After several years of rapid growth

[RonPurewal]

Ok.

[lindaliu9273]

Hi, Ron:

I chose the correct answer E since I thought there was an omitted "was" (passive voice) in the sentence.

Like this:

"After several years of rapid growth, the healthy care company became one of the largest health care providers in the metropolitan area, but then was proved unable to handle the increase in business, falling months behind in paying doctors and hospitals."

Am I right?
Because it seems impossible that HCC(healthy care company) will prove its failure to handle...

Pls explain it, thanks in advance.

"proved" can also be an active-voice verb, especially in reference to descriptive qualities.
e.g.
John, who had always bragged the most about his fighting abilities, proved to be the most cowardly person in the group when actual threats arose.
or
my efforts proved insufficient, and i returned home without winning the prize.

Hi Ron,
I have exactly the same idea as AliciaZhou does. But I have a further question: A/B it then proved unable to . Is it wrong? Should it be it is then proved unable to?
Thank you.

[RonPurewal]

- The answer to your question is contained in the part you quoted from me.

"- "Proved" is used in exactly the same way in the correct answer. The subject isn't repeated, since there's no need to repeat it ("the health care company" is already the subject), but the verb is the same.

[himanshu_chauhan]

The presence of comma+but starts a new clause and in choice E there is no subject in but clause. and still E is correct (we can not question GMATPREP)

Can you please explain the concept behind this

[RonPurewal]

The presence of comma+but starts a new clause

^^ Not necessarily.

The comma doesn't change the function of "but". "But" is still connecting 2 parallel things.
Those can be complete sentences, but certainly don't have to be. (Look at how that last sentence works.)

[RonPurewal]

The inclusion/exclusion of the comma is a stylistic issue. If the two parallel things are long, the comma is normally included.
It's true that the comma is normally there when 2 complete sentences are connected... but that's only because complete sentences tend to be long.

MOST IMPORTANTLY—
Punctuation is NEVER tested on this exam. It is a non-issue.

[RohitM269]

I see a quite obvious awkward construction in option C ("in its paying").

Possessive 'its' should be followed by noun, but here it's verb+ing form(trying to act as gerund that is trap here in this incorrect answer).

--Kamal

I guess you confused between "its" and "this/these".

[tim]

You are replying to a post that is over five years old and to which dozens of followup posts have been written. After reading the entire thread (did you?), was there anything that indicated to you that this issue had not been thoroughly put to rest?

[qianruS779]

", but" connects two independent clauses I heard.

the comma is sometimes employed when "but" is used to connect units smaller than clauses, if those units are so long that the sentence becomes difficult to read without the comma.

for instance:
James tried to sneak back into the house at 5 a.m. without waking his parents, but climbed through a window directly into the room where his father was already getting dressed.
--> try taking out the comma; if you do, the sentence becomes an unreadable blob.

Hi Instructor,

I have one doubt regarding the comment in question. does only but have this rule? Can others such as and, yet, so, for, or, not apply to this same rule - pronoun (the same pronoun in the first independent clause) omission when they introduce a new independent clause?

For example, I was very busy with arranging my luggage, so forgot to call Bob in order to cancel our lunch. (right or wrong)

Thank you in advance

Best, Song

[RonPurewal]

sure, that would be possible. there's nothing special about "but".

[qianruS779]

Thank you very much

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.