sales up to one-fourth of its stores ..

[California4jx]

Trans World Entertainment Corporation, which owns the Record Town and Saturday Matinee retail chains, announced that since sales of up to one-fourth of its stores are poor, they will be closed.


A) that since sales of up to one-fourth of its stores are poor, they will be closed

B) it is closing up to one-fourth of its stores, which accounted for its poor sales

C) It was closing up to one fourth of its stores because of poor sales

D) to be closing, on account of poor sales, up to one-fourth of its stores

E) having poor sales, such that up to one-fourth of its stores will be closed


I thought choices with because of are usually wrong -

Why C is the right answer ?

[shalinisingh]

dont know exactly but i also got the answer to be C

delete A . THEY Is ambiguous
delete B . which accounted for is too wordy.
delete D. to be closing is not understood.
delete E. having poor sales such that.... wat a sentence.
the left is C. may be the best answer if not the correct one.

hence C.

[aj5105]

Between " because" and "account of " , because is always preferred.

[nervesofsteel]

Trans World Entertainment Corporation, which owns the Record Town and Saturday Matinee retail chains, announced that since sales of up to one-fourth of its stores are poor, they will be closed.


A) that since sales of up to one-fourth of its stores are poor, they will be closed

B) it is closing up to one-fourth of its stores, which accounted for its poor sales

C) It was closing up to one fourth of its stores because of poor sales

D) to be closing, on account of poor sales, up to one-fourth of its stores

E) having poor sales, such that up to one-fourth of its stores will be closed


I thought choices with because of are usually wrong -

Why C is the right answer ?

C) announced IT was closing ..... doesn't makes sense here...

D is better IMO

[Domnu]

Are you sure D would be a better answer? "announced to be closing?" doesn't make sense.

[nervesofsteel]

Are you sure D would be a better answer? "announced to be closing?" doesn't make sense.

D) Sounds like

Trans World Entertainment Corporation, which owns the Record Town and Saturday Matinee retail chains, announced to be closing up to one-fourth of its stores

C) Sounds like

Trans World Entertainment Corporation, which owns the Record Town and Saturday Matinee retail chains, announced It was closing up to one fourth of its stores because of poor sales

I believe there should be a THAT after Announced in option C

[Md Raihan Uddin]

Hi, GMAT GuruNY,

Would you please explain option a b, and c. Please don't show the subtle issue to eliminate?

[GMATGuruNY]

Trans World Entertainment Corporation, which owns the Record Town and Saturday Matinee retail chains, announced that since sales of up to one-fourth of its stores are poor, they will be closed.

A) that since sales of up to one-fourth of its stores are poor, they will be closed

B) it is closing up to one-fourth of its stores, which accounted for its poor sales

C) It was closing up to one fourth of its stores because of poor sales

D) to be closing, on account of poor sales, up to one-fourth of its stores

E) having poor sales, such that up to one-fourth of its stores will be closed

The default referent for a subject pronoun is the SUBJECT OF THE PRECEDING CLAUSE.
In A, they (subject pronoun) seems to refer to sales (the subject of the preceding clause), implying that SALES will be closed.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that the unsuccessful STORES will be closed.
Eliminate A.

B: its stores, which accounted for its poor sales
Here, which seems to refer to its stores, implying that ALL of Trans World's stores were responsible for the company's poor sales.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that only ONE-FOURTH of the stores were unsuccessful.
Eliminate B.

Generally, an infinitive modifier serves to refer to the PRECEDING SUBJECT.
D: Trans World Entertainment Corporation...announced to be closing.
Here, announced to be closing is unidiomatic.
Worse, the implication of to be closing is that Trans World Entertainment Corporation (the preceding subject) is about TO BE CLOSING.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that UP TO ONE-FOURTH OF THE STORES will be closing.
Eliminate D.

E: announced having poor sales
Here, having seems to serve as the direct object of announced, implying that Trans World announced the ACT OF HAVING POOR SALES.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that the company announced IT WAS CLOSING UP TO ONE-FOURTH OF ITS STORES.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is C.

In most cases on the GMAT, a reporting verb such as announced will be followed by that.
This SC -- which is from GMATPrep -- illustrates an important exception to this rule:
When a subject is reporting information about ITSELF, the GMAT may omit that from the noun-clause serving as the direct object of the reporting verb.
The typical construction is as follows:
SUBJECT + REPORTING VERB + it + VERB.

OA: Trans World Entertainment Corporation announced it was closing up to one fourth of its stores.
Here, Trans World is reporting information about itself.
As a result, it is permissible to omit that after the reporting verb announced.

SC48 in the OG for Verbal:
The seven-store retailer said it would start a three-month liquidation sale.
Here, the seven-store retailer is reporting information about itself.
As a result, it is permissible to omit that after the reporting verb said.

