SC: The results of the company's cost-cutting measures are

[sharmin.karim]

The results of the company's cost-cutting measures are evident in its profits, which increased five percent during the first three months of this year after it fell over the last two years.

A. which increased five percent during the first three months of this year after it fell

B. which had increased five percent during the first three months of this year after it had fallen

C. which have increased five percent during the first three months of this year after falling over the last two years

D. with a five percent increase during the first three months of this year after falling

E. with a five percent increase during the first three months of this year after having fallen

Correct answer is C. I answered A. Is A wrong b/c the pronoun "it" could refer to either "results" or "profits?" Also, do we need the "have" before increased to indicate the profits are still increasing since the beginning part of the sentence is in the present tense?

[amitganguly2k12]

category:verb and pronoun error

The results of the company's cost-cutting measures are evident in its profits, which increased five percent during the first three months of this year after it fell over the last two years.

Profits - plural noun
have is essential for the subordinate clause.
also,increased and falling are in parallel form of the verbs.

So,C.

[RonPurewal]

The results of the company's cost-cutting measures are evident in its profits, which increased five percent during the first three months of this year after it fell over the last two years.

A. which increased five percent during the first three months of this year after it fell

B. which had increased five percent during the first three months of this year after it had fallen

C. which have increased five percent during the first three months of this year after falling over the last two years

D. with a five percent increase during the first three months of this year after falling

E. with a five percent increase during the first three months of this year after having fallen

Correct answer is C. I answered A. Is A wrong b/c the pronoun "it" could refer to either "results" or "profits?" Also, do we need the "have" before increased to indicate the profits are still increasing since the beginning part of the sentence is in the present tense?

"it" is singular. "profits" is plural. therefore, (a) is wrong, period.
you can NEVER use a singular pronoun to stand for a plural noun, or vice versa. no exceptions.

either "increased" or "have increased" would make sense, depending on context. if the sentence is written immediately at the end of the third month of the year, then "have increased" is right. if it's written later, then "increased" makes more sense.

[tankobe]

either "increased" or "have increased" would make sense, depending on context. if the sentence is written immediately at the end of the third month of the year, then "have increased" is right. if it's written later, then "increased" makes more sense.

thank you, RON.
I thought it should be increased, so i picked a wrong choice D athough i know that after falling.... have no Verb to modify and,as a result,falling don't have a subject to attach.
your explanation does do me a favor.

[ujjavalgupta]

Hii All,

I will like to know when does one use INCREASED
OR HAVE INCREASED here..

HAVE stands for a present perfect.. indicating that the sentence was written immediately at the end of 3 months..(if so)
How does one know which option to pick here...

Help me please !!!

[akhp77]

Hi Ron,

C. which have increased five percent during the first three months of this year after falling over the last two years.

I understood that C is the best option among five.

However, I would like to know about following

"falling over the last two years" -> is it a modifier?



Regards
Akhilesh

[RonPurewal]

Hii All,

I will like to know when does one use INCREASED
OR HAVE INCREASED here..

HAVE stands for a present perfect.. indicating that the sentence was written immediately at the end of 3 months..(if so)
How does one know which option to pick here...

Help me please !!!

hi -- it appears you actually have a sufficient understanding of these two tenses. as you have noted, either of them could potentially make sense in the sentence at hand, although the present perfect is probably a little bit better (as the sentence is written in the present tense).

note that the test will not require you to choose between two legitimate meanings.
therefore, if you see a case like this one, in which there are two different meanings that are both viable, you should scan those choices for other types of errors. (in particular, choice (a) contains a very blatant pronoun error.)

[RonPurewal]

"falling over the last two years" -> is it a modifier?

the complete modifier is "after falling over the last two years", but, yes, you basically have the right idea.

[ajit007_cool]

Please explain why E is wrong . i chose E.

is it wrong because there is no parallel structure on both sides of after
or it is worng because of use of 'with'

[RonPurewal]

Please explain why E is wrong . i chose E.

is it wrong because there is no parallel structure on both sides of after
or it is worng because of use of 'with'

in general, "COMMA + prep phrase modifier" is an adverbial modifier, meaning that it modifies the entirety of the preceding clause.
in this sentence, we don't want an adverbial modifier, since it doesn't make any sense for this modifier to apply to the entire preceding clause.
rather, we want a modifier that will only modify the noun at the end of the preceding clause (i.e., "profits"). since this is the exact function of a "which" modifier, that's the modifier we want here.

[vnpatriot7]

Hi Ron,

If we use "which have increased" in the first part, why don't we use "after having fallen" in the second part?

I think, it is not a parallel structure if we use "after falling" because the parallel one must be "which have increased....after (which) have fallen". Then we can rewrite as "which have increased...after having fallen". Is my reasoning correct?

[RonPurewal]

I think, it is not a parallel structure if ...

first --
OFFICIALLY CORRECT ANSWERS ARE CORRECT!
do not question officially correct answers!
far too many students on this forum make the mistake of questioning the correct answers; please note that doing so is a complete waste of your time and effort. i.e., exactly 0% of the time that you spend posting "isn't this official answer wrong?" is productive, and exactly 100% of that time is wasted.

"is this correct?" is NEVER a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers -- the answer is always yes.
"is this wrong?" / "is this X type of error?" is NEVER a productive question to ask about one of GMAC's correct answers -- the answer is always no.

instead, the questions you should be asking about correct official answers, if you don't understand them, are:
"why is this correct?"
"how does this work?"
"what understanding am i lacking that i need to understand this choice?"

this is a small, but hugely significant, change to your way of thinking -- you will suddenly find it much easier to understand the format, style, and conventions of the official problems if you dispose of the idea that they might be wrong.

Then we can rewrite as "which have increased...after having fallen". Is my reasoning correct?

no.

#1, by making this change, you are actually not changing anything about the grammar. you've taken VERB + after + -ING and changed it to ... another version of VERB + after + -ING.
so, from the standpoint of grammar, you have changed nothing; if the original were "bad parallelism", then this version would likewise be "bad parallelism".
you've changed the tense, but verb tenses are irrelevant to grammatical parallelism. (tenses are 100% determined by meaning/context, and 0% determined by grammar.)

#2 -- as you can deduce from this problem (among others), "after" isn't a parallel signal. it can introduce another verb, but it doesn't have to; it can also be followed by -ING, or even by a noun, in these cases.
i came home after i finished printing the report
i came home after working out
i came home after midnight
... all correct

[vnpatriot7]

Thanks Ron for your guide of thinking in GMAT preparation and for your explanation.

So, I have another question: was I wrong if I changed the tense from "after falling..." to "after having falling"? My reasoning was that the fall of profit happened before its increase.

[tim]

along with the "don't question whether right answers are right" post, another of Ron's classics is his "don't try to make up a sentence you like" post. SC is about finding wrong answers, and it is often counterproductive to ask whether variations on an answer would be correct. it tends to take your focus away from what you're actually supposed to be learning in the problem and moves you into the realm of deciding trivial points the GMAT is probably not going to test you on anyway..

[vijayjakhotia]

Can someone please tell me whats wrong with Option D?