Despite the fact that the impact of Daylight Saving Time, at

[OlgaF941]

Can someone explain how D changes the meaning? I was debating between D and C. Thank you!

Despite the fact that the impact of Daylight Saving Time, at the onset of which clocks are set forward by an hour, have been shown to be neutral, at best—research indicates that it may actually increase the number of car accidents occurring on the Monday after the clocks spring forward—some countries do not observe it.

Despite the fact that the impact of Daylight Saving Time, at the onset of which clocks are set forward by an hour, have been shown to be neutral, at best—research indicates that it may actually increase


Even though the impact of Daylight Saving Time, at the onset of which clocks are set forward by an hour, has been shown to be neutral, at best—research indicates that it actually increases


Since the impact of Daylight Saving Time, at the onset of which clocks are set forward by an hour, has been shown to be neutral, at best—research indicates that it actually increases


Because the impact of Daylight Saving Time, at the onset of which clocks are set forward by an hour, has been shown to be neutral—at best, research indicates that it may actually result in an increase in


Because Daylight Saving Time, at the onset of which clocks are set forward by an hour, has been shown to have a neutral impact, at best—research indicates that it may actually result in a possible increase in

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Answer choice D places the phrase 'at best' next to the phrase 'research indicates that it may actually result in an increase in the number of car accidents occurring on the Monday after the clocks spring forward'. This is an illogical meaning: car accidents are not a good thing and the research is being presented as evidence against the benefits of Daylight Saving Time.

The problem relies on you seeing that there's a debate going on: is Daylight Saving Time a good thing or not? The sentence is giving a reason (note: 'because' and 'since' are CR marker words for premises) why some countries don't observe DST. The reason is that the results 'have been shown to be neutral, at best'. I.e. the results may be neutral, or they may be harmful. Understanding this meaning will help us see that 'at best' needs to be placed as it is in answer C.

[RAHULS852]

Hi Sage,

Can I remove choice D because of wordy structure :"it may actually result in an increase in" ?
I thought "it actually increases" is better than "it may actually result in an increase in"

Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

I always encourage my students to avoid using the term 'wordy' when analyzing SC problems, even though that word is often used in OG explanations. The term 'wordy' is so vague that even if you succeed on some problems (this may be one of them), you're likely to eliminate some correct answer choices on other problems. I agree with you that 'it may actually result in an increase in' sounds cumbersome and long-winded, but I would only use it as a reason to be suspicious of answer D and would look hard for some other issue.

[RAHULS852]

Thanks Sage.
I always try to eliminate answer choices with "wordiness" as a last option. In this question I was confused between C & D. I compared both choices and eliminated D based on wordiness. I should have understand the meaning issue ( location of at best).
I will try to avoid this approach.


Regards,
Rahul Singh

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

You're welcome.