Weird idiom

[edwardyong]

Recent market data shows that fruit prices are not skyrocketing, despite fears of a drastic price increase due to first quarter drought, and instead to become stable around or even slightly below last year's inflation-adjusted prices.

A)and instead to become stable around or even slightly below
B)and instead to stabilize around or even slightly below
C)instead to stabilize, around or even slightly below
D)that instead to become stable, around or even slightly below
E)and instead have stabilized around or even slightly below


Some may dispute but please give me your opinion.
OA isB

[mehravikas]

IMO - E

[edwardyong]

Please explain how you reach to your answer. Thanks.

[satish.nagdev]

I would ignore E because the trend has not finished as per words " are not skyrocketing"
for B and C "and" word is missing also overall sense is present tense so B is logically correct

[edwardyong]

I would ignore E because the trend has not finished as per words " are not skyrocketing"
for B and C "and" word is missing also overall sense is present tense so B is logically correct

Don't you think that "instead to" is the wrong idiom?

[Testluv]

Hi Edward,

what is the source of this question? B is definitely unidiomatic. I would certainly choose E.

When you see an internal modifying phrase, your first instinct should be to sound the sentence to your ear without the phrase. The internal modifying phrase here is: "..., despite fears of a drastic price increase due to first quarter drought,..."
If you sound the sentence to your ear without the phrase, you can tell that it is unidiomatic.

Not only is it unidiomatic, but Choice B also fails to preserve the speaker's intended meaning. The "instead" signals a contrast between two ideas. The first idea is that of prices having skyrockted, and continuing to sky rocket; so it is looking at the past up until the present, and including the present. To successfuly conrast against this idea, the contrasting idea should also look to the past up until now (which is what choice E does). Instead, (no pun!) the second idea in choice B looks only to the future, and so fails to really contrast against the first idea.

If choice B had used "are" before the "instead," it would have been much better.

[edwardyong]

Hi Edward,

what is the source of this question? B is definitely unidiomatic. I would certainly choose E.

When you see an internal modifying phrase, your first instinct should be to sound the sentence to your ear without the phrase. The internal modifying phrase here is: "..., despite fears of a drastic price increase due to first quarter drought,..."
If you sound the sentence to your ear without the phrase, you can tell that it is unidiomatic.

Not only is it unidiomatic, but Choice B also fails to preserve the speaker's intended meaning. The "instead" signals a contrast between two ideas. The first idea is that of prices having skyrockted, and continuing to sky rocket; so it is looking at the past up until the present, and including the present. To successfuly conrast against this idea, the contrasting idea should also look to the past up until now (which is what choice E does). Instead, (no pun!) the second idea in choice B looks only to the future, and so fails to really contrast against the first idea.

If choice B had used "are" before the "instead," it would have been much better.

I got this question from Grockit. I'm not sure if this is an error because in my opinion the answer should be E as well.