In some cases, the GMAT will INCLUDE that when the subject is reporting information about itself.
SC79 in the OG for Verbal:
The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company.
Here, even though the computer company is reporting information about itself, the reporting verb has announced is followed by that.

Bottom line:
If a subject is reporting information about itself, a reporting verb such as announced may or may not be followed by that.
Thus, do not eliminate an answer choice solely because it includes or omits that after the reporting verb.
Instead, look for other reasons to eliminate answer choices.

[Md Raihan Uddin]

The default referent for a subject pronoun is the SUBJECT OF THE PRECEDING CLAUSE.

Is it always true? or is there any exception?

I actually thought that since "sales will be closed" is meaningless, 'they' refer to one fourth of it's stores. Would you please tell me why 'they' is not referring to "one fourth of it's stores" here?




B: its stores, which accounted for its poor sales
Here, which seems to refer to its stores, implying that ALL of Trans World's stores were responsible for the company's poor sales.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that only ONE-FOURTH of the stores were unsuccessful.
Eliminate B.


Why doesn't "which" refer to one fourth of it's store?

Please explain

[GMATGuruNY]

The default referent for a subject pronoun is the SUBJECT OF THE PRECEDING CLAUSE.

Is it always true? or is there any exception?

I actually thought that since "sales will be closed" is meaningless, 'they' refer to one fourth of it's stores. Would you please tell me why 'they' is not referring to "one fourth of it's stores" here?

If a subject pronoun agrees with the preceding subject, then the referent for the subject pronoun should be the preceding subject.
In A, they (plural) agrees with sales (the preceding subject), so they should serve to refer to sales.
Another OA from GMAC:
While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners.
Here, they (plural) agrees with depressed property values (the preceding subject), so they serves to refer to depressed property values.

A good rule of thumb:
If an answer choice includes a pronoun that might be ambiguous, and another answer choice avoids the ambiguity and is free of errors, eliminate the answer choice with the potentially ambiguous pronoun.
In the SC above, the OA is free of errors and avoids the potentially ambiguous pronoun included in A (they).
Eliminate A.

B: its stores, which accounted for its poor sales
Here, which seems to refer to its stores, implying that ALL of Trans World's stores were responsible for the company's poor sales.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that only ONE-FOURTH of the stores were unsuccessful.
Eliminate B.


Why doesn't "which" refer to one fourth of it's store?

Please explain

which + SINGULAR VERB must serve to refer to the nearest preceding SINGULAR noun.
which + PLURAL VERB must serve to refer to the nearest preceding PLURAL noun.
If the verb attributed to which can be SINGULAR OR PLURAL, then which must serve to refer to the NEAREST PRECEDING NOUN.
In B, the verb attributed to which -- accounted -- can be singular or plural, so which must serve to refer to its stores (the nearest preceding noun).

[ngk4mba3236]

hi gmatguru - i've a question on the REPORTED speech.

On GMAT,in a reported speech, if a reporting verb is in PAST tense then the rest of the Verbs MUST also be in PAST tense. Am I correct ?

If yes, then i think, the above RULE is violated in A,constituting another ERROR in A.

please let me know your thoughts.

[ngk4mba3236]

hi gmatguru - any update on my above doubts ?

looking forward to your reply.

[GMATGuruNY]

hi gmatguru - i've a question on the REPORTED speech.

On GMAT,in a reported speech, if a reporting verb is in PAST tense then the rest of the Verbs MUST also be in PAST tense. Am I correct ?

If yes, then i think, the above RULE is violated in A,constituting another ERROR in A.

please let me know your thoughts.

Outside the GMAT -- especially in a news article -- a reporting verb may be followed by a future tense verb:
Mayor X announced that he will seek reelection next year.
While this sort of sentence is unlikely to appear on the GMAT, I would not eliminate A simply because of the usage of will.

[ngk4mba3236]

If the verb attributed to which can be SINGULAR OR PLURAL, then which must serve to refer to the NEAREST PRECEDING NOUN.

a quick question on the above quote -- does this always hold TRUE on GMAT ? i mean, does it have to be only NEAREST PRECEDING NOUN ?

or can it be NEAREST PRECEDING NOUN-Phrase as well ?

[ngk4mba3236]

Outside the GMAT -- especially in a news article -- a reporting verb may be followed by a future tense verb:
Mayor X announced that he will seek reelection next year.
While this sort of sentence is unlikely to appear on the GMAT, I would not eliminate A simply because of the usage of will.

so basically,a reporting verb that is followed by a simple future tense verb doesn't constitute an ERROR on GMAT. am i correct ?

p.s: the example you shared in one of your above posts, SC79 in the OG for Verbal:
The computer company has announced that it will purchase the color-printing division of a rival company. -- reporting verb is followed by a simple future tense in the non-underlined portion of the SC.