In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairma

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In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates

(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future

(C) which suggests that to investors in the near future interest rates will not be lowered by the central bank

(D) with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank

(E) with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank

OA B

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by Mo2men » Wed Oct 23, 2019 3:06 am

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BTGmoderatorDC wrote:In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates

(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future

(C) which suggests that to investors in the near future interest rates will not be lowered by the central bank

(D) with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank

(E) with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank

OA B

Source: Official Guide
Dear GMATGuru,

How can we eliminate choice D & E? Or why the phrase 'with suggestion to' is incorrect? what does it mean? What test can we perform to if it is correct or not?

Thanks

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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:11 am

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Mo2men wrote:Dear GMATGuru,

How can we eliminate choice D & E? Or why the phrase 'with suggestion to' is incorrect? what does it mean? What test can we perform to if it is correct or not?
(D) with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank
Here, in the near future seems to modify investors.
Question: What KIND of investors?
Answer: Investors IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
Not the intended meaning.
The intended meaning is that the act of LOWERING would not happen in the near future.
Eliminate D.

(E) with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank
Here, of interest rates seems to modify investors or the suggestion.

Question: What KIND of investors?
Answer: Investors OF INTEREST RATES.
This meaning is illogical.
Investors cannot belong to interest rates.

Question: What KIND of suggestion?
Answer: The suggestion OF INTEREST RATES.
This meaning is illogical, implying that interest rates did not exist previously and that they are now being suggested.

Eliminate E.

Another issue in E: not being lowered in the near future
A VERBing modifier conveys an action happening at the same time as the main verb.
Here, not being lowered implies a PAST ACTION, since the main verb -- painted -- is in the past tense.
But in the near future implies a FUTURE action.
Since the two meanings are contradictory, eliminate E.

OA: In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future.
Here. suggesting refers to the chairman, the agent of the nearest preceding action (painted).
Conveyed meaning:
When the chairman PAINTED an optimistic picture, he was -- at the same time -- SUGGESTING that interest rates would not be lowered.

D and E: In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, with the suggestion
Here, the source of the suggestion is unclear..
While it is possible that the suggestion was made by the CHAIRMAN, it is also possible that it was made by SOMEONE ELSE.
Since the intended meaning in D and E is not crystal clear, eliminate D and E.
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by Mo2men » Mon Oct 28, 2019 11:55 am

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BTGmoderatorDC wrote:In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates

(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future

(C) which suggests that to investors in the near future interest rates will not be lowered by the central bank

(D) with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank

(E) with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank

OA B

Source: Official Guide
Dear GMATGuruNY,

1- In OA, Is there any difference in meaning if the sentence starts "Suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates."


2- If I have a sentence as follows:

John ate all the cookies, upsetting Mary. .............Here, the it shows the resulting of John's action. But what if I change the a place in modifier into:

Upsetting Mary, John ate all the cookies.....Does it still hold same meaning as above?

Thanks in advance

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by [email protected] » Mon Oct 28, 2019 2:49 pm

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Hello Everyone!

Let's tackle this question, one thing at a time, and narrow it down to the right answer quickly! To start, here's the original question with any major differences highlighted in orange:

In a speech before the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates.

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates
(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future
(C) which suggests that to investors in the near future interest rates will not be lowered by the central bank
(D) with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank
(E) with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank

If we look closely at the differences between each answer, there are a couple that pop out right away:

1. How they begin: suggesting / which suggests / with the suggestion
2. Placement of the phrase "in the near future"
3. Verb tense: lower / lowered / lowering


Let's start with #1 on our list because it seems like a good place to weed out a couple answers right away. We know from the context of the sentence that the chairman is suggesting the central bank won't lower rates. However, not all of the answers make this clear. Some of them sound more like they're referring to the "picture" rather than the "chairman." Let's see how each answer holds up:

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates --> clear that it's the chairman --> OK
(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future --> clear that it's the chairman --> OK
(C) which suggests that to investors in the near future interest rates will not be lowered by the central bank --> adding "which suggests" makes it sound like you're referring to the picture, not the chairman --> BAD
(D) with the suggestion to investors in the near future that interest rates would not be lowered by the central bank --> adding "with the suggestion" makes it sound like you're referring to the picture, not the chairman --> BAD
(E) with the suggestion to investors of interest rates not being lowered in the near future by the central bank --> adding "with the suggestion" makes it sound like you're referring to the picture, not the chairman --> BAD

This means we can eliminate answers C, D, and E because they are too vague.

Now we're left with answers A and B. Let's now look at #3 on our list: verb tense. One of these has a red flag that we should be able to spot easily:

(A) suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates
This answer is INCORRECT because it uses the present tense "is not lowering" to talk about an possible future event!

(B) suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future
This answer is CORRECT because it's clear who is doing the action, and it uses the correct hypothetical future tense "would not lower."

There you have it - option B is the correct choice!


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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Nov 02, 2019 4:40 am

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Mo2men wrote:Dear GMATGuruNY,

1- In OA, Is there any difference in meaning if the sentence starts "Suggesting to investors that the central bank would not lower interest rates in the near future, the chairman of the Federal Reserve painted an optimistic picture of the economy, suggesting to investors the central bank in the near future is not lowering interest rates."


2- If I have a sentence as follows:

John ate all the cookies, upsetting Mary. .............Here, the it shows the resulting of John's action. But what if I change the a place in modifier into:

Upsetting Mary, John ate all the cookies.....Does it still hold same meaning as above?

Thanks in advance


Do not use this issue to eliminate answer choices.
As long as a VERBing modifier refers to the agent of the main action and expresses an action directly connected to the main action, consider the meaning valid.
An official SC:
Spanning more than fifty years, Muller's career began in an unpromising apprenticeship as a Sanskrit scholar.
Here, SPANNING is positioned before BEGAN, even though the career clearly began BEFORE it was spanning.
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