Weird SC: poor people (ETS GMAT Exam)

[tonebeeze]

I am having a tough time dissecting the grammar errors in the SC question. I selected (e) as my answer choice, through process of elimination. I would appreciate if someone can walk me through the underlying grammar. Thanks.

Poor people, who already purchase the cheapest food items--starches, frankfurters, beans, and the like--have no items that they can economize when there is a rise in the overall price of food.

a. that they can economize when there is a rise in the overall price of food

b. on which there can be economizing when there is a rise in the overall price of food

c. for economizing if there will be an overall rise in the price of food

d. on which to economize when the overall prices of food rise

e. that can be economical when overall prices of food rise

[suryas]

IMO?

I will go with E

[AIM GMAT]

Its a fight between D and E. Anyways an answer is must so i would go with D.

[D] Poor people need to reduce their expenses so according to meaning of sentence , no such food items are left on which they can economize.

[E] passive

the correct sentence is "Poor people, already purchasing the cheapest food items - starches, frankfurters, chicken necks and the like - have no place to economize when overall prices of food rise." -- source NYT

[GMATGuruNY]

I am having a tough time dissecting the grammar errors in the SC question. I selected (e) as my answer choice, through process of elimination. I would appreciate if someone can walk me through the underlying grammar. Thanks.

Poor people, who already purchase the cheapest food items--starches, frankfurters, beans, and the like--have no items that they can economize when there is a rise in the overall price of food.

a. that they can economize when there is a rise in the overall price of food

b. on which there can be economizing when there is a rise in the overall price of food

c. for economizing if there will be an overall rise in the price of food

d. on which to economize when the overall prices of food rise

e. that can be economical when overall prices of food rise

I received a PM asking me to comment.

The correct idiom is to economize on Y. Eliminate A. To economize on something means to spend less money on it or to use it sparingly.

In C, the verb will be should be in the present tense, like all the other verbs in the sentence.

Answer choice E changes the meaning. The intended meaning of the sentence is not that the food items themselves cannot be economical. To be economical means to avoid waste. Eliminate E.

Between B and D, D is better because: it is more concise; it expresses its meaning using verbs (to economize and to rise), whereas B employs nouns (economizing and rise); since different food items have different prices, the plural prices in D is better than the singular price in B. Eliminate B.

The correct answer is D.