having provided for life's basic necessities and
2. having seen their children off into the world

are left with no other laibilities and thus are more affluent and left with more cash...

A and B are eliminated bcoz of parallelism issues b/w having and seeing
D is eliminated bcoz there is no need of a contrast(ALTHOUGH) in the sentence
E is eliminated bcoz "Despite" changes the meaning of the sentences

Regards